LONDON FRIDAY NIGHT SKATE TM
& SUNDAY STROLL TM

From: Week on Wheels <wow /at/ lfns.co.uk>
Subject: [wow] Week on Wheels: the Best of London
Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2006 15:50:01 +0100

This Week, On Wheels

* This week: Best of London
* Last week: Loops, Greenwich
* Thames Festival
* Profile view: Katrin
* Halloween Skate
* Rotate on this!

== THIS WEEK ==

Whilst a large number of our regular skaters and marshals will be off
in Berlin going as fast as they (in)humanly can, the rest of us mere
mortals will be here. And rest assured we have an LONDON FRIDAY NIGHT
SKATE to match. Lead Marshal Christian will be taking us on a 12 mile
"Best of London" sightseeing tour which will hit Kensington in the
West and St Pauls in the East. The skate will be red (i.e. intermediate)
pace throughout and so is perfect if you've never done an LFNS
before. And even if you have, we think you'll enjoy this one. Just as
much fun as a regular LFNS but a bit more chilled. Halftime is near
Chancery Lane.

Those of you who are publicity shy might like to know that this week's
LFNS is going to be attended by a photographer from Time Out. He'll be
around before the skate and will also be meeting up with us en route
somewhere for some action photos. If you fancy being featured in the
magazine, then show up nice and early (7.30 would be good) for the
LFNS and try to look photogenic! Obviously if you don't want to be in
the magazine, just tell him and he won't take your mugshot.

                               http://www.lfns.co.uk/route.php/20060922


- "I remember a stage and watching childrens shows. There always
    seemed to be bowling going on and a lovely cafeteria."
                         - Guestbook at http://www.vauxhallpark.org.uk/

On the SUNDAY STROLL, Kensey will be taking us to a seldom visited
location, Vauxhall Park (nearest tube Vauxhall). Once one of London's
finest green spaces, the park was neglected in the 70s and fell into a
state of disrepair. However it has been restored in the last few
years, so we're going to see how far it's come. It's also home to the
amazing gingko tree - whose species has survived at least 240 million
years, since before the dinosaurs roamed the earth. And a model
village, too. So we're spoiling you (again).

The route is a fairly short one, which should allow us a leisurely
pace, so this stroll will be ideal for beginners to street skating.

                               http://www.lfns.co.uk/route.php/20060924


== LAST WEEK ==

- "Thank you very much for a great fun event" - web site feedback

- "The music was fantastic, better than most night clubs"

- "It was from a European trance event. So it turns out people
   actually DO love European trance ..." - DJ Joby

On FRIDAY our second attempt at the Loopy Route succeeded. Battersea
Park, Waterloo Bridge and the Aldwych loop followed by the downhill
onto Embankment. Almost no cobbles either - is Markus losing his
touch?

                               http://www.lfns.co.uk/route.php/20060915/1
               http://sensation.id-t.com/sensation2006/white/event-white/


- "Is there any reason why all our one way strolls end up at the top of
   some hill?"
- "it's always good to finish on a high"

- "at halftime on Sunday, I got bought a nice cold bottle of water by
   a skater. Just thought it'd be nice to say thankyou in WoW" - a
marshal
   (So, whoever you are, thanks!)

The SUNDAY STROLL was off to Greenwich to meet up with Car-Free Day.
Lead marshal Alan led us through the City to a half time ice cream by
Tower Bridge. THen we followed the Thames from central London to a
place so far east that some of the passers by looked so incredulous we
could only assume they'd never seen skates before.

Thanks to everyone who brought shoes and wore them for the journey
through the foot tunnel itself. Although it was a bit drier than the
previous day when we route checked it, it could still have been
"interesting" otherwise. And the hill! Oh what a hill! Mingling with
the charity walkers, we huffed and we puffed upwards to the climax of
our Stroll: the Greenwich Observatory with panoramic views of our
great city.

We'd have loved to hang around and check out the great bars and
restaurants in Greenwich, but a lot of us had to get back for our
evening's entertainment: the LFNS had a spot in the Thames
Festival. Read on to see how we rolled on.

                               http://www.lfns.co.uk/route.php/20060917/1


== THAMES FESTIVAL ==

>From serpentineroad ...

- "Woohoo! I have glowing cups" (good, but beaten by Mozza's flashing
cups)
- "We should do it again next year!!"
- "Was a real 'l love london and I love being a part of this'"
- "Really enjoyed it, had a wicked evening"

       http://www.serpentineroad.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=303116#303116

In the marshal forum ...

- "I thought I'd bent a steering rod on the bike through spirited
    cornering, but it seemed OK on the way home"


7pm on the Embankment: It was the Mayor's Thames Festival, and we
rocked the joint. We had stiff competition (wings, glitter, a dog-sled
skateboarder and more itsy-bitsy costumes than you could shake a
glow-stick at) but we were there to represent an integrated London
skate scene and demonstrate what goes on within it.

50 skaters, two street skate groups (the LFNS and the LondonSkate), 15
illuminated slalom cones, 5 radio-linked synchronised sound systems,
one freestyle club, one banner (doubling as freejump pole), and an
awful lot of red and black. We danced and we skated ourselves silly,
jumping, slaloming and weaving our way through to the fireworks finale
by the Thames. Bigger, better and louder, we'll definitely be
back next year.
                               http://www.lfns.co.uk/route.php/20060917/72

Thansk to Miles and Yolanda for shooting and editing the video: our 4
minutes 55 seconds of fame is now available in both HD and a smaller
web-friendly version.

            http://www.serpentineroad.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20811


== PROFILE VIEW ==

This week's featured LFNS Marshal is Katrin, aka Hatzi-Katzi, who is
instantly recognisable by one certain feature (no, not those): her
autographed helmet. Now on the third edition, the Helmet-Katzi Mk
III was started during this years' Le Mans 24 hrs Rollers in July and
has signatures from all of London's top skaters. And us.

Katrin hails from St. Martin im Innkreis, a tiny little village near
Linz, on the slopes of some huge mountain in Austria, surrounded by
vast lakes, craggy slopes and grand views. (And snow and mountain
goats and stuff). Her family runs a bed and breakfast there, so if
you're ever in St. Martin im Innkreis, you know where to go! We're
told they make really nice cider there too...

Having left the chilly climes of Austria for sunny London in the
spring of 2004, Katrin discovered skating shortly afterwards. She
bought a pair of "very cheap but beautiful" skates and happened upon
the Sunday Stroll on the 16th of May, one week before her 19th
birthday, (a date for the diary, folks). Despite not speaking the
language, Katrin quickly made lots of friends on the skate. A few
Strolls later, Katrin joined the LondonSkate and LFNS, bought a pair
of DeeMax 3 and the rest is history. She's been marshalling the LFNS
since late last year and loves every minute of it. Katrin says the
street skates are "a great way to see London and to meet new people
from around the whole world, who are now my best friends."

When not skating, Katrin works as an au pair for a family in North
London, taking care of three boys: Zac (6), Harry (9) and Jack (12).
She plans to get them all skating as soon as possible.


== THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT ==

Mark your diaries for this one now: The Halloween Skate, Sunday 29th
October, starting at 5pm and lasting for approx 2 hours. The start
point is opposite the Bandstand on Serpentine Road (where the
LondonSkate usually starts, a short distance from the start of the
Sunday Stroll).

Despite anything you may have read elsewhere (no, no, we're not bitter
that the LondonSkate Wire scooped us) this is not an LFNS production.
But it is being co-ordinated by our very own Lead Marshal Bren, and
both the LFNS and LondonSkate crew will be working together to marshal
the monsters and ghosts through London at a medium/chilling pace.

So get your scary costumes together (even if it is a carved out
pumpkin on your head) and join in. More details will be released later
on the official website.
                                           http://www.halloweenskate.com


== ROTATE! ==

Our very own Markus has written a superb guide to wheel rotating here:

http://skating.thierstein.net/Knowledge/Inline_Skating_Rollerblading_Information_Wheel_rotation.html

so rather than copy and paste and pretend the knowledge is our own, we
instead have Joby's insight into the philosophy of wheel rotating:

"You need to rotate your wheels" is one of those gems of helpful
advice you often get free from a seasoned skater on inspection of
your skates. This along with "you need to get new bearings" when
they hear a slight grinding is something that really gets me
riled. "I don't need new bearings they're just really dirty and I
know my wheels need rotating but thankfully my lifestyle is so
hectic that I don't have time, however, thanks all the same for
pointing out the blatantly obvious." And, frankly, when your wheels
need rotating it is obvious. They'll be chiselled, uneven and you'll
notice your skates are slower and less responsive than usual. So why
not rotate at the next possible opportunity? Probably because
you're out skating and when you get home a hot shower and a cup of
tea are much more appealing than whipping out your allen key and
attempting a Michael Schumacher pit stop. Soon you'll be either
tucked up in bed or curled up on the couch and your skates will be
the last thing on your mind. You will remember to rotate them though
- it will hit you when you have to leave the house for your next
street skate and there simply isn't time. So how can we solve this
dilemma? Well there a two options available, the best of which is to
turn up to the park early before a skate, bring your trusty allen
key and rotate before you skate. That way you avoid soiling the
carpet, don't end up stuck at home because you've missed the start
of the skate and, even better, you can go for a warm up skate before
the street skate departs. The other options is to be disciplined and
plan your time effectively but we won't go into that.

If you spend a fortune having your nails manicured then latex gloves
will save your precious digits from skater gunk. The most common
problem when rotating wheels is over enthusiastic use of the allen
key resulting in a rounded bolt. After you've done this you'll feel
terrible, curse yourself for ruining your skates (you'll never get
that wheel out now) and contemplate living on raw pasta for the next
three months in order to replace your precious inlines. Then you'll
take them to Club Blue Room or Slick Willies in the hope that maybe
they can work a miracle. Then they'll smile at you and fix it in 2
minutes flat. Roll on.


== OVER AND OUT ==

That's it. Finished. Ain't you lot got homes to go to? Don't forget
that TONIGHT (WEDNESDAY) is the last LondonSkate of the year - 8pm
from the Bandstand on Serpentine Road. For any comments or questions
about this mail, please contact us using the feedback form on our site
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