The three day urban sports festival was held in Gravesend at the Cyclopark. Events and activities included inline & quads skate, circus skills, BMX, skateboard and scooter. Camping facilities was available too. I only attended the final day so can’t comment on the Saturday and Sunday events. Getting there. It was an hour journey from Charing Cross station on the train. The great thing about going to an event like this was that we had our skates with us. It took about twenty minutes to skate from Gravesend Station to Cyclopark, saving us the taxi fare. We saw some longboarders doing the same on the way but they were struggling when they got to the hill. Signing Up. The inaugural event was well organised. You could sign up online ahead of time. As I was unsure whether I could make this event I did so on the day. Everyone was given different wristbands depending on what event they may be partaking or if you were just spectating. I signed up for the inline skate half marathon. Skate Slalom. We got at the venue early so we caught the end of the slalom competition. Natalie, one of the organisers had been trying to persuade me to enter this but I hadn’t really slalom skated since the last competition, four months ago. (Speed skating has had my attention lately, hence the marathon sign up). The slalom skaters were amazing as usual. It did make me want to get into the cones, just maybe away from the really good cool people! We saw them do jumps and slides as well. Something I’ve done very little of. They demonstrated an immense amount of control whereas I’d go for it, commit and just hope for the best. Skate Marathon. I only signed up for the half as I have the full marathon at Copenhagen a week later. Having not done a full distance before on my speed skates I didn’t want to potentially cause an injury, or not give myself enough time to recover before the event a week later. The racers included inline skaters and longboard skaters. For the full and half event we were split into our designated start points. Full marathoners started first. Soon after the half marathoners lined up. My friend Mark, aka Sushi invited me to join him in pacelining together for the race. I was unsure whether I could keep up with him but he reassured me he was going to take it easy. At the start line I had two rows of people ahead, Sushi was at the front. I don’t like fighting for space so I stayed put, aiming to squeeze past when I had the chance. The gun shot and people scrambled for positions. It all happened really fast and that was the last time I saw Mark before the end of the race. The course. At the start of each lap was a nice downhill straight where you could really sprint down. I thought about using that stretch to recover but the speed was just too inviting with nobody in the way. The course otherwise was very hilly, lots of sharp turns so it was difficult to actually get into a nice rhythm. Part way up the final hill my friends Ania, Chidi and Thomas had perched themselves on a bench to cheer us racers on. Very good position to do so as that hill became longer after each lap. There was a very sharp U turn on the final bend. If you overshot you would have ended up down a grass hill. Fortunately I tested the track out before the actual race as I freaked a little the first time, breaking quite heavily on my speed skates. As the laps went on I engaged it more efficiently with tight cross-overs. As I went around I could see the other events going such as the BMX and Scooter. It was great to see what the other groups were doing. This also provided entertainment as I climbed the steep section of the course. Later on I was pretty much taking one step at a time up the hill. Memorable Moments. It was a really hot day. Every time I passed my friends I envied the ice cold beer they had. Roger in jest offered his beverage. During the rest of that lap that’s all I was thinking about. I fancied a cheeky swig. So when I saw Roger again I accepted his offer. That was the most memorable lager I’ve ever sampled. Being so thirsty I became all the more conscious of its sweet bitter flavour slipping back, working its intense taste all the way down. Slowly dispersing its coolness where it touched. I felt refreshed from that sip which surged me to go faster, knowing I could have a full bottle once I finished. (I don’t encourage or endorse alcohol during active exercise!). Unfortunately that boost of energy didn’t last long. On the final lap I lost a bit of enthusiasm as my legs ached and cramped. My smile and bouncy energy was not around this time as I passed my friends on the hill. No posing for photos this time. I just wanted to finish. Hats off to the longboarders as they look like they were struggling with the hilly track. A lot of them walked up the inclines. Results. Mark came first. So much for him taking it easy! There was no way I could have kept up with him. I finished at just over 46 minutes (I can’t remember the exact time) which was a similar finish time to my race at LIM. This was a surprise to me as I was literally walking up some sections of the Cyclopark but at LIM I was more consistent with my pace. (On reflection I must have made up the time difference with the downhill sprint at each lap at Blitz). Blitz Festival Finale. To finish the day my friend Gary was attempting to break the Guinness Book of Records’ fastest time to complete a line of twenty cones on one inline skate. Unfortunately it didn’t happen that day but his attempts were impressive. They had the official Guinness man, camera crew and CBBC presenter with all his cheesiness for the event. (It took forever for them to film everything and I was getting hungry..). Blitz Closing Comments. This was a really nice day out and it was great to see urban sports from various disciplines all in one place. I was gutted to have missed out on watching some of the other events on the other days such as the skate cross. Hopefully I’ll catch more events next year… Highlight of the day. My friend Richard had the great idea of going down to Whitstable after the event. Watching the sunset on the beach, whilst eating a well-earned fish and chips with everyone was bliss.
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For the past two months I’ve been getting use to my speed skates and even had a competitive half marathon in them. I wanted to try them out myself and discover any issues before having any lessons. Now seemed to be a good time for some professional guidance before I pick up any bad practice with my speed skates. The obvious person to go to for tuition was Mike Van Erp as it was his complimentary speed skating drill sessions that slowly changed my perceptions and got me interested in speed skating. Also not forgetting he is one of the London Skaters Speed Team coaches and was highly recommended by many of my friends. The course was held in Hyde Park that consisted of three, two hour lessons; plus a video review. It was suppose to be on consecutive weeks but the English weather got the better of us. A lot of the classes had to postponed but Mike was very accommodating when it overran into unscheduled weeks. One Saturday it was called off but he compensated us with a free additional practise lesson on top of what we’ve paid for, even though it was the weather’s fault. Top man. The class was for speed skating technique and ironically a lot of the exercises were done at a slow speed. It allowed us to concentrate on the nuances. Quite often the tasks would have made no sense to an outsider looking in, but they helped segregate to just one aspect of the leg movement. Mike made lots of big swooping chalk lines and shapes on the ground to aid us in understanding how he wanted us to skate. There were exercises that had us remove a skate. It really made you aware of how lazy one leg can be, while the other leg compensates. My slalom skating gave me a real advantage in some situations as I was already used to balancing in strange and awkward positions. One example is thrusting your front foot to carve left and right whilst your back foot is doing a toe roll. The video review was good to have. Mike filmed us all separately from three different angles using his GoPro from his recumbent bike. We all received a link to everyone’s video and a very comprehensive set of notes for each of us. Being able to see each other’s fault and plus points helps us be more aware of what exactly is good technique. He pointed tips specific to each of us for improvement too. While I felt more enriched with the theory of speed technique I’ve not immediately gone up a gear. These things take time. I said earlier about not picking up bad habits. Mike pointed out that as I have been skating for over twenty years with the typical ‘street,’ style skate it would actually be harder for me in some ways over a newbie to re-program my skating style. So practice is what I need to do now. Lots and lots. Especially at slower speeds. (So I can go faster!). The setup was exactly the same as last year so I won't repeat the details from 2012.
Different from last year for me however is that instead of having heavy Seba slalom skates I now have a month old Powerslide Double X speed skates with big 110mm wheels. I was tempted with doing the full marathon but other more experienced skaters advised against it as I was still new to speed skating. My muscles may not have built up enough to handle the ankle strains of speed skating. I still brought my Seba skates just to compare the difference before the race. You're just so much more efficient when your wheels aren't rockered. The speed skates themselves just made attacking the hill a breeze in comparison. No wobbly rockered feeling on the downhill either. This should be a good event! Last time I did this race I did three extra laps without realising. My friend Elisabeth offered to lap count for me as she, Ania and Chidi from the Easy Saturday Skate (ESS) came to support the skaters instead of participating this year. I still kept a mental count but it was nice for her to confirm my progress each lap. The race. I made a conscious decission to keep back at the start, no sprinting as I tend to do. My friend Alex was keeping the pace first lap. He had slightly smaller wheels but this made a big difference in speed for me especially as Alex was blocking the headwind. I even had time to pose for his helmet camera pointing back at me. On lap two I decided to take the paceline. However the bigger wheels are just so much faster. I shot up ahead, only realising when I got part way up I had lost him. Just before the top the three lovely ESS girls had found their cheerleading spot. Perfect positioning to give you an extra shot of energy to clear the hilltop. I really enjoyed the course this year. Speed skates make this course a lot more fun to attack. I jumped between the few pacelines that came about. Using slower skaters to momentarily windshield before overtaking. The long windy bits were noticeably easier to cut through than the rockered skates. That said I was still no competition for the top guys. At least it felt less demoralising this year as it took them a little more time to overtake! About half way through I noticed two skaters in the distinctive blue and white London Speed Skaters Team skinsuits. I pushed on passed and it was fantastic to see Alex was leading the pack. Having identifiable kit on the course is great, making it much easier to recognise people. Nice to give a little hoodwink on track. On my penultimate lap I saw my friend Chris. I invited him to join me pushing on faster. As we went around we alternated lead which helped in conserving energy but uniformly we were stronger. On the final stretch to the finish Chris signalled to step it up one more time. I followed but that was just a bit more than I could muster. After crossing the line I thought I might as well do one more lap even though Elisabeth had counted my laps. In fact she also insisted I do, just incase. My extra lap wasn't rushed, a nice steady pace which allowed me to recover from the finishing sprint. When I got to the windy stretch again I saw two skaters struggling. I ended up befriending them as I blocked the headwind for them. Jeremy and Fred were their names. I left them at the top of the hill after my extra lap. The things is I felt good to keep going. I rejoined the circuit when I saw my friends Richard and Alistair continuing their full marathon. Richard helped me out a lot when I first got my speed skates, giving me pointers and correcting my obvious street skater traits so I could be more efficient. As we went around we swapped positions. When I was leading he was voicing instructions just as they do with motorcycle training. Shame I didn't have him the earlier during my race! After six laps I stopped at the ESS cheer spot. I could feel my skates were getting a bit tight as they're still new and not been properly broken into. As I rested and watched the remaining skaters go on it only made me eager to get back on the track. I saw Anna fighting up that hill so I retied my skates up and I caught up with her. Again I acted as the windbreak. It was nice helping out a fellow skater and understood why others have done so too in the past. Summary. Chris managed to podium overall in the half marathon with a bronze. In our age category he took gold while I took the unexpected silver! This was an awesome moment being on the podium. However I was a little disappointed to learn there were only three of us anyway in our age group! That said, I felt good and I'm really happy with my half marathon time. (46min, 45sec). Yes I had better kit this year but I still chomped off a meaty 19 minutes from last year's time. I also did a heap of extra laps which in the end equated to a full marathon distance. We ended the day with what seems to have become a tradition of a meaty pizza. It was a smaller group this year of us ESS people but it was just as memorable. Too much food was bought for our group trip to Le Mans. (You can never have too much food). So we had picnic the following week to help use everything up. Best idea ever.
It was so nice to get everyone together, especially those who couldn't make the trip to France. We had plenty of entertainment that day: - This was my second time on the freeline skates, but still with little progress. - A great skate instructor, Mike Van Erp also gave us a brief introductory on roller hockey before we got stuck into a friendly game. This was my first time playing hockey on skates, it was really fun but I can imagine the likelihood of injuries would be quite high when you start to get more competitive! - I had my second day on speed skates too. Loving the oomph of my new toys. I stretched my legs around Hyde Park. Going up South Carriage Drive was particularly good with noticeably less effort and strides. My friend Richard who is an experienced speed skater gave me a lot of pointers, particularly that my technique is too 'street.' So whilst I can thrash around with bursts of energy, I wasn't exactly efficient for longer sessions. Another skater Gib very kindly let me practice some speed skating drills with him. I think I've underestimated the technicality of the whole speed thing… Overall it was a fantastic day out in the sun with good people and lots of different ways of rolling! After the excitement of Le Mans and a timely work bonus I was in the Club Blue Room skate shop again. This time I was after speed skates, my friend Tom came too looking for some slalom skates.
I tried on a couple of pairs and I was expecting them to feel like wooden clogs after hearing about other peoples' experiences of speed skates. They were all a lot more comfortable than I imagined. Powerslide Double X is what I was drawn towards. The manager, Dave saw me trying them out around the shop. Dave mentioned he has them too and how great he's found them to use. They're also heat mouldable so certain areas can be stretched to accomodate individual foot shapes. Heat moulding is something Club Blue Room do as an after are service but there's nothing stoping you from doing this at home if you know how. I tried them out a little longer and just out of curiosity I tried doing a double toe wheely in the shop. It worked, the response and control I had with the skates felt good. Sold. Tom also got his slalom 'Hardcore Evo,' skates. We could have been on the advert for Powerslide skates with the way we both came out of the shop beaming. Christmas had come early. Our first destination was Hyde Park. I said to myself I'd be sensible and take it easy on my first outing on speed skates. However this bike zoomed past. Challenge accepted. The power transfer with the speed skates is just so much more efficient than my other slalom and recreational skates. I managed to overtake the bicycle before the end of the Serpentine Road where I slowed to turn back around. The bike stopped at the end too, I thought he was going to have a go at me for something silly as certain cyclists have a thing against skaters. It's all a bit silly, like some kinda of old fashioned racism However he was really interested in how fast I was going. That's something I've always wondered myself... After some more runs I decided to join Tom in the slalom cones too. Probably not the best skate for slaloming but I manage some toe wheeling. Also the 'Special,' but out of cones. (I can't do the Special with my actual slalom skates anyway). I forgot to film the Special. A lot of people were warning me that it'll take months and months to build ankle strength in order to get used to speed skates. I was already purposely building up my ankle strength anyway, but for slalom toe wheeling and I think that really helped prepare me for my new skates. So what I've come to believe is that slalom skating has fed into my all-round skating, street skating and now speed skating too. The Concept. A 24 hour relay race around the Bugatti track in Le Mans, France on skates. In the spirit of the motorcycle version of the race the starting participants start on one side of the track, running to the opposite side to put on their skates. From then the team who complete the most laps within 24 hours wins. There are different categories for a 10 man, 5 man, duo and solo teams, separated into both male and female, as well as age categories. Racers can change over at designated baton areas. My initial thoughts. ‘This is crazy.’ I first heard about this race from a fellow street skater I’d met a couple of times. She was trying to persuade me to join a team she recently signed on to. I like my sleep and the thought of racing for twenty four hours was just stupid. Although it seemed like one of those crazy things you’d do just once just to say you’ve done it. Or perhaps something to experience with a close group of friends. Never say never. The idea slowly came around (not that time), as I learnt a bit more about it from the other skaters. You don’t have to be up the whole time. In a team you take it in shifts. During your session it was up to you how many laps you’d do and if you really weren’t feeling up for it no one was going to make you do anything. Unless you’re in the elite, everybody else is there for an experience and perhaps to challenge their own personal lap time on the Bugatti track. The Team. Easy Saturday Skate did their first Le Mans race in 2012. I didn’t go that year, although a little tempted. Having seen and heard the reaction of their experience and their urge to go again I decide it is indeed something you need to try at least once as a skater. The organisation was done primarily by Alex. His effort was really appreciated by everyone in the group and noticed by everyone else. Other teams were impressed by how well planned everything was, from registration, camping, food, transport to the skate itself. Skaters in our people gave their assistance where needed but for a lot of us all we had to do is pay up, done. Alex, we salute you sir. Easy Saturday Skate had two teams in 2012. London ESS and London ESS Escargots. The prefix of London meant that all the London teams were together in the pitlanes. ‘Escargot,’ was a friendly poke at the London Skaters Speed Team who had several teams including their London LSST ‘Fast,’ team. Alex asked if anyone had a preference on teams and positions, I requested to be one the starters for the race. Nobody else stepped forward so it was Alex for London ESS and myself for London ESS Escargots. We joked between us that on rainy days where we couldn’t skate we should practice putting our skates on. However that’s exactly what I did! (The sad man I am!). I was using my Powerslide Doop Skates, 84mm wheels. These skates allows me use my own trainers as part of the skate which I thought would be an advantage. (It only stopped me getting soggy socks at the start of the race where the mats were still wet on the starting position). I timed myself and it took about forty seconds, with some practice I knocked off another eight. The top velcro strap was replaced with a clip strap from my old skate as it was a faster mechanism to lock. (Another five seconds saved!). I eventually got it down to twenty five seconds. All this is just a bit of fun. In the grand scheme of things saving fifteen seconds at the start of the event wasn’t really going to make the world of difference! Nevertheless I still practiced, just a little bit..! The Trip. As we had our entire luggage, skates and camping kit it was best to travel by car with a ferry crossing. Lucy was our fantastic driver. She and Amy in our car was one of the Pit Crew for ESS. Jennifer travelled with us too but was racing for London Dreggs. In true road trip fashion we had an abundance of snacks. At Portsmouth we met up with Alex, Elisabeth and Ania. They were transporting the bulk of the camping and food, which left poor Ania at the back with just about enough room to breathe. The ferry was over night as it seemed to be one of those freight ships with just a handful of passengers. On board wasn’t much entertainment, so we were using those portable radios to annoy each other, as we had started doing an hour before and for the rest of the journey. “hello hello,. Bonjour,… ça va?.!!!” Camping. As an amateur camper this was the one part of the trip I was the most apprehensive about. When putting up everybody else’s tent I hovered about a bit before I figured out where to stick the poles. My two man popup tent was probably too small even for a small child. Unexpectedly I experienced rain inside this tiny bin bag as a result of me accidently bashing the sides, agitating the condensation. They had shower facilities on the campsite. Most of the toilets were missing seats. Camping, it is what it is but I like my home comforts. Parade Lap. There was a parade lap on the morning of the race. It’s a chance to experience the track in a non-competitive nature. People who weren’t participating were also allowed to take part, like our pit crew team. It was nice to actually skate altogether and to see the other London teams there too. The skater that impressed me the most was the one who was also on a unicycle at the same time! The Sprint Qualifications. In order to assign all the teams into starting positions one member of each team was required to do a 300 metres time trial. Neil and Nick were the sprinters for ESS. The Race. It was amazing being on the track side just before everything began. The crowd was roaring and there was such excitement. My teammates were in the viewing area right behind. I shook hands with my neighbouring competitors. There was a really important message being broadcasted on the speakers. I think even if it was in English it would have been difficult to understand. They probably explained exactly what was going to sound at the start. I expected a ‘trois, deux, un,’ followed by a gun shot. Instead it was a kind of Blitz war siren going off. We only realised this when everybody else started running forward. So much for practicing my boot strapping! I had barely got one skate on and people were already off! That said, my own skates were put on in good time. As I started my sprint up I passed quite a few people slowing down to adjust their skates. (If you’re going to do something you might as well do it properly the first time). The speed quickly dropped for me as we began the hill. It’s a steep 600m incline, very steep. This is what makes the course particularly challenging but this is what makes this event all the more unique. I picked up speed as I reached the peak of the Dunlop hill. As I went down the hill everyone tucked in tight around the bend. I saw someone at the corner of my eye try to overtake but he ended up tripping up. The road levelled off and there were lots of pacelines in action. I watched in dismay as skater after skater nipped passed me. Everyone seemed to be wearing speed skates. ‘I need bigger wheels,’ I said to myself. The starting skater has to do two laps so that the participants are more dispersed on the track to avoid a big clash for the first relay changeover. Previous years skaters were allowed to change over after ten minutes. So I reserved my energy just in case I needed to do a second lap. Thankfully I did, as the gates hadn’t opened for my teammates to go on. So off I went again.. My second consecutive lap was a killer. It was such a challenge to work out the best way of attacking the circuit as the hill is the most energy sapping section of the course. My subgroup consisted of Gianni, Nick and our pitcrew member was Karl, who kept a note of our times and making sure the person next on track was ready. As the time went on we became more aware of how long we got to rest before we’re next on. We all get on really well socially and skate wise. Our baton changeovers were spot on, giving each other an extra boost push in the process. We were all averaging ten minute laps, so we got about a twenty minute rest between our laps. At the beginning I was really pumped to get back on, but after clocking more miles we began to appreciate our mini breaks. During our breaks we could rest up a little or enjoy a wonder to see how our fellow London friends were doing. It was a great festival vibe going on. Everyone was happy to exchange any piece of advice they can give to make it that bit easier for yourself. Back on the track, once I saw Jennifer climbing the hill. I followed behind with her pace. When we got to the top she was more exhausted from leading so I decided to take over. I said to her to follow, signally with my hands too. (However it wasn’t until a couple of months later she said that at the moment she thought I was gloating and waving ‘byebye,’ to her!). Well this Italian guy followed my lead. Jennifer then took position behind him. As I was nearing the end of the lap I began to slow down, but every time I did the Italian gave me a gentle nudge. So with Jennifer leading the initial pace for the hill, me blocking the headwind and the Italian giving me the extra boost it was a good team effort. Similar scenarios like this would happen throughout the day, but each lap the exact tactics may have to be played differently depending on who was around. By the time our four hours was up I was ready to hand the baton to the next subgroup. End of shift breaktime. On my last couple of laps I started to get cramp in one of my calves. Thankfully ESS had two training sports massage therapists with us, Cecile and Sid. Once I had finished my shift Sid tended my aching legs which I was extremely grateful for. I didn’t have any more cramp complaints for the rest of the weekend. When I got back to the camp site an hour had passed already. I showered up and ate some pasta some of the others had left out for us. Before I knew it I only had four hours to get some sleep before my final shift. It was quite strange as some people were then getting ready to go on course. Because of the lively activity throughout the whole weekend it meant another night of broken sleep. Shift Two. As my alarm went off at 3:45am I bashed around the tent trying to turn it off. I could then hear someone just outside my tent so I popped my head out, it was Gianni. He was already dressed and ready to go. Better get a move on. The temperature outside was close to freezing. It meant that my sweaty jersey was still damp, if not wetter from the night dew. Putting the jersey back on in that weather was one of the most unpleasant morning experiences I can remember. Note to self, get a second jersey and bigger tent. Back on track and it was really foggy. As we waited for the changeover we could hardly see who was coming up. The temperature was low so while others were huddling under blankets I dropped down to bust out a set of press-ups to get that blood pumping, while not tiring out the muscles I actually needed to use on the course. On one of my laps I saw my friend Chris. For some reason he (and Richard) had decided to compete solo this year. We had a brief exchange of words but he was taking a much slower and consistent pace for his twenty-four hour endurance. It was mad to think that he started the same time as me but I had an eight hour break with food, sleep and a forty minute massage. Chris and Richard are built of something else! I noticed my GoPro was low on power so during my break between runs I was concerned more with charging my camera up. Whilst elsewhere in the pitlanes people were sleeping, bunched up together for warmth. It wasn’t like a library but there was a noticeable difference in atmosphere in the pits during the early hours of the day. As fatigue set in some people were in tears for various reasons. People’s mental state as well as physical state is tested in this experience. On a more uplifting note, seeing the sunrise at the top of the mega hill above the mist was incredible. You could see everyone taking a moment to appreciate it before dipping back into the foggy downhill. My fastest time was 9 minutes 37 seconds. I wanted to get near it again but most of my laps were closer to 10 minutes. The frustrating thing was that this time was my first lap, the one that included me putting on my skates! I guess exhaustion prevented me from getting close to that again, yet I continued to try. On my penultimate lap I saw my fellow ‘ESSer,’ Elisabeth on track. I offered to pull her up the hill. Elisabeth held on which made the hill even harder! That said I think I needed an extra motive on the later laps as I was really losing steam. It was quite nice having some familiar company on the way around. Although it took Elisabeth’s partner Alex by surprise at the changeover as we were slightly earlier than expected with the lap timing. On my final lap I was very tired so I thought I’d have a more relaxed fun lap. I did majority of the hill backwards. Because the muscles for skating backwards are slightly different it felt easier as they hadn’t been used much. This was the case until the backwards skate muscles got tired too, as they’re not as developed as the normal skating muscles. I got a few smiles from other skaters going by though! Race Over. The racing had finished for myself but there was still another eight hours to go for the other team members. I showered up and ate like crazy. Once freshened up we re-joined everyone on the track side to cheers them on. We found a nice spot just by the final stretch to skater spot and scream our words of support. In the hour we were there we got more people joining us doing the same. Final Lap. It’s become a tradition for a lot of teams, including all of the London groups to skate together on the last lap. This becomes the unofficial closing parade. Everyone who had already finished racing went up to the higher spectator stands to get a better view of everything. It was great to see that unison even in this competitive environment. Accomplishments. For me this was my first Le Man experience so that was my achievement. Skating with little sleep and completing 15 laps covering over 39 miles. Individual teams and people went for different reasons. Some more competitively than others. For the two London Solo skaters. Out of 67 other solo entrants Richard came 12th. Chris came 11th. Both of them got a heroes applaud as they walked or were carried back from their pitlanes. It’s an incredible achievement to have been skating for twenty four hours, with minimal breaks and to have ranked so high. Chris’ aim was to come in the top 10 and skate 100 laps, he was one score away each so he said he’d be back again. The five woman team London Galactics managed to podium with 1st place. London made the loudest noise in the crowd and especially when they went up to claim their trophy. It was a massive achievement for the girls with an impressive 133 laps. (To put it into perspective, our ESS team did 122 laps with a ten person team). Summary So while everyone wanted to celebrate the weekend. Most people were equally as exhausted. Including me. Our celebrations were quite mellow on the camp site. Pizza and booze was good. The whole event was on a much grander scale than I had imagined. So many people enjoyed the concept of a crazy 24 hours skate. This time I was there just for the experience, but if I can get my stamina up I’d like to try another year a little more competitively in perhaps a five man team. However like I said before ‘I need bigger wheels.’ An instructor, Mile Van Erp had been holding some speed skating drill sessions over the winter. It wasn't so much a lesson but he got us doing strange exercises that focuses on specific areas of your technique.
For me I had no interest in speed skating but it was an evening during the week where I got to do some skating/exercise with my friends. The drills were pretty weird, the drill names were weirder. Lemons, Awoogas, etc. Mike said we should all be aiming to land on our outside edge, this concept sounded frightening. It wasn't until one evening I watched a slow motion video of a speed skater that the pieces started coming together and I began to understand what we're aiming towards. Being able to already do lots of slalom tricks I decided that I should be capable of doing this outside edging technique. Difference is that slalom tricks are generally done at a slow pace when compared to speed skating, that's what made the idea a little scary. With this edging technique I've tried a couple of times but lacked the confidence to go for it. Today at Victoria Park was the first time I got a nice outside edge with both feet. Today it really clicked and my skating style has changed since. It's far from perfect but I can already notice being more efficient on the longer stretches. Goals. After speaking to everyone a time of 2 hours seemed to be an achievable task. My other aim I set myself was to beat my GoPro battery. Apparently the battery has 2.5 hour battery life so this should be the easier of the two tasks to do, even if the overall battery life has depleted a little. The Trip. In Goodwood I signed up on my own, I recognised a few people I’d met on a few occasions from the street skates. This time however I was going with the ESS group, a bunch of really awesome friends. If this marathon experience had been awful again it wouldn’t have mattered as the whole vibe of twenty of us really made this trip memorable. Signing up. Our wonderful group organiser Alex did this. It was beneficial doing this way as we got a group discount. For the inline marathon at Berlin the process is more straight forward than the running event as this is never oversubscribed. Registration. You need to confirm your attendance and collect your race number and electronic timer chip. This can be done two days in advance or even on the day at the Expo. (Best to avoid event day though). We went the day before. Nothing too exciting at the exhibition, then again I wasn’t after anything. Registration was done at the former Tempelhof Airport. The airfield is now an open park so we were free to stretch out our skate legs on the old runway. Some what windy being all open but the kite surfers really took to it. Event day. So many people! Wow. Never seen such a crowd of skaters. Close to seven thousand on wheels. The staff were great in assisting us non-German speaking folk. Lots of porterloos about. Personal belongings could be stored at secure tents. They had male and female tents just to help speed things along if you’re obviously heading to the wrong area. Unless you’ve taken over a female friend’s registration entry ticket which my friend Simon did, or Lucy as he was that day. (I believe since 2013 the transfer of entry is not possible because of security issues). As we psyched ourselves up for the event a few of us were feeling a little nervous. With thoughts of being the last one across the line, or worse being picked up by the minibus scooping up anyone who is taking over two and a half hours. “That’s fithteen minutes faster than my previous marathon time!” I was reassured by the others that this track is much smoother than Goodwood and the fact it was through the city so it was a lot less windy. There were a lot of lycra cladded people in giant 110mm wheels, they look the part. Some of them however dressed like a speed skater but could barely walk across a slightly uneven bit of paving. How on earth they were going to do twenty six miles is a mystery. This however gave me another boost of confidence. I won’t be last. The time soon came for us to edge our way to the start point. Depending on your previous marathon time you were in a particular starting block. So block A was the elite. We were in the last, group E is also known as the ‘Party,’ block. It is possible to change your block at registration if you’ve got some proof of better times. Alternatively you can talk you way through the marshals with whatever cheeky story. We were happy to be in the party group. The amount of people that were there was incredible. Skaters stretching further than you can see both towards the front and back of the massive road. The atmosphere was fantastically energising, helped with the pounding music hyping the crowd. Each starting block had a separate countdown to avoid any crushes. After every group had started the adrenaline fired up more. High fives all round and we were ready to go. We had an idea of sticking together but I knew in reality it would be difficult to pace altogether with our varying abilities for the whole twenty six miles. Fünf, vier, drei, zwei, eins. (5, 4, 3, 2, 1). BANG! Go, go, go,. wait for a bit. I keep mentioning there were a lot of people, but there were. This meant the start off wasn’t so exciting for block E. It was a slow start as we were in the middle of the group. This was fine as I was happily soaking in the vibes from the crowd. We didn’t start to pick up pace until five minutes in when the pack started to disperse. A paceline of about nine ‘ESSers,’ formed and we began to pick up speed. The ESS train started weaving its way through. I was getting such a rush from this but was wondering how I’d keep this velocity for the whole way around. An unfortunate mishap meant two of the members of this run dropped out together. We slowed down to see what happened. One of them managed to compose and regroup with us. The pace picked up again.. Being a London street skater we’re used to big potholes and other hazards on the road. The Germans have built a super smooth road which was amazing to ride. Occasionally skaters arms went up to signal caution ahead, but as we road pass we were left puzzled as to what the problem was. When we reached tramlines you could see people panicking as to how to navigate across. Advantage London. You can race in whatever kit you want, I was once again using the Salamon Chill LX, 84mm wheels. Classed as recreational skates. In the paceline the others were using 90mm, 100mm and 110mm wheels. Kit makes a difference. Thirty minutes in and I was starting to struggle with their pace. For every stride the others were taking I had to take two and a half. As well as making it difficult for myself to keep up, I was causing whoever was behind me to become off sync with the paceline leader. While I managed to pull myself from the brink several times, it just took a moment to lapse and that metre gap became two. The benefit of having them as a windbreak was suddenly lost and the fight to catch up was just too much. I dropped from them the ESS paceline shortly before the half way timer mats. If I didn’t drop out then it would have been soon after. I decided to slow right back down to allow myself to recover before engaging again. Ten minutes passed before I felt ready to go at it, at my pace. As I found my rhythm I looked behind and had the quiet satisfaction that a paceline had built up behind me. These people were using the guy who couldn’t keep up to pace! Crowds of people continued to cheer us on. I assume they were chanting words of encouragement! For next time I need to learn some German. Especially on occasions when other skaters were in the way. Shouting in English doesn’t get much of a response as when Alex shouted with his German earlier during the race. I loved being with my group for the first half of the marathon, equally I started to discover and enjoy the tactics involved with a skate race. Jumping between pacelines, sprinting up, or holding back. Massively taking advantage of the downhills where some of the others were breaking.. I could ‘cross over,’ around corners really fast but sometimes it wasn’t worth getting ahead as the wind was too strong. Stay back, wait your moment. Let the guys with the bigger wheels do the harder work, use your noodle. Around the 35km mark I heard a family voice shout out to me. It was my friend Ade. This was really nice and somewhat surreal being in foreign country, having not a clue where exactly where we were. He obviously had a lot of energy at that point and as good as it would have been to tag along I decided to keep at my comfortable pace. At 40 km it started to rain. I was glad at that point I had the waterproof housing for the GoPro, however a minute later I heard it beep twice which can only mean the battery had given up. Slightly annoyed to have failed one of my challenges but perhaps the GoPro failed me. I have no idea what time it really was. The ground started to get a little slippy. I was not too far away from the finish so best to battle on through as much as I can before it was completely wet. Sticking behind this paceline seemed like the best option. As we turned the final corner we could see Brandenburg Gate. What a sight. One last push. I love a sprint but it was about timing to maximise this last burst of energy. The crowd got bigger and the music got loader, the time was now. I pushed out from the paceline which instigated the rest of them to disperse too. While the other thrashed about to keep up I left them behind. I thrive on these moments which helps me push harder still. With the rain in full force now I didn’t get the complete sprint with wide strides. It was too slippy. Under Brandenburg Gate you had a choice of several underpasses. I changed my choice at the last second as a girl fell due to the extra slippery surface the bricks had become under this landmark. As I battled the last hundred metres I was drenched and aching all over but was smiling crazily. I looked up and saw the time read 2 hours plus. At this point I felt a little disappointed having now missed both goals. I passed the final timing mats absolutely exhausted but still proud to have finished my second skate marathon. Like being on a conveyor belt a finishers’ medal was put around my neck, a plastic sheet around my body to help reduce body heat loss, then over to the water point where I chucked back several cups of water. Lastly was the fruit stand where I just kept eating. The fruit seemed to dissolve as soon as it went in my stomach. Just a tad hungry.. The ESS group slowly reassembled and began exchanging stories of our achievements. Having our matching jerseys made it quite easy to spot each other. We were all tired yet beaming with excitement. My friend Ejaz asked if I’d achieved my goals set out. No to beating the GoPro battery and no to under two hours. However he reminded me that the time on the finishing line was from when the first group set off, fifteen minutes later than when we set off! That was a nice surprise. I went down to receive my official time with my friend Ania and yes I had beaten one of my goals. My time was 1 hour, 47 minutes and 47 seconds. We had a currywurst for dinner. The highlight of the meal was the most amazing chocolate cherry gateau ever. I was eating it like a kid on his birthday because it was bigger than everybody else’s not so good dessert.. After party. This was pretty cool. Nice venue. Awards were given out to all the top people. I believe they did the whole course in just over an hour! There were tons of lasers and the smoke machine blinded everybody every five minutes. It was great fun. They played lots German pop and we danced ridiculously. Up above us was a projector which had a slide show of the day’s event. It was pretty awesome that one of them was a photo of Peter, Ania and Simon from ESS which we went mental for every time it showed. We partied into the early hours despite our earlier sporting achievements. I enjoyed another currywurst on the way back to the apartment. Summary. All my goals were achieved. Kinda of… - A time of under two hours. - I was only five minutes away from beating the GoPro battery, but the battery life had depleted by forty minutes from its marketed specifications. Also I had the camera on five minutes before the actual start. (I’ll give myself that achievement!). Besides the silly challenge Berlin experience was a fantastic trip as a skater, tourist as well as socially. The atmosphere of the event can’t be beaten and for that I’ll definitely be back to knock off some more minutes of my new personal best marathon time.. Before agreeing to anything you should always try and find out as much info as possible. London Inline Marathon (LIM), was at Hillingdon and yes as the town suggests, the course is hilly.
My friend Simon who is an experienced speed skater and instructor advised me to ignore what I've heard and treat it as a day out with friends. It was also the first event for the ESS group with our team jerseys so would be nice to be a part of this little historic moment! Especially since I helped design the logo and was there for the design of the kit. At that point in time I'd already signed up to the Berlin marathon and this would be a nice warm up if I signed up for the half marathon at LIM. Signing up. Straight forward. Discount if registering early. Registration. Nice and easy. You get your race number, also got a water bottle and energy gel too. The course. Each lap was 0.93 miles. So you had to do 14 laps for the half. 28 laps for the full marathon. Before the race began I had a chance to test the track. It wasn't too bad, yes there are hills but the inclines were okay. The down hills felt shorter and wobbly! I was doing as Simon said and not taking this too seriously but I was using Seba FR1 with wheels which were 80mm at some point. The problem was that they were modified for slalom skating with a rockered setup. Bad idea. So much so that a skater I didn't know stopped me when I was back at the main building. He was really concerned about my wheel setup and was suggesting an alternative. With five minutes to the race, this was probably not the best time to do so. I stuck with what I was familiar with. The race. The full and half marathon started at different points on the track and at a few minutes interval. I think given the reputation of the course there weren't a huge amount of people. We heard the first shot fired and it wasn't long before the speed skaters whizzed passed. The marshal ushered us to the starting line. Second shot fired. The start was frantic. Lots of people fighting to establish their position. As I was there for fun I let them rumble out first. I've always been more of a sprinter so I have a habit of wasting myself at the beginning of races. (thinking back to athletics in school). This is a marathon.. I decided to try and keep pace with my friend Ejaz. After a lap I dropped behind, it was too much work trying to keep pace with my slalom skates. It was really tough. The hill at the start of each lap seemed to get longer every time. Even on the 'big,' downhill I was a bit cautious of as I had to fight the speed wobble. The top guys were lapping me countless times with utter ease. With their speed it was impossible to even attempt to draft behind them. No one nearby was ever going at my speed, yet I still wasn't the last. The ability range was quite varied. Because there were so many laps people came up with different ways of lap counting. - Each lap eating one of your 14 boiled sweets but that was a potential choking hazard. - Switching coins from your pocket each lap but becomes a problem if they fall out. - Using a GPS but if it's not accurate enough you might end up missing a lap. - At Goodwood I took a photo of myself, using my fingers to indicate lap number. It was a bit fidely messing with the camera each lap. This time I opted for a permanent marker pen which I'd make a tally on my arm every lap. The problem with all methods is that in the heat of the event your mental state of mind may not be so sharp if you're really pushing your limits. In Goodwood I ended up doing an extra lap. Back to LIM, at the end of my eleventh lap my friend Marco seemed to pick up speed and zoomed right pass. He crossed the line finishing his race. Impressed that he'd already completed it gave me a boost to get a move on. Lap twelve and I could see a lot more of my friends had already finished. They waved calling out something which I can only assume were words of support. I felt good. My rhythm and pace picked up even on the straight windy sections. I finally worked out how to handle the course. At the end of lap thirteen my friends were calling out more frantically, stepping closer to the track. By now you've probably guessed what has happened. "You've finished! You've finished!!" I pointed to the tally on my arm explaining otherwise. As I went around the course I saw my friend Simon who was on First Aid duty, he also said the same as the others. I was sure I had counted correctly. My friend Paul had finished and was still going around the circuit too. Except he was helping some of the other skaters who were still racing by being their pacemaker and blocking the headwind. (What a gent). As I passed them he also said the same as the others. The thing is I was actually enjoying the skate anyway! So as I finished my fourteenth/seventeenth/final lap my friend Ania actually ran up stopping me, just in case I carried on. I was still convinced I had counted correctly but the times on the board said otherwise. Marco was apologetic as he didn't tell me when we were on the final lap. He beat me in the race by 5 seconds. I found it funny. Summary. It was a really fun day out with the ESS group. My time (1hr 4 mins) may not have been the quickest but it was reassuring that I had energy to do more than I needed as I'll be doing the full marathon later in the year. We ended the day with a big pizza and ice cream. I also educated my overseas friends about the awesomeness of a coke float. After my first skate marathon, Goodwood 2008 I said I’d never do another. Four years later I found myself signed up to the Berlin Inline marathon. So what changed? My memory of exactly how I felt back at the Goodwood had faded. However the main reason is after attending the Easy Saturday Skate (ESS) and everyone’s infectious enthusiasm got the better of me. It wasn’t peer pressure, it just sounded exciting!
So was I worried about the quiche effect again? No. I had clocked up a countless amount of mileage on the street skate and some of the people at ESS were incredibly experienced at skate marathons. They had given me loads of advice which I wished I had the first time round. In particular the idea behind pacelines was helpful, knowing how close you should be behind someone and how you can use this to conserve energy and work as a team. I'm a bit can be a bit stubborn and to leave my previous inline marathon experience on a bit of a low seems like unfinished business... |
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"Any tips, reviews and advice are my own opinions and are not to be taken as professional view points. The information on this site is what has worked for me and is here for guidance only, but I hope you gain insight into the various activities I partake in." Jonathan Chen Archives
December 2019
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