 LFNS and the London Skate put on another fantastic spooky themed street skate on the streets of London. As always the skaters pull out all of the stops with creativity!
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Every year Asha Kirby the founder and owner of the skate school SkateFresh throws a party to celebrate another year of rolling. The party is an open invite to all skaters whether or not you have been a past pupil or not. I some how have managed to miss it every year but was glad to have finally made it today. Asha held the party today on the promenade in Brighton.
 We took the 10:00 Eurostar train from London St Pancras and we were in Paris by lunch time, ready for a long skate weekend. Our accommodation was at the Three Ducks Hostel. Nice place, it had all the usual things you'd expect. Universal (USB) plug sockets seems to be becoming more common which is always handy.  After an afternoon of sight seeing we were ready for our first ever Paris Roller, a three hour officially organised street skate which legend has it inspired London's own skate scene. The difference here is that as well as the volunteer marshals they also have police motorbikes and an an ambulance keeping everybody safe. They however have much more continental start time of 22:00 which would be around the time London finishes their night street skates! Saturday was a day of indulging the sights and culinary delights of Paris. Venturing with some off skate culture.  Sunday however was the main reason why we were here. The 6H Paris Skate is an annual endurance Le Mans style relay event. It was held in Muette Park to the west of central Paris. The 2.5km closed road circuit winded through a forest which felt like a Centre Parks experience. Our four person ESS team were non competitive, meaning we weren't going to be too hard on each other with any hiccups such as baton drops or missing your change over. We did have a little structure, with each of us doing two laps at a time. A close eye on the timing of each other's laps also allowed us to gauge how long our breaks were between shifts.  Unsurprisingly our first lap was mostly the fastest. The heat drained us as the hours ticked by, even though it was cooler than usual for August. Just out of curiosity I used my recreational skates (80mm wheels) instead of my speed skates (110mm wheels) for one of my shifts. It felt noticeably slower. To keep a decent pace it meant I had to focus on my technique more and making every push count. Which makes me think maybe I get a little lazy with form on the speed skates... So although I really had to work on these two laps I did have one of the most memorable moments of overtaking a Lycra clad speed skating paceline! That felt brilliant! I missed out by twenty seconds on the six hour cut off for another lap. However it turns out that attempt was also my fastest lap. (05:00:533 ms) I guess it helps when there is some motivation!  At the event there were skate stalls. One in particular is Ligne Droite where I got some spare parts. They were very friendly and were keen to point out that they are happy to create custom skate packages as well as the ability to ship to the UK as well as other parts of Europe. Will keep them in mind for the future.  The 6H Paris Skate event was such good fun! Whether you're pro speed skaters or recreational rollers it was a good track for an afternoon of rolling. It wasn't too difficult to get to and we were able to catch the 20:30 train from Gar du Nord, allowing us to be back home in London the same evening.  Thank you Christine Dumouchel for the photos.
 Bad things happened last night in London town, but we will not be deterred from venturing out. Awesome skate today. Forever forward.
Here's my video coverage of this year's Halloween Skate 2016. Was a bit of a squeeze editing this within a day, ready for actual Halloween morning!
 The annual London Santa Skate took place today. It was the usual good clean fun brought together through the LFNS and London Skate. Our inflatable reindeer herd came out for the second year. A few upgrades were made in the way of lights.  A big thanks to WoofSnap for letting me use his excellent photographs.
Click here to see the rest of the Santa Skate album. You can see his other works on WoofSnap.com, Flickr and Facebook. The title is in keeping with the horror theme of my lastest video, which is now live and preluding a week before this year's Halloween Skate by the LFNS. I've only recently had the time to work on this video as I've been so busy with the whole marathon training. Nice to focus intensely on something else entirely for a change. The 'without monkey,' part of the title is referencing my skate movie series to help people find my videos easier on the internet. As a bonus to this year's film I've also done a 'VFX Breakdown,' video to give a little insight into the processes behind the effects, plus reveal a few things that you may not have picked up on.... Editing: Adobe Premiere
Special Effects: After Effects. Mocha Pro, Element 3D 3D Modelling: Cinema 4D
This promotional video for the LFNS was started nearly two years ago but because of delays beyond my control it's been in a state of limbo. I finished it in January but we thought we'd release it when the weather picks up to help encapsulate the excitement of skating in the sunshine. (Winter skating is only for the diehard). This week seems perfect for the video release as the weather outlook is amazing. With the added bonus of such a fantastic Easter Bunny Stroll Skate last Sunday lets carry riding this wave of buzzing endorphins!
Last week was the London Skaters' biggest night of the year, the Santa Skate. This time I decided to try things a little different by purchasing a ride on horse outfit, pimping it with antlers and Christmas attire. I recruited five other friends to do the same so we had a herd of ride on skating reindeers. At times it was difficult to see what was directly in front and it felt a bit clumsy at speed. Otherwise the costume had plenty of maneuverability and the public seem to love it too. Today was the last ESS before Christmas which was a good excuse to get the reindeer out to play again, spreading some more Christmas cheers from Liverpool Street to Battersea Park. Enroute I was messing around doing some powersliding, my favourite way of stopping after my friend Mark gave me some good pointers for it recently.. If I'm being critical, I need to channel the powerslide in a more linear direction. The follow up move 'volt,' needs the back toe wheel to pivot in place as oppose to rolling back. A big thanks to WoofSnap for letting me use his excellent photographs. Click here to see the rest of the Santa Skate album. You can see his other works on WoofSnap.com, Flickr and Facebook.    |
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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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