Run Frimley is an annual 2.5k and 10k run. It is a small local event held in Frimley, Surrey. The event is in aid of raising money for Breast Care Appeal, hoping to raise over £70,000. Last year they ran a last minute trial for the roller event with much positivity, so this year it was the first official Roller 10k race. I was still feeling a little achy from the previous weekend's Tough Mudder so thought it may be best to sit this one out despite already paying my entry fee. With a bigger marathon skate in two weeks I thought this was the right decision. However I still made the trip down to support my friends who were also partaking in the skate race. The event had a very nice small community feel and everyone there was filled with positivity. (My only gripe was there weren't quite enough portaloos). Best costume group is without doubt the Wizard of Oz people. Great effort! After the skaters shot off at the start I made my way to the hotdog tent ran by the local Scouts. I then had a little wander around before figuring out the best place for taking photographs. Feedback from my friends with the Roller event was that the surface wasn't particularly smooth but it was sufficient. Sometimes it was easier to go on the roads however the traffic could be too busy at times to do so. There are quite a few hills. Everyone said they'd definitely do it again next year however they would not recommend it to anybody who are not use to street skating. My friends did really well and took quite a few podium positions.
Woman's 10k Roller: 1st Elisabeth. 3rd Chidi. For the Men’s. 2nd Alex. 3rd Alan. 4th Bryan. 5th Muhayman. 9th François. The event was really enjoyable even though for a change I was spectating. Everyone I met that day was really friendly and down to earth. Hopefully the Roller event will gain popularity next year and it would be great to see other running events involve the skating community too. As in terms of logistics for road races, it's only a case of holding the track open for that little bit longer. It'll be great one day to see the London Marathon do the same, just as they do for the equivalent Berlin Marathon. What Frimley is doing is a great thing, so I look forward to taking part in the Run Frimley 10k Roller 2015..
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This review came about after a post on a Facebook group post. I've written a lot of this for friends previously so I collated it all here for all who want to know my own thoughts on this unconventional skate: I got a pair of Powerslide Doops last year. 84mm wheels version. The selling point of these skates is that you can wear any flat shoes with them, so it reduces the need to carry your shoes whilst you skate. Previously I had a Salomon Chill LX which had a similar design, I really loved them but they started to fall apart after years of use. Sadly they stopped manufacturing them so I was hopeful the Powerslides would compare well to the Salomons. The Doops. Surprising the Doops are still quite heavy even though it’s missing the boot. (My Seba FR1 are about the same weight). This might be an issue for some people but I don’t mind giving the legs a little extra weight to work out with! They do feel very secure and responsive. People often question this but remember they’re based on an aggressive skate, Xsjado, so it’s going to be able to take some punishing! I like the ratchet system in the middle that makes it feels nice and snug. Two of the other tightening mechanisms are just Velcro but these can be replaced if needed. I've substituted the mechanism above the ankle with a more standard skate strap just so it's that little bit faster to tighten. The break is a standard Powerslide setup which in my opinion is really badly designed. It’s difficult to and fiddly to put on. You need to keep an eye on the wear and adjust it every now and again. Salomon’s break pad was so much simpler and easy to use, which I’ve also heard repeatedly from other skaters and even skate shop staff. I’ve tried swapping the break system with a Seba breaking system. This is easy to install but the break pad is very small, which will result in it being replaced often. Also it makes a horrible squeaking sound that doesn’t do much for my street cred. On the plus it ensures everyone around you are aware you’re coming! Usually the wheels that come with any skate are basic. The ones that come with these are absolute rubbish. Rock hard wheels which I could feel every bump on the London roads. It made hard work of the ‘Sunday Stroll,’ skate. The frames that come with them are also of poor design. I have to pull and force the wheels on some sections of the frame to get them in and out. Since I’ve bought them I’ve swapped the frame for some Sebas ones. I’ve also got some nice Gyro wheels in combination to the horrible wheels. The horrible wheels are just on the toes, which I use as a break. (Good to find some use for them). Because of this I’ve got a semi rocker wheel layout. The setup is now great. Are the Doops fast? I’ve been asked this a lot, but they're only as fast as the wheels you've got attached, or more importantly the skater using them! Le Mans. I used the Doops for the Le Mans 24 Hours Skate relay race. The starting skaters are required to have their skates on the other side of the track. When the race starts you run across the track and put on your skates before racing. Now I thought the Doops would give me a nice advantage but even though it took me 25 seconds to put on both skates, there were people booting up a lot faster. The benefit for me however is that the mats we were standing on at the start of the race were wet, so no soggy socks for me whilst I skate! What shoes can you wear with the Doops? Most flat shoes work well. I’ve managed to use my formal shoes and even some wellington boots with them. Chunky Vans don’t work; they’re just too wide. The thing for myself is that I have really wide feet. Last year I bought some cheap New Look sneakers, however the tight fit of the shoes started to become a problem for me. This problem only started when I began changing my skating style, skating more like a speed skater and hitting the outside edges of the wheels. So my toes felt most of the impact in my tight shoes. (This problem wasn’t particular to these skates as my speed skates gave me similar issues until they were heat moulded). I tried using the shoes that worked previously with the Salomons and similar pains still happened that never occurred with the Chill LX. For most people the shoe fitting wouldn’t be an issue but having wide feet has often been a problem for me. There are definitely shoes that would fit my feet and would work with my Doops but I’m yet to find it. Powerslide Doops vs Salomon Chill LX. Both have plus and minuses. Weight-wise the Doops are slightly more heavy but not a huge amount. Salomon just seems to be made of better quality material but the buckles eventually gave way. The Doops already has some fraying with some part of the fabric. However the main ratchet on the Doops just feels so much more secure. Salomon loses out massively by the fact the frames cannot be changed, as they have been riveted into the boot. Doops can fit most frames, it can even attach to those mountain skis! Baseplate. As with most skates the frames can be removed. I personally don't know much about the common frame setups as I've only ever swapped the frames once before. For my Doops the shop assistant suggested the Seba GT frames. However here is an image of the baseplate which will give you a general idea of what you can fit on to the Doops. Summary.
Regretfully I’ve stopped using the Doops for now and gone back to my nice wide fitting Seba skates, until I find a suitable shoe. However I really miss the convenience the Doops offer whilst street skating, especially hopping on and off public transport, or popping in quickly into the shops. Today at one point on the street skate fatigue was setting in and I couldn’t quite keep up with some of the speedier people. I decided to focus on my technique instead during the clear straight road. Whilst I slowed down my cadence my speed seem to improve slightly. Best thing of all was that I was recovering energy too.
Important lesson (or reminder) of today, brute force is great but technique can count for a lot more., especially for the longer sessions. The Wheels and Wheelchairs is a group of skaters and wheelchair users who go out on park and street skates together. Check out their site for more details.
Today we had a lovely afternoon in Victoria Park all donning our Santa outfits. Today I officially passed my marshal training for the LFNS. A group which runs weekly organised street skates in London.
Before I stepped up I had some reservations so I thought I'd share with everyone and debunk what a lot of potential marshals are also thinking.
Common sense is the only other thing you really need. When you put your name forward you don't immediately become a marshal. You'll be shadowing another marshal for a few sessions and there's no urgency in passing within a time frame. The LFNS needs YOU. So it seems I’ve caught the skate marathon bug. As much as I loved Berlin and I intend to be back again for the skate I want to use skating as an opportunity to visit new places. The idea came about through Alex within the Easy Saturday Skate (ESS) group for Copenhagen this year. We had over twenty of us from ESS, plus others from the London skate scene. Goals. This would be my first full marathon on speed skates so it should give me a massive advantage over my previous attempts, fastest being at Berlin 1h:47m:47s. A sub 1h:30m would be great but not sure given how open the track is compared to Berlin. Copenhagen is the world’s leader in wind turbine production, if that’s anything to go by then headwind may end up being a major factor! A sub 1h:40m time I really wanted as it would mean I’d jump up a skate starting block for the next time I race in Berlin. The Trip. Copenhagen was my third trip abroad with the ESS group and just as memorable as the others. A lot of us had never been to Denmark before so we were excited about experiencing some new culture. On the day we arrived there was supposed to have been a Friday Night skate but it had been raining heavy. The showers stopped before the start of the event so a few of us went down to the rendezvous. At the start point there were still quite a few likeminded hopeful skaters. Unfortunately it was just too wet. We spoke briefly with the organisers who were a really friendly bunch. (Danish are the happiest people in the world apparently). That evening they intended to have been a special clown skate, raising money for the local children’s hospital. I don’t like clowns but the clowns there were nice Danish clowns. We were all given red noses to wear and balloons tied to us, in a sort of Mario Kart fashion. We decided to head back and re-join the rest of our group near the hostel. Four of us chose to skate back so we could start to get a feel for the city. I really like Copenhagen. The bicycle lanes are great. We were unsure at first whether we as skaters were allowed to use the cycle lanes, but the local skaters had reassured us it was okay. As we skated nobody took a second look at us, unlike in the UK where a lot of people are ignorant and unopened to accepting anything but the norm, shouting unholy words. (I’ll leave my rant at that). The roads were wet but we took it easy to avoid slipping up, plus allowing us extra breaking distance. We went through a cycle only pathway on one section. It took us over a bridge which was really well lit for us. On the quieter sections my friend Hazel showed us a cool skate slide move, which I believe is called the New York Slide. (I’ll always call it the Hazel Slide though!). The next day we went on a free guided tour that was offered by the Generator Hostel. It was a good way to explore the city as I am somewhat uneducated to any Danish history. On our lunch break it was a good chance for me to practice some Danish. I’ve been learning from podcasts for the last couple of months prior to the trip. I’m not sure if I made sense but I guess in context it was pretty obvious I wanted the biggest hotdog they had on offer. We spent a few hours after the tour in the Tivoli theme park before our evening meal at this place which had dynamite as display pieces. Signing up. Again our fantastic group organiser Alex did this for us. We got a group discount, I believe for every ten people signed up you get one entry free. The discount was shared between all of us. Registration. You need to confirm your attendance and collect your race number and electronic timer chip. (Which was a sticker you put on your helmet. Sensors on an arch picked this up every lap). Everything was very straight forward and well organised. I was less organised and misplaced my timer chip. The people there sorted out a replacement without any problems. “Mange tak!” (Thanks a lot). I said after. She was surprised but seemed to appreciate my small attempt at Danish. I found most people just simply used “tak,” in most situations. The Course. It was a 7.1km lap. The half marathon you had to skate three laps. So the full marathon was six laps. The asphalt is generally very good. A few pot holes were marked with yellow spray, other skaters signalled ahead as well at these. It was windy on some sections but not as extreme as I was expecting. The wind was about the same as other events like Goodwood and London Inline Marathon. Guess it depends on the weather at the time. One section of the course was a part of the motorway. It is a little strange at first as the road markings were going the opposite way to the race. On the last section there were three roundabouts which you could go either way around to pass. These were especially slippery when wet and you had to dramatically reduce your speed to handle this. The Half Marathon Race. What I really like about the setup for this event is that the Half and Full marathons were separate. Our group had a mix of people going for the two options. It meant we could enjoy supporting each other’s race. Although two of the guys, Alex and Muhayman opted for both races. (Greedy for medals!). Over the speaker they spoke Danish but I was so happy when I recognised a phrase. ‘Held og lykke!.’ (Good luck). I was on the side for the Half Marathon, cheering them all on. The thing is sometimes they went by so fast that by the time you’ve recognised them they’ve already shot off! Our green and black jerseys made it easier to spot each other though. It was slightly overcast for the race, with the sun popping out every now and again. Just under two hundred people took part in the Half Marathon. Our group finished between 52 minutes and 1 hour 15 minutes. The Full Marathon Race. Three hundred and twenty one people took part in this race. Everyone started at the same time. We were towards the mid back so it took a bit of time to worm through the pack. The others from the ESS group were taking it easy for the race so I loss them quickly. As we turned the first corner the rain started to descend. It wasn’t just a few drops, it was full on! So glad I had the waterproof casing for the GoPro. I found a bunch of ‘Rolling Vikings,’ who were easy to spot in their red and black jerseys. For most of the first lap I was following their lead. On the last stretch I went to take the lead as I only see it as good sportsmanship to share the brunt of the headwind. The roundabouts I mentioned earlier were so slippery when we reached them. It was awful as every time we hit the surface we had to stop skating just in order to brace ourselves from falling over. Having to navigate three of these obstacles every lap caused us to loose rhythm and played a massive part in reducing our overall performance. By the time I got to the lap crossing it seemed I’d lost the Vikings. (They must have been playing a different tactic as I’m sure I saw the same guys overtake later on)… I looked to my right after the first lap and was surprised to see all the other ESS half marathoners out there despite the heavy rain. They were in blue ponchos but cheering out to me. What good friends right?! The cheer did give me a surge of energy. I ploughed on through and shot past skater after skater. Hiding momentarily behind pacelines or individual skaters to hop on up the position ladder. Dispite the rain and my super soggy skates I was holding a nice pace. However as I past the last paceline in sight I turned around the corner and to my dismay there was nobody else in view, only wind and rain. I held on to my position for a while but the strong paceline of about eight people eventually caught up, so I joined them at the back. After a while at being at the back I regained my strength and was getting a bit restless. I pushed up and took over the lead again. The three of us at the front rotated frequently and this worked out well. We slowly dropped people until there were four of us. You could see the others were getting a little annoyed with the old man who just hid at the back, hitching a ride. One of the others invited him to the front, only then did he lead, albeit briefly. I guess we can forgive him for being a lot older than us, but it was still annoying. And then there were two. It was myself and another guy who I later found out was Swedish, called Jonny. For the majority of the race it was just us two. We rotated frequently. Although he did seem to want to take the lead more as we passed the lap crossing with the crowds of people. (He’d probably say otherwise but hey this is my blog!). All the same we wouldn’t have been able to have made the same progress on our own. It’s this kind of tactical and collaborative play which I really like about the skate marathons. On the final lap Jonny and I were beginning to feel it. That ‘old man and co,’ paceline came passed us. (Old man still hiding in the middle). We tagged on. The thing is they seem to have unleashed their extra energy reserve. It became a battle to hang on. Annoyingly the old man was getting away. (easy when you’ve been letting others do the work). “I must not let him beat me.” I kept saying to myself. A moment lapsed and he was ten feet away now, no longer was I benefiting from the group as a windshield. Jonny overtook me. Lactic acid was really hitting the legs as I passed those horrible slippery roundabouts for the last time. (Although it was starting to dry up now). Final stretch. At this point I usually find that once time use boost button. My sprint began. Up ahead Jonny was beginning to lag. He called him on joining me for the last dash. Jonny declined by waving me on. I could then hear this crazy screaming. This sound was my friends Floju and Chidi flapping their arms frantically as they ran along the side. I joined in with the screaming and entered full arm swing sprint mode. My net time was 1:39:58. Just sneaked under one of my targets. I am very happy considering the weather. Post Skate. One thing to keep in mind with Copenhagen is that on a Sunday evening a lot of restaurants are closed. The places that were open were particularly expensive. Restaurants of the Mc variety I usually avoid but a hungry skater can’t be choosers, especially that day! Back at the hostel we had a few drinks at the bar. We discovered there was a urinal based computer game in the gents toilet. You peed on different pressure sensors to make your snowboarder go left and right to collect the snowmen and avoid the barriers. The game was called ‘On the Piste.’ “Crazy Danes!” I thought. Only later I found out that it was actually developed by a British company! We’d hold our bladders for that little bit longer than usual so we could compete for the leaderboard. Summary. I was disappointed with the weather. This meant that I could not properly stretch those speed skates out after having the speed lessons with Mike Van Erp this summer. Hopefully next time I can have a good attack at this course as well as actually attend Copehagen’s Friday Night Skate. That said I can now move up a skate group for the Berlin marathon, which is ace! So until next time Copenhagen, “tak farvel.” (Thanks and goodbye). PS. “Undskyld, hvor er toilettet?” Another phrase I found very useful. Pronouned: ‘en skool, vor air toileet?’ 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. 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! The Halloween Skate is organised by the LFNS and London Skate. (They run brilliant weekly un-themed skates too).
Although this event wasn't on Halloween itself it didn't stop people making just as much effort with their costumes. |
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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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