Monday 23rd July

Two new articles written by Mykel, a short write-up on last Thursday's hockey, and another about skating, the law, and group skates.

Thursday 19th July

Are you interested in helping out and giving back to the London Skaters community?  We've put up a contributions page here, and would really appreciate your help.

If you haven't already, take a look at Vish's BoredSkaters site.  Lots of skating in the rain, am I glad for indoor inline hockey!

Marcus has updated the Sunday Skates page here.

Saturday 14th July

I've posted an update on the problem a few people have experienced with their Salomon twinmetal chassis skates - the rivet issue.  So far three people from our group, and a few people on the internet have made their experience with the problem known.  IMHO this is a fairly small response, and tends to support Salomon's public opinion that only some early pairs were affected.

Tuesday 10th July

Zak has reviewed his new Mission Proto VSi Team skates (2000 model) here.  I think that most of us who play regularly with Zak have noticed an improvement in his skating since he got these skates.  That's to say that Zak was already a good skater, but with these new skates he's really power skating and is just about unstoppable.

Mat took a bunch of photos on the London Skate last Wednesday, which are posted here.

Andrew Blakey contacted me yesterday regarding a skate marathon to be held at Goodwood Motor Circuit on 22nd July 2001 - in just under two weeks time.  Here's the poster in .pdf format.

Thursday 5th July

Another logo submitted by Patrick!  Please take a few minutes to email us and tell us which are your favourite logos on this page.

Tuesday 3rd July

Hockey photos from this Sunday posted here.  I made some goals, but made them too small - it's amazing how large they appeared in my lounge, and then how small they became outdoors.  I'll hopefully complete version 2.0 for next weekend.

I've finally gotten around to editing some of the fitness drills I was shown by Blake a month or two ago, and have posted them on the videos page.  Reference is also made to them in the fitness section.

Updated Sunday Skates details are posted here - thanks, Marcus!

Saturday 30th June

I've received a whole lot more logos, which are posted on the logo competition page here.  You guys have all made some awesome logos for our group!

Andy Stinson of the Imperial College Skate Society has reviewed his relatively new Easton F5 Hockey skates here.  Quite a few of the Imperial College guys have bought these skates, and most swear by them!

Mateusz Gostyñski has written up the London Skate from last Wednesday with a bunch of pictures - posted here.

Friday 29th June

Salomon Twinmetal Frames separating?  Marc Garland, who originally reviewed and really liked his Salomon Screamers, brought this to my attention.  He will be writing an update for his review in the near future, including this detail, as he has also experienced the problem.

It looks like growing numbers of people are having problems with their Salomon skate frames clicking as the rivets loosen.  This is quite sad news, and if most of Salomon's twinmetal chassis skates are doing this, then there are going to be a lot of angry customers out there.  There are numerous posts regarding this subject in both Salomon's Forum and the newsgroup rec.sport.skating.inline.  It looks like Salomon are claiming that this only affects between 1 and 2% of all skates if messages on the forum are accurate.

Lucky for me that my TR Vitesse came with a one piece frame.  I also have a pair of Screamers, but I've not given them enough of a workout yet to come even close to finding out whether my pair also have a problem.  I like all the Salomon skates I've owned so far, so I hope that this is an issue only affecting a few skates rather than most of Salomon's production for 2001.  Time will tell, no doubt...

Wednesday 27th June

Mark Simmons has created some more excellent logos for our website - thanks.  I've copied and pasted images into the voting reference page here.  I plan to put up the vote poll on Friday 6th July, so if you're still working on a logo please let me know before then.

A few of us are off to Plumstead for some full contact hockey tonight, so are not going to make the London Skate tonight.  Did anyone notice that the London Skate was mentioned in the Metro this morning?  I saw a load of traffic come through to our group because of the article.  Well, actually, it was more like a couple of lines, but anything like this should help get a few more people involved in our great sport!

Mykel has announced a Friday evening hockey session starting on Friday 13th July at 18.30, and going to the Swan afterwards for a drink.  You can email her on the Contacts page.

Tuesday 26th June

The hockey photos from Sunday are posted here.  What an awesome weekend!  Even though it was so hot on Sunday, we had some excellent drills organized by Olivier, followed by a number of games through the afternoon, and finishing at around 18.00.  I also played indoor hockey at Battersea on Friday, and Beckenham on Saturday, so I'm still recovering.  ;-)

I've added a Contact page (linked underneath the FAQ page to the left), which currently has two contacts being myself and Blake.  The idea is to hide our email addresses from spambots, but still leave us reasonably accessible.

The current LondonSkaters logos are reproduced on this page with numbers to allow voting.  If there are no more entries by the end of this week, I'll create the poll.

Saturday 23rd June

Mark Caswell-Daniels has also made some excellent logos for our group's website.  I'll shortly be posting an image of each with a reference number so you can vote for them on the discussion list site.

The last Wednesday Night Skate was awesome according to many of the participants, with some 400-600 people on the skate.  The marshals had to work really hard this time, or so I was told!  Howard Beswick and Mateusz Gostyñski very kindly took some photos for our community, which are posted here.  Patrick has supplied some assorted photos here from both the London Skate and the FNS.  Thanks very much for doing this for everyone!

Sunday 17th June

Marcus Giles, who runs the Sunday Skates, has sent me a FAQ to post.  This should answer all your questions about the Sunday Skates!  See the FAQ button for more details...

Also posted updated information from Marcus on Sunday Skates for the next two Sundays.

Saturday 16th June

Some time ago I announced a logo competition in order to find a logo for our group, and Robert Stradling sent in these excellent, professional logos:

Set 1

Set 2

I personally like the logo in set 2 with the wings/speed flashes coming off the front of London.  I also like the mainly blue round logo.  Come post on the group and make your opinions known!  If anyone has any other logos, please send them to me as soon as possible!

Friday 15th June

We've had lots of content come in this week.  Together with a site restructure to accommodate all this new content, the updates have kept me quite busy for a while.  If you have something to contribute, send it in.  That doesn't guarantee I'll post it, but I'll certainly give it a look! ;-)  Photos - I can help with those if you need, either by taking them or scanning your negatives.

Many of you will remember Zak from hockey at Battersea and in the Park.  Zak read the two bearings articles in the Articles section of this site, and contributed the following article as a result.

Steven Runyeard has reviewed his Mission Proto V hockey skates, now that he's put quite a lot of mileage on them, both skating around the park and playing loads of hockey.

Blake Dempster has taken on running the Fitness and Speed section, where he'll be discussing all aspects of this skating discipline.  There's a bunch of really excellent content written by Blake, which is now in place - click on the Fitness button on the menu bar to the left.  I have some video footage of drills from the last fitness clinic held by Blake, which I'll be posting shortly.

Sunday Skates, run by Marcus Giles, are meeting up at the Albion Pub on Thornhill Road at 12.00 this Sunday.  See the Sunday Skates page here - normally under the Events button to the left.

Tuesday 12th June

Sunday hockey photos are up...

Thursday 7th June

The London Skate photos are posted here.  Awesome fun, guys, and really well organized, in my opinion!  I was also amazed at how many friendly taxi drivers waved or gave us the thumbs-up.  Last year many of them seemed to be on a mission to take us out.

I ducked out after about three quarters of the skate as my (previously broken) ankle was taking strain.  Funny that inline hockey is easier than street skating on my ankle - I would have expected that to be the other way around given the amount of turning and sliding stops you invariably do while playing hockey.

Tuesday 5th June

I've posted the hockey photos from Sunday now.  It's the Wednesday Night Skate tomorrow - don't forget to take your skates to work even if the weather looks grim in the morning!  Very often the evening will be skateable - as an example, take the hockey - we've been able to play every Sunday for the last 6 weekends.

Monday 4th June

Brad Charbonneau has written a short review of his new Xenan frames, based on his email to the rec.sport.skating.inline newsgroup.  These frames look quite radical, and have three 100mm wheels, and one 80mm wheel, and are designed for fitness/speed skating and high efficiency.

Friday's hockey at Battersea Youth Center was just awesome.  We had two really well matched teams, which made for excellent play and a lot more fun.  It was hot and humid enough that the game was a bit of a sweat-bath, though.  Then hit Beckenham for a further hockey session on Saturday night, which was also great fun.

Sunday's hockey was pretty cool, again with about 20 players at one time.  John from the Streatham Skate Shop sponsored us another 4 sticks.  Thanks very much - they were needed and used yesterday!  I took a few photos, which I should be able to post later today.  Is anyone enjoying the Stanley Cup playoffs at the moment?  They get shown live on Channel 5, next one is tonight.

Friday 1st June

I've finally gotten around to reviewing my latest hockey visor here.  I'm really pleased with this visor as it is quite cool, has plenty of airflow, and doesn't get in my way much.

As this is somewhat related to helmets, has anyone noticed how very few skaters in Hyde Park ever wear a helmet, and yet nearly all American inline skaters wear helmets?  I remember seeing a post recently on inlineskating.about.com where many of the American posters were quite serious about going up to people and telling them off for not wearing a helmet.  Somehow I don't think that would go down too well over here.  :^>  Come and discuss it on the London_Skaters forum - see the link below.

I always wear a helmet playing hockey indoors, but only occasionally while playing in the Park.  That's probably not too sensible, but park play is generally gentler and slower than indoor hockey.  On my last trip to The Netherlands, I bought one of those new Salomon recreational helmets, but haven't worn it yet.  Probably on the next street skate...  ;-)

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