30th May

Blake wrote an article about improving your skating stride for fitness skating - posted here.  I thoroughly enjoyed myself at the clinic he held on Sunday - thanks for your time and effort, Blake!

Tuesday 29th May

More Sunday hockey photos posted here.  This was the biggest turn out yet - there were at least 20 people.  Even though loads of people brought their own sticks and other equipment, we still ran out of sticks at one point during the day.  There were enough people that there were three games running during most of the afternoon.  The regular hockey guys, a medium speed match, and a slower and gentler game (in theory, anyway, hey Mykel?).  Awesome!

The weather is really looking up for tomorrow's London Skate - hope it's going to be a good one!

Wednesday 23rd May

Don't forget that this Sunday there is a fitness clinic run by Blake:

"Come to Blake's group fitness skate in Hyde Park / Kensington Gardens at Mount Gate (near the Serpentine Gallery), 12 noon last Sunday in month April-Oct (in 2001, 29/4  27/5  24/6  29/7  26/8  30/9  28/10) unless raining steadily.  You need to be able to look after yourself on your skates, otherwise beginners are welcome (they're free of bad habits which take a lot of time to undo).  We'll learn some simple drills to deconstruct the technique.  We'll concentrate on going, not stopping (you can learn that elsewhere).  Free."

As this session is at 12.00, I'll move the beginners' hockey to 14.00.  Hope to see you at either or both!

Monday 21st May

We had an excellent hockey game at Battersea Youth Center on Friday with about 12 players, so there were 2 to change with on each team.  That made for lots of game time, and tiredness towards the end!  I wasn't wearing a box, and I caught a stinger from Andy that had me hopping for a bit.  ;-)  That will teach me!  I'm just grateful that it was only a lightweight hockey ball and not a puck!

Sunday's hockey was also excellent fun, with the biggest turnout yet.  We had 16 players, which let us run two games simultaneously.  More than 16 people turned up during the day, but that was the most we had at any one time.  I've posted the photos here.

Thursday 17th May

Posted the London Skate photos from last night.  Bummer about the weather, oh well, there's always the FNS tomorrow, and the next London Skate next week.  Tomorrow's forecast is sunny spells and isolated showers, so there's a good chance of a dry FNS.

Don't forget this Sunday's hockey - normal time 12.00 on the road inside Kensington Gardens, in front of the Albert Memorial.

At 12.00 next week Sunday, May 27th, is Blake's fitness skating clinic.  I'm not sure what to do about the hockey session, but am thinking of delaying it to 14.00.  What do you think - come discuss it on the LondonSkaters forums.

Ever seen one foot heel brake stops?  I've posted a new video on the videos page.

Monday 14th May

Don't forget the London Skate this Wednesday.  Meet at the beach on the Serpentine Road at 19.00 Wednesday evening...

Awesome weather this weekend, almost a little too hot for comfortable hockey play, but we all had a lot of fun.  You could just about see the heat slowing people down when compared with the icy wind from last weekend.  There were loads of familiar faces from the previous weeks, and also quite a few newcomers.  It's great that so many people are showing such an interest!  Olivier, one of the more experienced players, came down to organize the drills and mini games - thanks!

If you've not come before, feel free to join in as everyone's welcome.  One comment for next week's hockey, please try to bring your own water as you'll drink a lot playing even when it isn't so hot.

Loads of people have been asking about cheap hockey gear - how much, what to buy, where to get it, etc.  I'll post these details on the hockey FAQ in the next day or two, once I've researched some details.  Sorry I didn't take any hockey photos - I've taken too many in the last few weeks, and am taking a break.  I spent the extra time playing hockey instead.  ;->

Saturday 12th May

Friday Night Skate photos are up here.  This skate was much bigger than the last FNS, probably because the word has spread, and the weather couldn't really have been any better.  I think that a rough guess would have put at least 120 skaters out there, although I didn't do any kind of accurate count like last week.  I did the same duck out of the skate at Hyde Park corner this week to go to hockey.  ;-)

At least there are two skates a week now to choose from!  The London Skate starts next week - Wednesday May 16th.  Their name and our name is very similar, but it's just coincidence.  :)  Think of London Skaters as our online community, and the London Skate as the Wednesday Night Street Skate.

Any of you keen on trying hockey?  Come to the beginners' hockey session in front of the Albert Memorial on Sunday at 12.00.  You'll get to borrow a stick and knock around with other players, many of whom will have played very little hockey either.  If you're more experienced, come at 14.00 for the regular players' session.

Wednesday 9th May

The London Skate flyer has finally been printed - here's a link to the .pdf file if you'd like to take a look.  There's a good chance you will be handed one in the Park!  ;->

Also updated the links pages, and posted a spreadsheet of all the skates run in Paris here.  Amazing, they have 18 separate street skates over 5 days of the week.

Tuesday 8th May

I filmed some hockey stops a while ago, and have now edited and posted the video here.  I needed quite a few takes, so Richard was sweating buckets by the end of this!

Monday 7th May

Posted a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page on the hockey sessions here.  Please email me if you have any suggestions.

We had a great time this weekend skating around the park.  I met a South African guy called Mike, who was using a snake board (see SnakeBoard.com).  He had amazing skills on this board, and was as manoeuvrable and nearly as fast as a skater.  He kindly took 15 minutes out to try to teach me - I found it was at least as hard as learning to skate.  He is an excellent teacher, and I was making progress by the end.

Sunday 6th May

Sunday hockey again.  I really enjoy these sessions, and it's excellent to spend time in real life with the guys from the LondonSkaters forum after meeting them online.

John from the Skate Shop in the Streatham Ice Arena very kindly sponsored our group an extra two hockey sticks, which was really useful as loads of people came today.  I went and bought some more and better sticks at Streatham this morning, as the few spare sticks I had the last couple of weekends were really rubbish and way too short for many of the players.  It was great to see so many new (well at the hockey!) faces today, and so we really needed the extra sticks.  Thanks very much, John!

We had twelve people skating, not including a few regulars, which allowed us to have three teams of four for the short games at the end of the session.  Photos are posted here.  There was a little confusion at 14.00 with many of the experienced regular hockey players turning up, as they decided to go off and play under the western bypass again.  Before we knew this we stopped play as it's the experienced players turn after 14.00, but then started a series of mixed games afterwards.  All the good players made a great effort to be nice and sporting to the less experienced skaters, so ensuring that just about everyone had a good time.

Friday 4th May

There are also some hockey photos from tonight, posted here.  Don't forget the beginners' hockey session on Sunday!  This is open to anyone who would like to try hockey, but was perhaps a little too intimidated to play with the regular players - it's a non-contact and fun knock-around.  I'll bring along some spare sticks, balls, and what little extra protective gear I have, if you don't have any of your own.

Wednesday 2nd May

Marc Garland has reviewed his Salomon Black Edition Screamer skates for us all to enjoy, and is posted here.  There are two skates in Salomon's Black Edition range, both intended for urban skating.  The Screamer is the top end model, with the Friday Night being the other model in the range.

Sunday 29th April - Updated

Went to the Roller Disco yesterday - really good fun.  The organizers had moved the barriers to ensure there was more skating room, and I didn't even once skate over a wet patch on the floor.  The last roller disco was good fun, but this one was a definite improvement.  I took quite a few photos, which are posted here.

Sunday hockey was also good fun.  In spite of the rain and threatening dark clouds, we all managed to have a decent bit of fun.  When we arrived we were met with a few people already knocking around in a light drizzle, some with skates, and others playing with shoes to save their bearings - great fun.  The rain then turned into a shower for perhaps 20 minutes, after which we had a great afternoon playing on skates in dry conditions.  Because of the rain many of the normal hockey players left and skated to play under the Western Bypass.

For those of us who waited, it was well worth it as the whole sky cleared for a few hours, and it was a good thing that the road dries so quickly.  Unfortunately it wasn't really a dedicated beginners' session as we ended up playing during the normal hockey players' time.  This was great, but it did speed up the game a little too much.  Well everyone had a good time, except for perhaps Steve, unfortunately, as he tried to skate over a hockey stick, and tripped up, cutting his chin.  Oops, well, unfortunately the stick fell in front of him!

Thursday 26th April

On Sunday I took a short video clip of Rob and Clive doing a synchronized power slide in front of the Albert Memorial.  I've now edited it, and posted the video here.  There's been a lot of discussion in the rec.sport.skating.inline newsgroup recently as to whether a heel brake or a power slide is the better way to stop.  This video should make it clear that while power slides look really awesome, they are much harder to do than heel braking, and, certainly on a tarmac surface, are not as effective at stopping as the heel brake.

In my opinion, power slide type stops are more effective on the indoor surface, and more common in indoor hockey.  I've not been able to compare this with a heel brake on an indoor surface, because the long black marks left by heel brakes would probably not go down too well with the leisure centres!

Hockey at Battersea Youth Centre tomorrow - Friday.  If you're not sure exactly where the Youth Centre is, here is a map:

Tuesday 24th April

Don't forget the Roller Disco at Bagley's on Saturday from 14.00 to 20.00!  It was really popular last time, and there should be loads of people from London Skaters going.  Awesome fun!

Copy of the Flint Communications flyer

Rough Map of how to get there.  Last time we had a hard time finding it, but got there eventually.

I've linked a few more videos from external sites on the Videos page.

Sunday 22nd April

We had a brilliant time with the beginners hockey session in Hyde Park this afternoon!  The weather turned out to be great, albeit with a cold wind - at least there was quite a bit of sun, and the day stayed dry until about 18.00.  About ten people turned up and we started out with some simple passing exercises, followed by dribbling the ball around a line of cups.  Then onto more difficult dribbling through the cups again, and some passing on the move in pairs.  Finally, everyone took part in a short hockey match.

I was really pleased to see how much fun everyone had!  We took a load of photos which are posted here.  I'm keen to hear what everyone else thought, but this was such good fun I'm certainly planning to go again next week.

I also took some photos of the regular hockey players, and a few other skaters as well.  These are posted on a separate page here.

Saturday 21st April

A few updates today: photos of the Paris Sunday skate here, and photos and addresses of Paris skate shops here.  Most of the address information is there thanks to Christophe of Lightspeed Sports.

Played hockey at Battersea Youth Centre last night - awesome fun as usual.  I really enjoy learning and improving each time I play, and that's what makes hockey so rewarding for me.  Nothing like being with your friends and having a good time!

Beginners' hockey - the weather prediction is not looking so good , but I'll be there at 12.00 in any case.  We meet by the hockey area, which is in Kensington Gardens on the stretch of road in front of the Albert Memorial.  (I once heard a foreigner in the Park refer to this statue as a "Buddha", which really amused me.)

Tuesday 17th April

Just come back from our holiday in Paris and Holland.  Paris is an awesome city for skating - extremely skater friendly, and very picturesque too!  I'll post a few photos in a little while.  We visited quite a few of the main Paris skate shops, thanks to information supplied by Christophe, and I'll be posting that detail as well as the Paris street skate information he also supplied.

While we were in Paris I bought a pair of Salomon TR Vitesse 5 wheel skates, which I've reviewed here.

Sunday 1st April 2001 - Updated

We went to Decathlon yesterday to check out the new Salomon 2001 model skates.  I took a couple of pictures as below.  They have the new K2 range as well, plus lots of Technica, Rossignol, Hypno, etc.  They have loads of sizes all stacked up on the wall, and you're free to try out as many pairs/models as you like - the best thing for buying skates.

TR Magnesium

X-Trainer Performa

Had some fun hockey for a short while this afternoon by the Albert Memorial in the Park.  We even saw Stephen and Louise!  I took a bunch of photos after I finished playing, which are posted here.

Saturday 31st March 2001

I've made considerable changes to the site, tidied up the links pages, etc.  If there's anything you don't like, please let me know!  One of the links I added was to Liz Miller's GetRolling.com website.  I visited it ages ago, and foolishly I didn't tell anyone about it or link to it.  It's an excellent website with loads of content, and professionally written.

Here's a link to my favorite hockey photo so far this year.  I've learnt my lesson now - next time I take a bunch of photos at Battersea, I'm going to make sure I'm near and have a clear view of the corner - there's always lots of good action going on here.

I went along again last night, and took part in the informal warm-up session.  Excellent fun, and that means I'm nearly back to playing again.  I just love Battersea, simply because it has such a relaxed and stress free environment.  Richard was on form last night, but poor Shane was not, and really getting teased for it!

Friday 30th March 2001

Remember that discussion about micro-bearings?  Well, I bought some, took some photos and posted the following article.

Thursday 29th March 2001

I've finally scanned in and posted the photos of the hockey played in Lille during the trip there.  These photos were taken by Olivier and Celine on a film camera.

Sunday 25th March 2001

Awesome, the clocks have gone forward today.  Along with the equinox last week, that officially puts paid to winter.  That's not to say there won't be some scheit weather still  - this is England after all, but at least there's more than 12 hours between sunrise and sunset for the next six months now.  ;-)

We spent an hour or two at Hyde Park yesterday, but the day was pretty grim.  Took a few photos, though, and they are posted here.  I handed out a few www.LondonSkaters.com leaflets yesterday, but had 3 people refuse them, and rudely, too.  That's a first in six months - what is it with these people?  I guess they thought I was selling lessons, or something, so their loss, not ours!

After Hyde Park we went to the Roller Disco near King's Cross.  Quite good fun - I've written up the article here.

Monday 19th March 2001

Posted the next set of Battersea photos from Friday 16th March 2001 here.

Saturday 10th March 2001 - Updated

Battersea Youth Center photos are now posted here.

We went to Battersea Youth Center last night for some more hockey.  I've taken a load of photos which will be published later this weekend, but I also took a short video clip of Ron Simpson doing a barrel roll during warm-up.  Update - I've now changed the video size and quality slightly to make for better viewing, and produced a smaller version for quicker downloads.

Final version - 1.1MB - Barrel Roll

Small version - 460KB - Barrel Roll

Please email me and tell me your comments, or send a post on the London Skaters group (see button at bottom left).  I'm particularly interested in what you think regarding download time, quality of video, and interest factor.  If it's worth doing more of these clips, I plan to include a bunch of other skating moves.

Wednesday 7th March 2001

I've posted an article by Timothy Tjoen-Tak-Seu, an inline skater from New York, who wrote about skating in London.  Either click on the green Articles button on the left, or to go directly to the article click here.  At the end of the article there are some links to two websites on skating in Tokyo and Osaka.

Sunday 4th March 2001

Update about the Roller Disco - Bagley's Studio off York Way, King's Cross on Saturday 24th March from 14.00 to 20.00.  There is no upper age limit as was incorrectly described in a document circulated, but there is a no under 18 limit due to the disco being on licensed premises.

Image of their flyer

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