Street Skating
Taking it to the streets
When people take up skating for fitness or fun they start in parks, on cycle paths and sometimes roller rinks. However, it’s not long before they set their sights on street skating, particularly in London. Watching upwards of 500 people and a mobile sound system roll by is enjoyable enough but nothing beats taking part in your first mass street skate. Across Europe and all over the world, skaters group together and skate around their city of choice, guided and marshaled by fellow skaters or even the local police. In London these skates reach numbers of 1000 or more in the summer but in Paris, one of the finest street skates in the world, numbers exceed 40,000!
Your first street skate can be a pretty unnerving experience. You are surrounded by good skaters and everyone else seems to know what they are doing. Suddenly they’re off and you may find yourself struggling to keep up if you haven’t read our top tips for taking a London street skate in your stride.
Top street skating tips:
1. Get the know how. Take a group introduction to street skating lesson with skatefresh. It costs just £15 and lasts 1.5 hours and we will teach you all the techniques you need for your first London street skate.
2. Be prepared. Always carry your shoes and money and/or a travelcard with you in case you don’t make it all the way round. You can also print a map of the route from the web pages of the various street skates. (see our links page)
3. Be assertive. In the beginning it is tempting to let people cut in front of you as you automatically decelerate slightly. Keep strong and keep going, it is the job of the other skaters to go around you.
4. Stick to the front. It is tempting to hang out at the back but believe us, it is much harder work. If you start at the front you can skate slower than the pack and end up at the back when you next stop but at least you won’t get left behind!
5. Push to the front while the skate is stationary. When you stop at lights or a junction, be assertive and make your way through the middle or round the sides to the front again.
6. Short, fast steps – Think quick accelerating steps as you skate on
Sometimes, even with the best preparation and practice you won’t make the
whole skate on your first try. Often this is due to fitness levels, in which
case you may find our skatefit classes useful, which focus on stride technique
and aerobic fitness.
For details of our street skating classes as well as skatefit classes, please
visit the Group Lessons page.
