The teams were on fire, the crowd ecstatic and those new to the sport quickly got into the action. Whether it is the dress (golden hot pants, colourful bits of hair & make up. All with a refreshing touch of individualism), the adrenaline wavering through the venue or simply the revelation of watching women on quads skates play a full body contact sport that leads to being hooked at first sight is unclear. The fact is though, that all of the above are a unique mix and most definitely worth checking out. No, that’s not true, Roller Derby is not worth checking out, it MUST be checked out. By anyone who has ever stood on half a skate, spins around Hyde Park or simply loves Starlight Express. No matter how you roll you need to go see this as it is without a doubt the most exciting thing in the world of eight wheels!

It doesn’t take long to get a hang of the sport and understand what the witty commentators are on about when they announce lead jammer, talk about pack tactics and get hyped up about power jams. And it takes even less time to get into the spirit of the bout and cheer on the ladies on wheels.

It is simply impossible to escape the punk-rock appeal mixed with a family-friendly (!) environment, tipped of with clever and intelligent humour. A word of warning at this point: Roller Derby might quickly turn from being intrigued to being thoroughly obsessed. All the fans (well established and brand new alike) find it hard to stay away once they had their first whiff of sweaty padding. Skatefresh is now most definitely part of the fan base!

The whole scene is charmingly DIY so the girls truly are involved from head to wheels. They organise the events, take care to the admin, scout for fresh meat and support one another. This is nothing if not fantastically, amazingly, super, mega, incredible…. and all of that. Skatefresh is looking forward to collaborating with the London Rollergirls on the odd occasion and will be there at the next bout!

Due to BBC regulations, no further details are able to be divulged regarding the production of the programme in which asha is currently involved. The show involves a live studio audience and vote so this process cannot be commented upon until after broadcast (date of which is unknown).

when broadcast date is known, we will of course let you know.

Traces of the 80s have made it to Brighton’s King Albert today. The music has changed, but the quads and the colorful leggings and tutus are the same. The people going round and round are of all ages and the level of skill is about as varied. Some mothers hold on to the walls for support and inch their way forward, while some daring kids well under the age of 10 whizz past a at a dizzying speed. A bunch of more experienced skaters (mostly skateguards) show off twirls and rhythmic moves. The indoor floor allows for smooth skating and more importantly the weather can’t interrupt the flow.

Unlike when Asha tried to teach her Skatefresh classes on Brighton’s seafront earlier that day. Setting out for a day of skating her workday got cut short by a rain shower that did England’s weather reputation proud. So the skill session was simply transferred to the above roller disco. Those who had come along (Kristin, Katja, Mariella and Pam) got to learn simple forwards cross-unders (not really that simple), heel-roll and toe-roll combos, scissor leg swings and see-saws and got to put them into action right away.While Asha went off moon-walking around the track the girls honed their new tricks.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Britney declaring  (and a bunch of tutu wearing 12 year old girls singing their agreement) that whips and chains excite her was the cue to move on. Not home, not to the pub, but to Shoreham to roller disco number 2. GYSO (Get Your Skates On), the guys responsible for the event above have a bigger, better, worse lit venue in an old Royal Mail building in Shoreham to let the fun continue. The sing-along play list was much the same, but the floor allowed for much more freedom of moving. Asha and Paul Quadster got their groove on for real now and were dancing away with all sorts of impressive leg work in the middle of the rink.

The afternoon/evening proofed exhausting in the best possible way. The skates loved the indoor surface and we all simply enjoyed a good bit of rhythmical rolling… Definitely an afternoon (no matter the weather) to be done again (maybe one Disco would do) and again and again. Bring your kids, your mates and your groove and we promise you’ll feel like Olivia Newton John in Zanadu…

My aims for this year were to be able to master some transitions, learn how to skate backwards and have some other stops up my sleeve so that I can lose my heel-brake dependency. The year looked like it was hotting up even more when I heard about the Le Mans 24 hour skate.

I loved attending the fitness mash-up classes in preparation for Le Mans.  Every second of knee-bending and hill-climbing was satisfyingly effective in increasing my speed and efficiency in subsequent skates.  Sadly, life and work got in the way of things and I was unable to attend Le Mans.

Work seems to have got in the way of a lot of things this season so I have not been able to skate nearly as much as I would have liked.  I have made very little progress indeed on transitions, different stops or skating backwards.  I flash green-eyed, yet deeply admiring glances whenever I see Min-Zaw speeding along backwards.  However, I have become skilled in intubating premature babies, prescribing blood products and understanding the significance of tension pneumothorax in electromechanical dissociation. None of these things have come in useful on a street skate so far.

Next month, the smooth tarmac and significant hills of Sydney beckon.  I am definitely going to get better at the things I aimed to do this year, and I am excited to learn the things I don’t even know that I want to be able to do yet.  I will miss the lovely people I have met through Skatefresh and look forward to telling them about my adventures on my return.

However the highlights of the night were multiple. Amazement at Matt B’s first outing on ramps (obviously previous board and bike experience helps) but his recoveries were inspired as well as entertaining.

Watching Min Zaw analyse the 180 transitions into backwards off the boxes and then nail them each time faster and with more confidence was inspiring. Seeing learning happening that quickly is such a buzz. By the end of the night the big descent was his, and backwards of course! Amazing.

I loved seeing Skatefresh instructors Matt and Jo enjoying their skating and both getting some air under those wheels. After teaching Skatefresh’s kids camp all morning (and continuing everyday this week) Jo didn’t seem to be lacking any energy and her smile was another highlight.

Feeling proud of any personal accomplishments piled into insignificance watching Blue Room’s David jump and slide and rotate across the course with the smoothness and grace of I don’t know what. Watching mastery of anything is so humbling and uplifting and motivating. My favourite moment of his skating may seem like a nothing trick, but it was his entry into the super steep curved ramps when he did it with a run up and jumped into it, avoiding the curved surface and basically flying for several metres before hitting the ramp so silently and smoothly you almost missed the fact he’d been airborne. Beautiful. If it wasn’t for that I wouldn’t have had the courage to try that ramp. I resisted the urge to over think and allow the fear to hang around. Breathing slowly helped and the feeling was divine!

I was super proud of Djuaan (my boyfriend’s 13yr old son) who also came along and tackled the ramps for the first time. Skating behind him as he followed Hazel through the skatelondon bladercross course was so much fun.

I will be remembering that night for some time, mainly because it was such fun but partly because any time I move my right leg my bum cheek/upper thigh gives me a sharp reminder of pain that feels exactly like the pain sustained from learning the double axel as a teenager. Sod the arnica, its time for the rubber ring to sit on again!

Bank holiday monday guys?

It all started when I got back from Australia where I completed one of the most intense street skates I’ve ever done (and I’ve done the Greenwich tunnel suicide skate!) and after Sydney I decided that I wanted to become a more complete skater. When we got back from Australia me and my girlfriend Caitlin were out on the Serpentine Road and bumped into Asha who, after complementing our suntans, mentioned Le Mans. I’d heard a bit about it previously and had certainly seen a few t-shirts on the stroll but it sounded like madness to me.

For those that don’t know what Le Mans is about: Asha asked me if I wanted to go all the way to France to skate for 24hrs around the Bugatti track.

How could I say no?

A few months before the event, Asha and Matt started to organise their Mashup sessions that were slightly (Matt) Taylored to Le Mans but also inclusive enough for non Le Mans skaters to join in and learn something useful. For me, the lessons really focused on technique and fitness so it was a kind of skate boot-camp, but I started to see the benefits almost immediately. For example I noticed on street skates that I could move through the gears quickly and smoothly and was overtaking people without trying to sprint past them. I was also way less tired afterwards as my skating had become so much more economical Some people even asked me to marshal – which is just crazy talk!

We also learned how to “draft” which was something I’d always thought was something you did in F1 and not skating along the Serpentine road. However, this came in real handy when we did the Goodwood Marathon recently! But it wasn’t all about speed skating, I wanted to look cool too, and you just can’t do that in Lycra! Asha had also arranged a few advanced classes this year where I’d picked up the basics of 3 turns and slides as well as  really starting to improve my jumps and transitions, and I’ve now begun including this into my regular street skating too – All in order to look cool of course!!!

More recently I’ve realised that I want to put something back in to skating as I realise what its given me (usually a big grin) so I’ve put my name down for the ICP (skate instructor training) level one instructor course this September.

I’ve only been skating for 3 years and whilst I don’t think I’ll end up being a Matty or an Asha I’ll feel better qualified to help teach other skaters the basics and hopefully try to help grow the sport we all love.  If I can do half the job that these guys have done then I’ll know I’m on the right track.

Right, well, best go. I’ve got to go practice my backwards powerslides and my FS 360′s as I’m at the skatepark tomorrow.

See you out there!

Matt

The Skatefresh 2011 Le Mans team that was, had some wicked achievements:

Caitlin Evans and Matt Bowden finished their first marathon, pink pacelining the whole way…..

Hazel Brocken finished her Midi but then went on to finish the full distance with Caitlin and Matt (just cos she could, loving the pink paceline)

Tracy Smith completed her second Midi (her first last year) completing all but one lap again on the pink pace line. a massive confidence achievement for my girl.. Lovely

Min Zaw Mra (Skatefresh’s best backwards skating client) completed the majority of his half marathon backwards. (with a little help from me)

Dinesh finished his first half marathon experience… again rocking along with the pink..
the guys made me really proud on a day where i was feeling quite low and sorry for myself… (i posted a really strong DNF – winge-ing about my skates again LOL)
and a massive well done to

Sparky

Ed!

Tanya..

Selena (and any other LSST podiums i missed..)

plus sterling performances from

Torbaydos (Paul)

and Eliza for her first full marathon finish in 1.36…
nice
a big whoop whoop to all !!!
Matt *

My day started with Matt and Jo from Skatefresh and I teaching three different groups simultaneously on the skate area at the West Pier. No passing traffic like Hyde Park not even another skater or skate boarder to interrupt our lesson flows. It is so rare to find ‘space’ just dedicated to lessons. Made me happy to see Skatefresh operating like that. After our lessons people started arriving with smiles, hugs and eagerness to skate. I spent the day watching my students from both London and Brighton skating together and with a variety of London skate scene friends and regulars. It is always a joy to see your friends mixing and having their own fun that doesn’t need you to sustain it.

It was great to see the West Pier transformed into a skaters’ paradise, with various slalom lines (including the return of the Champagne Bottle Slalom), CJ’s high jump which kept me enthralled and hollering like a football fan at a winning goal, and plenty of space for twirling, dancing, jumping over walls of cups, joining a Thumper Conga, and then plain old skating.

I gave lots of short mini (essential info only) lessons to anyone who asked and liked the informality of being quick and to the point. Even better was watching these little tips being repeated over and over all day (like the toe-toe glides, heel toe glides and inverted crossed under back T slide – who has a better name for it than that?)

We were treated to a gorgeous wheat-free, beetroot and chocolate cake made by my student Kristin and her gorgeous kids. A wall of broad shouldered skater guys who didn’t mind burning their fingers was created to enable the lighting of candles in some Brighton wind. The round cake did the rounds and was appreciated by all and consumed in its fullness.

The drops of rain that fell never made the ground totally wet (which is my definition of ‘wet) but even so, when the second showers started I had had enough and made a pact with the universe and weather Gods that if I distracted everyone with a lesson on how to moonwalk it could then sort itself out and be better weather. I was again impressed by everyone’s attempts and polishing of their moonwalks, such a great move. And sure enough the weather changed and as we set off for the street skate I knew the worst had passed.

The street skate along the seafront to the Marina and back to Hove and back was beautiful. The bicycles were friendly and very few in number and pedestrians impressed and amazed at so many skaters and our mobile music systems. The Thumpers are still a thing of beauty for me and wearing an Asbox continues to be one of my favourite things. Feeling music pounding from the Asbox and hitting the back of my chest and letting that propel your skating is a wonderful feeling. I loved watching my yoga teachers take to skating like ducks to water and even going on the street skate having not skated since childhood and putting blades on 20 minutes before the skate started.

As we arrived back from the street skate the sky was clear and the sun came out. It was one of the most beautiful ‘sun coming out’ moments and brought smiles, lightness, long shadows and a glorious early evening of skating for everyone. It was the most wonderful end to a fabulous day. It went too quickly and I would love to have one every 2 months (now there’s an idea), but I am left with a warm and grateful feeling. I have been so fortunate to have this job that I love and to have clients who value my attention to detail and keep me outdoors earning my wares. I am a different person to the lost, office bound Asha of 12 years ago and I am deeply grateful to anyone who shares any part of my story.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Now, I’m suffering from a personal void in my life. What do I do with the time I have? I don’t need to write an email about trams or trains or hills or wheels… what do I do with myself??

oh..  I know: spend time with my lovely girl! (more about her input later).

Anyways,

My idea for the Skatefresh Le Mans team came from a chat with a guy called Sparky on the Sunday night of Le Mans 2010.

(you might know him he came 4^th this year with his mate Quaddie)

Having been invited myself, to the nutty French event that year and been blown away by the feeling surrounding it all, I wanted to offer that experience to others in a soft and friendly way.

So I – then we (myself and Asha) put a plan together. The rest is, as you might say – history.

I set some aspirations for our team at the event, nothing related to laps times or skating performance, more about good times, smiles and enjoyment… oh yeah, and 1 rule:

That baton doesn’t stop moving! (and it didn’t – brilliant!!)

Asha has covered most if not all of my experiential comments from the race in her blog: good grub, no sleep, hard work, fun, new people becoming friends etc etc,

I’ve only one or two things to add: the main one being – Never get caught on film in a pink tutu!!!

Le Mans for me is like a London skaters village in France in the sunshine for 3 days. It has twice offered me access to get to know people in the skate scene without the usual London city trappings of buying a beer or bridging a social gap for a chat. It bridges the gaps for you and allows conversations and experiences to flow. I’ve made more new friends on top of last year’s round of fresh faces and it would be fair to say I’ll be going again next year in the hope of more of the same. (I really want to skate MUCH faster next year too)

I must at this point thank my better half Tracy for coming along, buying into the whole process, the camping, the staying up all night, team management, stopwatches etc etc etc Tracy’s not strictly a skater, she skates – a bit. She came for me and I adore her for her drive and enthusiasm and I’m grateful for her effort in propping me up and putting up with weeks of planning and skate chat…. Tracy – thank you xxxx

Having done Le Mans the year before on a “fun” (Panda) team I had ideas about Le Mans being an accessible inline skating event from the perspective of competitors only having to skate one lap at a time and being able to see progression in their ability throughout the race. This definitely held true. All the feedback I’ve had since has been positive and reflective of these ideas. Our team went home (for the most part) having a new understanding of their skating and their comfort with speed and fitness. Frankly from my side “perfect”. I suppose the question remains what will happen in June next year and whether I can be persuaded to be part of organising a pink team for Le Mans again??

Click here to view the embedded video.

I have a couple of people to thank for their assistance in putting this together with only 1 years experience of the event myself.

Ed! Gwiazda – from LSST without his calm organisational advice from time to time I would have been a lot more lost in the mire during our preparations and for letting us simply follow him around after the race, making transfers from track to hotel smooth and stress free.

David – from ClubBlueRoom his thoughts and assistance on equipment were totally invaluable for me personally and for a couple of members of the SF team.

Pamela – Also from LSST for being so damned organised with the van and LSST arrangements, allowing the rest of us to sit on the Speed team’s coat-tails and drift along through the event and collect our bags very conveniently at the end.

Asha – for rolling with my idea of doing this and buying in during the weekend in such great individual style and ability, great stuff mate. xx

Lastly – the team. Guys, you rocked.. thank you..

So, if you fancy a go? Or maybe you have aspirations towards skating in a “speed team” either way let us know and we’ll sort you out with some tuition and hopefully provide you with a little direction for your enthusiasm.

Happy Summer 2011, enjoy.

Maybe I’ll see you at the Goodwood roller marathon – or perhaps in Berlin or Cologne.

Happy skating

M x

Even before the race kicked off at 4pm on Saturday 25^th June we started ’being’ a team, on the journey, at the campsite and track side. Walking up the tower to get into the grandstand to watch Matt B do our start, I felt a huge sense of occasion and excitement, knowing that batton wouldn’t stop doing laps of that track for 24 hours. The weather was hot, too hot to be standing around on tarmac and skating in the sun, but with suncream on overdrive and our trusty pit crew umbrella we all faced the task at hand.

I loved hearing everyone’s experiences of their laps, how awful the hill felt (and what tactics we were using to get up it faster) and also how all our newbies to Le Mans dealt with the massive down hill corner, which gives skaters their first opportunity to deal with seriously high speed which isn’t possible in London due to lack of large hills which don’t have traffic or surface as a consideration. I applauded the progressions of each skater who conquered their fears, lap by lap and reduced their braking, until finally they saw that downhill as opportunity to skate into it and have the roll of their lives, confident in their ability now to hold it together, control the speed wobble, steer their edges and remain in a tuck as long as possible. This is how Le Mans makes you a better skater.

I was happy with my new 90mm wheel set up and glad that I had listened to Matty’s suggestion on this. I will be keeping that new frame permaneneltly. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy the actual skating so much and often found myself completely in the flow, mesmerised by the sound of the wheels on the hot tarmac, focussed on my breath and finding the best line through the skaters ahead of me, feeling at one with my skates, taped in and tuned into the flow. There was a huge sense of freedom in just trying to go fast and not having to concern yourself with irregularities of surface or the possibility of vehicles/pedestrians/other skaters needing to be dealt with. I never have the chance to skate really fast without there being a sense of tension regarding having to stop suddenly or make decisions at high speeds. I felt true joy and connection in that freedom of pushing, feeling and gliding, it’s almost magic.

I looked after my team by cooking three meals throughout the race, ensuring everyone ate ‘real’ food and didn’t overdose on electrolytes, cereal sports bars and chemicals/sugar. I made Quinoa with Japanese vegetable curry for before the race, then Miso soup with seaweed, veg and noodles for Saturday night and a deluxe porridge on Sunday with stewed fruit, nuts, seeds, raisins, dates and honey. I know my team appreciated my efforts and enjoyed the food and that was all I needed to make it worthwhile.

The night shift for my group was from 8pm – 1am and for Matty’s group from 1am -6am. The evening provided some respite from the hot afternoon but the calm conditions started to change and the wind increased. I was astonished to be hanging around on the night shift not needing to cover up, enjoying the balmy night temperatures, knowing that the next morning shift would be a tester after little sleep and soaring heat. As Sunday went on the pit box shade disappeared and temperatures soared to 35+. Tactics talk was now about how to avoid severe dry mouth syndrome and how to avoid suncream dripping into your eyes. I was impressed by our team’s efforts on the stop watches. I even overcame my stop watch phobia and enjoyed the anticipation of waiting for people to return, watching the change overs and organising the next skater and feeling like the pulse keeper. Not one lap time was missed.

It was wonderful for the Skatefresh team to feel part of the London/UK skate crew of 10 teams. Particular mention must be made to the valiant efforts and achievements of the two soloists Ben and Rick (doing the unthinkable and skating 24 hours solo), and also the 2 Duo teams of Richard and George, Sparky and Quaddie. I was utterly astonished as I watched them regularly pass the pit boxes and look so fresh and unhaggered. I cannot contemplate coming into the home straight, skating past all the boxes and not handing over to one of my team mates but having to head up that hill again. My deepest respect and admiration goes out to all those guys. You are an inspiration. The LondonSkaters endurance team of 5 people also impressed me and I am deeply proud of all the podium placed teams.

I was interested to know what a backwards lap would feel like (I don’t think I’ve ever had the possibility of skating nearly 4km backwards, ever. For safety reasons I decided to do the first up hill and downhill forwards (as due to me looking over my right shoulder when backwards, I’d be blind to the curve), but I transitioned to backwards after the downhill and remained there for the rest of the lap. I had a video camera on and I wanted to catch skaters faces from the front as they passed me and hoped to find some London skaters to film. I stayed out of the fastest speed line and filmed the super fast speed skaters as they flew past me (many giving me friendly nods or thumbs up, acknowledging my backwards efforts). I discovered that I favour my left leg (weight wise) as it was getting rather tired by the time I got to the water station and this forced me to start using my right leg more which as I did created more speed and an ‘ah haaa’ moment as I realised I also do what my students do (favour my favourite leg). I saw the race judges on their motorbike coming up behind me and worried for a moment that my backwards skating might be frowned upon (even though I was being careful not to be in the way) but I was very surprised to see them go by me and the guy on the back applaud me with a clear “tres bien, tres bien”. I think the only other person to do some backwards on the course was Min Zaw who used the straight sections to work his transitions and get some uninterrupted practice (of which there is video evidence).

Le Mans isn’t simply about the skating however. It is a great opportunity to meet new people (many of whom have been faces on street skates for years for example) or to deepen existing friendships, with trackside chats, campsite socialising and traveling en mass. You get to push your own boundaries and we were all tested to the max with a combination of physical tiredness, lack of sleep, excessive heat and sun exposure, intense sharing of space (be it tents, campsite, trackside, pit box, trains). But this intensity pulls out of us something pure and real, the unedited versions of ourselves which we often leave unexpressed.

I am left with a feeling of pride for everyone on my team, many of whom I taught how to skate, either from the beginning or part way through their process. Seeing them skate Le Mans is like the icing on the cake for a me. Having Matt as team leader was a blessing and sharing responsibilities with him felt like a natural partnership. Months ago we were planning our ‘Mash Up’ training sessions and here we all were doing it. The future had become the present.