INLINE SKATING  

Welcome to "Blading Vancouver's" second edition of inline skating tips from Lorne Milne, blading instructor and coordinator of the local volunteer "Inline Skate Patrol".

November and December are upon us - the skies have opened up on us and the rains have been falling, not to mention that the sun has been going down earlier...a lot of folks are putting their blades away. Wait! Hold onto those skates and don't take them down to the storage just yet!! There are still plenty of places to ride!

There's heaps of spots to get out to, even on iffy days.
On those 'Less-sun-than-we'd-like' kind of days plus those more frequent 'Silvery-gray-but-dry-asphalt' days, get on out!! Seymour Demonstration Forest still has some good skating if it's been sunny and dry all morning....so some afternoon striding can be fun.

**Remember: this is an intermediate to advanced blading area in the best of weather, and some wet surfaces only add another level or two of difficulty!!**

Stanley Park often gets wet and stays wet (and muddy on the west side from Lion's Gate Bridge to 2nd Beach), so pick your entry from Coal Harbour through to Lumberman's Arch. You'll probably want to wisely cut from The Arch through the Zoo and over the concrete 'overpass' bridge (near the Rowing Club) and then back to Coal Harbour.

**Watch out for wet leaves!! They can be like ball bearings (you don't want to pull a groin muscle from slipping out on a leaf!) Also, the Skate Patrol are not out (after October 15 th) to help you if you get into trouble.**

Leaf-free False Creek (north shore side) is one of your best bets on a dry day. This area drains and dries fastest after a rain. This is where you're more likely to see the regulars and die-hards!!

Blading under the Burrard Street Bridge (north end). Well, as the summer came to a close, the city finally completed the construction under the bridge. The cones are back up (they are there 24 hours a day), so you can practice your slalom and hill skills. If it does start to sprinkle outside, this spot will stay dry long enough for you to get a good skate in.

The Rose Garden Parkade at UBC gets 10-toes-up for it's superb blading possibilities!! Drive your car in and go 2 floors down. This is the very best place to blade on a rainy day. It's dry, warm and bright with a beautifully smooth surface. It's bigger than any roller-rink and UBC security are excellent towards in-line skaters. Very few cars park down there, so there are no oil spots, muddy car tracks or dripping water!!

**Remember: when you're in someone's parkade, be extremely gracious and appreciating to the security people. There are too many in town who have banned bladers, so it is very important that we maintain our relationship with these supportive people!**

The Stardust Roller-Rink in Surrey: Most people have forgotten about the existence of the last roller-rink in the Lower Mainland. About 50% of the skaters there are on blades while the rest are on 'roller-skates' (now called 'Quads' in the California skate scene where rollerskating never did die off!!). A bonus feature about the Stardust is that it's on the Skytrain route and is literally across the street from the station (so you can jump on downtown and have a relaxing ride out to skate under the glitter ball, the quasi-psychedelic nite club lites and to 'get-down' to contemporary tunes).

Blading Ladner: There are days when the roads have not quite dried up in Vancouver yet, but it's been sunny for a few hours in Ladner already (they get almost half as much rain in Ladner, Tsawassen and White Rock as they do on the North Shore and Deep Cove). Take a look up to the sky and see where the clouds lie!! A trip south to these locations may be a good call for some outside skating...

 

Over the Halloween weekend, I took a blading party of devoted skate patrollers and blade instructors down to the hottest skate scene in North America!! It was my 4 th trip there and I plan to do more!

David Miles (a fellow International Inline Skating Association certified instructor) has organised the famous 'Midnight Roll' through the streets of San Fran...Every Friday night of the year, 400 to 700 bladers meet on the Embarcadero Drive at the Ferry Building (near Fisherman's Wharf) and skate through the wharf area, down through the Marina district, Chinatown, the Business district, the Niteclub area and finally back to the parking lot for a dance on blades. The first half of this midnight marathon is definitely 'do-able' for intermediates, so give it a go! Be sure to wear your flashing lights and buy some night-light-sticks from the organisers so everyone can see you coming.

The Volunteer Skate Patrol are out directing traffic and doing a great job on the midnight skate (a great group, but Vancouver still has the largest Skate Patrol in the world!). It may be a good idea to take a 'street-skating' lesson before you go...

The Sunday Skate in Golden Gate Park attracts thousands of bladers every weekend, all year long. You've got to check this out and especially the roller-dancers at the 6 th Street skate-dance area, as they do some truly amazing moves and tricks to a variety of hip-hop and dance music. There was hot skating and the temperature hit 84 degrees the day we were there. David Miles also organises this event and the California Outdoor Rollerskating Association (CORA). He's on the web (www.cora.org), and can be reached by e-mail (CAblader@ix.netcom.com) or by phone at (415) 752-1967. Folks, David Miles is an impressive skater and is the charismatic guru of skating on the West Coast of North America...I guarantee that you'll be impressed by what he has organised...he even has a weekly TV show called "Skatin' Place".

 

Since September, I've been giving heaps of blading lessons to skaters who also want to improve their skiing skills. An in-line skate instructor who is also certified in ski instruction can get you out there with your ski poles (with duct tape over the spiked tips), working on your body position , pole planting, edging skills and general finesse.

We use different grades (depending on your skill levels or what areas you are working on) and set the cones up for slalom courses or mogul-styled turns. These skills directly transfer over and there simply is no other dry-land training ski-fitness preparation that so closely benefits your skiing! Personally, I cross-train this way all through the winter season while also keeping busy teaching and snowboarding!!

Vancouver is geographically one of the best - if not THE best- place to skate on the West Coast of North America in terms of long seawalls, varied flat and steep terrain and interesting views. Of some of the other 'hot spots' I've skated in North America - Washington, Oregon, California, Mexico and Miami South Beach - Vancouver outranks many of these places in terms of challenging skates. We do need to continue to expand our events and types of blading, however, as we have no dance scenes or in-lines skate parks for example.

Brian Larsen (my fellow Skate Patrol Coordinator and in-line skate instructor) and I have been meeting with some local government officials, in-line skate shops and hot skaters to discuss the need for an in-line skate park under cover. Bladers need an area with a snake bowl like Griffin Skateboard Park (near Westwood Plaza in North Vancouver) that lends itself to the beginner blade rider and the advanced rider. A new blade park also needs: beginner routes (a low rise and a long run) to allow learning; a wave bank for learning to do 180 degree turns on different grades; a 2ft halfpipe for learning bladers, a 4ft for intermediate and 6ft for advanced bladers. We'd love to also see a lengthy slope for cones and a perimeter loop for mileage skating. The International In-Line skate Association (IISA) provides plans and support information for blade parks.

And now...there is a perfect location in existence! Under the north end of the Burrard Bridge (on city-owned land) there is a lot of dry space and a natural slope. If you are interested in providing some sponsorship, donations or other form of support to this project, please contact me at the numbers provided in my profile below.

Stay tuned for more 'Blading Vancouver' info in our next installment!! Also look out for our 'Boarding Vancouver' chapter coming soon on 'englishbay.com' from your Bladin', Boardin' and Skiing Instructor, Lorne Milne.