Happy New Year! CITC: The Golden Note, Train Your Brain (Inline Planet)

Happy New Year! I don't need to add any words here. Here are a few of the pictures from the 2006 season for you to enjoy. Cheers!


Just too cold for me! Suzanne Dionne leads her group during the Big Rideau Marathon in Portland, Ontario

Down but not out; Ryan Bender on the inside of the track...those of you who know him, well you know this happenned to him a few times this year

Little guy leads bigger guy at the 2nd race of the Eastern Seaboard Series in Trexlertown

Meaghan Buisson on her way to setting the marathon solo world record in Montreal

Steve Robillard and Olivier Jean lead the way at the RSC National Marathon

Lucky me; I was the official photographer of the Poulettes Sur Roulettes for the 24 hours Montreal Inline

A beautiful day to be out skating for the TBN Marathon in Hamilton; it started to rain after we made our way out to lunch

It's all about them, isn't it?

They used to be knees...

Group after group after group finishing; that's the Northshore Inline Marathon in Duluth

Why oh why do we do this one? I know, becasue it's A2A!

Ohhh Canada- short track domination!

Worlds senior men's relay

Mantia (USA), Guyader (France), Lerga (Spain) and Romani (Italy) at the world championships

Cecilia Baena (Colombia) leads Andrea Gonzales (Argentina) at the world championships
CITC: The Golden Note: There is a report on MSI's season openner on the Canadian Inline Training Centre's website. What I read right below the report is a link worth re-linking. It's a wonderful story with a great video to go along with it. I also like what Alex Perrie wrote: 'I am sure you know just how much time I spend training my kids and driving, flying them around the world to skate. I figured I was a pretty good dad. Well this dad was brought to tears this morning by a video of another dad and what he had done for his son. This was truly the most insperational clip I have ever seen'.


Alex Perrie and his daughter Paisley in Ste-Foy, Quebec
Train Your Brain (Inline Planet): The Inline Planet kicks butt, and continues to do so with its latest artciel called Train Your Brain.

A Day In Montreal, More SPD, Videos From Two Different Worlds: China to Placid

A Day In Montreal: On my way to visiting my family near Trois Rivieres, Quebec, I stopped off in Montreal today and saw my 'other' family- my extended family of skaters. Showing up at their practice and watching them (the short track national team) play hockey and having fun putting the mats away felt like taking a breath of fresh air; the fun atmosphere, the dedication & focus of the skaters, and the camaraderie of everyone wishing each other happy new year and making plans for the big party tomorrow night was very contagious, especially on this snowy day in Montreal.


Tysen Heung works the cornering using cables while Steve Robillard stretches; Heung and his girlfriend might be spending New Years at Steve Robillard's place this year, how fun!

Canadian national teamers and coaches going over some pictures from a 1984 race program, which included the adorable faces of a young Jeff Schoelten and Mike Murray!

Francois Louis Tremblay spent hours working on his Puzz 3D 1969 Camaro SS model. We heard a cheer and thought he was finished, but he wasn't. As I am writing this, he's probably still working on it. As you're reading this, he's probably just finishing it up.
More SPD: As I continue to share my joy of being the proud uncle of Sebastien Peter Doucet, Marlene and my brother set up a picture a day blog of SPD. What a sweetheart he is...Sebby that is.

Videos From Two Different Worlds: China to Placid: Sigrid Ziegler posted two videos featuring clips from the 2005 world championships in China in her latest entry titled the Final Countdown. Some good stuff for you video/ worlds junkies. Andrew Love takes us away from China to the cold land of Lake Placid thanks to en entry and video called Laps In Lake Placid.


You'll see videos from these races (2005 world championships in China) in Sigrid Ziegler's latest entry; Final Countdown

Team Florida's Web Resources, Rollerdome

Team Florida's Web Resources: The internet is great for finding all sorts of information, tips, and advice. The Inline Planet has a section for new skaters. Yesterday I was clicking around the Team Florida website and explored their Training Zone.


Want to become good like them? Check out Team Florida's Training Zone

The Training Zone is loaded with all sorts of goodies including pictures and videos about stretching and skating form/ technique. There is also a good section with relevant articles.


Cables and ropes allow skaters to practice cornering technique off skates effectively
Rollerdome: Ahh how I wish each city, *especially mine*, had a facility like the Rollerdome. Actually, the Sky Dome (now known as the Rogers Center), home of the Toronto Blue Jays and the Toronto Argonauts, used to have a program similar to that of the Rollerdome back in the early/ mid-1990's. A few members of the Tornto Inline Skating Club used to skate at the 500-level (nose-bleeds).

Isn't It Nice To Go Out After Practice?, More SPD

Isn't It Nice To Go Out After Practice?: I arrived home from Thunder Bay last night in time to see my friends after practice and go out with them for coffee/ tea. During this time of the year, it's nice to be with friends just to chat about skating and also about non skating things too.


Left to right are Jesse Pauley, Aaron Arndt, Sarah Hopkins, Mister Pauley, and Deb.
More SPD: I've got a couple more cute pictures of Sebastien Peter Doucet to share with you. He's a sweetie!


Uncle Pete (me) with Sebastien...starting to get used to me taking pictures of him

Proud father Olivier and his son!

Skates In The Real Canadian Super Store, Wheel Anti-Reversing Technology- Corrected

Skates In The Real Canadian Super Store: Being in Thunder Bay has been a lot of fun for me. I've spent a lot of my time observing and interacting with Sebastien and some time training (running & dry land). For xmas, I received a gift certificate for a store called Fresh Air Experience. I bought a pair of spiffy running shoes: $ is tight and I've been using the same rag-tag shoes for 3 years now, so I was long overdue.

My outing with Marlene Wandel (you might remember her as being Sebastien's mother) also inclded a stop at The Real Canadian Superstore. While I was waiting to pay for the ginger ale (which for some reason I was holding and caressing like a baby) I saw out of the corner of my eye a girl glide by me. I though to myself 'Gee, is she floating, or is she walking really smoothly?'. I looked down, and I noticed she was wearing inline skates.


Yep, it's a big store
What impressed me even more was that she actually worked at the store. I spoke with her and found out her name was Danielle from Thunder Bay. Upon further inquiry, I discovered that some of the employees wear inline skates to get around the store because it is a really big store. Really really cool. The Real Canadian Superstore is a place that has earned my business.


Danielle proudly sports her inline skates
Wheel Anti-Reversing Technology- Corrected: A little bit ago, I talked about the Wheel Anti-Reversing Technology and referred to it as 'Bearing Anti Reverse System'. Bruce Honaker has been promoting his product. You can visit the website at www.inlineskatetech.com. You can see the technology in action right here in this video. Pretty cool stuff.

The New Doucet, A Terrible Introduction, Teen Fuel

The New Doucet: Thunder Bay is much colder than Toronto- when I left Toronto on Sunday, it was +7 Celsius and it was -10 Celsius in Thunder Bay. The thing is though that Toronto and Thunder Bay have about the same amount of snow: zilch. This is a Canadian inline skater's dream; winter with very little snow.

Inline skating, as close as it is to my heart, has had its niche in my heart replaced by a little beautiful boy named Sebastien. I won't take too much of this website to write about him, but I will for sure share some of my joys with you. After all, it's my site; therefore you're at my mercy!


The beautiful Mississauga sky at dusk right before I leave for Thunder Bay

And here is Sebastien, the little guy, I got to hold him and sing songs to him. I think he likes my the smell of my breath (I always chew gum; Extra bubble-mint)
A Terrible Introduction: Aaron Arndt, well, I'm not sure how to introduce this one, just read it. Sounds like no fun at all.


Aaron Arndt (2nd place, Bont) in the thick of the action at the Eastern Seaboard Series #3 (Trexlertown)
Teen Fuel: I am trying to be an educated and conscientious consumer; I try to purchase from companies that are philosophically aligned with my beliefs. It's not always possible, but I do try.

In that vein, I am a much higher supporter of companies that invest into sports and support athletes, races, and of course websites (like mine). For example, there are good chances that the next car that I purchase will be from a company that sponsors inline skating teams. I think that I can use my website to gain some leverage and help bring some companies that support athletes to light. Teen Fuel is one of those companies.


Canadian short track speedskater Ivanie Blondin (in yellow) is supported by Teen Fuel

Merry Christmas, 2006 Speed-Skating.net Awards, Andrew Love's Video, A Game Of Risk

Merry Christmas: That's right, I am in Thunder Bay right now and I have met, held, and walked with Sebastien Peter Doucet, my nephew. He's tiny and beautiful. Of course it goes without saying that I'll post a couple of pictures later. In the mean time, enjoy your Christmas (if you celebrate it). If you're having a reveillon like my family in Quebec or a huge dinner, or if you're spending time on your own, or really whatever you're doing, have a wonderful time.

2006 Speed-Skating.net Awards: Who was the best speedskater of 2006? You can vote in 6 different categories on Speed-Skating.net: female and male in inline (roller), long track (ice), and short track (ice). Vote for me! Oh, ooops, I am not on the list.


Some of the world's best (and cutest) female skaters...not on the list!
Andrew Love's Video: Andrew Love made a short video from the US Long Track Speed Skating Championships- again, Andrew has a well written introduction to the video on his blog; click here of view below-



A Game Of Risk: If you’ve ever played Risk, you are well aware of many strategies- what you should not do and what you should do. I had the opportunity to go up against a few skater-friends including Candy Wong, Aaron Arndt, Andrew Hegarty, Sigrid Ziegler, and Kevin Noh. What follows this are each person’s result and my analysis of their game-play.


Sigrid Ziegler (left) and Candy Wong (right) taking in the strategy
[Candy Wong's Risk report] [Candy Wong's Risk Video (view it below too)]
6th Place- Peter Doucet: Started with Brazil, South-East Africa, and South-East Asia. Aaron Arndt handily knocked Peter out of Brazil, Andrew Hegarty easily cleared Africa of Peter, and Sigrid Ziegler effortlessly disposed of Peter in South-East Asia.

5th Place- Candy Wong: Described as irrational/ unpredictable in her actions in the game, she controlled Central-Europe until Andrew Hegarty gave her the boot.

4th Place- Kevin Noh: Kevin tended to be more of a Pacifist until mid-way in the game when he was left with 3 armies in Australia. He raged out of Australia and almost obliterated Sigrid Ziegler’s army in Asia until Andrew Hegarty took Kevin out of the game.

3rd Place- Sigrid Ziegler: Creating an alliance with Aaron Arndt, Sigrid built up massive forces in Alaska while slowly taking over Europe. She waged battles with Aaron Arndt from the North of Canada and had a strong presence in Asia. She almost drove Kevin Noh out of Asia and Australia, but Kevin came raging back, forcing Sigrid to back into North-East Asia. A battle with Aaron Arndt left Sigrid weak enough for Andrew Hegarty to knock her out of the game in Asia.

2nd Place- Aaron Arndt: Aaron took over the entire American continent. With a truce in Brazil/ Africa with Andrew Hegarty and a truce with Sigrid in Alaska-Russia, conflicts took a long time to develop. A see-saw mutual battle for Iceland emerged between Andrew and Aaron. The two collected cards, but a build-up in Iceland by Andrew followed by an attempt at infiltrating North America spelt an eventual domination by Andrew. The attack on Aaron really pissed Aaron off. A massive battle of retribution left Aaron’s armies in North America quite weak. Aaron left a trail of his armies from North America and ploughed through a few poorly defended countries in Europe and Asia to eventually take over Australia. Aaron had a significant battle from Alaska to Russia with Sigrid Ziegler- a truce that had stood most of the game exploded with both Aaron and Sigrid being left quite weak. Aaron finished the game with significant armies in Brazil and in Australia.

1st Place- Andrew Hegarty: Andrew took care of Peter Doucet early in the game, claiming the African continent. His armies were right beside Kevin Noh’s armies in the Middle-East, and soon, Andrew buried Kevin’s armies and slowly took over Europe. Andrew’s massive armies ploughed a weakened Sigrid Ziegler to the ground in Russia thanks to a previous battle between Aaron and Sigrid. With a clear control over Africa, Europe, and Asia, and a strong possibility of taking over the Americas, he was declared the victor.

It's That Time Of Year Again, Love Makes It

It's That Time Of Year Again: With Hanukah, Kwanza, Christmas, and Eid fast approaching, why not get into the spirit of the winter holidays with the gift of giving to Peter's Inline Racing Web Page? With a donation, you can rest assured that I will be in a better position to qualify for and compete at the 2007 Pan American Games and World Championships. The cost of competing at both competitions will be near $8000, most of which I will have to pay myself (except for a whole $250 from Roller Sports Canada and perhaps a few hundred $'s from fundraising). If you wish to donate, click on the picture below and follow the instructions-


Andrew Love Makes It: A huge congratulation goes out to Andrew Love who just inched into the top-10 in the 500-meters at the US Long Track Speedskating Championships. In a humble fashion, Andrew writes about his accomplishment at the end of the post- save the best for last, right? You can see a picture of Andrew proudly wearing his USA t-shirt at the bottom of the post.

Black Ice On Lac Masson, Andrew Love Watch, Be A Student Of The Sport (InlinePlanet)

Black Ice On Lac Masson: Charles Beaudoin posted a video on YouTube of him skating on black ice on Lac Masson in Ste Margueritte, Quebec. If you don't know what black ice is, well, it is what the name says. If you still don't know what it is, check it out below or click here.




Charles Beaudoin at the 2006 Inline Montreal Relay


This kind of mirror effect from the pavement isn't exactly something you want when you're racing on inline skates (from the women's final sprint in the marathon (in the rain) at the 2006 world championships in Korea)
Andrew Love Watch: Andrew Love has put up a post covering Day 3 at the US Long Track Championships. Andrew is just out of the top-10 in his race, having skated a 37.51 in his first 500-meter race. He is having problems with the rocker of his blades.

Be A Student Of The Sport (InlinePlanet): Thanks to the Inline Planet, we can continue to get a better understanding and a more accurate picture of the kind of work and attention to detail that are required to be an athlete at the top level of a sport. TIP's latest tip of the week is from none other than Joey Cheek. Check it out.

Swollen Ankle- The Video, US Long Track Championships Results, Transformers

Swollen Ankle- The Video: At practice last Wednesday, Andrew Hegarty was not skatig because his right ankle was swollen. Instead, he took some video of the practice and posted the finished product on his blog.


Andrew Hegarty at a Scooter's Indoor Speed Club practice
US Long Track Championships Results: Andrew Love is offering coverage of the US Long Track Speed Skating Championships. If you want to see detailed results, go to the Pettit National Ice Center's website. Day 1 and day 2 results are up. I can't wait to see how Andrew Love does in the 500-meter sprint. He's been working so hard and he deserves a good result.

Transformers: As many kids my age did, I spent a good portion of my youth watching cartoons. Some of my favourite shows included GI Joe, the Smurfs, Tiger Cats, Cops, He-Man, and of course the Transformers. I just wanted to share with you that I am really pumped up that Transformers is going to be released in 2007. You can view the preview here.

Patrick Chayer, who was one of the greatest skaters to come out of Quebec, used to call Marc Griffin GI Joe. That's because he always thought Marc Griffin looked like a GI Joe. If anyone looks like He-Man, it's definitely me, you know, with my crazy abs of steel...cough cough.


Was Patrick Chayer right? Is Marc Griffin a living GI Joe? When I raced with Marc, he always had his hair shaved and his beard at the exact same length of his hair. I always though he probably had the easiest times drying his hair and beard; all he'd have to do is pass his hand over it, and the water would 'spring' out and everything would be insta-dry.

PIRWP Is Back

This is the announcement to indicate that I am back online (as if you haven't noticed!)- That's right, I am back, well, my site's back. Just over a year ago, I 'shut down' my site, however I still maintained the site by posting updates here and there. I received many e-mails from well wishers and a few people came up to me at some races letting me know how much they missed my site and they were happy for me that I decided to do what I did.

I wanted to just take this opportunity to confirm that yes, my site's back but also that my priorities still currently remain with racing and training right now, so if you don't see any updates on my site, there's a good reason; I am either training, tired, away, sick, or just really busy with work.

I plan on using this site to share news, my enthusiasm and love for skating, and to raise a few important issues. Below are a few of the homepage images that I've had since I started PIRWP back in March 1999.


This is one of the first homepage images; Eric Gee made this one for me

Andrew Hegarty made this one when my site hit 30 thousand hits

I made this one back in 2003

Andrew Love made this one for me a couple of years ago for April Fool's Day

Welcome to the World Sebastien Peter Doucet, Holiday Concert

Welcome to the World Sebastien Peter Doucet: On December 16th 2006 at about 4am (a time of the week that I sometimes find myself stumbling home from a night out with friends), planet earth became the official home of Sebastien Peter Doucet. He is the son of my brother Olivier and his partner, Marlene.


Proud father Olivier and son, Sebastien
What a name, isn't it? Actually, he gets his middle name from my father Peter Doucet. You see back in 1979, my family shrunk from 4 members to 3 members thanks to a tragic car crash which claimed my father's life. For twenty some-odd years, we were three in my family, and now, are numbers are back up with the addition of Sebastien and Marlene Wandel, my brother Olivier's partner in crime.

Sebastien currently lives in Thunder Bay, home of Hal Lightwood and Frank Luckai and family. What I am thinking, planning, plotting, is that Thunder Bay can become a mecca of roller speed skating in a few years. You see; I will let Olivier and Marlene enjoy the joys of parenthood through their love, committment, sacrifice, work, and growth. As I learn to become an awesome uncle, I will attempt to steer Sebastien into the virtiuous direction of roller speed skating- all this of course with the inevitable blessing of Sebastian's parents. It will follow that clubs, races, websites, companies, fans, officials, and volunteers will spring out of Thunder Bay.


Thunder Bay's Frank Luckai (left) at the 2005 Rolling Rampage and Oliver Doucet (right) at the 2006 TIIRW. When will Sebastien's picture be added to the mix?
I can't wait to meet you Sebastien; If you're reading this, uncle Pete's coming to Thunder Bay on December 24th to visit you! Oh and Hal- maybe we can go for a skate again? I can replace all those Hallowe'en chocolates I ate...yum.

Aaron Arndt's Must Read A2A Report, Dave Cooper Returns, Kalina Jumps

Aaron Arndt's Must Read A2A Report: The website AaronArndt.ca has posted a report on the 2006 Athens to Atlanta. It is a must-read. The report is filled with great stories, strategycial advice, how to skate with integrity, and inspirational messages. Just to give you a taste of some of the important parts, I've quoted a few here:

'Eddy Matzger, who has won the race more times than most have started it, is sitting down inside of a huge cardboard box, with “A2A 25th Anniversary” painted on the side. Amazingly, he was planning to start the race while still inside the box. Perhaps even more amazingly, others were fully prepared to start directly behind this huge box'.


Here's the box that Aaron is talking about- perhaps Eddy Matzger is in the box as this picture is taken
Some good advice from Aaron: 'The guys wanting to ‘stay in’ make their way towards the front of the pack to be in a ‘good position’, and so a few of the [more anxious] faster guys react by moving up in front of the guys they don’t want to get caught behind. This process only has to repeat once, and already the pace is higher than anybody really wants. [My advice btw, is observe the hierarchy. Hold a spot you deserve, not desire, in a race like this. Trust me, it is in the interest of everyone.]'.

Fueling your body properly during A2A is critical: 'My support car didn’t make it to either of them. By now I had also ran out of fuels, and liquids, and hadn’t yet heard from him at all. I was worried. I thought maybe he crashed the car, or got a traffic ticket, or was completely lost and I wouldn’t see him for the entirety of the race. How would we meet back up? Did he crash my car?…'.

Aaron on strategy: 'The pack reacts differently depending on who is doing the attacking. If a guy who is struggling to stay in attacks during a slower part of the race [which happens from time to time], the reaction would be quite different than if the strongest, or the favorite to win were to attack. So, the pack (to some degree) assesses the threat of every attack before it reacts. At least normally this happens. Sometimes the guys are so anxious in the pack that they panic in reaction to every attack. That’s bad. This far into a big race, the anxious types have long since been weeded out of the pack, and the pack wasn’t so hyper-reactive/responsive. I’ve always thought that this is a really neat dynamic in inline racing. It is kind of like chess, where you are playing with time gaps, and ‘calling bluffs’… wait, more like poker. Yeah, I said it. Skating is like poker'.


Aaron Arndt before the 2006 A2A: Does he really have any clue what kind of adventure he's about to embark upon? I think so; he's finished A2A a few times
Finally, Aaron on his battle to the finish with Mauro Guenci: 'He tried to go by me with more speed than I had, but I saw that coming and accelled to match him as he approached. He still attacked pretty hard for around 100m, but I wasn’t going to loose the draft, and he gave up the attack. To tell you the truth, I was completely red-lining the whole time. That was pretty much all I had to stay with him on this first attack. I didn’t want to reveal that I was so tired, so when he carved hard to the right to force me into the lead, I countered to the left for a few strides even though I was just about dead. My shins were preventing me from balancing comfortably now, and I was really faking that I wasn’t about to keel over. He got in my draft rather easily, so I forced him in front of me. He was skating kind of squirrel-y and I just kept shoving him to keep him in front. He attacked a little to gap me, but I wasn’t going anywhere. I might not have much left, but I was still going to challenge him to the line.'

Dave Cooper Returns: Since we're on the Athens to Atlanta topic, this would be a good time to link up to an article from The InlinePlanet. It puts the spotlight on Dave Cooper, the legendary skater who won A2A in 1989- anyways, make sure you check out the article because if offers an informative historical perspective on our sport.

Kalyna Jumps: Some of you might have heard about Kalyna Roberge's jump over a fallen Korean and Chinese skaters during the relay final of the short track world cup in Montreal a couple of weeks ago. A few of you asked me if I had it on tape, but I don't. However, someone else posted it; it's an exciting relay and worth the 5-minute watch- The jump happens at the 4:29 mark in the video. (click here of view below).

Andrew Love- Me vs Myself, Skaters Down, Dimon Sports Marathon

Andrew Love- Me vs Myself: Andrew Love will be fighting the good fight as he takes on USA's best 500-meter speedskaters at the USA Nationals in Milwaukee. He's got a cleverly written introspective post about his quest in earning the right to wear a USA t-shirt that he purchased some three years ago. Best of luck to you in your competitions Andrew.


Andrew Love's t-shirt, still with the tags on it
Skaters Down: Last week, I reported that Travis Shaw suffered broken bones in his leg after crashing with two other skaters at a Scooter's Indoor Speed Club practice. It seems that of late, a few skaters have been having the same misfortunes as Travis including long track skater Pat Meek and inline skater James Springer. You can wish the skaters luck in their respective recoveries and send them your words of encouragement and support in these tough times by clicking on the above links.


Springer boys Chris and James (who broke his leg) sit in 2nd and 5th at the 3rd race of the 2006 Eastern Seaboard Series. James suffered a broken leg during a crash last Thursday

Going down right at the finish line in Montreal's Oasis Festival de la Santé in 2005: skating is a risky sport
While we're on the topic, there's a website worthy of a visit called Skaters Relief Medical Trust, which is a fund: 'Skaters who have placed at Nationals are eligible for assistance when faced with physical injuries that may keep them from competing' and 'This fund strives to keep our future champions skating and give hope to families that may have a hard time making ends meet, dealing with loss of income or employment and mounting medical expenses'.

Dimon Sports Marathon: The Dimon Sports Marathon took place last weekend in rainy conditions. You can check out all the results.

RSO Indoor Speed Series #1, Eric Gee's New Boots: The Video

RSO Indoor Speed Series: The first race of the series took place earlier today at the Scooter's Roller Palace in Mississauga. Despite a significant lack of support, the today's race provided skaters with a great opportunity to showcase how hard they have worked and also a chance to learn the rules of racing.

You can find today's results at the following links- followed by a few pictures from today's action: 300-meter time-trial, 500-meter group race, 1000-meter group race, stage #1/ current overall standing


Jacky Shu during his 300-meter time trial

Aaron Ardnt starts his 300-meter time trial

Maas brothers on the line: Alex in front of Jake

Munro Foster on the inside of Jacky Shu during the 500-meter race

Stephen Fischer (left) and Eric Maas (right) lunge towards the finish line in the 500-meter race

Toronto on the line: Munro Foster (left) and Stephen Fischer (right)

Start line of the 1000-meter group 1 race

Group skating after the races: Eric Maas in front of Andrew Hegarty, Sigrid Ziegler, and Sarah Hopkins with Aaron Arndt on the inside
Eric Gee's New Boots: The Video: Eric Gee came to practice after the RSO race today sporting his brand new boots that he made! They look good and they work. Eric made the boots low-cut and build a lot of support in the fore-foot. After skating on them for about a hour, he said that he was pleased with the comfort and he was surprised how supportive the boots really are.


Eric Gee's boots that he made: Here they are, they're on my feet, and I am skating on them!
And now, here's a minute and a half video of Eric talking about the boots and then skating on them (click here for the video)-