Catching Up On The News (Doping, 100k Jacket, USARS Wheels, Canada, Colombia, Detroit, Ottawa Weekend, Ask The Coach, Gas, World Masters, Skate Union)

Catching Up On The News: The Drugs, doping, juice, performance enhancing thread on RaceReports.net has had some more perspectives thrown into it. It's still worth a read.

Are you going to race the New York 100k? I am. I'd like to win the 100k actually, but that's a whole other issue. Anyways, Francisco Ramirez has posted a picture of the free jacket that you get if you register by August 31st. Hopefully you'll see me prancing around with one of these jackets


For the USARS certified wheels for 2007; click here for the list and here for information.

Here's a bit of Canadian stuff for you; Aaron Arndt has posted a report on the Rennes Sur Roulettes WIC. As usualy, he provides a lot of insider information and this time, he includes a lot of details of the pack and race dynamics. I'd just like to quote what Aaron writes; 'In the middle of the pack, I could not see the road AT ALL. You could see arms, legs, backs, helmets… but no pavement. I was within a sea of skaters. I found myself watching the skater’s feet nearest me, attempting to avoid a crash similar to the one that ended my race in Lichtenstein. This was not a great strategy, as this found me moving further and further to the back. I decided to stop thinking about not crashing, and instead think about finding a better position. It was weird though, I really had no idea how far back I was in the pack. I couldn’t see the front, or the back as there were and there were plenty of guys ahead of and behind me. I found myself monitoring how things were going by looking to see recognizable guys and familiar team suits around me. I got behind Luca Presti at one point and thought to myself; “well, this guy knows what he’s doing, I’ll follow him for a bit.” He kind of just bounced around behind some guys until a line started moving up quickly on our right, and he just sort of hopped into it effortlessly. Frankly, they opened up a spot for him and his blue and black Bont/Hyper suit as soon as he motioned as though he was going to switch lines. Guys like him have an amount of respect from the other skaters always in reserve. It’s pretty cool to watch'.


Rainy Rennes- photo posted on Aaron Arndt
There's been some pretty positive chatter on Bont's Message Board about the Swiss Championships- you can track how the Canadian skaters are performing in Canadian News. Bill Begg writes 'While Sigrid & Andrew are still Gun Shy in traffic, Aaron mixed it amongst the big Guys & earnt some respect, even Kalon Dobbin commenting on him fighting for a top wheel & following the right lines'.


Swiss Inline Champs in Weinfelden- Aaron Arndt leading the way- photo posted on Swiss-Inline-Teams
The next piece of news is exciting; this weekend will see the Colombian world championships team selection competition- click here for a preview (in Spanish).

Another competition taking place this weekend is Detroit's Wolverine Inline Marathon. My coach is unleashing me this weekend, so I am going to try to make my way down to the event. If nothing goes wrong, I'll see some of you bright and early on Saturday morning. I might be in Elkhart on Sunday as well. We'll see :)

The Ottawa Inline Skating Club has organized a crazy weekend filled to the brim with Eddy Matzger, Barry Publow, sports nutrition, sports psychology, food, a social skate, and a fun race. See Ottawa's Eddy Matzger Weekend. Oh, it takes place June 22nd to the 24th.


The most recent entry from the Inline Planet's Ask The Coach! talks about six basic movements for roller speed skating. Check it out.

Hyper Forum's Who`s still going?! is a thread that is heating up a little; it talks about the cost of going to the USARS nationals and more recently, about how useful regional championships are.

World Masters; more is being said about the issue about how master skaters are being 'treated'; Bill Begg writes 'Big Events in Big Famous cities seems to be a focal point for the FIRS & its hope of Olympic Inclusion, A Nuetral country with the Banking capital, has pulling power other places do not.
' and ultrask8 writes 'Hmm, which is better, a farce/sham/debacle/fiacso? or nothing?'.

The final bit of news-ish material is a report on the Skate Of The Union Half Marathon posted on Roadskater.net.