A Breath Of Fresh Air, Zurich Coverage (Rollerblade, Mantia's Car, Videos), REL San Antonio Report, Aaron's Simplified Lessons Volume 4 & 5, USA Pics

A Breath Of Fresh Air: I was reading Ed Duncan's website (Ed's Sk8toronto Website) and found something that I really found interesting- what I found interesting is the different skater names that Ed talks about chasing; 'Five years ago I used to set my sights on Herb, Beth, Benoit and Morgan. Now I have to try to beat Ed L., Stephen, Travis, Scott and Kevin. Perhaps they will notice an improvement'

The names from 5 years ago used to make up a good proportion of the lead pack at the Toronto Inline Skating Club, and the latest group of 5 are now a good proportion of the lead pack at TISC.

Reading Ed's entry made me think of a few things. How did 5 years go by so quickly? Where are the guys from 5 years ago? How did the 5 new guys get into the sport? For the 2nd question, Herb is still racing but not skating with TISC, Beth is running a club in Cambridge and still skating some, Benoit got married and left the sport, and Morgan is still full-tilt at it in practice and races.

Reading Ed's website gave me a breath of fresh air- reading the names of skaters gone by made me think about all those people who have come and gone- wonderful people who I share rich experiences with, and all those people who are now in the sport- people with who I can share stories & knowledge, create history, and forge new friendships.

FYI- Ed Ducan is a member of the Flying Fossils- a relay team of 50+ year old skaters who will take on the Montreal 24 Hours


Zurich Coverage (Rollerblade, Mantia's Car, Videos): This thanks goes out to Team Rollerblade; thank you very much for posting your pictures (and report) from the Zurich WIC. They are sweet.


Zurich WIC- photo from Team Rollerblade

Zurich WIC- photo from Team Rollerblade

Zurich WIC- photo from Team Rollerblade
If you go to Luigino Racing's article about Zurich, you can get some increased perspective on the race. It is being reported that Joey Mantia is giving the car to his father.

You can (try to) read the Zurich WIC report from Zepto as well.


Zurich WIC- photo from Zepto Skate Team and by Jörg Dietrich
Onward with videos from Zurich- click here for men and here for women or use the buttons below-



REL San Antonio Report: Click here for a report from the San Antonio circuit posted on Roller En Ligne


San Antionio- photo from Roller En Ligne
Aaron's Simplified Lessons Volume 4 & 5: Aaron Arndt continues to feed us with some straigh-forward perspectives and lessons from his new base in Switzerland- I recommend to you The Simplified Lesson: Volume 4 and The Simplified Lesson: Volume 5. With quotes like '...dealing with the traffic in the last few hundred meters is well... insane. I think if you put a laymen into the middle of the field going into a 180° corner amongst the top names in skating, I’m pretty sure their head would immediately explode', it's hard to skip what Aaron writes.

USA Pics: Today, coming straight from the US of A, are pictures from: Big Granite Marathon and Eastern Regional Championships day 1 and day 2.


Big Granite- photo from the Inline Planet

Big Granite- check out Herb Gayle (in the green in the middle); he's eating a powerbar wrapper or carrying the power gel in his mouth- photo from Inline Planet

Big Granite- photo from the Inline Planet

Eastern Regional Championships- photo from Spdskermom6726