LondonSkaters Speed Team - Speed Skating & Rollerblading Club in London

merten

Whew, a great weekend is over - a quick resume before I'm off for some well earned sleep...

Great things:
> Meeting up with everybody, starting with Helen and Ray at the fair entrance, and so many more later.
> Having coffee and cake on the lawn in a park and chatting happily.
> A great team dinner - even though I paid an extra 7,50 EUR because a) somebody forgot to pay or b) the waiters were especially stupid Evil or Very Mad

> Finally getting my hands on these great Star Wheels... thanks to everybody involved in getting them across!
> A wicked race and beating my marathon PB by another 8 minutes two weeks after reducing it by 6 minutes. My finishing time could have been even a bit better, especially as I decided to try slide stopping on my pads around km 35, skating at full speed and setting down straight on a bitumen line Rolling Eyes

I lost around two minutes and the pack there.
> Feeling no guilt at all for having a proper burger dinner after the race.
> The cool party to top it off.

Lessons learned:
> I'll stick with pads for some time Laughing

In this fall situation at > 30kph, I endured no roadrash at all because of pads!
> I need to build more confidence in the start phase to sprint up to the front. When I finally tried to get further ahead the fast lines had left the pack and there was no way to follow them due to the huge traffic.

Thanks to everybody for making this the great weekend it was and enjoying all the team spirit! Hope to see some of you again before Berlin 2006 Smile

KateB · Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 11:28 am Subject:

What a great place to skate. My previous PB was the 2hr 15 at Goodwood, so knocking nearly 30 mins off that was amazing. I was hoping for under 2hrs if I was lucky.
Starting in block G (it appears relatively easy to talk your way up one block at registration, unless you want C or above) was, as Dan said, a bit like a street skate, with a few attempts at pacelines, but I only really got that working with a German I picked up at about 25km. So I'm looking forward to really getting into next year's season and seeing what I can do.
If nothing else, I need to get fit enough to get a place on our LSST Ladies Le Mans team next year - we have some seriously strong people around.

well done everyone,
Kate

Things to do again:
the mini-water bottle belt was v.comfy compared to a single bottle
the gel-energy packets & recovery bars
Heart rate monitor (just need to work out the German instruction manual so I can load it up and see how I averaged 185bpm)
The mega Sunday breakfast platter for 4

Things to change:
Go a day early so have time to visit the fair - we thought it would be open on Sunday to go back to
Maybe a little more padding - the kevlar leggings/knees reduced my injuries to weeping grazes rather than chunks of flesh on the road, but it would be nice to only have bruises!
Don't paceline behind someone with a heel brake (first fall)
Give clear overtaking room to people with variable strides (second fall)
Avoid the inside line if anyone on it has a heel brake - they may be tempted to use it (very close to a fall)
Book flight a little earlier so can get the late-afternoon flight. Whilst I would not have wanted to get up for the 11am (well done guys), getting home at 1:30 am wasn't the best either

dan_b · Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 2428

merten · Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 2:38 pm Subject:

Possible solution for water: Michi and me had two bottles of 500ml. One "real" one and a refilled cheapish 500ml plastic one. We emptied that one while warming up and waiting for the start, then threw it over some fence, so had another full bottle to race with.

Mikey-two-Names · Joined: 24 Feb 2004 Posts: 4107

I had two 500ml bottles, both cheap plastic ones one with water and the other with sports drink, and tossed them during the race. How to feel like a pro, LOL.

Duracell · Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 9:54 pm Subject:

Great weekend - fantastic race. Very Happy

No falls for me, but a few close shaves. (Including a fairly major double-pile-up that we just made it around, after luckily picking the correct side to pass on.)
The dodgiest bits were where I was deep in a pace-line and got tram-lined in that ultra-soft patching in the tarmac. One leg would all but stop, and you'd have to recover onto the other, no matter where in mid-stride it was... Sad

The LSST mini-paceline was fantastisch - thanks for being our task-master, Beatrice! Laughing

An exchange from half-way through:
David (over his shoulder to Alastair): Is Beatrice okay back there?
Beatrice: CATCH THAT PACE-LINE! GO! GO! Smile

I'm well impressed with the Star Wheels, too.
Okay, the streets were smooth, but the ONLY visible wear on mine was about a quarter-millimetre on one side of the rear two wheels of my right skate! Shocked

All the rest still had their seams, after a full marathon! (Surface roughening, but no loss of diameter.)

Will do again:
- take those little 'squeezy' energy pouches - gave me a great boost at 35km

My 'will change next time'?
- take more water: the last 10km were a bit dehyrated for me. I might try out one of those bottle-belts, and if that doesn't work out so well, it'll be at least two 500ml bottles down the back of the suit.
(Not in my zip-pocket - I discovered at Cambourne that that is exactly the place I want to rest my hands, so a bottle there does my back in.)

Wish-list:
- One of those GPS heart-monitors. It would have been really helpful to know how far along the course we were, and the current speed. (Somehow managed not to realise Beatrice had one - kept looking round for the distance-markers I was obviously missing all the time... Rolling Eyes

)

Go, team! Very Happy