roadskater.net

A recent Sports Illustrated piece "Going the Distance" showcased the touching story of Vivian White and her son Brian Bales. 

Please take a moment to read the short article:

 http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1156477/index.htm

Here are some thoughts and memories of our skate-excursion into Alabama, before they fizzle out.

Let me start by saying I'd normally avoid skating 60+ miles in the deep South with temperatures in the mid-90s. However, the Chief Ladiga ("lah-DYE-gah") Trail in Alabama has some version of a water faucet at least every ten miles, and if you're squeamish about drinking strange water, dumping it onto your head works perfectly well.

We had a fine day out, eebee and myself, from mighty hot to excitingly electric weather. Lots to tell but who knows if I'll find the time. Meanwhile here are 410 photos that are geolocated on a Google Earth KMZ file.

We got started around midday when it was getting hot indeed. We drove to Piedmont, AL, where there's a Welcome Center. We planned to skate the 40 miles down and back to the Anniston, AL end, eat some sandwiches and have cool drinks at the car, then do the 27 miles or so out and back to the trailhead of the Silver Comet at the state line with GA.

All of a sudden I couldn't get Firefox to open any new tabs either with control T or going File --> New Tab, no matter how many times I hammered the T key :-)

Being frugal, I like to open a bunch of tabs rather than opening new windows. Firefox tends not to crash much (fingers crossed!), so I don't mind having all my eggs in that basket.

I agree with timv that Bur-Mil pool is a good spot to park. There's a small restroom over by the picnic area that is often open, and a water fountain, I think, all accessible by skates/bikes. We do a route I call the cloverleaf. Here's how that goes...

R on Bur-Mil Club rd out of parking lot
L onto Owl's Roost Rd
X (cross) over Bicentennial Tr (caution)
S on Owl's Roost into newish houses
C (circle back) cul du sac and return

optional slightly downhill cul...
L on Owl's Roost Ct
C cirle back after cul du sac
L on Owl's Roost Rd to continue...

or continue...

Location

Register by 7.30 and roll by 8.30.  Hillsborough has larger & lengthier hills than Apex,NC but the final route will determine severity.

Register by 7.30am and roll by 8.30.  Apex roads are smooth with gentle hills - nothing too steep. 

Location

Part of a series of excellent free skrides (bike rides where skilled inline skaters are welcome) put on by the NC Central Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The rides are well-supported, marked, and free to all, including those who may not end up participating in the annual Tour to Tanglewood for MS (but you will love the training rides so much you'll be more likely to do the tour after trying most training rides). These rides are for beginners who've trained a little and everyone else on up to experts. SAG and rest stop and bike support team are great.

Location

Part of a series of excellent free skrides (bike rides where skilled inline skaters are welcome) put on by the NC Central Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The rides are well-supported, marked, and free to all, including those who may not end up participating in the annual Tour to Tanglewood for MS (but you will love the training rides so much you'll be more likely to do the tour after trying most training rides). These rides are for beginners who've trained a little and everyone else on up to experts. SAG and rest stop and bike support team are great.

Location

Part of a series of excellent free skrides (bike rides where skilled inline skaters are welcome) put on by the NC Central Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The rides are well-supported, marked, and free to all, including those who may not end up participating in the annual Tour to Tanglewood for MS (but you will love the training rides so much you'll be more likely to do the tour after trying most training rides). These rides are for beginners who've trained a little and everyone else on up to experts. SAG and rest stop and bike support team are great.

Location

Part of a series of excellent free skrides (bike rides where skilled inline skaters are welcome) put on by the NC Central Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The rides are well-supported, marked, and free to all, including those who may not end up participating in the annual Tour to Tanglewood for MS (but you will love the training rides so much you'll be more likely to do the tour after trying most training rides). These rides are for beginners who've trained a little and everyone else on up to experts. SAG and rest stop and bike support team are great.

Location

Part of a series of excellent free skrides (bike rides where skilled inline skaters are welcome) put on by the NC Central Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The rides are well-supported, marked, and free to all, including those who may not end up participating in the annual Tour to Tanglewood for MS (but you will love the training rides so much you'll be more likely to do the tour after trying most training rides). These rides are for beginners who've trained a little and everyone else on up to experts. SAG and rest stop and bike support team are great.

Location

Part of a series of excellent free skrides (bike rides where skilled inline skaters are welcome) put on by the NC Central Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The rides are well-supported, marked, and free to all, including those who may not end up participating in the annual Tour to Tanglewood for MS (but you will love the training rides so much you'll be more likely to do the tour after trying most training rides). These rides are for beginners who've trained a little and everyone else on up to experts. SAG and rest stop and bike support team are great.

Location

Part of a series of excellent free skrides (bike rides where skilled inline skaters are welcome) put on by the NC Central Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The rides are well-supported, marked, and free to all, including those who may not end up participating in the annual Tour to Tanglewood for MS (but you will love the training rides so much you'll be more likely to do the tour after trying most training rides). These rides are for beginners who've trained a little and everyone else on up to experts. SAG and rest stop and bike support team are great.

Location

Part of a series of excellent free skrides (bike rides where skilled inline skaters are welcome) put on by the NC Central Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The rides are well-supported, marked, and free to all, including those who may not end up participating in the annual Tour to Tanglewood for MS (but you will love the training rides so much you'll be more likely to do the tour after trying most training rides). These rides are for beginners who've trained a little and everyone else on up to experts. SAG and rest stop and bike support team are great.

These are the best free skrides and some of the best skrides in North Carolina, especially if you are on your way to getting into shape for the fall season of longer distances and weekend tours, like the awesome Tour to Tanglewood for MS. The support from the veteran rest stop heroes, Valerie and Elaine, is a good start to any ride. When the bike shops pitch in (some more than others) it can make it an incredible day out on the road with the bikes.

We haven't discussed sports or energy drinks of choice here lately, and I wanted to find out what others are using. This could spill over into a discussion about sports nutrition - i.e what prevents you from bonking, as opposed to what protein bar you eat during recovery hours.

As June 12, 2009 rolls in, I'm enjoying the last chance to watch a very little analog TV on the Sony watchman. This black-and-white gem of electronics was made in Japan in April 1987 (no wimply disappearing sticker here...this baby's on the back outside of the case and is still easy to read).

My legs were tired and a wall of rain was on the way, but somehow I got out to Greensboro Country Park in time for 10 miles or so before dark, and almost before the display of lightning flashes that had me worried more than usual about getting zapped. I saw no way my 100mm wheels would protect me from a spark arc.

Someone on a semi-private internet email list (is there such a thing?) asked a question I thought was well-asked, and I wanted to answer it for them, and for everyone out there who might be thinking about inline skating but doesn't know what to think about all the choices.

Here are the main points of the question, or the ones I wanted to address...

The backs of my heels resemble barnacles stuck to a breakwater. It's time to heat-mold my skate boots!

After 44 odd miles at Tour de Lions a few weeks back, I didn't really want to skate any more until I felt sure I wouldn't feel skin tearing inside my boots, far from home. So Roadskater and I dug out his old hairdryer, a large patch of neoprene and some tight-fitting socks. 

Anyone who is interested in skating on Saturdays in the Winston-Salem area, please let me know.  We have created a FaceBook group where we schedule times and places.  Search "Winston-Salem Bladers" on FaceBook and join our group to get notified. 

The 215 photos that made the final cut for the Tour de Lions 2009 gallery are now geocoded, thanks to eebee's .tcx file. My 305 was locked up and I didn't yet know how to unlock it (see http://roadskater.net/how-reboot-garmin-forerunner-305-locked-when-recharging-cradle-and-wont-power for info). As a result, there are some photos where she was up ahead waiting on me to finish snappin' so the location is not exact, but they're close.

Check out the 215 photos on the Roadskater.net classic site, at http://rsn1.net or...

The Garmin Forerunner 305 is great. Despite a few weaknesses (calorie count, altitude), it is a great value for anyone who will use the information it provides. It's the best training tool I know of. But on the big day when you want to do an event, it is possible you won't be able to use it (until you read the reset method here). My Forerunner 305 has on several occasions after recharging on the cradle in various situations (charge by AC, charge by laptop USB, charge in the car using a USB cigarette lighter adapter) refused to start.

With a nasty weather system slowly pushing across Texas days earlier, and finally making it's way to the western part of NC on the eve of the event, this year's RRR seemed 'iffy' at 6am.  I made the 'go call' at about 7 and arrived at the venue by 7.45.  Unfortunately any other skaters made a 'no-go call' making this a solo skating effort.

Location

This year's Hartwell Challenge of the Centuries flyer mentions skaters. Under the 'Rider Comments' section is the quote: "I highly recommend it for skaters". The flyer also states "Open to cyclists and accomplished skaters". 

This weekend I raced in the Texas Road Rash marathon for the 3rd time. This is one of my favorite events and I was looking forward to going back to Austin, TX.

Location

The date for the next SkateStrong workshop has been decided, and it is:  Sunday, May 17th. Information on workshop can be found at:  http://www.skatestrong.com/

It looks like those multiple extra over-the-air 24-hour weather channels may get some other use on free over the air digital television...long track speed skating, short track speed skating, cycling, ice hockey, marathons, track and field, even curling.

The Raven Rock Ramble is May 3rd in Apex NC

 All the details can be found at  http://www.ravenrockramble.org/

As of 4/7/09 the registration is 82% filled!