Does a Proper Double Push Use the Groin Muscle?

From Bill in Houston: "On the part of the double push normally called the underpush, if you just set down your right foot: Do you use your groin muscles to pull the right leg to the left, towards and across the centerline? "

Speedskaters, What is Your Weakest Link?

Is it cardiovascular, ankles collapsing, lower legs and calves, knee pain, upper leg muscles, lower back pain, overall breakdown of form, or something else?

Oil or Alcohol for Cleaning Skate Bearings?

What chemical or cleaning solution do you use to clean your skate bearings?

Helmet Friendly Headlamps for Night Skaters

From sk8scott: "Do any of you night skaters use a light which illuminates a good distance ahead and mounts easily on a bike helmet?"

Olympic Committee Recommends Golf and Rugby (Not Skating)

The IOC selected golf and rugby because they believe those sports have "youth appeal, universality, popularity, good governance, respect for athletes and respect for the Olympic values".

New Artistic Inline Skate from the UK

What's so different about this British company's new line of inline figure skates? [Read More]

New Outdoor Quad Skating Forum

By popular request we have added a new subforum focused on outdoor quad skating: Outdoor Quad Skating Discussions

The SkateLog Forum is Back Online

Hooray!!!

SkateLog Forum is Almost Ready to Bring Back Up

The SkateLog Forum is ready to bring back up as soon as I can figure out why it is running impossibly slow. I'm working on it this weekend but if you can help diagnose the problem please send me a message at kathiefry@gmail.com or post a message on the wall of the new SkateLog Friends on Wheels Facebook page.
- Kathie

Join the SkateLog Forum Facebook Group

From Kathie:   I'm still working on getting the SkateLog Forum back up and running.  I fixed most of the problems but something is making the forum run very slow, so I am getting help from experts to fix that problem. In the meantime you can get your "talking about skating" fix by signing up for a Facebook account and joining the new SkateLog Friends on Wheels Facebook group.  It's not the same as having a forum with lots of subforums but if you really need a SkateLog fix you can get a small taste by joining that group.  There are already lots of Facebook groups for different skating disciplines so you can join those too while you're at it.

Become a friend of Kathie Fry in Facebook 

Join the new SkateLog Friends Facebook Group.

Working like crazy to get the forum back up...

SkateLoggers, the SkateLog Forum is much closer to being back up. Hopefully I can do everything that needs to be done on my lunch hour today. I will do my best!
- Kathie

SkateLog Forum is Temporarily Down

FORUM STATUS UPDATE: I need to do some maintenance in the forum and adjust some of the settings,before I can bring it back up again.  Keep an eye on this page or on my Facebook page for updates. So sorry everybody!
- Kathie

Introducing the Palm Beach Inline Challenge

From Kathie: I'm starting to create a series of introductions to some of the most popular inline speed skating events around the world and I decided to start with one of the first events of the year: the Palm Beach Inline Challenge in South Florida. Are there any other non-ice speed skating events in January anywhere in the world?

About the Palm Beach Inline Challenge

January Inline Speed Skating Events

Show Us a Picture of Your Worst Skating Boo Boos

Warning from Kathie: Some of the pictures in this discussion are scary (no seriously, they are REALLY SCARY) but I encourage people to post them here anyway because they are a grim reminder of why we wear our helmets, wrist guards, knee pads, and elbow pads.

Leg Weight Training for Skaters

From streamline: "I use weight lifting to condition my legs for maximum output, endurance, and explosive power. I do two different leg routines... "

What Do You Love About Artistic Roller Skating?

From james pollard jr: "I loved the friends I made. My first "clean" double jump. Gold Skate! Nationals! Club night! Watching World class events! "

Facebook for Dummies (and Kathie)

From Kathie Fry: "I just joined Facebook and I'm still learning my way around. I have a zillion of questions..."

Show Us a Picture of Your Feet

The infamous thread is back...

Skate Axels Are Getting Harder to Remove

From SanGabriel: "Every time I do wheel maintenance on my Salomon TR Vitesse 3 skates it gets harder and harder to remove the axles from the micro bearings to get the wheels off the frame."

Re-Attaching Quad Skate Toes With Glue

From Dec8rSk8r: "Has anyone ever glued down the toes of their boots? One of the toes on my quad skate boots is starting to come off."

European Inline Speed Skating Events in 2009

Which European inline speed skating events are not yet on the 2009 SkateLog Calendar?

Four Tricks on One Grind

Soul to mizzou to porn to acid... all in 8 feet!

2009 Gold Skate Show Roller Skating Competition

Who's going to Gold Skate 2009 in Fresno, California?

Derby Girls Talk About the Bont Vapor Skate

From Sarah Pickard: "I am currently wearing Wicked skates and they are killing my feet as I have a narrow foot and high instep. I am looking at a new derby skate from Bont call the Vaypor. How does it compare to the Derby Carbon?"

How to Get Started Shuffle Skating

From Interested: "Can someone please explain how to shuffle skate? I see people doing it, but they are going so fast, it is hard to see what's actually happening with their feet."

2009 Rollerblade Twister 243 Slalom Skates

From Butterboy: "With the Twister, Twister II and Twister II Pro being so popular with slalom and freestyle skaters I thought I'd ask if anybody knows about the Twister 243."

Inline Hockey Federation (CIRILH) Wants a New Logo

The International Inline Hockey Committee wants to update their logo. Proposed inline hockey logo images are being accepted by CIRILH until January 30, 2009.

Moving From Recreational Skates to Speed Skates

A British skater talks about transitioning from Seba FR1 recreational skates to Bont Jet speed skates.

How Skaters Can Avoid Marking Up Gym Floors

From Aggro Amazon: "We just started practicing at a new venue with wooden floors. At our first practice session we noticed our knee pads were leaving black marks on the floor when we fell...."

Holy Crap This Quad Wheel is Narrow

From beep: "Take a look at this Lanzini wheel picture. It looks like they totally eliminated the front lip."

Does Cold Weather Affect Skate Wheels?

From SpeedLimit: "I was just wondering if and how cold weather affects skate wheels and skates. Does the wheel plastic get more brittle? Does the cold wear out the bearings and skates more quickly?"

Do Quad Speed Skaters Need Toe Stops?

From hippykesh: "I am sick of this talk about how you need a toe stop for indoor speed skating. In Australia the only skates with toe stops were the ones you hired from the rink. No one used them and the crap going around that a toe stop gives you a faster start is just rubbish..."

Guava Paste is Cheaper Then Power Gels for Athletes

From Drella: "On the weekends, I like to put in big miles and the price of GU and other such energy gels are getting too costly. A junior cycling pro I know gave me the fix-all.... Guava Paste!"

Is Artistic Inline an Unsuccessful Copy of Artistic Quad Skating?

From Arthur Lee: "This comment was included in a recommendation from the FIHP to change the name of the Artistic Inline World Championships to the Artistic Inline International Trophy: "The solo dance and show groups cannot be considered as competitions being a show only, while artistic inline skating is still an unsuccessful copy of artistic quad skating""

Question For Skaters Who Have Seriously Broken Bones

From roller-dudette: "Its almost 90 days post surgery. My arm is aching bad again. I'm not sure if it's healing pain or the bolts are coming loose or what. How long does broken bone pain usually last?"

Opening a Roller Rink on Antigua Island

From nblfyb: "Last night I started thinking about opening a rink here in my country called Antigua. It's a small island in the Eastern Caribbean, 108 square miles with about 82,000 people. I would like to open a roller skating rink here but I'm not sure if it would be profitable. What you guys think?"

Chad Hedrick is Back

From Lammert: "With a fantastic race against Enrico Frabris at the World Cup in Heerenveen, Chad Hedrick is getting back to his old level of speedskating. His lap times in the last part of this video are amazing!"

Who Can Do a Perfect Iceburg on Roller Skates?

From jammin'beck: "......I've been trying to teach myself the iceburg, but have hit a wall. When it's time to turn the left foot onto the wheel edge, I can only hold it for half a second. Any advice?"

Are Inline Skates Harder on Knees Then Quad Skates?

From Soundman: "I was a good quad skater in the 70's and 80's and even competed at one time. After 25 years of not skating I bought some inline skates, but after skating a few weeks, me knees are still quite sore. Should I switch back to quad skates?"

Inline Hockey Skates for Big Guys

From kcoola: "Which inline hockey skates would be best for a person who is heavier then average??