The Ups and Downs of Inline Adventure
(CITY SPORTS Magazine - April1998)
by Eddy Matzger

I've had so much inline skating adventure -- and heartbreak -- in the last few months, that I just have to let it out.

The Rooftop of Africa


One story of unbelievable adventure was written by accomplice Dave Cooper and myself when we accomplished the improbable feat of skating up Mt Kilimanjaro on off-road inline skates. We reached the summit, 19,340 feet above sea level, on Tuesday, January 12, 1998, at 10:17 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, to be exact.

We had to sneak our skates past the park rangers at the entrance gate before slipping them on for the remainder of the arduous climb clear up to Uhuru Peak. En route to the top, we energized and uplifted tourists, guides and porters alike with our own zany brand of doing things differently. Because no word for inline skates exists in Swahili, our off-road "Enduro" skates were quickly dubbed "flying shoes." Word of the "flying shoes" spread up and down the mountain like wildfire.

Cooper, my skate buddy since the beginning, skated with me through lush equatorial forests, high alpine grasslands and a long section of alpine desert before reaching the fabled snows of Kilimanjaro at 14,000 feet. January normally offers the best conditions for climbing Kilimanjaro, but torrential rains, hail and snow attributed to El Nino provided for the most difficult climbing of the century.

We left the last hut under a full moon at 1 a.m. local time and reached the crater rim 5 hours later in a driving blizzard. After two more hours of punching through waist deep snow, we planted sponsor flags in whiteout conditions atop the African continent's highest point, Uhuru (Freedom) Peak, at 9:17 a.m. local time.

Equipped with knobby tires, our skates actually proved to have a traction advantage over hiking boots in both mud and snow. During the final assault, where buried switchbacks forced us straight up the crater wall, our skates gripped like crampons. No one was laughing at us then.

Skating down was quite a reward, like the world's longest downhill ski run. I descended back to within 5o yards of the Marangu park gate on skates, sneaking back out late in the afternoon of Wednesday, January 14th. Ironically, Cooper walked down and ended up slipping and sliding his way down -- frequently on his butt --proving that inline skates were a safer choice to begin with.



Inline Origins


From the birthplace of mankind (Olduvai Gorge is at Kili's base), I jetted to the birthplace of skating, Minneapolis, MN, for a skate workshop. There, it was also dumping snow, but luckily we could skate in the safe confines of the Metrodome, unfettered by inclement weather. We skated on the polished concrete of the upper concourse as well as on the astroturf field, excellent resistance training. Just to be silly, I stood at home plate and pretended to belt a grand slam before skating around the bases.

Iron Skate


I added another unforgettable skate to my collection when I skated the Ironman lava fields after another workshop in Honolulu, Hawaii. I completed the 112 mile Hawaii Ironman Triathlon bike course on the big island in just over 7 hours -- an average time for bicycles -- on Tuesday, February 3, 1998 in Kona, Hawaii.

I skated the whole course solo, Ironman style, battling wind, hills, and the clock all by my lonesome. Bill McFarlane, an Ironman Triathlon official who drove support for me, could verify this claim, because normally he throws athletes who commit drafting fouls into the penalty box.

My second wind came after a hundred miles, cruising through Kona at 20 plus miles per hour. At the finish, I was even curious to know what it would have been like to throw on running shoes and take off running, but all I had were flip-flops.

Perhaps one day I can complete a true Ironman and skate the bike portion. At this point that sounds a lot crazier to me than skating Kilimanjaro.

Arigato, Inlines


After Hawaii, I took my inlines to the Olympics. Thankfully, they were the ultimate traffic jam busters. I skated them -- often through snow and ice -- from the Nagano train station to the M-Wave Skating Oval, site of the long track speedskating events.

At the M-Wave, whose roofline resembles the mountains behind it, I was a spectator to the clap-skate revolution, where spring-loaded, detatchable-heel skates worn by athletes in peak physical condition caused world records to topple like dominoes.The clap skate allows a more powerful pushing stroke because the blade remains on the ice longer than a normal fixed blade.

For me the Olympics was a long lucky streak of miracle tickets and new friends. Upon arriving on inlines at the M-Wave, I would pull out of my Transpack a sign in Japanese (it read "Does anybody have an extra ticket") and begin playing a Japanese shakuhachi bamboo flute. Within minutes, some kind soul would place a ticket in my hands. At the 500 meter men's speedskating event, I had the good fortune of being given a ticket which seated me next to the mother of gold medalist Hiroyasu Shimizu.

I'll Miss You Oma


I arrived in Florida scant days after hurricanes had ripped through the state, and was able to deliver a dry workshop in Ft. Lauderdale. Then word of my Dutch grandmother's sudden passing came, and off I was to pay my last respects in the Netherlands, where my skate adventures run deepest.

Thanks to my grandmother my unlikely career began. I went to Holland to celebrate her 80th birthday in 1988, and saw by chance an inline race in progress. When a cluster of brightly colored skaters came screaming around the corner at breakneck speeds, I was immediately smitten. I canceled my ticket home and stayed on to buy skates and practice hurriedly for my first race a week later, where I got lapped by people three times my age.

I had seen Oma, fit and feisty as ever, just last Christmas and again after returning from Kilimanjaro. She was one of my biggest skate sponsors, a true patron of the sport. I stayed with her in Amsterdam during the winters of '91, '92, and '93, as well many summers when I raced on inlines. Oma wasn't much interested in sports, but she took a fancy to skating and always clipped articles out of the newspaper and sent them to me.

It wasn't until 1994, after being humbled repeatedly and nearly giving up many times along the way, that I finally cracked one wide open and won my first race in Holten. Oma was asleep when I returned late that evening, but she knew the outcome first thing in the morning when she saw and smelled the huge bouquet of flowers sitting on the table. Oma was a landscape painter who loved to paint flowers, and those flowers live on in her oils.

In her house there was a closet way up high where she kept an old pair of skates so I'd always have transportation. I relied on those skates heavily to run errands for her and get places myself. They came in handy after Oma was gone too. I used them to ferry Oma's considerable stockpile of canned goods to my aunt's.

Since my memories of my Oma and skating are inseparably intertwined, she'll live as long as I skate -- in other words, she'll live forever.

Eddy Matzger has skated for ten years and pursues his passion thanks to Oma, TWINCAM bearings, Roces skates, PowerBar, Transpack, and his instructional workshop participants (1-888-WRK-SHOP). Eddy's inline adventure to the rooftop of Africa can be accessed at www.inlineskate.com.