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 The Access to Speed Workshop in Bedford, MA on June 14-16 became a shining example of how well a workshop can go in a box. For nearly three-quarters of the 16 hours of instruction, skaters worked on techniques in the truck bay of Middlesex College and loved every minute of it. Inclement weather became a blessing in diguise because it forced students to work on proper technique and form before ramping it up in the wide open spaces of the multi-level parking lots out of doors. As a result, participants achieved much smoother output by blending the batter of the skating stroke with tender loving care. Whether inside or out, crowded or not, the Access to Speed workshop is guaranteed to at once thrill your mind and rend your body asunder. "I can't wait till my muscles stop aching enough for me to put my skates back on, so that I can try some of the drills or just skate my new improved stroke. Yipee!" intoned a happy survivor. The bullet points flew from another: "-Fab workshop - Mastery of the obvious comes slowly, but no less joyfully(or painfully -ed.), to some of us" If Lao Tzu had attended this one, he'd have opined that you've got to be confined to be liberated. And Nick Lowe? He would have sung praises thusly: "You've got to be cruel to be kind, in the right measure!" Access to Speed Workshop participants also scored big time in the goodies department: Salomon palm sliders and blinkie lights, TWINCAM ABEC-5 maintenance free bearings, Explore race wheels, Transpack packlets and prizes, Wigwam socks, Raymond Verdaguer t-shirts, Bobward Flynn's labor fruits and Barrie Hartman's gentle coaxing were given freely and happily. News |