|
|
Bruce McNamara rustled up the greatest gaggle of skaters for the first worskhop of the year at Hugh Birch State Park in Fort Lauderdale, FL, March 3-5, 2001. What winter? No need to batton down the hatches in the sunshine state! How does 80 degrees sound? About right for a weekend of oddyssean challenges on inline skates? The workshop started simply. Basic exercises on Saturday emphasized balance, weight transfer, the carving of pushes, leg recovery, and gliding. Skaters then fit all the components together practicing first in slow motion before busting out on the road. Crosovers hit the spot on Saturday afternoon, and every single skater was challenged by exercises and games which encouraged the development of a wicked underpush, one step at a time. Participants started on the grass and moved later to the road with a series of imitation and real crossover drills. Sunday found everybody breaking out the underpush and turning it into a double push. Many lightbulbs went on brightly as people figured out the necessity of overcommitting weight to the outside edge in order to milk the double push for speed. Everybody had a chance to shine in the weekend's culminating stage race, where they busted out their new skating selves and blazed hot trails as part of a team effort and later in a pack style race. The workshop was honored and amazed at being so hugely underwritten by TWINCAM bearings, Explore wheels, Salomon, Transpack, Wigwam, and Raymond Verdaguer designs. skatecentral |