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10/16/2003 Archived Entry: "Wednesday Night - October 15, 2003"

Our Skate, Skate, Skate
On Wednesday Night – October 15, 2003

Well, tonight I finally learned where the Weblog camera has been, currently is, and probably will be ... for who knows how long.

The reason that you've not been getting many photos here is that the camera for YOUR Weblog is right now in Yosemite National Park. One of my absolute FAVORITE places in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD. There is absolutely no better place that a camera would rather be. If I were YOUR Weblog’s digital camera, I too would have been in Yosemite, would currently be in Yosemite, and would forever stay in Yosemite. There’s a very GOOD chance that this Weblog may never again have any skating photos. At least, if I-WERE the Weblog digital camera. Well, lets just say that this Weblog would become more or less an Ansel Adams type gallery. If you’d want to put on your skates, and come-on-out-there and join me & YOUR Weblog’s camera, well then, we could perhaps keep it semi-skating related ... Perhaps.

I have a hunch that if and when I ever do see the Weblog camera again, its memory card will be super duper full. And because of that, I’m now happy that I didn’t give Jennifer H a 1-gigabyte memory card. I’d be editing her photos for well over a month! Two months! ... Perhaps three.

Tonight was almost a carbon copy of Monday night. Perfect weather, a reasonably large attendance, and perfect weather. We did the announcements thing: we spoke of Claxton, we talked of camping, we learned about some parties, we discovered that we didn’t need to eat at Fellini’s tonight, and bla, bla, blah. But the most exciting news, and perhaps the biggest news in almost a decade, was that of Uwe modeling a new pair of speed boots – custom made by Jimmy Blair, of Pinnacle Racing (in Roswell, GA). This was a TOTAL shocker to EVERYONE !!! ALL OF US would NEVER HAVE BELIEVED that Uwe would EVEN consider wearing something new – of ANYTHING. The ONLY thing NEW that ANY of us would phantom Uwe obtaining, would be a sophisticated patch of some sort ... placed on top of an OLDER one.

In terms of the Pinnacle boot, I too am mentally committed to purchasing a pair of custom ones from Jimmy. His price to APRR is $700, and the product that you get in return is well worth that price. He has graciously given me a tour of his shop, an annex of the Roswell Roller Rink. He has shown me many of the techniques that he employs in making a pair of Pinnacle boots, for both custom use and off-the-shelf. I was very much impressed with his genius and perfectionism of boot design, and selection of quality materials. For me, it’s just a matter of slowly accumulating the necessary funds for the boots, as well as for a matching pair of hand made carbon fiber frames from Andy (Xenon) Lundstrom ... Where’s gracious Mamie & her x-mas list?

Back at the Carter Center, Paul K had already swiped from us a dozen or so potential street skaters. Actually, I can’t use the word “swiped” because many of them had already jumped into their cars, even before Paul. They were itchin’ to get over to Georgia Tech to start playing the most exhilarating skating event that has been conceived. “It’s better than skate-dancing,” Cindy S recently said to us. So the skating option was fairly simple. With Uwe’s brand spanking new boots, and my brand spanking newly modified Powerslide boots (they had been the off-the-shelf type, but are now the fully customized version), there were very few others who would care to venture out on a Spanky skate. Nor was anyone interested in an overtly slow skating group. So that left all of us in the middle.
“Come-on - - Lets GO !,” I said out loud. “Hang-on - - We’re Out-a Here!”
And to my surprise ... about thirty or so skaters were now following me.

David S had the most perfect quote last Monday night. “Were are we heading’ to?,” I had asked him early into his group led skate. He was far ahead of the rest of his group, standing by himself at an empty intersection, and looking intensely down each of three empty streets.
“I’ve no clue,” came the monotone response. I thought it was funny then, but here I was now ... in the same predicament.

It was Sam F who initially asked me where I was going (he didn’t even wait for us to get out of the Carter Center parking lot). And to rub it in, he asked me the same question perhaps two or three dozen times, during the random adventure skate that I was offering through the Cabbage Town residential area. (The second part of the adventure was to be a simple to and back from the Ga Tech Student Recreational Facility – to briefly mingle with the Roller Soccerers). In all honesty, this was my general plan all along, but I though it’d be somewhat fun to keep Sam guessing – after all ... he’s most inquisitive.

So my response to Sam was the same as what you’d do with a monkey. You can place a small ball into the knot-hole of a tree - while the monkey is hanging around somewhere near by. The monkey can be yelling and screaming as it plays near by - but you KNOW that it’ll try to extract the ball from the hole in the tree. And as soon as it does try, you’ll KNOW that it will be both stuck in the situation ... and totally confused.

If anyone knows this, David S does. It’s next to impossible to please a large group of skaters. You have faster skaters that are being slowed-up by far slower skaters. And slower skaters, who are hating life because of some far faster skaters. Although I had been keeping the moderate sized group together, it indeed had to be split. So, somewhere near Highland Ave & Cornella Street, David agreed to take the lead of a dozen or so slower skaters to a destination unknown. And for me, I was still the lead for everyone else. “Where are we going now?,” asked Sam once again.
”Follow Me !!!,” was my now textbook reply. And off we went.
I then heard Sam say from the back of the group ... “Where are we going?”

It was nice to meet Nancy G’s friend, Frank W. He was on his bicycle when we he saw us pass by him. He joined us, and stayed with us for the remainder of our trip. And fun for all of us, he initially gave Nancy a pleasant and welcoming surprise when she first noticed him on Edgewood ... as we headed as planned toward GT.