REVIEWS
Here you'll find member reviews of places to skate,
classes, events and more! Every review is the personal opinion
of one of our skaters, so we recommend you check things out for
yourself.
RIVERSIDE PARK SKATE
PARK
Upper West Side, 108th and Riverside Drive.
A cute little park owned by the NYC
Parks and Recreation features 2 half pipes, a quarter pipe
and a bunch of ramps and rails. One little hump shaped ramp spelled
doom for my pants inseam when I forgot to stay down (knees bent)
while coming off the ramp and fell hard on my tuchus. But overall
a fun time.
Highlights:
Nice metal covered ramps for a smooth ride, girls with harder
(less grippy) outdoor wheels will appreciate this
Challenging ramps of different heights and depths provide a fun
time for all levels of aggressive skaters
Smooth smooth pavement for warm-up
Lowlights:
Kind of far from Brooklyn
Closes from October to May
Must be able to navigate between 13 year old skater boys
Note: You must have full padding plus helmet and sign a waiver
to use the park, there is a NYC Parks & Rec staff member at the
gate. Overall Score: B+
BROOKLYN BANKS
Under the Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Side
The city has recently recognized this spot as a legal
skating area, so you can experience the urban skater locale
without worrying about anyone stopping you. I hiked across the
Brooklyn Bridge amongst tourists and heckling bicyclists to join
the BMX and handball slackers under the BB. Today I experienced
what could be added to the injury log as my first roller
skate injury. I rolled my ankle doing a jump. No one said that
aggressive skating wasn't dangerous, so as I type this I am wearing
an ACE bandage on my right ankle. Weep for me.
Highlights:
Easy walk across BB or take the J/M or 4/5
Cool urban rebel feel, the skaters are older than at the skate
park
"Natural" ramps and jumps (not originally intended for skating)
Lowlights:
Tiled ground hard on knees and ankles, also might cause trips
Ramp size one fits all, huge!
Other park users sometimes reckless, watch out!
Overall Score: B
--t-rex,
September
7 2006
EMPIRE TUESDAYS (LADIES'
NIGHT)
Sometimes bumping along on the pavement doesn't
cut it, so I made a last minute effort to get my nine o'clock
ass over to Empire
(car wasn't free this time, bummer, its ten bucks with Myrtle),
but worth it. Empty at first, but built up with regulars pretty
quickly. The usual fancy pants skaters, and a fair number of talented
synchronized couple types. There were also alot of people on the
learning curve from beginner on up, which was nice to see. And
a couple girls obviously derby fans judging by the telltale T-shirt.
The vibe was friendly.
--forty lixx,
September
6 2006
I showed up around 10pm and was sad to not recognize a familiar
face. But what's a gal to do when the dj's playing some nice,
booty-shakin' grooves and there is a large smooth wooden floor
to behold? That's right, genius: SKATE! And skate I did. Though
solo, I actually had a blast. And some nice disco hounds had the
graciousness to give me some tips! They probably did so out of
shame for my rhythm-free white ass, but I was having fun so I
didn't care, and I was grateful for the help in getting my style
on.
But let me tell you, honeys, if you go be prepared to be dazzled
by some moves. We're talking about breakdancing, group moves,
couples out for a "stroll", and all around hi-speed
freestyle dancing. On skates.
I mean, after all, Empire was the birthplace of roller disco.
--kat o'strophic,
August
2 2006
PS 11 BASKETBALL
COURTS
I tried skating the PS 11 basketball courts on Greene
and Waverly: Nice and empty, but lots of big cracks and chicken
bones. Good for a skate, but the Classon G stop Bball courts are
better. Grade: C
--forty lixx, August
23 2006
PROSPECT PARK
The area near the dog beach (9th
street) is nice and flat, with smooth paving, making it pretty
easy to roll around.
--chernobyl, August
21 2006
WEST SIDE HIGHWAY
Last Friday, full of early dismissal fire, I set
out on a skating adventure.
After properly changing into a skate friendly outfit I left the
office and hopped on the 49th street cross town bus. I got off
at the West Side Highway and crossed over to the designated bike
path and skated until I reached Battery Park.
Highlights:
Newly paved and sprayed to designate traffic flow
Little traffic
Beautiful vistas
Low harassment levels
Various parks and piers to explore along the way including vendors
selling water and public restrooms
Lowlights:
Very serious blisters
Minor agitation with an in-lining couple who had trouble sharing
the path
Frequent traffic lights Manhattan south
Cobblestones at some traffic intersections
It was a very enjoyable ride and I felt it served to improve
my skating confidence and ability.
--jaime lee hurt'us,
August
18 2006
BROOKLYN BRIDGE / EMPIRE FULTON-FERRY
STATE PARK
Well, due to prior alchoholic obligations tomorrow night, I won't
be at the Thursday skate, so I decided to go on a little scouting
mission down to Brooklyn Bridge Park (Empire
Fulton-Ferry State Park).
I was kind of psyched to check it out, because from what I could
recall, there were flat, well-kept paths - just the kind I'd love
to skate on! Unforunately, what I failed to recall was the fact
that most of these flat, well-kept paths are GRAVEL. Booooo.
I also kind of overestimated the size of this little park. It
ain't big, which means that I had to skate on the few paved areas
back and forth. This kind of made me uncomfortable, because as
a result I had to keep on whipping by all these friends and lovahs
lounging around together, watching the sunset.
And then I felt that they were watching me.
I don't like to be watched.
For the first fifteen minutes or so, I was pretty frustrated.
But then I discovered that I could make a sort of loop thingie
by exiting the park, skating its perimeter on the sidewalk, and
entering on the opposite end. The challenge was that the sidewalk
is made of panels of slate. Of varying consistencies. And I don't
know if you go to Dumbo often, but in case you don't let me remind
you that the streets there are a gobbely gook of tar and cobblestone.
This is death to precious skate wheels (not to mention legs and
feet), so getting on the roads was not an option.
Despite my frustration, however, I somehow managed to be out
there for an hour before calling it a day. So perhaps it wasn't
as bad as I thought. Or perhaps I was just pumped to skate.
SO, in sum:
Pros: Awesome views of Manhattan, the paved
paths are flat and well-kept, Beeaaauuuut-i-ful sunsets.
Cons: Small, mostly gravel, very few paved paths
THEREFORE....
Overall Skateability: Oddly, despite my (many)
complaints, the jury is still out on it. I would like to skate
it again once I convert my silver suckers to fully outdoor skates.
Perhaps that will alleviate the sidewalk issues, and make a nice
little loop. Plus, if I got there a little earlier, I may have
been able to find a course through Brooklyn Bridge Park through
Cadman Plaza park, etc. Because these were basically closing when
my late-ass showed up. So if I did find such a route, it could
get interesting...
At this point, however, I wouldn't recommend it for Skate Club,
but maybe just a spot for a change of scenery. And a beeaaauuuut-i-ful
sunset.
--kat o'strophic, August
9 2006
SKATEGURU CLASSES AT THE ROXY
Some girls were born on skates. Others (coughcoughmecough) need
a little bit more guidance. At the recommendation of the Gotham
Girls, I took the 4-week
course at the Roxy in June. A lot of people have asked about
it, or are curious, so here's my take.
Classes are once a week for four weeks, and a new session begins
monthly. You can get a rundown of the curriculum on Lesly's
homepage. If you've got basic skills down pat (which I really
hadn't - I was switching from inlines) that will probably bore
you. Initially, you cover such basic basics as moving without
falling down and turning. The classes are excellent for learning
the real specifics of skating- exact positioning of the skate
and the wheels for stops, how to avoid bad habits, how to avoid
injury. The class I attended probably had about 25-30 people in
it. Lesly is a very seasoned skater, a colorful and funny teacher,
and works with you as a group and one-on-one.
Personally, I don't learn very well from example. I had difficultly
mastering T-stops and skating backwards. However, I found just
skating in a controlled, safe, full of beginner environment to
be very helpful. I was able to really get comfortable on skates
with available guidance, so it was still a useful experience for
me. If you, like me, learn better from instinct, you might just
want to really work on just being on skates as much as you can
and getting comfortable. I found the people milling about and
general bustle of the Roxy to be a little distracting and a lot
to handle after work.
If you're really keen to get your basic skills sorted, it's an
excellent class to take. At at about $20 a class plus skate rental,
and discounted admission later that night to the Roxy, it's not
a bad deal even just for fun.
--minerva mcgonnabrawl, August
5 2006
PS1 BENEFIT AT THE ROXY
Since we use quad skates, I'm using a four-wheel rating system
for our night at the PS1 benefit on Tuesday. Let me preface all
this by saying: it was a good cause, we had a great time, et cetera,
but this was our first trip to the Roxy
and I think it's caused us all to reassess our willingness to
spend $20 on Wednesday night skates there. Onwards to the review:
*Free vitamin water (with crazy straws!) and glow necklaces:
four wheels! My necklace is in the freezer for next time. And
WHO DOESN'T LOVE CRAZY STRAWS?
*"Security" on skates who served no purpose
but to occasionally try to grab female patrons in vaguely inappropriate
places: one sad broken wheel with no social skills who
always goes home alone
*"Security" on foot telling us we couldn't sit
wherever we decided to sit: one wheel, and was it like
they assigned a personal downer to each group?
*Loud disco music: two and a half wheels, would
have been three if any of us knew how to do actual roller disco
moves
*Relatively small size of dance floor/rink: one
wheel until we decided to look on the bright side and realize
that it forced us to improve our skating skills and control, so,
three wheels, I guess.
*Frustratingly slow speed of other skaters in general:
see above WRT rink size.
*Getting to skate on an actual rink: three wheels,
but I think next time we're going to Empire.
--abby synth, July
19 2006
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