[SkateDC] After Skate Report, Intermediate Sunday Skate for May 31, Catholic Univerity & Rock Creek Church Road

[Bill English]

Skaters,

The Intermediate Skate went very well today. The past two times I have led I had intended to go to Catholic University but diverted to other routes for one reason or another. So today we finally got around to the Catholic University route.

If we are staying within the difficulty guidelines for an Intermediate Skate which are posted at www.skatedc.org, skating to Catholic University is at the extreme limit of permissible dificulty. I tried to keep the route nearly as easy as possible for that destination today, and with frequent regrouping stops and pleasant weather this route turned out to be easy enough for all participants to complete & enjoy.

One nice thing about this route is that even though it has plenty of fun hills, it does not demand much braking. Unless there is unusually bad luck with traffic lights, skaters can roll out nicely after the hills and no screeching halts are needed. Jackeline, Eryx, and I were amused while skating together down the hill on Sherman Ave catching mostly green lights plus one yellow, and watching the crosswalk countdown clocks to judge whether or not we needed to speed up to avoid a red.

The main hill of the route, however, is on Rock Creek Church Road. That is one of the club's favorite hills. With a headwind, that hill was not much of a challenge today and I was almost to the bottom before I realized that I had not even thought about chickening out with some heel brake use. It was a good place to practice a racing tuck to beat the wind. Eryx and I were the first ones down Rock Creek Church Road and we should thank the other skaters for obstructing the traffic so no cars passed us. We heard from Shawn, Celine, and Jackeline that some of the cars were mildly irritating the skaters behind us.

Only one skater crashed today. Soren went down after rolling over a cable that was strung across a road. He got back up quickly and was not injured much, but he plans to throw away his damaged shorts (because of the rip). Soren was funny, asking to borrow a black magic marker so that he could color his skin under the hole to hide it.

Another interesting feature of the route is the Soldiers' Home. We got a good view of its cemetary and the summer house where Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg address as we passed by.

We finished at 1:25 pm, just ten minutes beyond a two hour skate. We could have finished within two hours if we used shorter regrouping breaks, but the conversations were going well during breaks and nobody seemed in a hurry so we were all happy to be in social-skate mode today. Jon appreciated the extra break time since his skate frame kept coming loose from his boot. He was like a NASCAR pit crew with his allen wrench use after the third repair job today, and planning out a permanent fix for the defect. 

This route is one I have used a few times over the years. Parts of it were copied from a Memorial Day Weekend route that Marshall led about five years ago. It is an improved version of the route we used the time Jim broke his hand on a bumpy downslope.

Participants were:

Bill
Eryx
Shawn
Jon
Bob
Soren
Celine
Emily
Jackeline

The Advanced Skate did an entirely different route so we did not see them after they took off from the White House. Kent, Rudy, Carl and a few other skaters were on that one.

Here is the cue sheet:

East         New York Ave
Left         12th St
Right       Rhode Island Ave
First Regroup, 7-11 Store, Rhode Island & 7th St NW
 
Left         Lincoln (just after North Capitol
Right       Douglas
Left         Edgewood 
Left        7th St NE
Second Regroup, Wherever there is a good shady spot
 
Continue north on 7th St
Left        Michigan
Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
Stairs up to O’Boyle Hall
Third Regroup
 
Right       Harewood
Left        Taylor
Straight   Harewood
Left        Rock Creek Church Road
Left        New Hampshire
Left        Sherman
Left        Florida
Right       Vermont
Right       M St
Left         16th St
Fourth Regroup, White House