Bristol to Bath Railway Path (Epic skate)
by Mike Lyons
(Newport S. Wales)
Wet n wild
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This was my longest skate to date covering 16 miles on a wet, leaf covered tarmac path.
The skates I wore had 4 x 80mm wheels and in hindsight should have been 110’s or maybe Powerslide Torrent wheels to cope with the rough surface that was ‘challenging’ to say the least. Although I’m not up there with the best (yet), I don’t think I did a bad job of covering the equivalent of the average commute to work, that is, if you live 16 miles from the office!
Having said that…..had it been a dry day the skate route would have been manageable even on 80mm wheels. Mostly, the railway path was fairly flat with only slight inclines except for two slopes, that had it been dry, would have been ok to soul slide and magic slide but every attempt meant that my braking was the equivalent of a car braking on ice. The idea’s good but in reality means absolutely nothing, which meant that one attempt saw me sliding gracefully into stingy nettles and the other using the grass verge as my saviour braking system.
It’s probably not a route for the feint hearted but well worth the trip if you want to cross this trail skate route off the ‘completed’ list!
So there you go, try it if you’re brave or you want to test your skills at distance, skating on the rough and you’re prepared for a fair bit of rodeo blading.
Me, I’m ordering up some Torrent wheels from Loco Skates and if you want to see the video, skip over to YouTube for a squint at yours truly.