Summer Shocker

This is going to be my last post for a little while.  Our summers in Alaska are quite short so we tend to make the most of it by going camping, hiking, fishing...pretty much any outdoor activity.  My league, the Rage City Rollergirls, takes some time off as well which makes it more difficult for me to test products and I would rather take some time off than post reviews about products that I haven't been able to fully try out.  In the meantime, why don't you go back to the beginning and re-read (or read for the first time if you are new to the G Spot) my articles on skate maintenance.  You should be changing your cushions out about once a year, depending on how much you skate, and while you have your skates disassembled you can easily check to see if you need to replace your pivot cups or if you have developed any small cracks/breaks in your trucks or plates.

Karen "Glitch" Corcoran

For the past few weeks we have asked for you to submit a Roller Derby haiku in the comments section which entered you into a contest to win a set of Heartless wheels.  After reading through them all and having fans vote on FaceBook, we finally have a winner!  Congratulations to Karen Corcoran (aka Glitch) and her victorious haiku:

Pulses are pretty,
But I beat all the jammers
with ugly Street Hogs

Nice right? Our other 2 finalists, Laura Wilcoxon and Kayla Cline, as well as all of the other entries were awesome and I really appreciate all the creative juices that flowed to create them.

Our next give-away is this awesome package of Bones Stuff!  Bones Bearing Washer Bottle, Speed Cream, 8-pack of Super Reds (or 16-pack of Reds), Bones Bearing Tool, and Bones Stickers!  All you need to do to enter your name in this drawing is post a comment with the Roller Derby name you've seen or heard that you think is hilarious, interesting, poignant, raunchy, or just strange.  You don't have to know them personally, but if you know what league they are affiliated with please post that too.  Actually, just post both of your leagues, that makes it easier to find you later when you win.  When I choose a name, I'll also send a purple Triple 8 CPSC Helmet to any skater of your choice as well!

I know most of my readers are from the Roller Derby world, but this goodie pack is perfect for any skate/longboarder as well so if you would rather post your favorite skate/longboarder name then have at it.

I'll draw the winner(s) on July 22nd, so you have a month to get your entries in.  Please spread the word of the contest (and, my blog of course) far and wide.  The more people visit this site, the more stuff I can get from sponsors to give away!

The last thing I needed to talk about was that I will be taking some time off.  Up here in Alaska we only get a few very short months for summer and it is usually spent traveling, hiking, fishing, outdoor skating, etc.  So, I'm going to take a little time off from writing reviews here, but I am trying out some Atom Lowboys (95a) and Jukes (93a), I got some new Juice wheels that are brand spanking new to the market so that's exciting, and I'm expecting to get some new toestops from Crazy Skates very soon, so I should be able to get back into the swing of things (blog-wise) quickly upon my return.

I hope you all are also able to enjoy the summer (Northern Hemisphere readers, of course) and, as always:

Until we skate again,
Shocker

A Hoard of Haikus Hoping for Heartless!

Heartless Wheels

We had a ton of great entries into our Roller Derby Haiku Contest and I would like to thank everyone for the inspiring, funny, and touching entries.  Because there were so many awesome entries, I would like your help in picking the winner out of these finalists...

Karen Corcoran

Pulses are pretty,
But I beat all the jammers
with ugly Street Hogs

Laura Wilcoxon

Round and round we go.
Hips, butts... elbows, forearms, NO!
Skate fast, hit harder.

Kayla Cline

Excitement and fear
Skating faster, skating hard

Fall fast, carry on

I'm heading down to Monterey, California on Sunday for a week (hope to hang out with some of the Monterey Bay Derby Dames!) so you have until I get back on June 15th to vote at the 2N1 Skate Shoppe FaceBook page (look for the poll question).  While you're there, make sure you have "liked" the page because once it reaches 1,000 likes, 2N1 will give away a Roller Derby goodie bag to one lucky fan so share with your friends!

During my trip, I plan to write more articles so if there is a specific topic or product you would like me to write about please either post something in the comments.  In the meantime, I would like to give a shout out to longboarding. 

Shocker's First Time

This past Sunday was my birthday and my partner got me a sweet longboard.  I had never longboarded before but have wanted to for a while.  I couldn't believe how much I was sweating after just a few minutes!  Longboarding requires a lot of balance, core strength, and use of your center of gravity...sound familiar?  It only took me a few minutes to get used to riding sideways before I was ready to tackle some hills and I attribute that to the skills I learned through Roller Derby. 

Longboards are basically over sized skateboards with large, soft wheels.  They are made to cruise over cracks and pebbles with ease, and can be used to go really fast downhill.  Longboards have gained popularity in rural areas because it is a lot easier to get around on them than skateboards, which have small, hard wheels that tend to make going over rough road quite uncomfortable.

If you are looking for a new cross-training exercise, consider getting a longboard.  Not only is it a fun way to get around town while burning a few calories, but longboarding chicks are sexy...almost as sexy as Roller Girls!

Until we skate again,

Shocker