This blog is brought to you by the guy below who wants to ask you a very important question:
Why aren't you skating?
By subject:
- DC
- DC :: Destinations
- DC :: Promoting WAR
- DC :: Skate DC Weekend
- DC :: Skate Routes
- DC :: Toxic Skaters
- Old Stuff
- Pictures and Photos
- Skaters
- Travel
- Travel :: Big Apple Roll
- Travel :: Euroroll
- Travel :: Euroroll :: Brussels
- Travel :: Euroroll :: Paris
- Travel :: Freedom Skate
- Travel :: Great Esskate
- Yaps
By Date:
Useful Sites:
Washington Area Roadskaters
DC Skate Patrol (Free Lessons)
Rollerquest (Baltimore Skaters)
Skaters Quest (a Skate School)
Skaters Refuge (Community Store)
Sites I Like:
Mocha Superman
Blake Lambert
Sites With People I Miss:
Wednesday Night Skate New York
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Why aren't you blogging??? At some point with doing this blog, I came up with an informal set of rules, one of which was to never write anything negative. It produced a big delay on my blogging as I sorted out what I was capable of saying about WAR, the Washington Area Roadskaters as a club, both positive and negative. I enjoyed discovering the club. I enjoyed joining and contributing my time and resources as a board member. It was great fun promoting the club and rebuilding the membership records from scratch. I also enjoyed leaving the club. It was very liberating. Now I can go skate and not have to worry about making all the people who kept placing their demands on me happy. My free time is finally my own again. |
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Sat, 22 Oct 2005
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Photos from the Skate to Annapolis |
t was a warm, sun drenched day with no humidity, making for a perfect setting to skate to the Annapolis waterfront and back to the Marley Station Mall.
ou can find a writeup on the route here and here.
Check out the gallery... Wed, 12 Oct 2005
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Skate to Coney Island -- Part One -- The Manhattan Side |
his year, Ed led a masterful skate to the beach. Here are some photos from the start of the skate, the West Side bike path and all the way to the Manhattan Bridge.
Check out the gallery...
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Skate to Coney Island -- Part Two -- The Brooklyn Side |
d led a plethora of skaters through Brooklyn back streets like a native. These photos cover the Manhattan Bridge, Prospect Park and of course, Coney Island.
Check out the gallery... Fri, 07 Oct 2005
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The Final Paris Mix |
hat's it, the last of the Euroroll photos for the blog. Many many thanks to everyone who let me pick through their photos!
o pyx from the dinner and cruise night. For some strange reason, they were all too blurry. (At least that's the story I'm sticking with.)
esides, I have no memory of that event so it must have never really happened.
Check out the gallery... Thu, 06 Oct 2005
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A Eurorollers Guide to Paris (Part One): Getting There, Getting Around |
t's a semi organized look at the first couple of days in Paris! Thanks to the many Eurorollers who contributed photos.
Check out the gallery...
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A Eurorollers Guide to Paris (Part Two): Things to do Near the Eiffel Tower |
ere is another mix of photos from a mix of people, all about skating in Paris.
Check out the gallery... Wed, 05 Oct 2005
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Mo's Pyx Part One: No Skating in the Lobby |
aureen offers her photo perspective on the Euroroll.
Check out the gallery...
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Mo's Pyx Part Two: Making Faces, Skating Places |
russels and Bruges get the Maureen picture treatment.
Check out the gallery... Tue, 04 Oct 2005
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Mo's Pyx Part Three: Paris and a Crepe |
aureen photographs Paris with the proper priorities.
Check out the gallery...
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Mo's Pyx Part Four: Pari Roller Edition |
aureen does the Friday Skate with a special police escort.
Check out the gallery... Mon, 03 Oct 2005
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The First Skate in Brussels |
urorollers got to Brussels by plane, train and bus -- then we skated.
Check out the gallery...
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The Atomium and Other Destinations |
ur first big Euroroll skate was to some out of town places.
Check out the gallery... Sun, 02 Oct 2005
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Pictures from the Pari Roller |
ne of the high points of the Euroroll was the Pari Roller. We met at 11pm on Friday to take over the streets with 3000+ of our closest friends.
Check out the gallery... Sat, 01 Oct 2005
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Mixed Up Brussels Part One |
ere are some photos from the Euroroll in Brussels that I just couldn't organize.
Check out the gallery...
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Mixed Up Brussels Part Two |
ere are some more photos that I just couldn't organize.
Check out the gallery... Fri, 30 Sep 2005
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Bruges on Skates |
he plan was to skate from Bruges to somewhere where we could see lots of water. Some dark clouds proved that we didn't need to go anywhere for a view like that.
Check out the gallery...
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Bruges on a Bike |
ome brave non skaters went for a rainy tour in Bruges.
Check out the gallery... Thu, 29 Sep 2005
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Info on the Skate to Annapols |
k Todd, here's the info. Hope you join us.
f you're not Todd, hope you join us too. Everyone is welcome. (Bring skates.)
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Bringing Up the Rear on the Eastern Shore |
don't know how it happened but I became the slowest skater in the group! The temperature was perfect -- the infamous DC humidity was gone -- and the wind didn't kick up until long after we had sat down for a post skate lunch.
t was also a lot of fun to skate with Rollerquest (the Baltimore Skaters).
Check out the gallery... Wed, 21 Sep 2005
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The Baltimore Annapolis Trail |
here is a skateable trail that runs between Annapolis and BWI Airport (contrary to its name, it doesn't go to Baltimore.) I've spoken to several people who have done it who tell me that it's skater friendly. In terms of support there are a lot of places on the way to stop and get snacks and water and even some pleasant neighborhoods with potentially skater friendly restaraunts to stop at as well.
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The Campus Skate Route |
avid came up with the idea to skate through all the college campuses now that all the students are back. I think its a great way to promote the club -- even if we don't hand out flyers.
e worked out a few bugs in David's route on Wednesday and Carl is adopting it as a route that he wants to do for Sunday so this whole skate to campus thing is getting a lot of mileage right now. Here is my take on skating the college campuses.
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A Couple of Photos From a Sunday Skate |
t was one of those days in September where the temperature was perfect.
Check out the gallery... Mon, 12 Sep 2005
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So Long to Argyle |
o you meet downtown to go for a skate in the city, find yourself at Dupont Circle, make your way to Adams Morgan, do some more climbing and find yourself in Mount Pleasant. Naturally, you want to pop in somewhere for something to drink...
he Argyle convenience store was a prominent stop as a recognizable landmark for many a skate and a place that let skaters in on wheels. It's closed and gone now, for reasons unknown, but the Washington Area Roadskaters will always remember it as a setting for plenty of skating stories.
here are skater freindly convenience stores nearby but none have the character that Argyle did.
Check out the gallery... Wed, 07 Sep 2005
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A Skate Through Times Square |
he lights; the cars; the skaters!
Check out the gallery... Mon, 05 Sep 2005
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Friday Night at the Big Apple Roll |
riday Night at the Big Apple Roll began with a skate through Manhattan. First stop: Central Park.
Check out the gallery... Mon, 25 Jul 2005
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Tanya's Wheels |
anya told me that she has been skating with WAR for years and years -- that's probably why her wheels were down to the nubs! Last week she brought a new set with her to the Wednesday Night Skate so a few skaters helped her make the switch.
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David's Blowout |
arlier in the season, David joined the blowout club when one of his wheels delaminated from its core during a Wednesday Night Skate.
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Some Video Footage From Last Year's Big Apple Roll |
ocha Superman has some footage from last year's Big Apple Roll on his
website. There are sightings of Susan (but no Andrew -- what's up with that?) and at least one Beer Patrol shirt.
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A Skate Patrol Listing in the Current Newspapers |
he Current Newspapers refer to three local newspapers published in the DC area: The Georgetown Current, The Dupont Current and The Rock Creek Current.
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WAR Got a Listing in Metro Sports |
his is big -- Metro Sports Washington is a major information source for sports events in the DC area. As of June and July, each of our weekly events are listed. (Back in May, we had a featured listing on their calender complete with a picture but that was just a one off thing.)
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I Guess We Are Doing Our Skate in 2006 |
he Landskaters did their Philadelphia event again this year. They received some very nice press coverage. The WAR Memorial Day Weekend skate got mentioned as well.
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WAR is Listed in Recreation News |
ow employees of major government agencies all over the DC area can turn to their major source of recreational information and find WAR listed.
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A Quick Note to Jubran |
Sun, 26 Jun 2005
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Some After Skate Party Photos |
fter the skates is the after skate party. Go figure!
Check out the gallery...
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Pictures from a Quick Dip in the Fountain |
t was hot, it was humid, it was time to get soaked.
Check out the gallery...
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Pictures from the Sunday Morning Diva Skate |
relaxed skate with well dressed Skate Patrollers wrapped up the skating weekend in Philadelphia.
Check out the gallery... Sat, 25 Jun 2005
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Photos from the Saturday Beer Skate |
s you can clearly see in the pictures, nobody drank -- really -- we just toured the brewery -- and demanded water!!!
Check out the gallery... Fri, 24 Jun 2005
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Pictures from the Friday Night Urban Skate |
kate Patrol coordinated a great route through the dark underbelly of Philadelphia.
Check out the gallery... Sat, 18 Jun 2005
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Carl's Wheel Blowout |
t's true, it can happen with perfectly good new wheels too.
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Newspapers With Community Calendars |
ere is a list of print newspapers where I've tried to get WAR events listed.
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Skate T-Shirts Seen Over Memorial Day Weekend |
uest photogropher Peter Lux focuses on cotton and coolmax.
Check out the gallery...
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Pictures from the Monday Morning Hangover Skate |
led skaters on a relaxed pace skate and have the photos to prove it.
Check out the gallery...
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Some High Resolution Photos from the Memorial Day Weekend |
mail me if you want a hi-res copy of any other photos from the Memorial Day Skate.
Check out the gallery... Sun, 29 May 2005
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Pictures from the Sunday Afternoon Accidental Tourist Skate |
mily led skaters to Adams Morgan, the garden at the Smithsonian Castle and let skaters pick the tourist stops of their choice.
Check out the gallery...
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Photos from the Sunday Morning Skate to Old Town Alexandria |
katers quietly thundered their way past a parade of motorcyclists and rolled on to Crystal City, and Old Town Alexandria. Led by Andrew "it's not a deathmarch -- we have ice cream" Baxley.
Check out the gallery... Sat, 28 May 2005
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Pictures from the Saturday Evening Fast Skate |
arshall led an intrepid crew of skaters uptown and eventually to the Froggy Bottom Pub..
Check out the gallery...
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Trainspotting on the Memorial Day Weekend Skate |
nd they told us that trains never go by on those tracks...
Check out the gallery...
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Pictures from the Saturday Morning Alley Cat Skate |
arl Ford avoided the regular tourist traps and exposed Memorial Day Weekend skaters to the hidden and often trashy underbelly of our nations Capitol.
Check out the gallery... Fri, 27 May 2005
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Photos from Friday Night of the Memorial Day Weekend Skate |
ike bikers of a bygone era, veteran and beginner skaters alike took over the streets of DC.
Check out the gallery...
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The Examinier is Treats WAR Well for Memorial Day |
ot only does The Examiner put WAR's weekly skating events on their sports calendar, we get a special mention for our Memorial Day Weekend event.
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Something is Amiss at the IMF/World Bank |
s of 10am, somewhere around 18th and G Streets NW there is a fire. Word on the street is that an underground transformer is burning. The third floor vew we have at work of the NW corner of 18th and G is of smoke coming out of the building there. Streets are closed, the police and secret service are out and none of them are happy. You can hear the sound of fire engines and ambulances and a bunch of them are stopped nearby. There is also a sound like big dump trucks rattling as they go by -- maybe that's the sound of the burning transformer? The air has a burnt electrical component smell.
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Pictures from the Sunday Morning No Hills Skate |
t was a pleasant intermediate skate through northeast and southeast DC while a certain couple did some house hunting.
Check out the gallery... Sat, 21 May 2005
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A New Mascot for the Washington Area Roadskaters? |
have been scouring the internet and painstakingly working on only the best graphic designs on behalf of WAR. Here is one of the results of my monumental efforts.
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Photos from the Wednesday Night Star Wars Skate |
estinations included the Uptown Cinema where fans were waiting for the Star Wars Episode IV premier.
Check out the gallery... Wed, 18 May 2005
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Another Skate, Another Blowout |
o if you ever wondered what would happen to your wheels if you skated on them for a few years to the point where they became little nubs, wonder no more. Three of mine broke during a long skate a few weeks back. I swapped them out for good wheels but kept one on that looked ok. No joy. It just blew out last night. Sometiems being cheap doesn't pay.
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Skaters at Hains Point |
took a trip out to Hains Point to visit the speedskaters. I found something I didn't expect out there.
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Some Skate Patrol Photos |
he first few photos are from the Skate Patrol recertification get together. The later photos are of the well attended free braking clinics in Rock Creek Park.
Check out the gallery... Sat, 14 May 2005
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Pictures from the Friday Night Where's the Skate Patrol? Skate |
e started without them, but the Skate Patrollers eventually caught up to us and led the Friday Night Skate.
Check out the gallery... Thu, 12 May 2005
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Photos from the Wednesday Night Trail Skate |
estinations included Georgetown near the Waterfront and the Capital Crescent Trail.
Check out the gallery... Wed, 04 May 2005
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The Evil Seven Eleven in Cleveland Park |
t's terrible. They won't let you in on skates. And it's only the Cleveland Park Seven Eleven. Other Seven Elevens have no problems with skaters. But I was there (flyering the Lemming Route) and wanted a Diet Coke. So I used the iPod I can't hear you strategy.
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Photos from the Sunday Wrong Side of the Tracks Skate |
estinations included the DC side of the Anacostia Waterfront (we went under the Sousa Bridge) and the Stadium.
Check out the gallery... Sat, 30 Apr 2005
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Pictures from the Tiny Friday Night Skate |
wo pictures featuring the huge mob of 3 people who attended. The weather report listed an 80 percent chance of rain and it looked like it actually would rain in any second but fortunately it didn't.
Check out the gallery... Fri, 29 Apr 2005
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How Many Wheels do you Need? |
o I started the Wednedsay Skate with eight wheels. In Georgetown one blew out. Somewhere between Georgetown and American University another blew. I was fine. I could have done the A2A. Even when the third wheel blew, On MacArthur Boulevard on the way back to Georgetown, I was still going. I was among the first to finish the skate.
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Pictures from the Wednesday West of Georgetown Skate |
estinations included Macarthur Boulevard and Georgetown.
Check out the gallery... Mon, 25 Apr 2005
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Photos from the Sunday "Feels Like Winter Out There" Skate |
estinations included Union Station and L'Enfant Plaza.
Check out the gallery... Fri, 22 Apr 2005
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Skate Clinic Got Listed -- In Color |
just noticed -- the free Skate Patrol sponsored clinic got listed in the April issue of Metro Sports Washington. Plus there's a picture.
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Photos from the Wednesday "Feels Like Summer Out There" Skate |
estinations included Chinatown and the tunnel.
Check out the gallery... Tue, 19 Apr 2005
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We Were Featured on Channel 4 |
nless you live under a rock or aren't an active DC skater, by now you know that Channel 4 News did a segment on our group.
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Pictures from the Sunday Hills and Alleys Skate |
arl led a combined intermediate/advanced skate with a route he thought up on the fly.
Check out the gallery... Sun, 17 Apr 2005
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More Newspaper Listings |
ere is a sampling of how WAR is listed in the DC area papers.
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Pictures from The Friday Night News Skate |
ealth and Fitnesss reporters from Channel 4 came out to film WAR skaters in action.
Check out the gallery... Fri, 15 Apr 2005
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Staying Listed in the Washington Post |
he Post will list WAR in the Weekend section anytime we ask. You just have to ask properly.
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Photos from the Wednesday Night Cultural Skate |
estinations included Catholic University, The John Paul II Cultural Center, and Adams Morgan.
Check out the gallery... Wed, 13 Apr 2005
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Getting the Most from Craigslist |
read through the posting guidelines on Craigslist and took advantage of two features. First, you can add some basic HTML to the text so now we have some bling in our listing. The second feature is a bigger deal.
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Photos from the Sunday Smoothie Skate |
hese are photos from the intermediate skate; the advanced skate had just as many people.
Check out the gallery... Sun, 10 Apr 2005
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Photos from the First Friday Night Skate |
he air was cooler than Wednesday but the skaters were more laid back.
Check out the gallery... Thu, 07 Apr 2005
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Big Crowd for the Wednesday Night Skate |
nd the weather was just perfect.
Check out the gallery... Tue, 05 Apr 2005
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Photos from the Inaugural Party |
he start of the skating season could never be complete without a party to celebrate it.
Check out the gallery... Sun, 03 Apr 2005
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Photos from the Inaugural Skate |
t was a cold spring morning, but nothing could stop the inaugural skate.
Check out the gallery... Fri, 01 Apr 2005
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You Can Find WAR in the Papers Now |
he club is in the Washington Post and the City Paper. (Although not a newspaper, WAR is in craigslist too.)
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Trips I'm considering for 2005: |
very year there are two skate events that are a must: The Great Esskate in South Beach and the Philadelphia Freedom Skate. Beyond that, there are a lot of events worth doing. Here is a list of the ones that I'm considering.
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Chain Stores With Community Bulletin Boards |
o far, I know of three chains with community bulletin boards (which are good to know about for skate flyer hanging up purpoeses): Caribou Coffee, Ben and Jerrys and Fresh Fields. There are probably more but this is a start:
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Success at Flyering Georgetown |
t the end of the day I went to Georgetown to do some flyering. Monday night is clearly the time to do it because sometime during the day they take down all the flyers off of the public boards and all of them are empty and ready to be done up again.
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The Whole GWU Flyer System Works |
uring lunchtime I dropped off 60 more flyers to the Student Activities office to be hung up on the GWU campus. It's a really easy system -- you go to the basement of the Marvin Center, get Kinkos to make 60 copies of whatever you need, and then go to the fourth floor and leave them with a receptionist. Walking around campus I saw a number of flyers that I had provided last week hung up on the walls. It's good to know that the whole system works.
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We Covered Several Neighborhoods |
e covered parts of Woodley Park, Adams Morgan, the U Street area, Chinatown and Capitol Hill. Woodley and Adams only needed a few extra flyerings since much of what we put up already was present. U Street got well covered. Chinatown and Capitol Hill didn't have as many community type of places. Having skates with removable frames enabled me to buzz into coffee shops to hang up flyers and to drop of stacks of flyers in sport shops.
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We Put up Flyers at American Univeristy |
U is a little confusing when it comes to a posting policy. It appears that each building has it's own office that approves flyers, which from a skater's perspective, is a completely unworkable system.
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We flyered the Bethesda to DC Commuting Routes |
e went out and flyered all the public posting areas along the typical route that morning commuters would use to go from points all the way from Bethesda Maryland to downtown DC. The idea was to have flyers visible for morning commuters as they get their coffee and get on their buses and go to their Metro Rail stops. On Tuesday 3/22 we posted about 40 flyers for this effort. We covered a lot of distance, skating all the way out past the Friendship Heights Metro station. Entertaining landmarks on our way back included the Russian Embassy and the Social Safeway in Georgetown.
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Handed out Flyers at Rock Creek |
aturday 3/19: Handed out 30-40 flyers in Rock Creek Park. There weren't a lot of people around but we got a good demographic -- runners, bicyclers, dog walkers -- anyone who said "yes" when we asked if they ever skated. Several people knew about WAR and said that they had skated with WAR in the paste. Hopefully they will join us for this season.
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Put up Flyers at GWU |
he George Washington Univeristy is probably the easiest place to flyer of all the campuses in the DC area.
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College Park Skate |
e had to get our bearings on our way back from College Park during a Sunday skate.
Check out the gallery... Wed, 16 Mar 2005
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Download Link for the Latest Flyer |
he latest flyer that promotes the weekly skates organized by the Washington Area Roadskaters (WAR) can be downloaded from here.
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Hung up Flyers in Dupont/Adams Morgan |
uesday 3/15: Hung up 30-40 flyers on public bulletin boards in various coffee shops, restaraunts, record stores, outdoor spaces, etc. We were armed with flyers, tape, and thumbtacks.
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West of Georgetown Route |
his route features a lot of climbing at the start which pays off with a lot of fast downhills. Convenience stores are available halfway through the route on MacArthur Boulevard.