touring in line skate fitness

18/2011 Fitness

Rollerblade @ North Shore Inline Marathon 2011

Rollerblade @ North Shore Inline Marathon 2011

The North Shore Inline Marathon is the largest inline marathon in the USA, held annually in Duluth, MN.  On Thursday, September 15^th, Robert Guerrero, Ariel Surun, Kyle Sola, Andy Mafei (RB Warranty Manager) and Tom Hyser (RB Product /Marketing Manager) flew to Minneapolis and met up with RB President Stephen Charrier.  With the exception of Stephen Charrier, this was largely a crew of rookies in the racing world.  Robert is a professional street-skater, and skated the marathon last year for the first time.  It was a whole new experience for Ariel and Kyle, who are sponsored NYC street-skaters; their endurance skating skills would be put to the test in this marathon.  Tom and Andy both had to sit this one out due to recent knee surgeries.

Stephen picked up the crew at the airport and took everyone out to his house on Lake Minnetonka, meeting up with Stan Chaves and Chris Miller from Inlinewarehouse.com, who had also arrived.  It was a bit chilly, but we all jumped on Stephen’s boat for dinner and a cruise.  After dinner, we had a serious Nerf gun fight to finish off the day and Stephen’s eldest son, Austin, won the battle.  He would accompany us to Duluth the next day.

On Friday morning at 5:30 am, we all piled into Stephen’s Suburban and headed north to Duluth to set up the RB booth.  After registration, racers came by the RB booth to check out the 2012 skates and chat it up with the crew.  It was a great to see everyone from pro racers to the average recreational warrior there to test their skate skills. 

Saturday cranked up at 5:45 am to meet in the hotel lobby at 6:15 am.  We hopped back into the Suburban and headed north to the starting line, jacked on caffeine and snacks, with Van Halen’s Eruption blasting as we approached the parking lot.  Everyone was crazy hyped as they got their skates on and mentally prepared to race 26.2 miles.  It’s always insane to see 3,000-plus skaters at the starting area.  Soon enough the race started and the crew was off and rolling.  Tom, Andy, and Austin took the Suburban back to the finish area and opened up the booth before the first skater crossed the line.  The winning time was an amazing 1:05! Robert was the first of the RB crew to finish with an unofficial time of 1:23:05; not bad for a street-skater at his 2^nd marathon.  Next was Stephen a.k.a. the Terminator with a time of 1:31:30; not bad for a guy twenty years older than many of the skaters with whom he finished.  Kyle finished with a 1:42:11 and Ariel with a time of 1:51:53. 

After the race, everyone hung out at the RB booth sharing their experience.  Robert found his groove with a super-fast group of guys and ripped it the whole way to the finish line for his personal best time.  Stephen got kicked in the leg as his group crashed but he stayed on his feet.  Kyle stayed with Robert till about mile 15 when his leg muscles turned into cement and forced him to finish the race at a mellow pace.  Ariel was not so lucky and ended up doing a cartwheel into the grass as his pace group crashed.  Ariel’s street skating skills prevented him from getting hurt but the wipe out cost him quite a bit of time to catch up.

Then it was time to tear the booth down, pack everything up and head out for some lunch.  Robert, Ariel, and Kyle met up with local Pro street-skater Michael Garlinghouse and his lady, Caroline, for one more night of fun in Minneapolis.  Stephen, Austin, Tom and Andy drove to the airport, along with Stan and Chris, and within a day we were all headed for home. 

The NSIM is a crazy fun event and you should try it! There is nothing quite like ripping along the road with a massive group to the sound of humming wheels and bearings.  Many great memories were made and we can’t wait till the 2012 NSIM.