Ultraskate
I mentioned this briefly to some of you at the Outlaw Madness, that I would love to hold an Ultraskate event, that is a 24hour skate, usually to raise money and awareness for a worthy cause. Here is the site that usually organises it: http://pavedwave.org/
The next one is slotted for the weekend of 25th-26th September, which is pretty close, but far enough away for those interested to get ready.
I have been thinking about it and I thought that a good local loop would be from Burleigh to Broadbeach, as there is continual bike paths and bike lanes, over the distance of 9k's which makes for a good loop. This is the route:: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3946658
Now the interesting bit, or should I say controversial, is that as it is over 24 hours and about 1/3 of the above route is on the bike lane of a road, any night participants would technically be breaking the law. So, I thought why not make that the focus. I think that we, as skaters, should have equal rights and responsibilities as any other non motorized transport (mmm... bikes). ie: lights for visibility at night and helmets for protection. So, the worthy cause that I am thinking of is "Skating for Skate Awareness".
So what I envision is this: get as many people as you know on a board, blade, pair of skates, whatever... stick a helmet on their head, and lights on the helmet or person (for the night), and meet up at Burleigh point car park on the 25th September. At 9am we roll for 24 hours. If you can't do that amount, then turn up at any point for a roll. I would particularly like to see heaps of skaters for the night time - extravagantly lit up (glowsticks, helmet lights, portable chrissy decorations?). Maybe we could have some sort of prizes for the longest ride and the best lit :-) 9am Sunday finish then breaky barbie at Burleigh, maybe $1 sausage sanga like at the Outlaw madness?
I would still like to raise money for a charity maybe we can pass the hat around for that too.. any suggestions on a worthy cause? (and no.. your new Nemmy is not a worthy cause ;-P)
So there is my crazy idea. What do you all think?
The next one is slotted for the weekend of 25th-26th September, which is pretty close, but far enough away for those interested to get ready.
I have been thinking about it and I thought that a good local loop would be from Burleigh to Broadbeach, as there is continual bike paths and bike lanes, over the distance of 9k's which makes for a good loop. This is the route:: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3946658
Now the interesting bit, or should I say controversial, is that as it is over 24 hours and about 1/3 of the above route is on the bike lane of a road, any night participants would technically be breaking the law. So, I thought why not make that the focus. I think that we, as skaters, should have equal rights and responsibilities as any other non motorized transport (mmm... bikes). ie: lights for visibility at night and helmets for protection. So, the worthy cause that I am thinking of is "Skating for Skate Awareness".
So what I envision is this: get as many people as you know on a board, blade, pair of skates, whatever... stick a helmet on their head, and lights on the helmet or person (for the night), and meet up at Burleigh point car park on the 25th September. At 9am we roll for 24 hours. If you can't do that amount, then turn up at any point for a roll. I would particularly like to see heaps of skaters for the night time - extravagantly lit up (glowsticks, helmet lights, portable chrissy decorations?). Maybe we could have some sort of prizes for the longest ride and the best lit :-) 9am Sunday finish then breaky barbie at Burleigh, maybe $1 sausage sanga like at the Outlaw madness?
I would still like to raise money for a charity maybe we can pass the hat around for that too.. any suggestions on a worthy cause? (and no.. your new Nemmy is not a worthy cause ;-P)
So there is my crazy idea. What do you all think?
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Replies to This Discussion
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Premium MemberPermalink Reply by Skittles on -
and I recon that route you put up is pretty decent, I was looking at something like that before. Got a couple of playgrounds that would sure get attention from the kids, and thus parents as well.
There is only one problem with doing a fund raiser,.. who will carry the heavy load of coins when people donate directly to us?
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Permalink Reply by Odiwan on
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Odiwan said:Another suggestion, particularly as this is a "curfew-busting" skate, is to get more people involved, namely all skaters who are affected by the ludicrous no skating at night law. So I am going to try to get some of the inline speedsters and the roller derby girls into this as well.
just found this, maybe we can get some meter maids into it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9chARSPDlfo
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that is a good point ... 22k's of fundraising, could be quite a load. I was kinda hoping that maybe we can get some sort of support crews happening at each end, with whom we could deposit raised funds. these guys, brave souls that they would be, could also handle refreshments for riders. I am hoping to get some rotating volunteers as well as riders.
Tim (Skittles) said:and I recon that route you put up is pretty decent, I was looking at something like that before. Got a couple of playgrounds that would sure get attention from the kids, and thus parents as well.
There is only one problem with doing a fund raiser,.. who will carry the heavy load of coins when people donate directly to us?
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Jeez man .. thats heavy. Takes some real courage to be part of a group and assail an unarmed man. I just don't get that mentality. And yeah, the cops are at most, going to sympathize but do nothing.
Tim (Skittles) said:Yeah, brisbane gets a few characters like that, I got a wholop over the head walking across a main bridge to a garage session one night, bunch of guys were bored, and decided to give me a 'happy slap'... I must say, I wasn't very happy, and reported it to the police, but nothing gets done about it.
You'd probably be okay with a large group though, I'm sure that a kingpin to the head would set anyone keen enough to try anything back in their place :p
also, should probably put it out there, a bucket load of sunscreen should probably be supplied for those who do not think about such things, especially for the middle of the day...
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Premium MemberPermalink Reply by Skittles on -
Yeah, as soon as I turned around and got ready to whack him with my board, he ran into the middle of his 10-20 man group. Those poeple really get on my nerves, and there's really nothing you can do about it, unless you go vigilante, in which case, the cops will come for you
Odiwan said:Jeez man .. thats heavy. Takes some real courage to be part of a group and assail an unarmed man. I just don't get that mentality. And yeah, the cops are at most, going to sympathize but do nothing.
Tim (Skittles) said:Yeah, brisbane gets a few characters like that, I got a wholop over the head walking across a main bridge to a garage session one night, bunch of guys were bored, and decided to give me a 'happy slap'... I must say, I wasn't very happy, and reported it to the police, but nothing gets done about it.
You'd probably be okay with a large group though, I'm sure that a kingpin to the head would set anyone keen enough to try anything back in their place :p
also, should probably put it out there, a bucket load of sunscreen should probably be supplied for those who do not think about such things, especially for the middle of the day...
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Premium MemberPermalink Reply by haggy on -
24hours - that's intense. I'll see how I feel after the planned sydney-canberra skate. My body might simply not hold up!
A 9km flat route. If you average 10km/h then you do the route roughly a total of 24 times.
How crowded do these paths get? It's one thing to skate amongst people when you're fresh, but after 12 hours having to dodge people and obstacles might get old. The last thing you want at a charity event is a collision.
Wind factor? being right on the beach is there a possibility of high wind?
Overall, I reckon it looks like a decent spot. Chance of exposure seems good. Being on the beach is good for media, camera shots, etc. Shouldn't be a problem getting on the local news.
And just to play devil's advocate: Publicity angle - are you mixing your messages if its a charity as well as a protest? What do you want the 6pm news to focus on. The charity or the protest? Or perhaps they will work side by side? Getting other skate disciplines involved is a good idea.
As already mentioned, will safety be an issue, particularly at night? Do drunk people hang about at night?
Do you need local council permits to run a charity event? I guess the charity could probably inform you about this.
Just a few thoughts from my end. Great initiative and hope to make it up for it. Again, will see how the body&funds hold up after the canberra skate.
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Premium MemberPermalink Reply by sean meaney on -
i would be down for a melbourne one, it would probably kill me, but i would give it a red hot go thats for sure
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Haggy, you have some very valid points. As far as the route goes, the updated route is 22k's which should reduce the boredom factor. The drunks at night problem which would be generated by the longer route would be minimalised by the fact that the only place where I see that being an issue is Surfers (Cavill Ave), which as you are only passing once every 22 k's would only be a handful of times, maybe more if you are going for a record ( Paul Kent, who most know from the Loaded "Long Treks" holds the current record of 250 miles/ 24 hours).
As far as wind goes, yes it can get a bit windy, but usually the wind is from one direction for a prolonged period of time on the coast, which means that if it is against you going one way then it is with you on the way back.
I have been told that any advertised event needs council permission, hence that is why most events on ASRA are outlaw! If this was to be a charity event then it would need to be organised, which means that I would need to get council permission, insurance, lots of legal advice, blah blah! I have no funds nor interest in that side of things so I am thinking that this is at most a protest, and at least a case of "I am going for a (Ultra)skate, who wants to join me". This also feeds into the safety aspect... if this is a protest skate or (just "turn up and skate"), then I would hope that we, as skaters, can be responsible for our own safety. If this is a protest, then I kinda want that to be the point.. that we can ride safely, day or night. So I guess, this brings the focus back to the original "Ultraskate for Skate Awareness" theme in the original post.
I just thought to check, and this does fall into the Queensland school holidays, which may increase the foot traffic obstacle factor. If we were to push it back a week, we would be out of that bracket and would also take advantage of the NSW public holiday (October 4th) for any southern riders.
So what do we think 24th - 25 Sep... school holidays - or a week later, 2-3 October to coincide with NSW long weekend? I am thinking more the latter, for the safety and enjoyment factors.
haggy said:24hours - that's intense. I'll see how I feel after the planned sydney-canberra skate. My body might simply not hold up!
A 9km flat route. If you average 10km/h then you do the route roughly a total of 24 times.
How crowded do these paths get? It's one thing to skate amongst people when you're fresh, but after 12 hours having to dodge people and obstacles might get old. The last thing you want at a charity event is a collision.
Wind factor? being right on the beach is there a possibility of high wind?
Overall, I reckon it looks like a decent spot. Chance of exposure seems good. Being on the beach is good for media, camera shots, etc. Shouldn't be a problem getting on the local news.
And just to play devil's advocate: Publicity angle - are you mixing your messages if its a charity as well as a protest? What do you want the 6pm news to focus on. The charity or the protest? Or perhaps they will work side by side? Getting other skate disciplines involved is a good idea.
As already mentioned, will safety be an issue, particularly at night? Do drunk people hang about at night?
Do you need local council permits to run a charity event? I guess the charity could probably inform you about this.
Just a few thoughts from my end. Great initiative and hope to make it up for it. Again, will see how the body&funds hold up after the canberra skate.
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Premium MemberPermalink Reply by jay cottrell on -
Sounds interesting , what are those 2 surf clubs the route from burleigh to broady goes straight past the entrance to ? might be a problem getting them to agree to a heap of skaters going past their front access doors , and also did you know its illegal to skate within 2 blocks either side of cavill ave in surfers even on the bike\walking track on the beach and yeah straight past the cop shop.
Dont get me wrong something like this would be cool but i can see alot of obstacles arising.
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Premium MemberPermalink Reply by jay cottrell on -
this page may be helpful for plotting a course ?
http://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/t_standard2.aspx?pid=7665
its the maps for bike tracks on the gold coast , lists on and off road tracks
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Permalink Reply by Robbo on
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Protest gets mixed with charity all the time. Its a cover that is very commonly used for doing ridicules things. Its how people establish they are not personally profiting from a political stance. You don't need official support to give money to charity, you just cant use their official logos in marketing material
One does not of coarse need to mix it with charity , you just need to make it very obvious that you are doing it under the gauze of protest
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Premium MemberPermalink Reply by Skittles on -
why the hell is it illegal??? and wouldn't that make it better for protest sake? because riding on the road at night is also illegal, and it's not like the cops will be able to pull all of us up and give us a ticket, especially since we will be skating in a big group, and can just skate away.
Just saying, but if you want to change routes just incase, that's all cool.
and the surf clubs don't own the footpath, that is council isn't it?? so if they want to complain, they can, but there isn't much they can do about it because they don't own the property.
and again, if they have something against skaters, that is what the protest will be standing for, equal rights?
jay cottrell said:Sounds interesting , what are those 2 surf clubs the route from burleigh to broady goes straight past the entrance to ? might be a problem getting them to agree to a heap of skaters going past their front access doors , and also did you know its illegal to skate within 2 blocks either side of cavill ave in surfers even on the bike\walking track on the beach and yeah straight past the cop shop.
Dont get me wrong something like this would be cool but i can see alot of obstacles arising.
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