Taking your skates on holidays

10 good reasons to take your skates on holidays

1. Free time!

It’s never easy to find the time to do sports during work periods. With at least 35 more hours available, you’ve got no excuse. Without spending your entire days on skates, you can still treat yourself to two or three sessions a week. Note: it’s more about keeping fit than actually training (except if it is part of your planning).

2. New spots to discover

Always doing the same thing at the same place can become boring, no matter how much you love skating. There’s nothing like unknown places to rediscover the pleasure of skating. Take your time to scout the spots that you’d like to explore, so that you don’t leave it all to chance. All in all, have a search on spotland.fr!

3. Good weather

Unless your destination is in the southern hemisphere where seasons are reversed, you should enjoy a more pleasurable wheather to skate during the summertime. A little piece of advice however: if you bring your skates, try to skate in the morning or in the evening to avoid the heat of the day.

4. Eco-holidays

Many operators offer discovery tours of Paris or of the Loire valley by bike… What if you organized your own skating tour? Note the touristic spots or the monuments you want to visit, and draw up your tour. Skating is another different way of discovering cities, quicker, avoiding traffic-jams while exerting yourself… Full of advantages.

5. Attending a training camp to discover a new practice

You’re a speed enthusiast but you’d like to have a go at slalom or hockey skating? No problem: many clubs organize beginners training camps during the summer holidays, like in France in Normandie, Anglet, Annecy, Lille or Paris for example. Moreover, organizations such as the UCPA or companies like the Club Med hire qualified skating instructors for the season, in order to offer that particular service to their clients. Other disciplines are also available, such as scooting or skateboarding.

6. Improving your technique

Some skating associations offer you to perfect your skating technique in Paris, Roller Hockey goalkeepers can stay fit with goalkeeping camps in the Cotentin… Have a little search on the web and you’ll find the right training camp for you! Other Parisian associations like Planet Roller or Parimultiglisse -and more- also offer skating activities during the holidays.

7. Taking the time to maintain your equipment

After an intense season, your equipment has suffered. For lack of time, skates are often neglected, abandoned in a corner waiting for the next training. Summertime is the occasion to take stock and conduct a thorough review. Check the state of your wheels, bearings, boots, liners, the tightening of your frames, their position… Pamper your skates!

8. Meeting other clubs and skaters

Holidays are a great time to meet people, so it seems. Most of the time, skaters going on holidays do some research to know if they can find skating buddies on their holiday destination. The French Federation’s website has a search section to find the nearest club around. Otherwise, you can contact the local skaters on forums or social networks.

9. Family skating

Time is not extensible and many of us don’t have the time to organize common activities with their kids during work periods. Holidays are the opportunity to spend good times with your family while enjoying a little skate…

10. Why not going for long distance skating?

if you don’t give it a go during the holidays, when will you? Alone or with friends, the holidays period gathers the best conditions to skate on roads and green lanes. Set a reasonable goal and don’t forget that it’s about enjoying yourself above all. There’s nothing like long distance skating to discover a region, its inhabitants and see things from a different angle…

Useful links

Trekking: Safety instructions for open road skating

Choosing your long distance skates

By Alfathor
Photos: OLS and all rights reserved