Long time no see!
2020 has been a long journey for everyone in the world. We have had many skating events canceled and many people and friends had a chance to see each other after a long time but did not happen for one year because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The U.S. Government told us that the country will be open at beginning of July permanently which made event creators excited since everyone was waiting for this news. Empire Skate Club staff were already created Big Apple Roll for 2021 in their calendar and now it was more important because more people could have been at the event. They worked hard and set up very beautiful events for New York City.
BAR 2021 happened between August 4 to 8. and they had a total of 8 events if I am not wrong. This time we did not guest many skaters from out of the country but we were blasted by local skaters nationwide. Skate events include long-distance skate, casual skating, New York scenery skates, aggressive skate meets up, and many more such as after-skate parties and workshops…
We would like to thank all Empire Skate Club staff for their hard work, Edward for the pictures, Christian who filmed the event, and everybody who enjoyed the beautiful week with us.
Wednesday Night Skating
As always Big Apple Roll’s first stop was Wednesday Night Skate which has its own fame in New York City streets. WNS is a casual skate for any kind of skater who knows how to stop and handles city streets. It usually takes 12-15 miles and every week there is a new route for skaters which is very entertaining for veteran skaters, so they don’t need to see the same place every week. The pandemic is affected WNS as much as everyone but it affected in a good way. Social media has been scrambling with new hobbies and one of them was roller skating. WNS kept adding new weekly members and this year with the BAR’s help approximately 300 people were skating, biking, and more.
Thursday
Do you still feel strong from Wednesday Night Skate? Because BAR has created 2 events for Thursday for you. We started with 23 miles of skating in the morning by Jim Marx’s lead. Jim skates thousands of miles every year and he tries to break his record always. You can find him every week at casual Tuesday Night Skate. His route usually takes around50 miles if not more but for this time he created 23 miles to Randall’s Island for us to see New York City from North East and we ended up at Famous Patsy’s Pizzeria for lunch right then some skates back to the hotel which is meet up point in downtown to put some more miles.
If you did get some rest, I hope you did; Because there was another beautiful scenic route for you to explore New York City, especially Brooklyn and Manhattan lights at the night. The event was about 15 miles from the hotel through Brooklyn and back to the hotel. People are able to see Brooklyn, Williamsburg, and Manhattan Bridge close up and even ride over Manhattan Bridge. The most beautiful place that day was Brooklyn Park (Dumbo area) where you can see Manhattan at night always made me love New York City.
Friday
I think the staff thought we might be tired the previous day and they wanted to wake up early and stretch for the healthy day with Michael Grebinsky. by 10:45 Mike Gundert’s route was in effect. He led us to Williamsburg which is about 10 miles with an optional turn-back route to the hotel.
(Registration and office meetings were on this day too but not much to talk about.)
I bet you love Friday nights as much as you love Monday mornings. Angelia Miranda and Sarai Pegram have created a beautiful Queens route for us. I was also about 15 miles good for any kind of skater which includes Queens Borough Bridge which is a little challenging if you are riding from Manhattan to Queens because of the steep incline and a beautiful downhill at the end. There was another good stuff for this Friday’s Skate and is the post-skate brewery with a large backyard and pizza crew brought to us by Empire Skate Club
Saturday
Saturday is one of the best times to skate early when you can see a lot of skaters and fewer cars in the streets because of the power of the weekend and if you add this to beautiful weather. Arnav aka Sonic took the lead for this year’s Saturday morning skate and he took us to Red Hook, Brooklyn where you can see Manhattan. We had lunch there and Sonic took us back to the hotel afternoon by Williamsburg route which was a different way than the morning.
Empire Skate Club has gone big and rented a Tavern for the Saturday night party and raffle @Fraunces Tavern with @Rollerblade. For me, the best part was Unlimited burgers, brisket, siders, and fries :).
Sunday
Sunday is kind of a day that is sad for most outsiders because they need to go back to their hometown before the workday except if you are one of those who are staying way longer and living around. Michael Grebinsky took the lead for Sunday morning skate and he led us to midtown for a slow-paced 10-15 miles skate before we say good to those who had a flight and check out for the afternoon.
Do You like Central Park? 6 miles of pavement for people who like to train which I love for my speed skating training. It has a lot of historic places to walk around, a huge artificial national park.
If Yes, and you are still in New York; this year you could be skated to Central Park and enjoy your leisurely tour then you could join Central Park Dance Skaters @skate circle and slalom skate two minutes away or enjoy a couple of laps around Central Park.
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