30 March 2009

Roller Blading in Canberra

| Confusedwouldwe
Join the conversation
18

I am interested to hear from other roller blading enthusiasts about their favourite paths to blade around Canberra.

Also are there any social roller blading groups in Canberra?

Join the conversation

18
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

Just along the path around the national library and High Court is ideal as that path is so smooth you cannot fall over!

Felix the Cat8:59 pm 01 Apr 09

This is probably a bit late as this thread has been archived but there were a few rollerbladers doing laps around New Parliament House early (from about 5.30am) on Tuesday morning. they looked to be older (40+ yo) guys but it was a bit hard to tell as it was still dark. They didn’t seem to be racing, just cruising around.

Pommy bastard12:39 pm 31 Mar 09

Best, (only) example of what I was wittering on about, above, I could find..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqT4-SFTRaw

Jack Kirby said :

* Heading along the Molonglo River from Scrivener Dam to Weston Creek – for a section of this you can imagine you are out in the country, but still have a nice quality off-road bike path to blade on (surely one day this lovely off-road bike path will be extended to Stromlo?)

I used to blade this path regularly. It’s quite good and a bit of a leg warmer. Just need to hold your nose in certain places.

Anywhere around the lake is good. The hill near Government house and the golf course is good for working on slalom turns 😀

There used to be a drop-in roller hockey game at Lyneham High School basketball courts on Sunday afternoons. It ran for over a decade but not sure if it’s still going. It was pretty casual and a good way to meet other keen bladers.

High Court foreshore to Manuka (thru Telopea Park) used to be a good run.

Dickson College to the lake along the bike paths.

Mawson to Curtin would be good.

Stromlo Forest Park criterium circuit is ok but gets boring though with a group would be good.

I’m up for an organised blade meet. I’d be particularly interested in blading out at Stromlo.

Postalgeek: I take X-man out in his baby trailer most days – he has a blast watching the world zip by, we’d love some company some time.

As for great blading paths, most of the best have already been mentioned, but a couple additional suggestions:
* Zipping down the hill from Canberra Stadium down to Dryandra St in O’Connor is a nice run.
* Heading along the Molonglo River from Scrivener Dam to Weston Creek – for a section of this you can imagine you are out in the country, but still have a nice quality off-road bike path to blade on (surely one day this lovely off-road bike path will be extended to Stromlo?)
* Almost anywhere around Lake Burley Griffin is OK with the major exception of Jerrabomberra Wetlands (I’ve heard rumours that sealing this path is in this year’s budget?)

Enjoy the blading!

Pommy bastard3:33 pm 30 Mar 09

I gave up roller-blading for lent, for a bet.

Who’ll get the reference first?

Disposable – surface there is pretty smooth, like a old road surface. And it’s a massive space (~4 basketball courts) with a small gutter around the whole thing (no lost balls if you’re practicing inline skating).

Not sure on durometer sorry. It’s a little rougher than say the lakefront, and isnt the crazy smooth bitumen. On softer wheels you might see some wear and tear I guess, but it’s not like the apparently unskatable stuff.

kaydo said :

– Basketball courts at Rosary primary at Watson. A great big empty space to practice, very good for trying out hockey skills;

Hey Kaydo, what’s the surface there like? What durometer wheel would you be able to get away with?

Been a little while since I bladed, but the best lake loop is Kings Bridge down to Scrivener Dam and back, stopping at the Yarralumla nursery cafe for refreshments. As long as you’re confident with hills, this is a great work out. Bridge-to-bridge for the less adventurous. Tuggers lake loop is okay from memory.

For beginners, the Parliamentary Triangle lake front (the international flags) down to Lennox gardens makes for a nice, flat run. The flags/lakefront are also well-lit for night blading.

On wet weekend days, carparks around Parkes and Barton and the National Art Gallery carpark were good fun.

Would be interested in an organised blade meet. Might be a good excuse to try out the baby trailer for blading.

Just want to add that roller derby is done on roller skates not roller blades. They could probably tell you some good places to go, but they wouldn’t actually qualify as a rollerblading group. A pair of skates is about $100 or you can buy them second-hand at op shops sometimes. Apparently you can’t do roller derby on the blades at all.

Recently most of the paths around Belco have been resurfaced with a very rough bitumen type of material that make it next to impossible to rollerblade safely on. It’s a shame as there were some wicked paths there.

One of the best spots would have to be along the lake in front of Questacon. There used to be social blading groups but I am not sure if they exist anymore.

Inline Hockey has been dead since January last year. The rink is long gone now.

Disagree with Gungahlin Al, but it’s a great tangent. You just need different wheels to deal with the rougher surface

There was a post here a while back about roller derby, there’s also a pretty active Inline Hockey league run from Hume. Both don’t answer the question but might source you some like-minded folks.

Are you into rollerblading along paths are out for the more hardcore blading in a skate park?

Best places I’ve found so far:
– Down by the international flag display by the lake (overdone, but still great pathways). Even heading up the hill towards old parliament house / high court is good if you keep an eye out for pebbles;
– Around Yarrabi pond in Gungahlin. A fairly high quality pathway all the way, with very few obstacles;
– Lake Gininderra is ok to circuit. The path is a bit sketchy in places, and you want to start out in the direction of the mall -> Lake Ginn college or you have a crazy steep hill to go down at one point;
– Basketball courts at Rosary primary at Watson. A great big empty space to practice, very good for trying out hockey skills;
– New suburbs, we used to take to the unpopulated streets of Harrison or new McKellar by night. Both are too busy now, but there’s a sweet spot right after they build streets for a suburb but before there’s houses.
– Surely the sealed part of Stromlo Forest Park would be perfect. I’ve looked into it before, but you’d need numbers to make it worthwhile.

Interested in organising something if there are folks interested, I’ve never found similar. Will add more to the list if I think of it.

Gungahlin Al2:19 pm 30 Mar 09

Well if the ACT Government keeps resealing Canberra streets with that cheap and nasty spraypave, you can forget about rollerblading on or even across any streets…

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.