Zen and the Art of Speedskating

Posted on 21 Jun 09:56 pm

4 circles

I don’t know what this picture means or why I took it, but as I was cleaning out my parts bin, this came together on the kitchen counter.

These circles are:

A Bont SINS inline bearing

My titanium wedding ring (made by this guy, the co-founder of Merlin Bicycles)

A worn out pivot axle for a Viking Speedskate ice clap blade. I skated for years on this bit ‘O metal.

An ILQ-9 inline bearing, it’s my fastest set right now.

I did not order this still life consciously, any interpretations of this out there?

Filed under: from the coffee shop

12 Responses to “4 circles”

panch0 in Miami, on June 22nd, 2007 at 2:24 pm Said:

Yes… the relevance of having depicted 2 bearing units with 1 axle… adjacent to a wedding band is a fetility wish!

Your inner child is dying to reproduce!

I thin in the next full moon you and your dear wife will send the stork for a Paris visit!
Tim Demerjian, on June 22nd, 2007 at 9:29 pm Said:

Are you some kind of ring bearing person?
Tim Demerjian, on June 22nd, 2007 at 9:30 pm Said:

“Bearing this ring, a triple axle will be the fastest set.”
Jules, on June 23rd, 2007 at 1:47 am Said:

summerzens8tionz

bare necessities of flight

bearable lightness of speeding

the mystery is the pushing (thanks to C.C.’s don juan)

don’t get mixed up Andrew put everything in the right place and pace

keep on circling
andrew, on June 23rd, 2007 at 1:27 pm Said:

these are ALL great… much better than mine… Pancho I just about fell off my chair laughing…

after looking at this for a while, all I could come up with was a Left to Right historical reading that goes like this

Bont Bearing: I started skating inlines in 1993

Wedding ring: Jess & I were married in 2001

Ice axle: 2001 to 2007 I raced ice very hardcore

Big ball ILQ-9 bearings: Today- I’m back to inline, and I’m a much better, faster athlete I used to be, so my “balls” are bigger.
panch0 in Miami, on June 23rd, 2007 at 2:32 pm Said:

Your ball are bigger? WoW! There you again with the fertility wish!
andrew, on June 23rd, 2007 at 3:43 pm Said:

haha,

well, if you look closely at the picture, you see 2 very different styles of bearing, the “9 small balls” of the bont, or the “6 big balls” of the twincam ILQ-9

of course, the athlete/skater’s fitness & techique matters more than the size of their ball bearings..

omigosh, I fear this conversation is going to get out of hand REALLY fast..
Heidi, on June 23rd, 2007 at 9:32 pm Said:

Your wedding ring was in your parts bin?!
andrew, on June 23rd, 2007 at 10:47 pm Said:

: )

I take it off when I do stuff involving grease or solvents, like cleaning inline bearings..

I don’t really need to, Titainium is tough, but I at least nod towards trying to keep it nice..
kate, on June 25th, 2007 at 6:05 am Said:

You’re building your own Olympic symbol - 4 rings to go…
Mike P., on June 25th, 2007 at 9:01 am Said:

OOIO
Ken, on June 25th, 2007 at 11:03 am Said:

Gollum: “So bright… so beautiful… ah, Precious.”