Zen and the Art of Speedskating

Posted on 28 Aug 01:29 am

It’s a beautiful day

This past weekend, the Utah Oval ran some low-key time trials. Only a few skaters were racing, most were just training & enjoying the irrepressible optimism of the early season, when a summer of hard work starts to become competition speed on the ice.

What better way to spend a Saturday?

It was gorgeous weather outside, everyone seemed in a good mood, the folks who were racing were mostly very happy with how things were going.

The U2 song “beautiful day” kept running through my head, and that became the theme for the latest of my speedskating videos. Click here for the high quality QuickTime, or press play to start the YouTube below

Special mention in this video should be made of Chris Creveling, the skater in the blue skinsuit with the red arms.

Chris is one of the elite inline skaters training in Derek Parra’s WHIP program, his 1000m race shown here qualified him for US national championships!

The first time an individual skates a qualifying time, it is a worthy cause for celebration. I can still remember the first time I skated one of those times. Congratulations Chris!!

Filed under: Audio/Video

21 Responses to “It’s a beautiful day”

University Update - Kevin Durant - It’s a beautiful day, on August 28th, 2007 at 2:46 am Said:

[…] It’s a beautiful day » This Summary is from an article posted at Zen and the Art of Speedskating on Tuesday, August 28, […]
Joie, on August 28th, 2007 at 4:06 am Said:

Chris regularly skates with our SOS Team in Bethlehem PA.
and I am so happy to see with my own eyes how well he is
doing.
He rocks on inlines and it looks like he will do the same on ice.
Way to go Chris!
Thanks for the video, it’s inspiring.
Tjark, on August 28th, 2007 at 9:11 am Said:

You realy have great facilities at the track!
Spinning bikes, athletic track, those black bands for exercises…. great!
Kaari, on August 28th, 2007 at 8:14 pm Said:

Sniff…I want ice time now!! Great video (although just watching the dryland makes my knees ache…)
crash, on August 28th, 2007 at 10:38 pm Said:

Who is the kid on the bike waving? I could swear that he was from the east penn speed skating club in bethlehem, PA. Just curious.
-the crash
p.s. i want ice too! considering that I moved to milwaukee to get more ice, it seems that it’s not going to be up until september 15th. it’s not faaaair.
Ian, on August 28th, 2007 at 10:57 pm Said:

Hi Crash.

Yeah, that’s me. I raced. Went to camp there. Love long track.

Guess I’ll see you in Milwaukee. Miss you at East Penn.

Ian

P.S. Thanks for including me Andrew!
Tim "Skeeler" Demerjian, on August 29th, 2007 at 12:03 am Said:

Nice to know someone else from my hometown of Bethlehem is making a go of it on the ice. Kudo’s!
Jules, on August 29th, 2007 at 3:49 am Said:

birds in paradi-i-ice
crash, on August 29th, 2007 at 6:34 am Said:

i KNEW it was you, Ian. I was just thinking, man, is he really in SLC? I’m glad that you are getting into long track more. Beware though, once you get into long track, you’re addicted for life. you’ll move to lake placid, and then milwaukee.
Good luck with it all though, i’m sure i’ll see you around here.
-the crash
Pete D, on August 29th, 2007 at 7:56 am Said:

Wow,

Looks like Chris is getting some beef on those legs again Video looks great Andrew! Chris Needham looks PERFECT on the Korean Bands.
I can’t wait to get on the ice.

Hey crash….Being addicted to speedskating is an understatement…..Enjoy Pettit.
DS, on August 29th, 2007 at 1:46 pm Said:

Hello Andrew,

Have you seen/heard any other elite inline skaters skating the ice? Has Joey Mantia started yet?

Thanks
panch0 in Miami, on August 29th, 2007 at 2:44 pm Said:

Andrew,
Funny you should post this video now! I was just about to send you an e mail telling you that my Miamian boy Sebastian Cano, previously from Hyper, MPC, and Team USA will be arriving in SLC to begin his LT career!

Hopefully he will find a spot in the SLC skate tribe and that he is welcome as much as he can contribute to the tribe there!

I’ll still send you a mail! I sent one to Eric Kraan !
mark, on August 29th, 2007 at 4:54 pm Said:

Great Vid Andrew…Gee we dont have a stationary bike,stretch band , running track or anything close to that at Culver, here in California…How lucky you dudes are…
Kelly P, on August 30th, 2007 at 4:50 am Said:

Great video Andrew! Boy, I can’t wait to get on the ice again…1 more week!!! Whoo-hoo!
lynn, on August 30th, 2007 at 6:54 am Said:

Andrew:
Great video as always….I especially liked the infamous “Hitchcock cameo!” : )
mark, on August 31st, 2007 at 5:03 pm Said:

Andrew and fellow brothers and sisters,
does anyone have the NBC olympic vid of Charles Levielle 10 k…from Torino? If so can you share on Mr. Andrew’s website?… Andrew , can you give us a Leveille update?
Thanks
Reitse, on September 2nd, 2007 at 2:33 am Said:

Hi Andrew

Great video, got some new inspiration for the last weeks of dryland training again!
Song is an excellent choice as well, everytime i head for the icerink, it’s a beautifull day…

Reitse
Liz, on September 4th, 2007 at 12:23 pm Said:

That was amazing! So motivational too!! Now im ready to SKATE!
christine creveling, on September 7th, 2007 at 8:05 am Said:

Andrew: Thanks so much for putting this video up. It’s great to be able to see Christopher skating so well. Wish I were able to see him in person, however, you made this Mom’s week. Thanks again. Ciao
Terry Wright, on September 10th, 2007 at 9:05 am Said:

Great video! I especially loved the still fade transitions over moving video. Very dramatic, and the timing on transitions can be appreciated by the watchful eye!

I haven’t skated for several years, and seeing this vid makes me want to dig out my skates and get onto the ice!

Completely inspiring. Kudos to you! Do you mind if I post this vid on our site? I’ll link it back to here. Thanks!

(And I thought I was the only one who did the “cameo” in the mirror shot!

BTW- what is the WP theme you have modified? it looks great!

Best regards-
Terry Wright - Wright Choice Dynamics
http://www.wcdynamics.com
andrew, on September 11th, 2007 at 12:02 pm Said:

terry,

I am glad you liked the video,

certainly you may re-post it on your own website, and thanks for asking! I never mind when folks re-publish stuff, if they ask first..

it’s a very nasty feeling to be surfing skating websites and see one’s own photography & photoshop work re-used without permission (and I have my ways of finding out).

I have a lot of fun with wordpress.. this orginally was the Quadruple Blue 1.0 theme, but I HEAVILY modified it in width, layout, & coded the buttons on top. its really kind of a franken-code theme now.. .