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JOIN the ChicagoSkater Yahoo Group

Welcome to THE social network for Chicago area skaters. Serving inline skaters, quads, boarders, scooters, all people powered wheel fun beyond bikes. This site is modeled after, friends with, and a good balance to The Chain Link, a major local cyclist social networking site.

I've populated the site with every local skating event I could find, and paid for years in advance. My hope is that local skaters will make it their own (so I don't have to do any work). It's my contribution to help foster more and bigger group events, and to strengthen the voice of Chicago skaters in a lower car future.

This site is intended primarily for dynamic social threads and event discussions with rapid information turnover. Static reference content such as tutorials should be found elsewhere offsite.
OR use the forums to discuss such important topics.

The history of this site's development spans a decade. Andrew Bedno has been a life-long avid local skater. In 1998 Andrew first published the "Virtual Blade" slideshow and detailed lakefront maps online, leading to the 1999 launch of this site's ancestor ChicagoBlader.com. Then in 2000 Andrew created the local skating Yahoo group. In 2003 the website's content was moved under ChicagoFunNews.com, until 2009 when social networking software would finally be adequate. Andrew is a skate commuter, local anti-automobile activist, and deeply involved with Chicago Critical Mass and other major local bike/skate events.

Here's some useful but aging links:

• ABOUT - Introduction to Chicago Skater content.
  
• WEATHER - Multiple live views of local conditions.
  
• MAPS - Maps of Chicago's lakefront blading path, annotated, detailed, links to other maps and even ground, aerial and satellite photos. Once unparalleled, now somewhat dated.
  
• PHOTOS - Selected best Chicago skating photos, searchable archives, links and videos!
  
• VIRTUAL BLADE - Slideshow of a skate from Ardmore to the Museum Campus. Good prep for newbies, sweet memories for regulars.
  
• LINKS - Collected best Chicago skating related web resources, interest groups, reference, stores.
  
• PLACES - Best places to blade and buy in Chicago.
  
• BASICS - Purchasing, beginners hints, definitions, and my advanced hints and equipment choices.
  

Other local skater sites:

• ChicagoSkater Yahoo Group - Primary local skating emailing list.
  
• Got a local skater site that should be linked here?
  Add a good link to ChicagoSkater.org on your site then contact me for prompt reciprocation.