Black and Blue. As a tour name it doesn’t have the warm cuddly appeal of something like ‘Love to be beside the seaside’, or ‘Wynnum-Bay-Go’. Combined with the web site description of ‘one of the more challenging tours’ and the fact that it was Mothers Day the assembled group of skaters didn’t require extensive introductions.

When I arrived at ten to twelve, Vaughan was excitedly playing with a contraption to rearrange the bearings on his skates with Suzy looking on in awed rapture (at least I think that’s what it was)! In quick succession, Dave and Andy arrived, followed by Anne who, while being fully padded up, seemed to be lacking a certain something in the skate department. She told us that Monte had been giving her skates an annual tune up and he would be dropping them off imminently. Monte wasn’t going to be partaking of this tour and Bruce would be taking on tour leader duties in his place. With perfect timing, Bruce appeared with a theatrical flourish and everyone was assembled.

Anne’s skates duly arrived draped over Montes shoulder and the combination of new bearings, super sized wheels and a drop of oil soon saw Anne excitedly proclaiming them to have a definite performance improvement on the previously seized bearings.

Almost ready for the off and Bruce switched to his best drill sergeant mode. We would be skating at a fast pace, with no rest stops until we were ready to drop and no messing about. “Yes Bruce” we all said as we set off.

Ambling along, we had barely got under way when we came to a drainage ditch by the side of the path. Cast from concrete, it was maybe a couple of meters wide and about the same deep with roughly ten centimetres of water in the bottom. On the far side, a small patch of concrete made an ideal landing platform for the opening act of the Bruce and Dave show. With only a modicum of persuasion, Dave agreed that the jump from the path to the far side was doable, however, from previous experience the small run up made the jump back tricky. Bruce went first, clearing the ditch with ease, closely followed by Dave who similarly had no problems with the trifling gap. The next couple of minutes were spent contemplating the return jump. Practice run ups were made, various angles of attack were discussed and the option of carrying on along the other side of the ditch was briefly mentioned. In the end. Bruce threw caution to the wind (which is so unlike him), made a scrabbling run up along as much of the concrete as he could and cleared the gap with ease. Dave, looking on, followed quickly behind and also made the jump without drama. Initial adrenalin rush for the day satisfied, we carried on.

A possible reason the tour is called Black and Blue (apart from the icons depicting the skate level required on the web site) soon became apparent. While bike paths played a significant part of the route, so did footpaths, narrow broken footpaths, narrow broken footpaths on steep hills. The kind of footpaths that swallow a badly placed skate whole and reward you with an unexpected stumble. I have the bruises on my shoulder to prove it. As we picked our way along a selection of these footpaths, we crested a not insignificant hill and came to a shop where we stopped for a rest.

With sugar levels boosted we set off once more, switching from foot paths to roads for a while. We passed Yeerongpilly train station (2 platforms, 25 car parks, ticket vending machine number 211 and a twelve meter elevation above sea level) and then back to bike paths where we passed a number of children’s play areas. This triggered Bruce’s EDR (Exuberant Display Radar) and a balance beam suspended from four chains was quickly chosen as the apparatus of choice to perform on. Various acts of balance were tried out before handing over the show floor to Dave who then furthered the performance with yet more displays of balance and control. All possibilities exhausted, we carried on.

With Chelmer train station behind us (4 platforms, 54 car parks, ticket vending machine number 110 and an elevation of 12 meters above sea level), lunch was beckoning. We knew we were close when Indooroopilly Bridge loomed into view. Indooroopilly Bridge is actually three bridges next to each other. On one side is the Walter Taylor road bridge opened in 1936. The steel cables used in its construction were originally used to support the Sydney Harbour Bridge during its construction. Next to this is the Second Albert Railway Bridge, completed in 1893 and still in use today. Finally, Indooroopilly Bridge is the footbridge we crossed and was added in 1998.

A short skate up the hill and we arrived at our lunch destination. The Indooroopilly chicken shop served up extra salty chips to complement the various implementations of chicken each of us tried. With Bruce ‘gangster trippin’, we finished lunch and began a lively and vigorous debate on the best route back. The choices involved a steep but relatively uneventful skate back along the Western Freeway or a more convoluted skate through back streets and on to the Coronation Drive bike path. After a process of democratically selecting an option, Bruce decided the back streets were the best way to go and so we set off along more narrow winding paths.

We soon came to an optional section of the tour. A side street fell away from the main road in a steep straight run. A small dip at the bottom led to an equally steep uphill section on the other side. Offers of a ‘bomb’ to the bottom were solicited and the only takers were Bruce (naturally) and Vaughan. Bruce set off first and to add a bit of spice to the experience went backwards. This was quickly transformed into forwards with an unbelievably skilful flick as the rapid speed build up overcame even Bruce’s reversing nerve. The rough road in the dip created a couple of wobbles and everyone held their collective breaths as Bruce caught them and sailed up the far hill. Next to go was Vaughan. Crouched down, you could hear the well oiled bearings in his five wheelers wind up as he accelerated rapidly towards the dip. He too had a momentary wobble as he passed over the rough pavement on the way to a perfect glide up the far side. Both of them came panting back up the hill beaming from ear to ear, adrenalin levels boosted to a suitable high.

We soon reached Toowong and another children’s play area loomed into view. EDR on high alert, Bruce made a beeline for the slides. This seemed like the perfect challenge, not withstanding the fact that the end of the slide was designed to deposit small children onto a non skull impacting surface of soft bark. Steps climbed and poised on the top edge of the plastic cute, Bruce took a long hard look down to the bottom and changed his mind. His old ankle injury was given as an excuse and he promptly came down the slide in a more traditional sitting down position. Dave immediately saw this as an unanswered challenge and quickly mounted the apparatus. Poised on the top, he surveyed the landing area and launched himself down. A second later, a quick jog at the bottom and he had done it, and amazingly he was still upright. A round of applause from the gathered skaters, disapproving stares from the nearby parents who now had to explain to little Johnny that “no he couldn’t take his bike on the slide, the men with wheels on there feet were very silly” and Bruce was already surveying the rest of the play area for his next trick.

This was actually suggested by Andy and consisted of a beam pivoted on a tall pole. At each end of the pole ropes dangled down with a small disc on the end forming a seat. The whole arrangement made a kind of dangling see-saw. Andy jumped on one seat, Bruce on the other and they then proceeded to spend the next five minutes trying to jolt each other off the device.

Playtime over and the odd disapproving stare threatening to turn into a visit from the park police, we turned back and headed over to the start of the bike path on Coronation drive. One more rest stop near the end of the path, a detour through South Bank and we arrived back at the Goodwill Bridge to be met by Monte. A quick run down of the tour and we were all ready to head off home after a bruising but fun afternoons sk8ing.