Cycle Skating

Behold the French answer to rollerblading called cycle skating. The first indoor tracks for rollerblading appeared in London as early as 1824, and then later became popular in the U.S. with the opening of the Cincinnati indoor track in 1867. Later, the French came up with their own unique version of wheeled skating called cycle skating in 1923. A cycle skate can be described as a wheel with an axle that attaches to a platform supporting the foot and that straps to the leg – the rather large wheels being on the outside of each foot. This clever invention is something that only a cycling loving country like France, host of the famous Tour de France, could dream up. The big advantage of the cycle skates compared to rollerblading is the fact that you can go over rough terrain with it thanks to the larger wheels. In this video you’ll see the decent gentlemen put on their cycle skates and take a ride through the forest and over the relatively car free streets of Paris. We wonder if these guys from the past, if they were here today, would be more like the present day inline skaters doing wild stunts on skate ramps.