As I used to live in Paris, I was rollerblading at the Friday evening event (thousands of people in Paris streets every weeks! - http://www.pari-roller.com/), but there was no way to skate to work over there. In Canberra, it is quite the opposite: the town is really a good place to skate to work, even if there is not (yet?) a big roller event. Because I commute from Duffy, I don't come by roller everyday, and I am still a bit lazy and don't make the return trip (it is going up on the way back!) but Peter asked me anyway to give you some comments and advice from my experience.
I guess the effort you make to go through the same distance by skating is between the running one and the biking one, so if it is already a bit demanding for you to use your bike, be sure to train a bit before switching to the rollers.
One important thing you need to know is of course to brake, but I would advise to master the T-brake (not the Tea one!): it is OK to slow down by slaloming across a large road, but if you want to stop quickly on a narrow bike path (this is a pleonasm from a skater viewpoint), because that path crosses a road with a car on it, you urgently need to T-brake.
The other and perhaps more important thing you should be trained to is to avoid obstacles (by going around and/or stepping over), because it is often easier to avoid than to stop and because there are lots of thing that you don't care on a bike that are really painful when your wheels are shrunk to 80mm (and often less after some wear).
I always wear my protections... well... perhaps not the complete set (knees, elbows, wrists, head) but at least the wrist guards. They really are important (just ask Peter !). They are useful not only if you fall (but this is one thing you should avoid anyway), but they are your last braking tools before a fall (target a tree and slow down using your hands :-).
Your trip should be well planed mainly because it is longer to go around a closed road by skate than by bike.
My advice is to do the trip by bike once before in order to check the time (I count less than twice the time by skate than by bike) and above all the slope of the way. Of course, you know how to T-brake, but you don’t want to do it for 50m or more on every trip because you don't want to burn your wheels too quickly! If you really need to go down from somewhere, find a large road, without too much traffic, to do large slaloming turns and you'll keep your wheels longer.
While I am talking about the road, don't you think that there should be a bit more blacktop on ANU bike paths? There is no way to come from the lake to the north of ANU on a decent (and large enough for roller blade) surface. You have to use the road!
You should be perfectly happy with any roller between $300 and $400. $200 should make it if you don't know for sure if you'll do it every week.
There are lots of variations amongst rollerblades (street, jumping, cross country...), and you should ask advice to a good shop, but my main recommendation is "big and hard wheels" (you don't want to jump above obstacle higher than 10 cm, don't you?). Big: 80mm, Hard: 82A, 78A.Ball bearings are important too. There are ABEC 1, 3 or 5 bearings. 5 ones are supposed to be the best, but I have been told by a specialist that the mark is the most important thing, so ask your vendor.
BTW, Adrenaline Sports at Civic, close to Electric Shadows, is selling out; so that is really a good time to buy new shoes! Just tell Paul that you come from my advice (they are not selling out because they are bad, on the contrary, but because they have done that job for a couple of years and they want to change).
As you always bring your Repair Kits with you on your bike (!), it is a good idea to have a spare wheel and the dedicated tool to change it or even to tighten up one axle (http://www.inlinewarehouse.com/fitnesscat.html?ccode=acfitness ).
Because this letter is addressed to cyclists, I grab the opportunity to ask you a favour: please warn skaters a while before you overtake them. They sometime need a lot of space on the path (especially when it is going up), they are slower than you (so you will have to overtake them anyway) and they cannot hear you (one "puffs" lots of noise when going up) and neither can they wear a rear view mirror, but if you ring or warn them gently, they will let you pass and reply to your G'Day... If you don't, you may surprise and unbalance them. And to get balance back, a skater opens his/her arms!
Be aware of the dog. Dog owners doesn't seem to be really aware that there are sometime going for a walk with a real weapon. A Doberman pinscher has attacked me this morning. All what the damned owner was able to say was "I am sorry, but he doesn't like rollerblade..."
So why on earth didn't it have a leash and a muzzle!?! I was lucky enough that only my shorts were wrested (I felt the teeth on my skin but nothing worse). But what if I had been just 1 m less high, lets say the size of a boy on roller blade. Then the mouth of that dog would have caught my neck!
"He just does not like rollerblade..." Poor dog... he has such stupid master!
You look like a pedestrian, but your speed is close to that of a cyclist. So you are quite a strange thing to car drivers. Then, even if most of them are careful around zebra crossings, just behave as if they are not. In any situation, you are not as strong as a car.
As a general conclusion, just remember that you may skate quite as quickly as you ride (yes you can! I time to time overtake bikes), but with much more difficulties to stop!
Pascal Vuylsteker. 28 Feb 2002