His history includes playing ice hockey as one of just three American kids on a Dallas AAA team caulked with players from Canada and Europe, plus 50 World Championship titles (since 1994) and two 1999 Pan American Games medals in indoor short track and outdoor road racing on USA Roller Sports Inline Team.

In 1999, Hedrick became the first man to break the 2:00 mark in setting an inline World record time of 1:57.698 at 1500m and capped the next year, his seventh in the sport, with wins in three World Cup Marathon Championships. He can also do the moonwalk.

Coming up Dec. 20-23, Hedrick will compete with former inline rivals and 2002 Olympic medalists Derek Parra (San Bernardino, Calif.) and KC Boutiette (Tacoma, Wash.) at the U.S. Long Track Speedskating Championships in Milwaukee, Wis.

He explained the common transition from five wheels to a sharper set of blades: “There are a lot of inline skaters trying to transfer, but because I played hockey this was a natural fit and I've just adapted quickly with everybody’s help. I’ve had our coach, Tom Cushman, Derek and KC helping me along the way and really I wouldn’t be half the skater that I am right now without being on the U.S. team.”

A three-time Olympian, Boutiette was the first inline skater to try it on ice in 1992 and introduced Hedrick to the sport. With only four months of long track ice experience Hedrick had a rewarding 2002-03 season, placing fifth at the 2002 World Championships, just ahead of KC.

“For four or five years he tried to convince me that I would be successful,” said Hedrick, adding, “It was important for me to train with KC because he knew the differences between inline and ice speedskating. A lot of the habits I had, he corrected, but there was a certain point that he needed to stop teaching and worry about his skating – because we are competitors.”

But wait. Hedrick hasn’t completely gone cold.

On Oct. 12, Hedrick blasted to first place in the 2003 Long Beach Inline Marathon in California and two weeks later in Kearns, Utah, he won the men’s 5000m at the 2003 U.S. Single Distance Long Track Speedskating Championships at the Olympic Oval. He pre-qualified for the World Cup event on Nov. 23 and on the final day of racing in Heerenveen, Netherlands, Hedrick won the men's 3000m with a track record time of 3:46.95, while Boutiette captured the all-around competition.

The double-dipping speed machine said, “I’m still making a living in inline skating, and inline is an important way for me to enter the ice season in great cardio condition. Then, my strength is good from ice skating when I go to the inline season in April.”

His explanation for stepping onto a slipperier track in the first place is that he finally reached all his goals as an inline skater and realized that inline roller racing would not be awarded Olympic status in time for the 2004 Games. He decided to instead aim for the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin, Italy.

He admitted, “I was disappointed because our sport would be great for spectators, but I had to move on and find a way to reach my own goal of winning a gold medal and with Derek and Jen (Rodriguez) having success in long track, I felt like I could get my foot in the door easily and live my Olympic dreams, too.”

He continues to endorse inline products and sells his outdoor pro signature series Hyper brand wheels. “I’d like to represent whichever sport I may be doing at the highest level,” he said, a level he reached in inline through developing what is now the standard technique of elite inline skaters, called the double push (DP).

“It was fortunate for me because the natural way I skated was successful,” he said. “The DP is basically pushing with both feet at the same time, like slalom skiing, which creates twice as much power.” But in developing the DP, Hedrick added to his own winter woes that he is struggling with this 2003-04 season.

Referring to his World Cup win, he said, “It’s really difficult because I know I’m stronger than the other competitors, I just don’t know how to use my strength yet due to my technical habits. But I’m excited for these World Cups and I think I am going to improve and every week I’ll feel like a better [winter] skater.”

He added, “It’s exciting for me to be a role model and try to get better so more people are aware of who I am so I can bring more people to speedskating. Every track we go to is different, one has great fans, one has great ice, but overall it feels good to be respected for a sport that I love.”