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_r.s.s.inline FAQ: Techniques - Stopping, backwards skating, etc._
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TECHNIQUES - STOPPING, BACKWARDS SKATING, ETC.
(last changed Monday, 03-Jun-96 07:22:58 MDT) Table of Contents:
* Stopping Techniques
* Skating Backwards
* Skating Downhills (and surviving)
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The In-line Stopping Techniques File
(originally written February 1992)
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Copyright notice
_________________________________________________________________
NOTE: This list is arranged in order of increasing difficulty as per
my experience. Your experiences WILL undoubtedly vary from mine. This
list does not purport to be the definitive list of stopping
techniques, but it does strive to be as complete and descriptive as
possible.
It is not expected that everyone will learn, or even want to learn,
all the methods discussed in this file. It is simply a catalog of
techniques to choose from. Some techniques require more flexibility,
some require more finesse, and some require more guts 8-)
Good luck, and skate smart.
_-Tony Chen (adchen@skatefaq.com)
_
_________________________________________________________________
List of stops:
Beginner level
* runouts
* wall stop
* windbraking
* the brake-pad
* V-stop/snowplow
Intermediate level
* advanced runouts
* (regular) spinout/lunge stop
* spread eagle spinout
* crossover stop
* slaloming/parallel turns
Advanced level
* T-stop (includes a picture tutorial)
* toe drag
* backwards T-stop
* Stepping stops
+ backward stepping stop
+ forward stepping stop
* reverse stop (forwards snow-plow)
* backwards heel drag
* toe-drag spinouts
* heel-drag spinouts
* curb ramming
* power stop/power slide (includes a picture tutorial)
* chop-stop
* New York stop
* "Wile E. Coyote" stops
Combination stops
Related topics:
* falling
* collisions with stationary objects
_________________________________________________________________
The basic repretoire of stopping techniques includes the brake-pad,
the T-stop, spinouts, and the power slide. This file should help you
learn those basics and more. The basics should always be learned
first, but once you progress beyond them, you'll likely want to learn
different and/or more advanced techniques. This compilation should
help guide you through this progression.
_________________________________________________________________
BEGINNER LEVEL
Most beginner skaters should be able to handle the following set of
stopping methods. These techniques keep both feet on the ground
throughout the stop, and don't require fully independent leg action.
_RUNOUTS:_
If the path you're skating on has grass or packed dirt you can
just skate off the path onto the grass/dirt. This will reduce
your speed somewhat but watch out for the sudden change in
speed! (hop-hop-hop-hop-hop). If you are truly out of control,
at least you'll tumble in the grass and not on the road.
_WALL STOP:_
To do this stop, simply skate towards a wall (or any reasonably
stationary object, really) and use your arms to absorb the
impact. At low speeds, this should be quite safe (make sure you
turn your head to the side so as not to smash your face).
You may or may not bang your skates, depending on your speed
and how you hit. The key is to use your arms as cushioning
springs (like doing a standing push-up.) One way to practice
this is to stand a few feet from a wall (with your skates on).
Now fall forward on your hands against the wall. You should be
able to bounce slightly, while still avoiding banging your
head. The faster your approach, the less bounce you can expect.
A variation on the wall stop is the billiard ball stop. Instead
of stopping against an object, use a fellow skater to push off
and transfer your momentum to them. To be safe, warn the
receiving person about your approach. It works well on flat
surfaces and at low to moderate speeds. It's not recommended at
high speeds and especially on people you don't know 8-)
See the collision section for more extreme cases.
_WIND-BRAKING:_
Wind-braking is more for speed-control than outright stopping
(although on windy days, wind-braking can stop you). Just stand
up, spread your arms out and catch the air like a sail. You'll
probably need to lean forwards slightly, to counter the force
of the wind.
_THE BRAKE-PAD:_
The brake-pad is subject to much debate amongst skaters. Many
people with ice skating and rollerskating backgrounds find the
brake in the way, in the wrong place, or simply ineffective.
However, for those of you who actually take the time to learn
it properly, the brake-pad becomes a very versatile piece of
equipment. Here are some of the benefits:
1. you can use it to stop, even at very high speeds
2. it allows you to keep both skates on the ground while
stopping (good for keeping your balance)
3. you can maintain a narrow profile (good for high traffic
areas where cars or bicycles might be passing you)
4. you can still steer
5. the sound of braking can often alert others to your presence
6. the brake-pad is the most cost-effective technique there is
so far for in-lines
To learn how to use the brake-pad, first coast with both skates
shoulder-width apart. As you coast, scissor your feet back and
forth a few times to get used to the weight shift. To apply the
brake, scissor your skate so that your braking skate is out in
front. Lift the toe of your brake skate and press with the heel
too. Your body weight is centered and even slightly on your
back skate when you're just learning it. The key is a straight
back and bent knees.
If you have trouble balancing or find your braking ankle a
little weak, you can try the following trick: form a triangle
with your legs (from the knee down to your skates) and the
ground. This means putting your back knee either right behind
or next to, the brake-foot knee to form that triangle.
Eventually you'll want to be able to stop at high speeds.
Basically, the more pressure you use on the brake pad the
faster you stop. Maximum stopping power is achieved by putting
your entire body weight onto the brake by lifting your back
foot, and leaning onto the brake. This takes some practice but
is very effective. It is possible to stop within 15-20 ft even
when going over 20 mph. You may still want to keep the other
skate on the ground for balance, however.
Note that the amount of leverage (the amount of stopping power
you have), is partially dependent on how worn your brake is. A
half-worn brake will provide better leverage than either a new
brake or a worn-out brake. Some people saw off part of the
bottom of new brakes to avoid the annoying breaking-in period.
One important point to keep in mind when using the brake-pad:
You can still steer while braking. Just keep the brake-pad on
the ground and pivot on your heel wheel slightly to go the
direction you want. This is very useful while going down a very
narrow and curvy path or while trying to avoid curbs,
pedestrians, parked cars, trees, and the like.
A brake-pad generally runs from $3 to $6 depending on what type
you buy. Compare this with wheels which are $5.50 or more each
and the freebie stops: runouts, wind-braking, billiard ball
stop (freebies since you're not wearing anything down). Wheels
are expensive, and the freebie stops are infrequently
available, if at all, for the large majority of skating
situations. The brake should be your standard stop, provided
that you learn it well. (see "Wile E. Coyote" stops for a
rather interesting variation)
_V-STOP/SNOWPLOW:_
For a low-speed rolling stop, point your heels inward (for
backwards) or your toes together (for forwards) and let your
skates bang into each other. This might throw you in the
direction you're going (depending on your speed), so take care
to be prepared to lean forward or backwards to compensate.
You can do a more exaggerated snowplow by spreading your legs
out past shoulder-width and pointing your skates inward or
outwards as before (and you won't bang your skates together.)
Here, use leg strength to press your inner edges against the
ground, and you'll slow down appreciably. This can work even at
very high speeds.
_________________________________________________________________
INTERMEDIATE LEVEL
_ADVANCED RUNOUTS:_
Skating off pavement onto grass. You can weave from pavement to
grass and back to pavement to control your speed, especially
when going downhill. To stop completely just stay on the grass.
As you hit the grass, knees are kept bent, and one foot is
ahead of the other. Nearly all weight is distributed on the
foot that will hit the grass first, and you keep that leg real
stiff, as if plowing a path for the trailing leg to follow.
Very little weight is on the trailing leg. Muscles in the
trailing leg are relaxed. The only function of the trailing leg
is stability and balance. The leading leg does most of the
work.
Beginners are often intimidated by this procedure, but it is
really a very simple physical feat. The hard part, if any, is
simply understanding mentally what it is you are trying to do,
as I explained.
This is a lot of fun, too. I like to hit the grass full speed,
and then skate as far down a slope as possible before the grass
stops me.
One important requirement is that the ground should be dry. Wet
dirt or grass will clog your wheels and your skates will also
sink into mud (yuck).
_(REGULAR) SPINOUTS/LUNGE STOP:_
This is where you skate into a spin to transfer your linear
momentum into angular momentum. To do this, you sort of
stop-n-hold one skate at an angle to act as the pivot foot and
the other traces a circle around it (and you). It may help to
think of having each skate trace concentric circles, with the
pivot skate tracing the much smaller inner one. The pivot skate
will be turning on its outside edge, while the outer skate will
be on its inside edge.
_SPREAD EAGLE SPINOUTS:_
A spinout with your skates in a bent spread eagle position
(i.e., heels pointed towards each other, skates at slightly
less than 180 degrees). There is no pivot foot here, instead
both your skates trace the arc.
There are inside and outside spread eagles, where you skate on
both inside or both outside edges. The above paragraph
describes the inside spread eagle.
A sustained outside spread eagle is more of an artistic skating
move than a practical stop, although I use it occasionally to
stop on flat surfaces.
NOTE that all types of spinouts require a fair amount of room.
Your forward motion is quite suddenly changed to angular motion
so I'd recommend this mainly for low traffic areas where you
won't have people running into you from behind when you do the
spinout.
_CROSSOVER STOP:_
This stop works both forwards and backwards at higher speeds. I
call this the crossover stop because your feet are held in the
position of a spread-out crossover. In this stop, you're going
to be arcing to one side. The harder and sharper you turn, the
faster you stop. If you tend to trip on your skates, spread
your skates farther apart (forwards-backwards).
The braking pressure comes from the turn. The harder you press
with the outer edge of your back skate, the faster you stop. So
if you're turning left, your right skate is in front, the left
skate is almost right behind it (so that all your wheels are in
line). Press on the outer edge of your left skate (your back
skate) and on the inner edge of your right skate.
There is also the inverted crossover stop where your feet
positions are reversed: so you turn left with your left foot
forward and right foot back (and vice versa for right turns).
Watch ice hockey players just after play has stopped. More
often than not, the circle around in the inverted crossover
position.
Both crossover stops are good for high speed stops but make
sure you have plenty of open space.
_SLALOMING/PARALLEL TURNS:_
For skiers, this maps over very nicely. This is more of a speed
control technique rather than a stop, but it's very useful to
know. Explaining slalom turns can take an entire book in
itself, so I will merely suggest that you find a skier or a ski
book to show you how.
One way to practice this is to find a nice gentle slope with
plenty of space at the bottom, set up cones in a line, and
weave through the cones.
_________________________________________________________________
ADVANCED LEVEL
This next set of stops require good independent leg control. These
advanced stops will require you to be skating only one foot for some
portion of the technique.
_T-STOP:_
This stop uses your wheels as a source of friction. To do the
T-stop, place one skate behind you, nearly perpendicular to
your direction of travel. Bend a little in both knees to drag
your wheels. You should think more of dragging the heel than
the toe. Apply the braking pressure to your heel. If you drag
the toe too much, you will end up spinning around. Keep your
weight mainly on your skating (front) foot. As you learn to
stop at higher speeds you will apply more downward pressure to
the back skate (but your weight is still on the front skate).
If you have a World Wide Web (WWW) browser, Check out Scott's
picture tutorial on T-stops.
NOTE: One particular phenomenon to avoid in the T-stop, or any
wheel-dragging stop (such as the toe drag) is the "flats". If
you T- stop or toe drag such that the wheels do not roll as
your drag, you will end up with a flattened wheel which will
not roll smoothly at all. In effect, ruining your wheel(s).
_TOE DRAG:_
Similar to the T-stop except you drag only the toe wheel
instead of all four or five wheels. Unlike the T-stop it's not
critical to keep the skate perpendicular to your line of
travel. In fact, you're free to drag the wheel anywhere in a
180+ degree arc behind you. Also, your toe can be pointed into
the ground at pretty much any angle. (If you have old wheels,
the toe position is a good place to put them if you want to
avoid shredding your good wheels.)
The toe drag is better than the T-stop in that you wear down
only one wheel, and more importantly, you are also allowed much
better control over steering, since you can still stop
effectively even if the drag wheel rolls too much. The toe drag
can stop you even when at cruising speeds, although at
significantly longer breaking distance than the brake-pad or
the T-stop since you are dragging only one wheel.
_BACKWARDS T-STOP:_
This is a T-stop when you're rolling backwards. There are two
ways to perform this stop. The first way is to stop by dragging
the outside edge of your skate (i.e., toe pointed outward). The
harder way is to point your toe inward, much like a reverse New
York stop (see New York stop).
STEPPING STOPS
These three stepping stops are essentially advanced low-speed stops
("advanced" since they require good independent control over
each skate). They could also be called "pushing" stops, since
most of the braking action is done by pushing a skate against
your motion. Many advanced skaters will do this intuitively,
but I will detail them here for completeness.
_BACKWARD STEPPING STOP:_
This is like when someone pushes you from the front while you
are wearing shoes. One foot automatically steps back to keep
you from falling backwards. On skates then, while rolling
backwards, you simply put one skate behind you, 90 degrees to
the other skate, and hold it there so that your body doesn't
roll any further. This is basically a very low- speed power
stop/power slide, but without the sliding and scraping action
of the wheels (see the Power Stop).
The faster you are moving, the closer you are to doing a true
power stop. This may be a good method to learn the power stop,
gradually building up speed.
_FORWARD STEPPING STOP:_
A low-speed stop very similar to the backwards stepping stop
except you're rolling forwards. This time you plant your skate
90 degrees out in front of, or right next to the rolling skate.
Your front heel will be pointing inwards (it's probably easier
for most people to keep the toe pointed outward here). This is
especially useful at curbs, like just before you accidentally
roll into an intersection, in crowded indoor places, or if you
just want to get a little closer to people you're talking with.
This stop should halt you immediately. Once you plant your
foot, your body should stop moving forward. You may find it
easier if you bend slightly at the waist and knee to give your
skate a better angle to grab.
You can also use this stop in a sort of shuffling fashion:
stop, roll a little, stop, roll a little, etc., until you get
to precisely where you want to be.
_REVERSE STOP (FORWARDS SNOW-PLOW):_
While rolling, point and lift one skate inward, and set it back
down. Roll on it and push off slightly at the heel. Now lift
the other skate, and do the same.
Essentially you are skating backwards even though moving
forwards. Keep doing it and you will eventually start skating
backwards. This can be done even at high speeds.
_BACKWARDS HEEL DRAG:_
This is for rolling backwards. Similar to the toe drag except
you drag your heel wheel. If you find your drag skate rolling
sideways, apply more pressure to your heel wheel.
Now that you can do toe-drags, heel-drags and spinouts...
_TOE-DRAG SPINOUTS:_
This is a one-footed spinout with an accompanying toe-drag on
the other foot. The toe drag will be in the inside of the
spinout. So for a right-foot toe-drag spinout, you will be
carving a right turn. It takes a bit more balance and strength
and will shred your toe wheel a lot. The more pressure on the
toe, and the sharper/harder you carve your turn, the faster you
stop.
At maximum effectiveness, it can stop you very quickly. The
skating foot will be nearly doing a power slide (see Power
Stop) and the dragging foot will be doing a very hard
toe-drag. Done correctly at low to medium speeds, it takes up
at most a sidewalk's width. At downhill speeds, expect to take
up most of a car lane.
NOTE that hitting a crack or rock during this stop really bites
since you've got most of your weight on one skating foot. Look
for any debris or holes ahead of you and be prepared.
_HEEL-DRAG SPINOUTS:_
For this spinout, just plant one of your heel wheels on the
ground out in front of you and spin around it. The only tricky
part is that the pivot heel wheel may roll a little, so keep
some downward pressure on it. It probably helps to keep your
pivot leg straight and slightly locked to help stabilize the
pivot.
A variation on heel-drag spinouts is to use your brake-pad as
the pivot.
This stop looks pretty neat when going backwards, although you
should be careful to protect your knees if you have to abort.
To perform this backwards, start a heel-drag stop (you're
skating backwards), carve the skating foot behind and to the
inside, and you should spin around the heel wheel/brake.
_CURB RAMMING:_
You approach the curb at around 90 degrees (i.e., straight on)
and lift your toes enough to clear the curb. This should jam
your wheels and runners into the curb. You should be prepared
to compensate for the sudden change in your motion.
An alternative curb ramming stop is to do a spinout near the
curb and ram the back of your skate into the curb.
Both these techniques cause quite a bit of shock to your skates
(especially at high speeds) so if you really love your skates
you may not want to do this stop too often 8-)
_POWER STOP/POWER SLIDE:_
This is one of the most effective stops, and also one of the
hardest. To do this stop, you should be able to skate forwards
and backwards well, and also be able to flip front-to-back
quickly.
There appear different approaches to learning the power stop.
The end result should be the same, or nearly so, but both are
detailed below. It is left to the reader to decide which one is
easier to follow.
One way:
You can piece the power stop together by combining two things:
1. flip front to backward.
2. place one foot behind you and push the entire row of wheels
at a very sharp angle into the ground.
You can practice this by skating backwards, gliding, and then
with nearly all your weight on one foot, bring the other foot
behind you, perpendicular to your direction of travel (see the
Backward Stepping stop).
You should start out doing this while traveling slowly. Your
wheels should scrape a little. If they catch, you need to hold
your braking skate at a sharper angle. Once you get this down,
you can practice flipping front-to-back, coast a little, and
then stop. Eventually, the combination becomes one smooth move:
just get the braking leg extended as soon as you flip.
You can use any flip (mohawk, 3-turn, toe-pivot, etc.) for this
stop. This stop is good for hockey, and a good stop when going
backwards (especially at higher speeds). A power-stop using a
jump turn is called a chop stop (see following section).
The other way:
The second method involves one continuous motion instead of
two: Skate forward on an outside edge, while extending the free
leg to the side. All weight is on the skating leg. The free leg
is dragged along the ground. Now sharpen the turn on the
outside edge of the skating leg (with its knee greatly bent),
and swing the free leg in front. This continuous transition
causes the skating leg to turn, so it's now skating in reverse.
The key is to have all the weight on the skating leg. If you
place any weight on the free leg, you will go into a spin and
lose control.
Some prefer this method because you do not need to go into a
complete power slide to stop. At any point in the continuous
motion, you can abort if something is going wrong. Only at
higher speeds is it necessary to completely turn the skating
foot. There is less risk of catching the free leg on an uneven
surface because it is already extended and dragging before you
swing around.
If you have a WWW browser, check out Scott's power-sliding
picture tutorial.
_CHOP-STOP:_
For skating forward or backward at low to moderate speeds. This
is much like the hockey stops done on ice except, since you
can't shave asphalt, you need to jump and turn both skates and
hips perpendicular to the direction of travel. Land with the
skates at an angle (like in the power stop) and push your
wheels against the ground. To maintain balance you can keep one
skate mainly beneath you, while the other goes out forward to
stop you.
Most of the shredding will be done on the lead skate, where the
inside of your lead leg should make a sharp angle against the
ground.
Basically what this is, is a power stop using a jump turn.
The jump isn't so much for air time as for lifting your skates
off the ground so you can reposition them sideways. The lower
the jump you can get away with, the less off balance you should
be when you land. However, if you don't jump high enough you
may not be able to place your lead skate at a sufficient angle.
Caution should be used even more so in this stop than in
others.
The particulars of the jump aren't crucial. You can lead with
one foot followed by the other, and land in that order; or jump
and land with both feet at once. Pick whatever style you're
most comfortable with.
_NEW YORK STOP:_
Harder than even the power stop, the New York stop is mainly a
power stop but you don't turn your gliding foot! It doesn't
appear that just anyone can perform this stop, since it seems
to require quite a bit of knee flexibility. L = the track left
by the left skate, R = ditto by the right skate
------ direction of travel --- >
L---------------------- |
This stop requires your knee to be twisted inward (not a natural
position, by far), so if you can't do it, I wouldn't say it's a big loss
since it seems to have above average potential to cause injury if
done wrong.
_"WILE E. COYOTE" STOP:_
This stop requires brakes on both skates and is very reminiscent of
cartoon charaters, Wile E. Coyote in particular 8-), when they stop
on their heels after going very, very, VERY fast (meep meep! 8-).
_COMBINATION/SEQUENCE STOPS:_
Once you've got some stops perfected, the next thing you might want to
try is a sequence or combination of several stops. These are definitely
more fun and a bit more showy. These are some of the random combination
stops that I do. You can easily make up your own. (Sequences are denoted
with "->" and combos with "+")
S-stop
Crossover stop -> turn opposite direction -> toe-drag
spinout. So for example, you can crossover stop to the
left, ride your left skate and do a toe drag (right toe
pivot) while turning to the right to complete the
S-pattern.
Double crossover stop
crossover stop -> inverted crossover stop (or vice
versa). This also traces out an S-pattern.
Braking T-stop
T-stop with non-brake foot + brake with brake-pad
Braking toe-drag
Brake with brake-pad + toe-drag on other skate. The
braking toe-drag and the braking T-stop are the two of
the most effective ways to stop that I know of when
cruising.
Braking spread-eagle
Spread-eagle (follow w/ spinout optional) with braking
skate in front + braking with brake-pad
Braking glide stop
glide -> reverse feet positions -> brake-pad. The effect
is that of shuffling your feet quickly and stopping.
(Glide: a heel-toe glide, one skate out, and one skate
back; use only the back toe and front heel wheels. The
back skate should be the one with the brake since the
assembly gets in the way on the front skate)
_________________________________________________________________
Related Topics
FALLING:
Falling should be one of your last resort techniques, but everyone
falls some time, so it's a good and safe thing to know. Falling can be
practiced at low speeds to get used the idea that indeed, you can plop
on your guards and pads, and come away safe as houses.
1. One of the less graceful and more painful ways to stop is to
wipeout into a face plant or another nasty, bloody occurrence. I
daresay no one does this "stop" voluntarily. These stops work
vicariously: If you see someone else do it...you're likely to stop
or slow down too 8-)
2. At low speeds, a better (and less painful) falling-stop is to
collapse your body in a way so that the primary scraping areas are
the knee pads and your wrist guards/gloves. Bend your knees, fall
on your knee pads and follow by falling on your wrist guards. Keep
your wrists loose since there is still some risk of injury. See
the collision section below.
If you tend to fall backwards, your rear-end will probably be your
biggest cushion (just how big, depends on you 8-). You should try to
spread out the shock to your arms and over as much body area as
possible (in general)...the less directly on your wrists and elbows,
probably the better. NOTE however, that your tailbone is, after all,
located in your duff and a hard fall at too sharp an angle will either
bruise or fracture/break the tailbone.
At high speeds, when you desperately need to stop, an outright
collapse on your protection gear may not be enough. High speed falls
are best when you take the brunt of the force with the entire body,
save for the head (besides, you're wearing your helmet, right?)
Rolling with the fall is a key to reducing the force of impact. So if
you happen to be careening down a hill, if possible, turn sideways to
your direction of travel and fall uphill (to keep you from tumbling
further down the hill). When you hit, keep your body loose, with hands
up near your face or over your head. With luck, and no other dangers
eminent (such as approaching 18-wheelers or rolling off a cliff), you
should be able to stand up, thank your favorite deity, wipe yourself
off, and go take a lesson in skating safety and control.
COLLISIONS WITH STATIONARY OBJECTS: Hopefully you will never ever have
to use a collision as a means to stop, but if you ever do, keep your
limbs bent and your body relaxed. Act like a big shock-absorber and
cushion your contact with bending of the arms and legs. Locked limbs
will only increase the shock going into your joints causing likely
ligament/tendon tears or other damage.
Bottom line
Practically speaking, all the stops that require dragging the wheels
will put a bigger dent in your wallet since wheels cost a bundle. If
you don't use your brake-pad, harder wheels may slow down the wear on
your wheels.
_________________________________________________________________
Copyright notice
_________________________________________________________________
Skating Backwards
From: phulm@csv.warwick.ac.uk (Bungle)
Date: 9 Sep 1994 00:12:35 +0100
The easiest way to start, is _slowly_. Build up in stages.
Moving in this ----------------> direction
_Stage one:_
A simple roll backwards on flat ground, letting skates go apart, then
back to the middle. Don't try and lift feet of the ground at any time.
___..___ ___..___
Right foot ---'''' ````---..---'''' ````---..
Left foot ---....___ ___....---'`---....___ ___....---'`
`' `'
_Stage two:_
Keep one foot steady (if you are better at right-handed cross-overs,
this should probably be you left foot) and do more exaggerated shorter
movements with the other foot. Push the foot out quite hard (with toe
pointing inwards slightly) while putting most weight on the other
foot. I find it easier to use the front wheels on my pushing foot.
When pulling the foot back in, do not try to lift it, just pull it in
slowly. Don't try to create motion from the inward pull. Motion should
be from the out-push only.
,--... ,--... ,--...
Right foot ,' ```--...,' ```--...,' ```--...
left foot -----------------------------------------------
_Stage three:_
Swap feet over.
_Stage four:_
Push with alternate feet.
,--... ,--...
Right foot ,' ```--...............,' ```--.............
Left foot ''''''````````. ___--'''''''''```````. ___--
`--''' `--'''
_Stage five:_
Move feet at the same time
,--... ,--... ,--...
Right foot ,' ```--...,' ```--...,' ```--...,
Left foot ___--''`. ___--''`. ___--''`. ___
' `--''' `--''' `--'''
_Stage six:_
This is where you start trying hills, corners, crossovers, stairs, or
whatever else takes you fancy.
_________________________________________________________________
From: grr@crunch.commodore.com (George Robbins)
There are several different ideas on the best way to get started with
backwards skating, which means you tend to get a lot of responses, but
no agreement.
1) Start by pushing off a wall or fence, or turning from forward to
backward while rolling. Just coast until you feel secure with the
general idea. A helmet isn't a bad idea, by the way!
2) Get your posture/balance right - your body should be upright, with
your knees bent - if you lean forward while skating, this will seem
like leaning backwards. If you lean forward you'll find yourself
dancing on your toe wheels and then your nose.
3) Get your feet at a normal track width - not neccessarily clicking
heels, but less than shoulder width. Many folk spread out when the
feel insecure, but you can't "stroke" from that position.
4) At this point you can fool around a little - you can turn by
leaning or keep yourself moving with a "sculling" motion - moving both
feet out-in-out-in as if tracing coke-bottle curves.
5) Next, you need to get comfortable with rolling on one foot, so that
you can be pushing with the other. Just pick up one foot - half an
inch is fine - and roll on the other. This will require that you get
the rolling foot centered under your weight! (see 2 above). Practice
some one-foot gliding and turns.
6) Finally, you are ready to stroke - just push one leg out and to the
side while you roll on the other, then at the end of the stroke, pick
up that skate and set it back alongside the other. Alternate feet, and
as you get the hang of it, you'll find that you can maintain and build
speed.
7) Expect it to take a while for you to get comfortable, just try a
little backwards action each time you go out to skate. You also want
to get in the habit of looking over your shoulder to see where you're
going, looking only at where you've been leads to surprises.
8) There an alternate method of learning to stroke, which goes from
sculling with both feet to sculling with one at a time and then
getting a more powerful push with that foot. This may lead more
naturally to the Hockey wide-track "C-cut" backward stride, where you
roll/slide the foot back instead of picking it up, but that's more for
quick maneuvering, not speed/distance skating.
_________________________________________________________________
Skating Downhills
(and surviving!)
by Tony Chen For whatever reason that you're tackling downhill skating
(you want to cross-train for skiing, you like the speed, there's no
other way around, etc.), you should never take it for granted that you
can just "pick it up". Otherwise, the paramedics might be doing the
picking (pieces of you) up.
Note that skating downhill can easily exceed 30-35mph. Skaters have
been clocked at over 75mph, so skating downhill should NOT be treated
lightly.
Ancedote: Back in 1992, while I was still at Princeton, some of my
skating buddies and I rented skates for a whole group of our other
friends who didn't have skates. We went over to a short campus road
that was nice and flat so that everyone could get a hang of skating.
After maybe 15 minutes of zooming back and forth on that stretch of
asphalt, we decided to take the whole group down to the wide-open
backlot behind the gym.
One thing we forgot about: the only way to the gym was downhill on
the main campus road. As the group turned on the main road (some on
the sidewalk grass, others hanging on to the better skaters) one
skater started rolling down, ever so slowly. By the time she was
fully on the hill, she was already going fast enough to be beyond
her control level.
She continued accelerating for 20 or 30 yards, calling out for help.
The road went by a dorm, so there was no grassy areas nearby.
Nothing was nearby for grabbing. I saw what was happening and
sprinted to the main road and then down the hill after her. I had to
got her to grab my arm, and then I stomped on the brake. After a few
seconds of brake screeching, we finally stopped.
Okay, happy ending, no one hurt, and all that. The point is, it
doesn't take much to get out of control when you're going downhill.
My friend was probably only going 10 mph, but when you feel out of
control it SEEMS like 50mph.
Downhill skating should be attempted only after you've learned some of
the basic skating skills: turns, braking, and balance. Braking means
not only the heel brake, but alternative speed control methods like
the T-stop, slaloming, toe-drag, and others. If you don't know how to
control your speed, the ground hitting your face at 30mph will do it
for you, so take your pick 8-)
There are 6 main components for downhill skating:
1. Safety and your gear
2. Safety and the road
3. Safety in your mind
4. Braking ability and power
5. Speed control
6. Relax!
_Safety and your gear_
Although you should be wearing your helmet even for non-hill
skating, it goes double and triple for downhills. Wiping out at
even 15-20mph can cause major road rash and brain damage, so
wear those pads!
_Safety and the road_
All skating equipment in the world may not help if the hill
you're skating on is pothole-ridden, debris-covered, or just
downright bumpy. Make sure you scout a hill on foot so that you
know what to expect. If you're in a car, get out and walk. Your
car will make the road seem deceptively smooth. Your skate
wheels will feel every bump and crack, so take the time to know
what you're getting into.
_Safety and your mind_
Even if you've got great equipment and scouted the hill, it
won't make a difference if you go out and skate like a reckless
maniac. If you know that there is occasional car traffic, you
have to keep your eyes and ears open. If a car is about to pass
you, get narrow, near the curb, and let them know you see them.
Know where there are stop lights, intersections, and pedestrian
crossings so that you'll be prepared.
It helps if you've got other skaters watching out for traffic,
both down and up stream. Not that I'm advocating that you have
hordes of skaters on a hill, but if you're going to be skating
downhill with others, watch out for each other.
_Braking ability and power:_
First, I would suggest a lot of practice learning to stop
quickly using only your brake skate. _But before you try any of
this, you must be comfortable using the heel brake_. If you're
not, practice using the heel brake first, even if it takes a
few days or even a week.
Part I: flats
+ Find a good open area like a parking lot (no traffic, etc.)
+ Start at one side, skate as fast as you can towards the other
side
+ When you're halfway across, try to brake as fast as possible
+ Repeat until you can stop with all your weight on the brake.
You'll have to lift your back skate and press into your
braking heel.
Part II: hills
+ Find a reasonable hill that has little or no traffic
+ Start at the bottom and skate up to the point where you feel
comfortable skating down from
+ Coast down, braking as needed.
+ Repeat until you're comfortable with that heigh. Then do it
again, but from a bit higher up the hill.
The main thing to keep in mind is the leverage, with the pivot
at your braking heel. You want to apply all the pressure into
the brake. Also, make sure to lean back slightly, to counter
your forward motion.
_Speed control:_
You won't always want to stop completely as you coast downhill.
Most of the time you only want to keep your speed at a certain
level. To do this, you want to apply your brakes every 5-10
yards, or even more frequently if you need to. You can also
apply the brake continuously, but at only half-pressure. If
you've practiced your braking in step 1, then this should be no
problem. The principle is that if your speed stays within your
comfort zone, you'll be in better control.
_Relax:_
When you attain braking proficiency and speed control, then
being relaxed while you skate downhill should come fairly easy.
Being relaxed isn't just some Zen thing or a way to look cool.
Keeping relaxed is critical for unanticipated bumps or debris
on the road that could make you trip and wipe out. When you're
relaxed your body reflexes can respond better than when you're
all tense from fear of wiping out.
Hopefully, when all is said and done, you'll be a much more adept
skater when you've mastered downhill skating. Not only will you be a
better skater overall, since many of the skills will transfer to other
skating methods, but you'll be a much more confident skater.
_________________________________________________________________
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Copyright 1991-1996 Anthony D. Chen (adchen@skatefaq.com)
User Contributions:Part1 - Part2 - Part3 - Part4 - Part5 - Part6 - Part7 - Part8 - Part9 - Part10 - Part11 - Part12 - Part13 - Part14 - Part15 - Part16 - Part17 - Part18 - Part19 - Part20 [ Usenet FAQs | Web FAQs | Documents | RFC Index ] Send corrections/additions to the FAQ Maintainer: adchen@garnet.acns.fsu.edu (Tony Chen)
Last Update March 27 2014 @ 02:12 PM
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