Author Topic: inline skating  (Read 1959 times)

Leif

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inline skating
« on: April 22, 2019, 09:47:10 pm »
At my age - 55 - I should know better but I’ve been trying inlines recently, very scary at first, but today it was great fun. Anyone else inline skate? I think TOTF does. Does it help or hinder ice skating?

After a few hours practice spread over ~6 sessions I can skate forwards with alternating C cuts, skate forwards with slalom, do left/right tight turns to stop or turn, skate backwards (not well), snow plough forwards and backwards, left/right forwards crossovers and transition forwards to backwards and B to F (badly).

Although it was very scary, they are actually more stable than skates as the wheels are all the same size and with a wide wheel base.

I drove a mile down the road to a flat country lane, with the sun streaming down, the perfect place to practise.  :) I miss running, and I’m tempted to do some 5-10km skates on sunny days.

Incidentally does price matter? I have Bauer x300r inlines which are budget skates. I know for ice skates price matters hugely in terms of control and support.

transmissionoftheflame

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Re: inline skating
« Reply #1 on: April 22, 2019, 10:04:45 pm »
I inline skate on Seba Igors (freestyle slalom skates) with a rockered frame so probably a similar profile to a hockey blade on ice.  Yes, I think price matters for inlines as on ice - you need the right support - and obviously fit.  The rockered setup is less stable than flat but easier to turn with and do tricks.  I think if you just want to stride along then flat setup is fine, but I do a hybrid of slalom, figure, dance, hockey and rink rat skating on my inlines, rockered setup is better for that.  You can achieve it without a rockered frame by having wheels of different sizes - my setup is probably 78-80-80-78 though once the toe and heel wheel get worn it's more like 76-80-80-76.
I like being outdoors in the fresh air, being able to skate clockwise when I want, and listen to my own music.
I think all types of skating cross over and complement one another.  I skate on figures on ice, so the blade is quite different and the boots (no real heel on my inlines so you need to pitch yourself forward, even more knee/ankle bend, to be properly over your skates.  It took me a few months of switching between ice and wheel to get used to it, now it is second nature.  My younger daughter and a chum of mine both switch and are pretty accomplished at both.  You adapt your style and the moves and tricks you do to the way the equipment and terrain works - some things (the basics) are pretty much identical, others (spinning, stopping) are quite different.
For anyone that has not tried it's worth a go, and be patient - when you start out and hit the odd bump which you do not find in a rink you'll wonder how or why anyone skates outdoors, but when you learn to stay loose and down in the knee and ride the bumps, scissor over them, you'll learn to love it.
I don't street skate, but some do.  There are organised mass skates every Friday and Sunday in London (LFNS and Sunday Stroll), with music on the move.
I do lesson with Asha from Skatefresh who comes from a quad figure background.  There's a healthy slalom and dance scene in Hyde Park, always someone happy to show you their moves and share.
Asphalt hurts - wear wrist guards if you don't want grit embedded in your palms.  I wear a helmet these days - you don't slide on concrete, and it makes me a bit more confident and relaxed.

WednesdayMarch

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Re: inline skating
« Reply #2 on: April 22, 2019, 10:40:22 pm »
I've been looking at various rockered types of inline skates (Snow White, Off Ice, Pic) and wondering if they would be a good idea...  Not sure where I'd be able to go to skate or how much use they'd get.  But I'd love to be able to skate around a park and on days when I can't get to the rink (most of them).
Returned to the ice in Sept 2017 after a major leg injury in 1999. Skating in Jackson Elite Pro & MK Vision Syncro. Still scary after all these years.

transmissionoftheflame

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Re: inline skating
« Reply #3 on: April 23, 2019, 05:54:10 am »
I used Pic skates once, indoors on a wooden floor.  My daughters trained on them for a few months while our rink was closed - again indoors.  It's very much like figure skating on ice except for stopping (much harder) and spinning (a bit harder).  I am not sure I would use them outside unless it's a really smooth surface and the wheels are quite small and don't absorb bumps - even small bumps feel awful and throw you off balance.  But good if you have somewhere indoors, or very smooth outdoors (asphalt in my experience has to be incredibly fine-grained to feel smooth.  Roads that look smooth and feel smooth on a bike for example can feel lousy on inlines.  My inlines are built for outdoors and have 80mm wheels.


Leif

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Re: inline skating
« Reply #4 on: April 24, 2019, 07:10:42 am »
Thanks all, esp. TOTF. Very informative.

I agree about the surfaces, some local roads are rough which is not nice, they shake up my aging joints. But some local roads are very smooth. WM: you can try parks, business estates and car parks out of hours, and of course country lanes if you are close to open countryside. I don’t wear wrist guards, thus far when I fall I deliberately land on my knee pads, or on my elbow pads. I have only fallen (many times) when attempting a hockey stop by exaggerating a lunge turn.

What I noticed is that the balance seems different in that when I skate forwards, I put the weight towards the heels, and when I skate backwards, my weight is towards the toes. I am not sure if that is right, but it’s what I do. I was unable to skate backwards until I started lifting my heels. I like the fact that I have to think more about my stance and balance which seems to be good for ice skating. I did public skating last night, and the inline seems not to have damaged it, if anything my balance was better.

I have 80mm wheels, all the same size, and no brake. I think being able to do a lunge stop is more than good enough for stopping. The skates are chewed up where they have hit asphalt. I don’t think I would be comfortable skating when people are present, some of those you tubers zoom around passers by, it looks hgh risk to me, but then I am an old fart. TOTF: are those online courses with Asha, or in person? I can’t remember where you are based. Her skating technique looks very good, apparently she had a serious hip injury.

transmissionoftheflame

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Re: inline skating
« Reply #5 on: April 24, 2019, 07:23:58 am »
Ah you really need to get wristguards before you tarmac your palms!


Asha is UK based when she is not touring the world.  Mainly London, and a bit in Brighton.  Beginner and improver lessons are mainly done by her able assistants but if you can I'd go for a private with her.  She'll give you very clear instructions on a small number of basics to focus on.  There are tutorials on lone too.  Yes, she's injured but you would not think it - there's a huge amount of hard work that goes into maintaining her fitness.  She's a skating miracle, manages to skate elegantly in what seem to me silly tri-skates with huge wheels - which by the way are meant to be really good for street and long distance skating but less good for tricks and certainly no good for hockey.


Talking of hockey there's a street hockey scene at the Albert Memorial.  Emirates Stadium is a good place for practice - flat and no traffic, just Arsenal tourists.


If I street skated anywhere with hills I would get a heel brake otherwise I agree with you about stopping.


These two sites are good:


https://www.youtube.com/user/PintoPonyProductions - he's a force of nature


https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUsSCs1s8a4UKmQ0KPQ2ShQ












Leif

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Re: inline skating
« Reply #6 on: April 24, 2019, 07:27:48 am »
I wear gloves, no way am I going bare handed on tarmac. Wish I’d kept my old hockey gloves for inlining! Oh my lunge stops are very good, and I can slow with alternate parallel turns ie slalom, so I have no issues with hills, even steep ones.

transmissionoftheflame

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Re: inline skating
« Reply #7 on: April 24, 2019, 07:32:06 am »
I wear gloves, no way am I going bare handed on tarmac. Wish I’d kept my old hockey gloves for inlining! Oh my lunge stops are very good, and I can slow with alternate parallel turns ie slalom, so I have no issues with hills, even steep ones.


Ah you've got it all covered then.


Regarding where your weight is, that sounds correct and logical to me.  I heard a coach use the metaphor of a speedboat - going forward the front points up a bit and the back points down, going backwards would be the opposite.  And they are great for curing toe pushing for us figure skaters as you will fall if you do that on wheels.

Leif

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Re: inline skating
« Reply #8 on: April 24, 2019, 08:13:34 pm »

Ah you've got it all covered then.


Regarding where your weight is, that sounds correct and logical to me.  I heard a coach use the metaphor of a speedboat - going forward the front points up a bit and the back points down, going backwards would be the opposite.  And they are great for curing toe pushing for us figure skaters as you will fall if you do that on wheels.

Thanks. It’s good to know I’ve figured out the weight distribution. I’ve often found with ice skating as well as inlines, you tube videos tend not to mention this ‘small’ detail. For me ice skating has the inverse weight distribution. Odd.

Leif

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Re: inline skating
« Reply #9 on: April 30, 2019, 11:38:35 pm »
Went skating this evening, and I distinctly feel that my technique has taken a step upwards. It’s as if inlines have forced me to think more about how I skate in a more profound manner as it’s so different, if that makes any sense. I was starting to feel that I was in a rut, no pun intended.

transmissionoftheflame

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Re: inline skating
« Reply #10 on: May 01, 2019, 01:04:48 am »
That makes perfect sense.  The skills are close enough to be largely transferable but different enough to prevent you just skating on autopilot.



 

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