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Posted-By: auto-faq 3.1.1.2 Archive-name: rec-skate-faq/part1 Rec.skate Frequently Asked Questions: Part 1 _________________________________________________________________ General Questions and Answers * [NOTE: If you are reading a copy of this FAQ on paper, on CD-ROM, or other "permanent" media, this file is very likely out-of-date already. Most portions of this FAQ are copyrighted, but freely distributable under the conditions that 1) no charge is levied for a copy of this file, other than that for the cost of the media used and 2) the copyright notices are kept intact. You should not be paying more than what it cost to copy this file. To obtain the latest copy, read the rec.skate or rec.answers newsgroups on USENET; or you can download it via anonymous ftp: ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/rec.skate OR use a World Wide Web browser and go to: http://garnet.acns.fsu.edu/~adchen/rec.skate.html _________________________________________________________________ Frequently Asked Questions for Rec.skate (last changed Dec 8, 1994) TABLE OF CONTENTS: * Q: Who is this newsgroup for? * Q: Why don't we split rec.skate into separate group for ice, quads, and in-lines? * Q: What is the difference between in-line skating and "rollerblading"? * Q: What are the origins of in-line skates? * Q: I'm interested in getting a pair of in-lines for outdoor skating. I want to get decent stuff, but I'd rather not spend a lot of money. What do I need to get? * Q: Are buckles better than laces? * Q: I want to get good in-lines, but I can only afford $150. * Q: How do I stop on in-lines? * Q: I've learned how to slow down. how do I go faster? * Q: How do I learn to skate backwards? * Q: What sort of maintenance do I have to do on my in-lines? * Q: What other information is out there to help me with in-line skating? * Q: How can I post to rec.skate if I don't have usenet access? * Q: What can I do to help my road rash (ouch)? * The In-line Stopping Techniques File (Compiled and authored by Tony Chen, Phil Earnhardt, and George Robbins.) Q: Who is this newsgroup for? A: The charter for rec.skate is for all kinds of skating: traditional roller skating, in-line skating (although often called "rollerblading", Rollerblade is the trademarked name of a particular brand of in-line skates) figure skating, speed skating, and participants in hockey. Skating-related discussions not held in rec.skate include pro and college hockey (held in rec.sport.hockey) and skateboarding (held in alt.skate-board). Cross-country skating skiing may be discussed either here or in rec.skiing. Within the various disciplines of skating discussed here, most anything goes: discussions about equipment, maintenance, technique, competetions, access to skating areas, etc. are all welcome. At this point, the majority of the discussion in rec.skate (and virtually all of this FAQ) is about in-line skating due to the currently fast growth of the in-line sport. If you want to discuss something else, feel free to discuss it. Q: Why don't we split rec.skate into separate group for ice, quads, and in-lines? A: Rec.skate is still a fairly low-traffic group. We normally get less than 30 posts a day (the Harding-Kerrigan incident is the primary exception). Additionally, it's not at all obvious how to split the group. One way is to split into ice, quad and in-lines. But many skaters skate on more than one kind of skate. Another way would be to split into speed, hockey, and figure/dance. But again, many skaters participate in all kinds of skating. Rec.skate tends to go through a seasonal cycle. Usually in the winter, while ice-skating articles are common, in-line related articles drop dramatically. If we had separate newsgroups, we'd end up with two or more groups, all of which would be "dead" at different times of the year. Q: What is the difference between in-line skating and "rollerblading"? A: In-line skating is the official term for the sport commonly called "rollerblading" or simply "blading". The commonly misused term of "rollerblading" is due to the company called Rollerblade, which although wasn't the first to produce in-lines, but managed to popularize in-lines faster and farther than anyone previously (in the States anyway). Most likely this was due to the increased fitness awareness, coupled with a growing need for more cross-training methods. Rollerblade was the only company in the in-line market for a while, which has lead to the term of "rollerblade" to stand for all in-lines, even if made by different companies. This is similar to the use of "kleenex", "coke", "Q-tip", "xerox", and other products. Q: What are the origins of in-line skates? A: (Merged paraphrased text from Wheel Excitement, The Complete Blader, and Blazing Bladers) The first in-line model was developed in the early 1700s by a Dutchman who wanted to simulate ice skating in the summer by nailing wooden spools to strips of wood and attaching them to his shoes. The next version appeared in 1760 when a London instrument maker, Joseph Merlin, decided to make an entrance to a masquerade party by skating in on metal-wheeled boots while playing a violin. He ended up skating into a huge mirror at the end of the ballroom, not having learned to stop or steer. In 1823, Robert John Tyers of London designed a skate called a "rolito" by placing five wheels in a row on the bottom of a shoe. The rolito was not take seriously at the time. In 1863, an American, James Plimpton, found a way to make a workable skate. He came up with a four-wheel skate with two pairs of wheels side by side, and so the modern four-wheel roller skate was created. Roller skates allowed turns, and also forwards and backwards skating. The invention of ball bearing wheels in 1884 helped the sport even more. Tyers' design did not go entirely unnoticed however. In the Netherlands, after the canals had melted, "skeelers" (5's) were used as a means of dry-land cross training, competition and transportation for over two decades. Finally, in 1980 when two brothers from Minneapolis were rummaging through a pile of equipment at a sporting goods store, they found an old in-line skate. Scott and Brennan Olson were ice hockey players and so they realized the cross-training potential of the in-line skate. They redesigned the skate, using a hockey boot, polyurethane wheels and adding a rubber heel brake, and found they could skate as they did on ice. Soon after, they began selling skates out of their home and eventually Rollerblade Inc. was born. (end paraphrased text) There were also some Soviet in-lines from around the same time. These in-lines were being developed for Speed Skating dryland training. Besides having inferior wheel material, they only had a single bearing cartridge in each wheel. The first mass-produced Rollerblade skates had two-part metal runners. The smaller skates had more overlap between the two metal parts; the large skates had less. The "bushings" were 4 plain vanilla washers per wheel; they were cumbersome to assemble/remove and mechanically flawed: dirt/sand would get between the inner washer and the bearing. Also, there was just a washer's worth of clearance between the rail and the wheel: it was very easy to trash a wheel by rubbing it against a rail. The holes along the side of the runners were oval; the rock of the skate was determined by how much you slid the bolt up or down when you tightened it. Finally, the brakes were old roller skate toe stops -- they were not very efficient. The first massively successful Rollerblade skate was the Lightning. It had a robust fiberglass runner for each size of skate. The bushings fit into oval holes in the runners -- rock was set by whether you put the bushing in up or down. The linkage between the wheel and runner was far more mechanically efficient and there was no way to rub wheels on the runners. Wheel removal/insertion was far easier. And Rollerblade's brake, while far smaller than the old "toe stop" brake, was much more efficient and lasted longer. Needless to say, the Lightning was mondo faster. Q: I'm interested in getting a pair of in-lines for outdoor skating. I want to get decent stuff, but I'd rather not spend a lot of money. What do I need to get? A: First off, your budget should include protection: knee pads, wrist guards, and a helmet. Elbow pads are optional. These "pads" should have a hard plastic shell -- they should slide on the asphalt when you fall. Good brands of protection are the Rollerblade TRS or the Dr. Bone Savers (DBS) set of accesories. For helmets, any well-fitting ANSI/Snell approved bicycle helmet should be fine. The in-line industry is a lot like the bicycle industry -- specialty shops generally sell and support more expensive functional skate brands and department stores generally sell inexpensive lines that will never work well. Also, there's usually a much greater chance of getting spare parts and service from a specialty shop than a department store. Rollerblade is the best-known brand of in-line skate; they make a whole family of different in-line skates. Any skate in Rollerblade's line at or above the Lightning skate should work well and last a long time. Other reputable manufacturers are Ultra Wheels, Riedell, and Bauer. The higher-end skates in the California Pro line are functional and relatively inexpensive. Performance Bike is introducing a line of skates at a low price; quality of these skates is unknown at this point. You may wish to rent a model of skates before buying. Some shops will discount part of the rental from purchase price if you buy skates later. Fit of skates should be comfortable but snug. Unlike hiking or running shoes, it's OK for your toes to be loosely in contact with the front of the boot. Unless you have a background of speed skating, beginning skaters should avoid the 5-wheel skates. The problem with isn't the inherent speed of the skates, but since manueverability and flexibility are sacrificed for the sake of racing performance, so turns and other maneuvers require more commitment. The 5-wheelers are great fun, but master the fundamentals on a shorter wheelbase first. Q: Are buckles better than laces? A: If you're looking to buy skates nowadays, you'll notice a wide variety of support systems: laces only, laces with one buckle, one buckle (rear-entry skates so far offered only by Ultra-Wheels models), two buckles (old SwitcHits, Bauer women's model, Roces London), three buckles (all other skates). Hockey skates are laces only (Bauer). 5-wheelers come in laces only (serious racing skates) and laces with one buckle (long-distance commuting skates such as the Rollerblade RacerBlade, and citizen racing skates). The issue of buckles vs. laces is still a fairly often debated subject, and the bottom line is whatever works for you. Anyway, here are some good and bad points of each support system (recreational skates only). BUCKLES: + PROs 1. Faster to put on. 2. More durable. 3. Adjustable on the fly. 4. Allows for vented shells. 5. Maintain their hold, no loosening. 6. Possible to adjust support in separate areas. + CONs 1. More expensive (in general). 2. Can cause too much pressure on parts of the foot. LACES: + PROs 1. Cheaper (in general) 2. Much less prone to point-loading pressure on specific spots, pressure is distributed evenly. + CONs 1. Slower to lace up than to buckle up. 2. Prone to breakage. 3. Cannot easily adjust tension without stopping and re-doing the whole thing. 4. Laces don't allow for much venting in the shells. 5. They eventually loosen while you skate. 6. Not very easy to adjust support in sparate areas. LACES & BUCKLES: + PROs 1. Support adjustment is easy (if you normally only adjust the ankle). + CONs 1. Laces don't allow for much venting in the shells. + NEITHER 1. Mid-range pricing. Buckles may seem like they've got a lot of good points going for them, and they do. However, the two bad points can be big ones. Cost is the most obvious factor. If you can't afford buckle skates, you'll likely have to settle for laces only, and/or add your own. The other factor is fit. If the skates don't fit you quite right, the buckles can cause over-pressure on certain parts of your feet. Fit is one of more important aspects of choosing a skate, and while liners of most skates eliminate this point- loading problem to a good extent, it may not be enough for some people. So what can you do if you've got lace-only skates and want to have the convenience of buckles but can't afford to buy a new pair? You might consider adding buckles. Either adding one buckle at the ankle or doing away with laces altogether and adding two or three buckles. Many ski shops will be willing to do this for you. Or you can add your own. To fit buckles: From: holr0001@student.tc.umn.edu (James A Holroyd-1) Need: 1) Buckles: can be obtained at ski shops, snowboarding shops, or from an old pair of ski boots. I got mine from a snowboard shop, sold as an extra buckle kit for snowboard binding ankle straps. ** NOTE ** Make *sure* the mounting surfaces of the buckle are only slightly curved. Too much curvature in this area (the bit that touches the boot) will pull your boot out of shape and be very uncomfortable. 2) Drill with various bits. 3) Mounting hardware for buckles: you can rivet them, or use T-bolts. I used T-bolts with loctite on the threads, and they stay on well. Step 1. Put your skates on and figure out where you want to put the buckles. I would recommend leaving the eyelets for the laces accessible. This way, you can still lace up your skates, then tighten the cuffs with your buckles The laces sit behind the strap, and don't loosen up as much as if you leave them tied off below the cuff. Remember to place the buckles far enough apart so you can tighten them, but not so far that you can't get the tongue into the ratchet. *** IMPORTANT *** The buckle levers go on the *outside* of the skate :) This is very embarrassing when you get it wrong (I did, first time), as every time your skates get close together, they either catch on each other or unlatch the lever, or some combination of the two. Not pretty. Step 2. Mark where you will have to drill holes to mount the buckles. Step 3. Take the liners out of the boots and drill the holes. Start with a small, sharp bit (that boot plastic is *tough*, it could take a while) and work up to the size that accomodates the mounting hardware you're using. Step 4. Mount the buckles. If you are using the snowboard buckles, the mounting hardware that came with them should work. Just make sure that nothing sharp is sticking into your liner, as it could chew up the liner and/or your ankle. Don't forget the loctite (although it's really not critical until you've got the placement right, or until you're 10 miles from home :) ) This method works great with my lightnings. I got a pair of skates that, IMHO, are as good as those costing a lot more. However, I would not try this trick with any of the skates with flimsier liners. The Zetra's are pretty uncomfy after a while, as the edges of the cuff do tend to dig in. I ended up putting extra foam padding (ensolite) around the ankle area before I sold them to a friend. He took it out, and apparently has no comfort problems. Your mileage may vary. -- Buckle add-on kits are now being sold in skate shops specifically for in-lines. They run about $20 or so per pair of buckles. Ask your local skate shop or call up one of the mail-order shops in the FAQ. Q: I want to get good in-lines, but I can only afford $150. A: At this price point, you'll have to be pretty resourceful. First, note that the in-line "season" begins somewhere around the end of March. You'll probably find some good bargains in stores in the Jan-Mar time frame. Like many sports, the in-line market is style-oriented: you may find last year's style at a huge discount. Even at this price level, you should avoid "department store" skates (unless you want to buy skates that you won't use). You're far better off buying a pair of used Rollerblade Lightning skates. If you don't see anyone selling your size, consider putting an ad advertising that you want to buy skates. The going rate for used Lightnings in good condition is around $80-100. If wheels and bearings are shot, cut that to about $40 -- you'll need the other $50-60 or so to get new wheels and bearings. Use the other $50 to buy protection. Don't skimp on protection! A knee is a terrible thing to waste. Used protection in good condition is fine. For a lot more on buying skates, see the Guide to Buying In-line Skates at the Rec.skate Table of Contents. Q: How do I stop on in-lines? (see also, the stopping file following this section, for more details) A: Good question. You've taken the most important step -- realizing that there is a need to be able to slow down. The rest is just practice. There are several general techniques for stopping while remaining on your skates: generating friction by dragging your brake pad, generating friction by sliding your wheels laterally against the ground, jumping onto grass and killing your speed by running out, and pushing against a slower-moving or stationary object with your hands. There's also falling, which is a valid last-ditch technique that's a good to learn. Here's the section on using the brake: I finally learned how to brake well when someone described this image: your brake foot has just slipped on a banana peel. Whoops! Your brake foot will be about a foot in front of your body. The leg will have a slight bend. The rear wheel and the brake will be in contact with the ground. At first, your non-brake foot will be bearing almost all your weight. That leg will be directly under your body, and the knee will be bent. The amount of bend in your knee will determine how much braking force you can apply. Your feet should be very close to your centerline. This should help keep you going straight forward when braking (pretty important!). There should be a slight forward bend in the waist. It may also help to keep the hands at waist height or so. This keeps your center of gravity lower. Try to keep your hands (and your whole upper body) loose; clenched fists do not make the brakes work any better! Relax. After you've tried a dozen or so stops, add one more refinement: drive your back knee into the back of the front knee while braking. This creates a triangle with your lower legs and the pavement between your skates. As all the Buckminster Fuller fans out there know, triangles provide structural stability. This triangle should enhance your braking power and ability to run smooth, straight, and true while stopping. As you master braking, begin to shift more of your weight to your front foot. The Masters of Speed Control can actually decelerate while standing only on their front foot. Good trick, that. A: First off, keep learning how to slow down! Learn new techniques; refine the ones you already know. Until you master slowing down, your mind will limit how fast it will let you go on skates. Watch good skaters. Notice that they rarely have both skates on the ground at the same time. This independent leg action is something you'll master over time; you can practice by seeing now long you can glide on a single skate. When you can glide on a single skate for more than 30 seconds (both left and right legs!), you're well on the way. Notice that almost all of the side-to-side motion is happening below the waist. Eliminate any twisting motion in your shoulders -- keep your shoulders square to your direction of travel. If you want to move your arms, move them forward and back -- crossing patterns may have you twist your shoulders. Relax the muscles in your lower back to allow your upper body to remain quiet. Watch your stride. Are you pushing more to the side or to the back? Shift your stride to be pushing almost exclusively to the side. Where do you set your skate down at the start of your stride? Shoulder width? Start setting your skate down on the centerline of your body. After you're comfortable with that, start setting your skate further in beyond your centerline. Do you flick your toe at the end of your stride? If so, stop. Instead, flick your heel -- drive your heel out at the end of the stroke. This will feel very strange for the first 10,000 or so times. Relax. Then relax some more. Discover levels with levels of relaxation. Travel fast while moving your skates slowly -- your body is swimming through air. Consider beginning to practice T'ai Chi Ch'aun postures daily. Relax some more. Q: How do I learn to skate backwards? From: phulm@csv.warwick.ac.uk (Bungle) Subject: Re: Yinl" Backward Skating - help! 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 should 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 menthod 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. Q: What sort of maintenance do I have to do on my in-lines? (See also: part 2 of the FAQ) A: Things that need maintaining are the wheels, bearings, and brakes. Rotate wheels every 50-100 miles. To rotate a set of wheels, remove the frontmost wheel, stash it away, move all the other wheels up one position, and place the front wheel in the rearmost position. Flip each wheel as you're rotating it, swapping the inside and outside edges. With each wheel off the skate, clean around the bearings. Spin the wheel to see if the bearings are in good shape. If bearings are bad, replace them. Replace the brake pad when it's worn out (there's a "wear-line" on the new brake pads if you don't intuit this). Practice preventative maintenance: avoid sand, dirt, and water as much as possible. These guys are what cause bearing failure. If you want bearings to last, vacuum in/around your runners with an upholstery accessory after every day. If you do want to skate in sand/dirt/water/mud, get a set of sealed bearings. Rotate your wheels often. It can be done in about 30 minutes tops. Buy a Rollerblade "Y" tool to remove bearings from spacers, or buy one of the aftermarket bearing spacer kits. These make bearing removal much easier. Q: What other information is out there to help me with in-line skating? A: InLine Subscriptions Dept. P.O. Box 527 Mt. Morris, IL 61054 or call customer service at 1-800-877-5281 jwin@aol.com Inline Magazine, Natalie Kurylko, editor Speedskating Times 2910 NE 11 Ave Pompano Beach, FL 33064 (305) 782-5928 Daily Bread 280 Highland Rd. Laguna Beach, CA 92651 (714) 497-2636 Box Magazine 818 Lincoln Blvd. Slab 103 Venice, CA 90291 There are several videos that are marginally good at training. One of these is the Rollerblade/Ski Magazine Skate to Ski video. Your local Rollerblade dealer should have training videos available for viewing in the store and/or rental. Reading list: (mini-reviews by George Robbins) Blazing Bladers by Bill Gutman A Tom Doherty Associates Book, 1992. Cover price: $6.99 ($7.99 CAN) ISBN 0-812-51939-6 One of the two easier to find books, this provides a reaonsable overview of the sport, but suffers somewhat from "generic how-to" publishing. The author tends to recite what "experts" have told him without much conviction and some of the photographs don't fit well with the text. Still has a good section on "street tricks". The Complete Blader by Joel Rappelfeld St. Martin's Press, NY, New York, 1992. Cover price: $8.95 ISBN 0-312-06936-7 This book is nearly as good as _Inline Skating_, but is more oriented towards fitness/health aspects. There seems to be as much space allocated to stretching and conditioning as skating. One useful section describes construction and use of a slide-board for off season training. The Complete Guide and Resource to In-line Skating by Stephen Christopher Joyner Betterway Books, Cincinnati OH - 1993 Trade Paperback, 176 pages, $12.95 ISBN 1-55870-289-X As a resource guide, this is a useful book, the appendices list Magazines, Manufacturers, Retailers, Organizations, Roller Hockey Leagues, IISA certified instructors and also a rather eclectic bibliography. The rest of the text is OK and has a few interesting features, but either of the first two in-line books (The Complete Blader and Inline Skating) mentioned above would be more useful, especially for the beginning skater. Some Specific irritations are only the briefest mention of roller hockey where I would exepect at least an information presentation of rules, equipment and game play, and a strong anti-quad bias including a history of skating which leaps from Plimpton's error (a steerable truck quad skate) to Scott Olson's Rollerblade as if no-one enjoyed skating in the interiem. Inline Skating by Mark Powell & John Svenson Human Kinetics Publising, 1993 Trade Paperback, 134 PP, $12.95 ISBN 0-87322-399-3 Of the recent rash of in-line skating "how to" books, this is probably best and most balanced one. It has good coverage of equipment and basic skating skills, mention of dance and fun skating, and doesn't suffer from any fitness obsession. Laura Stamm's Power Skating by Laura Stamm Leisure Press, 1989 Cover price: $17.95 ISBN 0-88011-331-6 Wheel Excitement by Neil Feineman with Team Rollerblade(R) Hearst Books, New York, NY 1991. Cover price: $9.00 ISBN 0-688-10814-8 At one point, this was the only book on in-line skating and it still serves as a decent introduction to the sport. Lots of pictures of California kids having a good time. The actual text is a little thin and any of the above books are better if you can find them in your area. Q: How can I post to rec.skate if I don't have usenet access? A: There are a few mailing lists out there that will post messages sent to them. The only one I can recall is: rec-skate@cs.utexas.edu. Q: What can I do to help my road rash (ouch)? A: (from many users) From: ahill@boi.hp.com (Andy Hill) Not a cure, but lots of Neosporin will help keep the rash from getting infected (a big problem with large-area road rash). Makes the scabs look really nasty, 'tho - be prepared for some really grossed-out looks if you don't gauze it over. From: grr@cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com (George Robbins) There is no "cure". The traditional treatment is to wash the area, let it scab over and wait for it to heal. If there is a lot of imbedded dirt, glass or gravel you want to see a doctor for extra pain and cleansing. The underground remedy (for small spots) is to use "Bag Balm", a vetrinary product for soothing cows udders, found at your local farm supply outlet. It provides a waterproof covering for the wound, which apparently prevents the formation of a thick, inflexible scab. Actually Vaseline does pretty much the same thing, with people asking you what breed of cows you prefer. In either case, the overall healing time is simlar, however the latter may cause less interference with skating, scarring and hassles with scabs cracking or being torn off. Another possibility is to use a "Newskin" type product, the one I've seen comes in a bottle, you put it one, the alcohol (sting!) evaporates, leaving a thin, flexible membrane, which seems to work on the same idea as above, but it's dry on the outside, not gooky. Please treat such wounds with respect, infection, scarring or prolonged healing periods are always a possibility, especially with larger area's of damaged skin or contamination. From: matt@unidata.ucar.edu (Matt Hicks) Well, I checked out what everyone else suggested and I didn't see this one exactly, so here goes. I have a friend who is a (semi?) pro speed skater and has taken some nasty spills at high speed. Last year he ripped up his right thigh/buttock when he hit a wet spot in a turn--it was uuugly. Anyway, he used either neosporin or a burn creme (road rash is 90% burn anyway) and he covered the wound completely with plastic wrap held on with medical tape. There was nothing special about the wrap--just Saran Wrap or the equivalent. I've had a lot of rash from bicycle racing and I've never seen anything heal as quickly or as well as this lump of hamburger did. He never got a scab going; the wound just got smaller and smaller until it was gone. The main thing you need to do with this treatment is clean the wound really well--I'm guessing he probably cleaned it thoroughly twice a day (morning and evening). The next time I get scraped up I'm going to try this treatment myself--if nothing else it will keep the wound from oozing through my clothes--yuck! From: gt3930b@prism.gatech.edu (Steven Malcolm Nichols) Finally, on the subject of road rash. I've heard people advocate both covering the area to try to keep a scab from forming and airing it. I have tried both and don't really have a preference. I believe that the most important thing you can do is keep it clean (i.e. wash/clean it a couple of times a day) and of course, keep it from getting infected. 3M makes a product called second skin, I think the original application was for burn victims. Second skin is something like 96% water & 4% miracle plastic that acts as a skin. A couple of people mentioned Neosporin; I was told by a paramedic that Neosporin in large quantities can be toxic -- he couldn't really be quantitative about what this means, but just be aware. I have found antecdotally (and maybe I even read this somewhere) that sunlight seems to encourage pink shiny scar tissue (dang! I'll never be a swimsuit model now!), so you might want to let the rash heal up before you go tanning at the beach. From: pratadal@david.wheaton.edu (Adam Pratt) I do not have any quick fixes for road rash, though I have had a lot! I mean a lot! Nine days ago I launched off a 4 and a half foot ledge from one parking lot to another. There is about 12-15 feet of mulch and bushes slanting between the parking lot I jumped from and the parking lot below I was jumping into. It was an awesome jump, but at the bottom, I did not quite make the pavement. My skates hit soft mulch at the botom, dug in an inch, and my 10+ mph threw by body on the pavement. Most of the weight hit my wrist guards and the front of my helmet. If I did not have wrist guards on, I would have shattered by hands, wrists, and forearms. It was intense! I could not hold all my weight aand slid out on my right elbow and right hip (OUCH on the hip!) Anyway, I just wanted to share my awesome spill with you friends. It was one of the most intense spills I have seen. Now back to the road rash part... I already had a scar on my right hip from a previous spill. Now I have a bigger one. The way to get rid of it is to COAT it with vitamin E oil. Do not wait for it to heal, then use it. Scrub it hard, ointment like crazy, let it scab, and then DON'T pick! As soon as it is starts to get hard, keep vitamin E oil on it constantly! I have had two major surgeries on each shin and the cut me alle the way up and down. I did not use Vitamin E the first time and the scars were nasty. I used it the second time and you can barely see them! I really believe this stuff helps! You can buy it at GNC and other health food stores. From: After my first crash, where the Fire Department guys had to clean me up, I started to cary first aid supplies (each crach statistic is a statistic in favor of baning inline skating). I have the following in my bag: Large bandaids (2 in.) Gauze pads (for covering wounds and for cleaning wounds) Anticeptic wipes Neosporin ointment I even found use for these at the ice rink this past winter, when I cut my self on my blades. Yes, I have goten road rash from the ice rink although, I think it was where the elastic underwear band abraded my skin. From: aites@lvld.hp.com (Jim Aites) : Anticeptic wipes : Neosporin ointment DERMABLAST - a spray-on topical anesthetic. (smaller container required) How about something for the 'shockies'? I hate seeing black-n-white (with stars)! I know, "sit down and put your head between your knees", but I was thinking of something more along the line of Asperin, a shot of scotch, or some other good analgesic. ;) _________________________________________________________________ The In-line Stopping Techniques File (written February 1992) (lasted changed Jan 24, 1994) [ This file is Copyright 1994 by Anthony D. Chen. It may be freely redistributed in its entirety provided that this copyright notice is not removed. License is hereby granted to republish on electronic or other media for which no fees are charged (except for the media used), so long as the text of this copyright notice and license are attached intact to any and all republished portion or portions. It may not be sold for profit or incorporated in commercial documents without the written permission of the copyright holder. Permission is expressly granted for this document to be made available for file transfer from installations offering unrestricted anonymous file transfer on the Internet. This file is provided as is without any express or implied warranty. Nothing in this file represents the views of Florida State University.] This document is written for rec.skate, one of the thousands of newsgroups under USENET, the international electronic news network which reaches millions of readers. You will see "8-)" in use throughout the text and if you look at it with your head tilted to the left the intent should be obvious 8-) 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@garnet.acns.fsu.edu) _________________________________________________________________ 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 _________________________________________________________________ While the basic repretoire of stopping techniques includes the brake-pad, the T-stop, spinouts, and the power slide, this file is meant to go one step beyond merely teaching and outlining the basics. The basics should be learned first, but once skaters progress beyond them, they often look for more advanced or different techniques, hence this compilation of techniques. _________________________________________________________________ BEGINNER LEVEL The following set of stopping methods, most beginner skaters should be able to handle. They keep both feet on the ground throughout the stop, and don't require as much independent leg action as more advanced stops. * RUNOUTS: Assuming the path you're skating on has grass or packed dirt (or some other hard-to-roll-on surface), you can just skate off the path and reduce your speed by running onto the grass (hop-hop-hop-hop-hop). In the worst case scenario, you can tumble and hopefully you won't take any damage. * WALL STOP: This stop is simply to 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 on your hands against the wall, and you should be able to bounce a little, while still avoiding banging your head. The faster your approach, the less bounce will result. 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 to stop (although on windy days, this 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, those of you taking the little time to learn to use the it proficiently, the brake-pad becomes a very versatile piece of equipment because: 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 yourself; 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 then, scissor your skate so your braking skate is out 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 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. Practically speaking, you may still want to keep the other skate on the ground for balance. Note that the amount of leverage, and therefore the amount of stopping power you have, is 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 sand or saw off part 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 can 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 while wearing shoes, and someone pushes you from the front. 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, and so 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, of course. 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 one skate (only) inward, lift 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. [ This file is Copyright 1994 by Anthony D. Chen. It may be freely redistributed in its entirety provided that this copyright notice is not removed. License is hereby granted to republish on electronic or other media for which no fees are charged (except for the media used), so long as the text of this copyright notice and license are attached intact to any and all republished portion or portions. It may not be sold for profit or incorporated in commercial documents without the written permission of the copyright holder. Permission is expressly granted for this document to be made available for file transfer from installations offering unrestricted anonymous file transfer on the Internet. This file is provided as is without any express or implied warranty. Nothing in this file represents the views of Florida State University.] __________________________________________________________________________ -Tony Chen (adchen@garnet.acns.fsu.edu) *This image is Copyrighted - 1994 by Anthony D. Chen. Permission is granted to use this logo in World Wide Web HTML files so long as this copyright notice is included as either an HTML comment alongside the invokation (IMG SRC or HREF or otherwise) of the logo, or in the visible text. The image may not be sold for profit, nor incorporated in commercial documents or merchandise without prior written permission of the copyright holder. __________________________________________________________________________ TOC #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 PICS