InLineSkating

[Too Tall]

Anyone here speed skate outdoors? Distance?

I am a TOTAL newbie and am considering adding this to my quiver. Actually, all I do is read bicycle catalogues and ride my bike so this would be three things I will do ;)

I'll most likely need custom boots, size 15 (Euro 50).

I'd really love to get skillful enough to commute to work 1 day a week...about 10 miles each way.

No clue as to the right configuration or makers for what I have in mind. Recommendations?

[Marron]

August through February. I use it as a cross training option and prep for skiing. As to equipment, it's just like cycling; you can spend $100 for a perfectly servicable pair of skates or you can spend $2,000 on a race kit with custom carbon boots (yup), frames, fancy wheels and bearing$.

If you are a complete novice and would like to use it as a commuting option I would suggest that jumping right to speed skates is probably not going to provide the most fun. There is a fairly steep learning curve to effectively using speed skates that is not aided by hills, traffic, bad road surface etc.. Aside from all that, speed skates are not usually that comfortable without putting in many miles to toughen your feet and ankles. What I would suggest is seeking out one of the various fittness skates on the market. They match a comfortable boot with a slightly longer frame either in a 4 or 5 wheel configuration that is designed to cover some distance without the issues I mentioned above.

I commute about 9 miles on skates and combine it with a bus ride to avoid some sketchy stretches of road. Its a great workout and entails some sizable hills that take skill to navigate safely. I use one of two skates for the commute, either a pair of K2 Mod8's or Rollerblade Aero 9's. The K2s have a slightly longer frame and I use them with brakes. They're a little faster on the flats and more stable downhill, but the I really prefer the Rollerblades which have a much shorter frame and no brakes. They allow me to be more "creative" in how I get down the hills and that ends up helping with the skiing. I also have a full-on pair of race skates which I use for marathon type events, but they are really not what I would pick for the commute.

Buying skates is like buying bikes; the fit and the shop are the most important things, brand is secondary. Seek out a shop that's serious about fitting and has a good selction. And finally, take lessons. Any reasonably fit person can get going on skates in a few minutes, but technique makes a huge difference in speed and safety. Understanding good stroke mechanics will make your skating much more efficient and faster. What works is not necessarily what come naturally. Unlike cycling, you feet and legs can go pretty much wherever they want and 90% of the skaters you see are using way too much energy to go way to slow.

[Hard Fit]

I learned how to skate by taking a group class from a certified instructor. I found that they teach you some basics on stopping and skating stance that are important to minimize the chance of injury. I suggest you wear the protective gear also. You don't want a broken wrist to interfere with your cycling.

I find skating a nice alternative during the Fall when I get tired of cycling and need a break.

I first bought a cheap pair of skates. They were good to learn on. Plus, if you don't like the sport the investment is minimal. I eventually bought something more expensive as I started skating more. A good skating shop will help you fit your boot also. I suspect most sports stores have no clue on how to fit a skating boot.

Some places also have group skates. Check out the web for information. These skates can be a lot of fun.


Hard Fit

[M_A_Martin]

Too Tall
Have you ever skated before?

Size wise, you can probably fit into a hockey skate without going custom. That will be a bit different fit than a speed skate, but would get you out on the road. Hockey skates are very manuverable also, a lot of the outdoor speed skaters in the greater detroit area use that sort of skate for city skating.

Take a class. Learn all the basics. If you get used to those and you want to take an advanced speed skating class, some of the top skaters offer weekend long workshops around the country. Those concentrate on the "going faster with less effort".

I've been a winter inline speed skater for years. The accident slowed me down some, but it is great winter cross training for the bike. The SilverDome in Pontiac is open nights and weekends to skaters, half mile concourse to buzz around a couple hours a night, a couple days a week and weekends. Oh, I skate on Bont Blue Bottoms (I'm the only person I've ever met who was comfy in them without any heat molding) with millar frames, kryptonite wheels, and Swiss Bones bearings. (Bearing tip, if you're good about maintenance, blow the grease out of the bearings and use speed oil, they roll faster...If you're skating in a lot of rain, or don't reapply often enough, it isn't a good idea, but it works well for dry and indoors...)

First skating tip: When you're first starting out, before you learn nifty stopping tricks, remember to apply the brake at the top of the hill, because it isn't much of a brake and if you start to apply it half way down you're just going to make hamburger.

I can see you'll be racing in the Athens-to-Atlanta soon!

[Too Tall]

No, I've never skated before as I could not find ANY skates to fit my freakish large feet. You read my mind. Long distance racing looks very very appealing. The guy you made my LUST cycling shoes has done very well in these events and he has me thinking and I'm so in need of an alternative to cycling.

**Just checked...MA you rock! I found this: CCM Sr. Externo
Outcast '03 Model in size 13 which according to "hockeymonkey" is equiv. to amercian size 15. Is this a good one to start with?

[slowgoing]

Been doing it for years, but not competetively. Get a pair with four wheels first. Use them for months to work on your technique, and in particular turning and stopping. Only then get a pair with five wheels. They're a lot faster, but generally smoother, and harder to stop if you have a brake, or very hard to stop otherwise because you have to learn to stop without a brake (T-stop, etc.).

It takes months to years to really get the technique down to where you can glide as far as possible on each stroke, but it is very satisfying.

[slowgoing]

And a couple of cautions: wear a helmet; wear wrist guards; and beware of cracks in the pavement that run in the same direction you are going - get a wheel caught in there and you're most likely doing down. The good thing is when you go down, you're not as high up as on a bike, nor do you tend to pivot about fulcrum before you fall, so you're less likely to be injured that on a bike, in my opinion. Although I did separate a shoulder one time while rolling out of a fall.

[M_A_Martin]

How are your ankles? Lower boots need better ankles than taller boots.

Hmmm, I find five wheel and four wheel skates to be quite a bit different handling. A bit like riding a tandem, or a legend. The techniques are similar, but not really.

The five wheels are like skis. If you ski, you'd have a leg up on the whole "go" part of the equation, edges, and in reality part of the stopping too.

Pinnacle, Simmons, Bont, Lust (I think Eddy Metzgar wore L.U.S.T. boots?), and I think Verducci? make nice custom boots.
http://inlineskating.about.com/library/bl-skates-makers.htm

I find stopping without a brake on long blades (T-stops, turn stops, etc.) to be just as, if not more effective than the silly rubber bumper they call a brake on most skates. If you're commuting, you need to learn how to deal with road obstacles. Rail road tracks, ruts, potholes, and manhole covers at speed, stuff like that.

I agree with slowgoing, get a four wheel pair and see if you like it. I really think that CCM makes 15s...perhaps with special order, but I'm fairly sure your local hockey shop should be able to help.

ALTERNATIVE: If they only make 15s in ice blades, you can order the boot without the blade and rig inline blades to them. Its beendone, and the method is easy. It would at least get you into skates fairly cheaply.

Get all of the protective equipment. It won't prevent a break, but it moves the break to a place that's easier to heal. (arm bone instead of wrist bone, leg instead of kneecap) etc. Learn to use the black ice too. It slides differently on pavement than on cement, you should be used to both so you know what's coming when you do fall.

Knowing how to fall is the most important thing you can really learn on skates. The lower you are, the less distance you have to go, if you feel yourself falling, bend your knees. You might save your center of balance that way too..

And yeah, the Paris skate is well known as a huge party 20,000+ skaters some nights. People from Detroit go over just to skate the cobbles. I hear its a fun time. There is a web site for it...if you'd like I can dig it up...pari-roller.com??? From what I hear most of the paris rollerbladers use 4 wheel trucks. I can understand that with the cobbles, footwork is a little faster on the 4 wheelers.

I tend to have an ice skating speed style, which doesn't translate to the street too well, my strides are too long for stupid little obstacles. :)

Ginger (former National Skate Patrol member...which reminds me, the National Skate Patrol and the ISPS may have classes in your area.)

[M_A_Martin]

Too Tall:
Thanks! Now I just have to convince a single guy of that...

How cheap is that boot in comparison to custom boots? Can you get a local shop to get one in for you to try it? If not you can probably find it mail order, but I'd try to go through a shop if I were you.

As we all know, its not worth anything if it doesn't fit!

CCMs are good standard boots. Nothing fancy, but usually good for a season or two. Does it come with a removable frame? Can you convert it? Or will you need to take the off-base remodel path with it?

OH HEY, I just took a look, found it on the web...that's not a bad skate at all for 329, you'll be able to flex your knees a bit more than a full-on fitness boot. You may find that you need to tape your ankles at first. But I'd try them without first.

Hmmm, maybe I'll get the ole skates out this evening and take a cruise around the neighborhood...I miss my skates.

[M_A_Martin]

And WEAR A HELMET!

I've seen too much blood on cement for you not to wear a helmet. Perhaps even go in for an aggressive skater helmet. Sounds funny, but they have better lower skull coverage than bike helmets. Its what I wear.

Also, wear full protective equipment, INCLUDING elbow pads...all you need is a broken elbow from smacking it on the pavement when you fall backwards. They're annoying, but for starters they're smart.

The group skates can be fun. The Detroit skaters have dwindled, but they still skate from Bar to Bar on Thursday nights.

And Marron is right, take a class. It does take a while but once you hit the stroke right its like magic! A wonderful effortless smooth flying feeling. ZOOOM!

[jerk]

rollerblading is really dumb. not only has this stupid sport rendered bicycle paths usleless to bicycles, but the majority of participants seem to be oblivious to the world around them. blame the head phones, blame the walmart quality lycra or blame the parents...but all those people should a) go buy a bike or b) go buy a pair of ice skates and take up a real sport like speed skating but please stay off my roads and my mother and father's bike paths. i'm with the skateboarders and bmx kids on this one. fruitboots suck.

no offense meant to those of you who love this "sport". i don't hate the player just the game.

jerk

[slowgoing]

Jerk - you old hors was just sold to me, a long time blader. Ha!

But I generally agree with you. The casual blader is oblivious. But speedskaters who can often keep up with and pass a lot of cyclist disdain these casual bladers as much as cyclists.

[M_A_Martin]

Don't apologize Jerk, I agree with you.
20+mph pacelines on 10 wheels on bike paths filled with oblivious fitness skaters, out of control kids, and slow road bikers who think they own the path because they're going a whopping 18mph seriously sucks. That's why we skated on the road.

Even viewing the tube tops of joy just isn't worth skating on the path. Too many of my speedskating buddies have gotten CHI, broken collar bones and dislocated shoulders from avoiding human obstacles that wander into their clear lane on the bike path. Its not like speed skaters are as quiet as bikes! Even one skater sounds like a train if they're running oil in their bearings. If they're running clap skates its even worse. If you can't FEEL a paceline of 10 speed skaters coming down the path you're too oblivious to be left alone in public. (That was a very jerk-like comment wasn't it...my apologies to all of you who are too oblivious to be left alone in public.)

I love to go fast on blades, its just too dangerous. That's why ride my bike in the summer and I skate indoors in the winter, its too dangerous to be on the paths in the summer time.

Too Tall: I have plenty of friends who do A2A on 4 wheel skates. You'd be fine with the ones you're looking at if they fit. They have fun, and some of them are even competitive at the half distance (The big boys keep the full distance for themselves, those people poetry in motion. Like cheetahs on 10 wheels.) Have fun with the gatorback, I hear its fixed. Maybe they repaved it? Nope, I've never raced it, (Who, me? Skate that hard in the Georgia heat? NOT.) but I did ride it on my road bike while acting as a water mule for a buddy who was training for the race. Some of those hills would be wicked fun in a paceline!

(and yeah, Inline speed skating is something I enjoyed, have an opinion and attitude about, think people can do safely if they follow common sense rules, and haven't been able to do well since the mortocycle accident. And I MISS going 28mph on 10 wheels, now THAT was flying for me [the really fast ones turn in upper 30 mph laps...and that's just amazing to watch in person] ) Riding a bike is just so much more work.)

[Too Tall]

MA - I'll talk to the shop about those skates...thanks for checking them out. If the return policy is good I'll get em' and all the safety garb too. We are lucky as there is an extensive park road that is mostly closed to traffic on weekends and there are numerous clinics too. Just not sure how the villagers will feel about it when I fall on their grass huts :)

HUH? You are wo/ Sig. Other???? (shaking my head). Boys!!!! WAKE up. This ones SEROTTA approved :)

D##D you are so right about oblivious skaters. If they don't hear me shout "bike back" than I just cross check them ;) It's in the rules.

[M_A_Martin]

I think you just want to be taller than you already are.

You'll be adding a good 3-4" in height. My skate buddies over 6'5 are really tall in skates...

[Marron]

I should have mentioned that. I Septemeber '02 my wife and I were spending two weeks in Paris. I agreed not to take a bike and brought skates instead. Smart move. There are a few serious cyclists visible in Paris, mostly in the Bois, but there are literally thousands of skaters. I joined the famous Friday night skate and while there weren't the huge crowds that you hear about, there were easily 5,000 people out on skates. Imagine an all category crit with that many people and it gives you some kind of idea. The skate took around 4 hours total and covered every terrain imaginable including many stretches of Parisian pave. It was a blast and an amazing way to see the city at night.

BTW, I'm with the jerk, most skaters are obstacles, but than so are most cyclists on paths.