Skating! (oh god I can't stop)

ben0207

Hello!

So, with summer coming up me and one of my friends decided to start skating (inline skates).

Now, we've both managed to get the basic technique down for going forwards. Going forwards we're pretty okay at. Turning, now we're not great at it, but it's not too bad.

Stopping though, now there's a problem. So far the more popular techniques involve falling over or hitting something stationary. I don't think I want to spend my summer covered in bruises, H/A! How do I stop on these crazy things? Even slowing down would be a good start.

tsmvengy

One of your skates has a brake on the back, right? Use that.

Visti

Use the brake on the back to slow down, then when you're not going at full speed, do a quick 90 degree turn and lean into it.

Improvolone

Wouldn't you want to lean away from it? As in, lean away from the force of motion?
Keep your front foot straight and drag your back foot sideways behind the other skate (making the shape of a T with your feet).
For turns, learn to cross over. To turn left, your right foot will cross in front of and across your left foot.

ronya

The brakes on my skates broke off early on when I started skating, and ever since I just quickly turned left or right and swung quickly in a circle. Faster speed, wider circle.

Then again, I only skated as a quick way to run around the neighborhood, I never ventured into any skating tricks or for competitive speed. You might need more aggressive braking there.

Adda

Yeah, step overs really help turning as you can push yourself round corners.

As for stopping I always dragged one of my skates as Improvolone suggested. I did have to rotate wheels and switch some off from my right to left fairly often though as I primarily did this with my right skate as it was my stronger leg.

Jimmy King

Yep, I skated nearly every day for years back in the 90s. I always removed that stupid brake on the back of my skates and even bought some that didn't even come with it. Just do a t-stop like improvolone says.

Improvolone

I wish I had the balls to try a hockey stop.

ben0207

I've tried doing the t-stop thing but it usually ends with me on my arse because my feet stop quite suddenly, my body starts going forward and to compensate I throw myself more backwards.

CowShark

Not sure where you're skating, but you might take it to a rink and learn to t stop there. It's a good way to stop.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSZI-bg9V9Y

It's less silly without the elevator music, and it takes some practice to get used to. Just keep your weight over your front foot/leg, keep it bent, and drag the back one to slow you down. You can start out by not putting much pressure on the back foot, so that you slow down very gradually (and maybe that back foot skips along the ground). Then, as you get better and more confident, put more and more pressure on the back foot when t stopping. Likely dangers are getting your weight out too far forward/back, or putting pressure on your braking foot so that your wheels make contact and try to spin you.

Jimmy King

ben0207 wrote: »

I've tried doing the t-stop thing but it usually ends with me on my arse because my feet stop quite suddenly, my body starts going forward and to compensate I throw myself more backwards.

Start out by doing it without even putting any pressure on the rear skate. Just pick up one foot, roll a bit, then just let it drag behind you with no pressure. As you get used to it, add pressure. You don't want to rely on the brakes. As you get more advanced, they just get in the way if you're trying to do any sort of tricks or anything. They also don't stop nearly as well as a t-stop does if you're skating fast, in my experience. Back when I was a skater, no one kept that brake on their skates.

EskimoDave

CowShark wrote: »

Not sure where you're skating, but you might take it to a rink and learn to t stop there. It's a good way to stop.

It's less silly without the elevator music, and it takes some practice to get used to. Just keep your weight over your front foot/leg, keep it bent, and drag the back one to slow you down. You can start out by not putting much pressure on the back foot, so that you slow down very gradually (and maybe that back foot skips along the ground). Then, as you get better and more confident, put more and more pressure on the back foot when t stopping. Likely dangers are getting your weight out too far forward/back, or putting pressure on your braking foot so that your wheels make contact and try to spin you.

the 't-stop' will wear down your wheels faster. You just have to keep rotating your wheels to make the wear even.

Lail

The softer the wheels, the easier it is to hockey stop, however the quicker you're going to have to replace your wheels.

Buy a pair of really soft wheels to practise and get the feel for it then you could switch back to the harder ones.

It's really all in your head when it comes to learning how to hockey stop because it's such an unnatural movement.

Cognisseur

Improvolone wrote: »

I wish I had the balls to try a hockey stop.

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think a hockey stop applies to rollerblading. I've done things somewhat similar to a hockey stop, but I then keep the turn going and roll backwards the same direction I was going, but much slower. I think if you tried to do a regular hockey stop at a sufficient speed you'd just flip over yourself because your skates don't 'give' like ice-skates do for a few inches.

Essentially, that lack of 5-6 inches of skidding on ice may radically change the rate of decceleration and your body wouldn't be able to stay upright.

Lail

For inline skating you certainly can hockey stop.

truck-a-sauras

Lail wrote: »

The softer the wheels, the easier it is to hockey stop, however the quicker you're going to have to replace your wheels.

Buy a pair of really soft wheels to practise and get the feel for it then you could switch back to the harder ones.

It's really all in your head when it comes to learning how to hockey stop because it's such an unnatural movement.

another consideration when selecting wheels is your weight. The Durometer (hardness rating) of the wheels can often coincide with weight and intended use (indoor/outdoor).

as mentioned above, softer wheels do allow for a much easier hockey stop, but as I experienced recently doing a hockey stop my wheels were too soft for my weight and they pretty much crumbled and exploded under the force of the stop. Not only did the wheel rubber crumble; the inner hub of the wheel busted into pieces flinging my bearings out with it.

found some sites buying wheels they had a Durometer chart by weight and what you should purchase.

also, ditch the brakes. You'll be better served in the long run learning how to T-stop, spin stop, or hockey stop and be a better skater for it.

Edit: cog, sounds like if you have the skill to hockey stop, but experience that rolling afterwords you may benefit from a softer wheel and find you can stay stopped where you intended.

Cognisseur

Very interesting and informative post, truck-a-saurus. I'll definitely look into softer wheels. Thanks!

Adda

I used to do something similar to a hockey stop back when I was skating where I would use a combination of the side of my skate and the wheels to stop.