 Poster: A snowHead
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Thinking about buying but havn't got a clue on how to choose a pair.....any one own a pair they could recommend?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Bauer were always really good, my brother played roller hockey and did aggressive skating, but they do normal ones too!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I have some RollerBlade branded blades, they're fine. Not tried many others though.
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| Snowbird wrote: |
| Thinking about buying but havn't got a clue on how to choose a pair.....any one own a pair they could recommend? |
Like ski boots, buy a pair that fit your feet. Thermoform inner boots won't make a badly fitting skate fit your foot. Aluminium frames will last longer than plastic ones and are perhaps stiffer. If you are skating around the streets then 76 to 80mm wheels and a softboot are preferable. Some of the skates you see in places like Lidl are not too bad. I started on Salomon TR7s which lasted about 10,000km then moved onto their Freeskate series. Have not skated much since breaking my ankle last summer though - we did have snow on the ground for 2 months.
This skate forum is probably your best port of call:-
http://www.serpentineroad.com/forum/index.php
Cross-training to skiing is probably not that significant. I was skating 20km to and from work one summer but still found the first day on the slopes hard. I found cycling and swimming better activities. They will help with balance and coordination - if you get beyond the frankenstein monster stage that most Sunday skaters seem to reach. You can also practise downhill slaloming if you can find a nice slope. Watch your back/disks if you are dropping off flights of stairs etc. You should use wrist protection and possibly a helmet and certainly knee/elbow pads when you first start.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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davidof,
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Cross-training to skiing is probably not that significant
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I'm surprised. But maybe not once I think about it, blading might be a better exercise for xc-skiing? I found them good to train on, but that maybe reflects exercise vs non-exercise!
I moved from Rollerblade Macros (1994) to Salomon FSKs (top end freeskate) last year and am very impressed. Snowbird, you might find that a model down that range good to start out on. http://www.salomoninline.com/uk/gamme.asp?s=0&id_range=10066&n_typprod=Skates&id_typprod=2728
If you lived in London I would recommend these guys for lessons http://www.skatefresh.com but, err, you don't. You should be able to find instructors on the web. BTW, it isn't the same as skiing (i.e. you typically rotate your shoulders into the turn which would have you in all sorts of trouble on skis) so lessons are just as worthwhile.
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| David Murdoch wrote: |
davidof,
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Cross-training to skiing is probably not that significant
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I'm surprised. But maybe not once I think about it, blading might be a better exercise for xc-skiing? I found them good to train on, but that maybe reflects exercise vs non-exercise!
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The bad:
Rollerblade produced a video called 'Skate to Ski' some years ago. The skating they showed was nothing like anyone is likely to practice outside of ski racer clinics.
In regular skating, the stance is different; the pattern of muscle use is different and, as you point out, there is a temptation to turn with the shoulders. In pack skating, one is taught to push out with the heel and not the toe, exactly what is seen as bad skiing nowadays.
The good:
DM, see if you can get someone to teach you what we call the 'lunge turn'. It is amazingly similar to 'gorilla turns' in skiing, and requires one to ride the outside edge of the skate. In fact the 'double push' is remarkably close to what easiski calls the 'rumba' over in the BZK forum.
Other benefits I perceive: front-to-back balance (cure your tail riding days forever), hip mobility, awareness of dynamic balance. High-speed crossover turns require a very similar control of the inside shoulder and hip as skiing on ice.
In all I agree entirely with davidof, I am only AMAZED that he managed that many km out of his TR7s, as everyone in our club had to have the liners replaced in less than 2 seasons. The point of good fit is incredibly important: around here we might only get 30 ski days per season but we get 200+ skate days!
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| Snowbird wrote: |
| Thinking about buying but havn't got a clue on how to choose a pair.....any one own a pair they could recommend? |
Whatever pair you choose, you should be able to balance in them without buckling the top buckle. Folks with wider feet or significant pronation generally have trouble with this. Skaters with narrower feet usually have less of a problem with the factory balance position. You should also be able to stand on the inside edges, neutral, and outside edges without flopping about inside the skate or significant knee pointing. One of my favourite fit tests is to see whether I can touch the wheels of both skates together as I roll along.
I see quite a few skaters trapped into using the inside edge only, and it generally gets worse with fatigue, their only remedy to torque down the top buckle. This is a bad fit- it blocks them from learning efficient skating technique, let alone such tricks as skating in the rain or tight high-speed turns. The frankenstein monster stage davidof mentions can be related to this- it is generally an unwillingness or inability to glide any distance on one foot, the center of mass constantly between the two skates never centered onto one.
Cotton sox bad. Unless you enjoy blisters.
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