2022 Inline skating thread.

[cantunamunch]

Anyone here going to the Big Avocado roll?

Big Avocado Roll – LA's Skating Event

 

[In2h2o]

@cantunamunch interesting! didn't know they had regular Friday night skates.
I should have gone to CicLAvia last weekend

​

 

[cantunamunch]

 

[slow-line-fast]

Very cool video! Unfortunately my local pumptrack has worn-rough concrete, so skates are a no go. But the video did inspire me to take my bike in there, not far off my commute. Tons of fun, why didn't I start doing this before? Plus I am rocking the ancient commuter bike with rear cargo basket, so, style points.

 

[slow-line-fast]

Found a pumptrack with smooth asphalt, took my skates. OMG so much fun. Now I have another thing to do before it snows

 

[slow-line-fast]

Tried some skikes, v07, 150 wheels. They were both better and worse than I expected, depending on terrain. On close to flat, very smooth gravel roads, they are great, roll very nicely. But, on steeper climbs, the slower tempo combined with the inevitable less-than-smooth surface means that they hang up on every little pebble or bump. Not smooth. I assume the v9, 200 wheels would be incrementally better with this, but probably not by much.

 

[cantunamunch]

Tried some skikes, v07, 150 wheels. They were both better and worse than I expected, depending on terrain. On close to flat, very smooth gravel roads, they are great, roll very nicely. But, on steeper climbs, the slower tempo combined with the inevitable less-than-smooth surface means that they hang up on every little pebble or bump. Not smooth. I assume the v9, 200 wheels would be incrementally better with this, but probably not by much.

On a 3x150 setup like the old Rollerblade Coyotes (no suspended bridge between wheels), skate catch was almost completely a question of tire pressure. Back then I was running 60-100-100 psi for grass and loose-ish gravel, yes the rear tires exceeded the wheel recco but it was vital otherwise a loose chip would get in between wheels.

Once the pressure was mostly right, tho, there was no skate catch, and to this day I prefer a tall all-wheel short wheelbase over an extended wheelbase with a suspended low-height deck. So Powerslide Next Outback not the XC skeleton.

The tempo takes a bit to recover - even coming from a speed skate background it took me 5-8 weeks to get faster than an average XC runner on grass. That's 5-8 weeks of ~4hours every other day, and you need the rest day to let your upper quads and hips recover from previously unknown loads.

Once you have the tempo back, there's a bonus: climbing wet smooth pavement is easier than on PU wheel skates.

 

[slow-line-fast]

Probably a question for a nordic thread, are there any XC poles that have a safety release system? The LEKI shark seems to be a quick click in-out, but not a safety release. LEKI trigger seems to be only on alpine poles? Other manufacturers?

Something I think about with my non-releasable poles strapped on and locked in under wrist guards on the roads...

I’m using XC poles in an XC skating way, wrist guards are low profile and go over the pole straps.

I’m looking for a mechanism where the pole strap detatches from the pole under some substantial force, such as that which occurred when I once managed to plant the pole tip in a tiny hole in a sewer cover. It spun me around and stopped me on the spot, while popping the big iron sewer cover off and dragging it a few feet down the street. Amazingly I was uninjured and the pole didn’t break. That would have been the moment for the strap to detatch from the pole - a safety release.

Following up on this, LEKI told me that the shark should release in such a situation (the pole gets totally stuck in something), but they couldn’t guarantee the pole grip-strap system wouldn’t break.

I’ve been using the shark system for a little while now and it does look like it would break before my arm would, which is a good thing. No actual test, and I aim to keep it that way. Works well in normal use.

 

[cantunamunch]

Are you using longer poles than usual? I mean inlines get a fair bit faster than most go on skating skis and the stand height is a lot taller...

 

[slow-line-fast]

At faster speeds I don’t use the poles, just freeskate. Speed is a problem for getting XC specific training, I wish there were speed reducers for inline skates, but alas. For a while I was dragging an old car tire around, but that’s obviously a bit clunky and I don’t have the tire anymore.

The biggest adjustment I notice is that to get grip on pavement, even with new tips, I end up planting way forward (where it would often trip up an XC ski). Angled further back like a normal XC plant, it tends to just slip out. So I end up with a similar pole length, as the plant more directly under my hands counters the higher stand height and fact that the tip does not sink into asphalt as it does in snow. Then I have to remember to re-train the plant when on snow… or I quickly get a reminder to do so.

 

[cantunamunch]

At faster speeds I don’t use the poles, just freeskate. Speed is a problem for getting XC specific training, I wish there were speed reducers for inline skates, but alas.

Get an offroad skate with pneumatic tires. Seriously. 8mph will be a struggle at first.

As a bonus you'll be able to skate any gravel road that is rideable on a bike with 700x32. As a double bonus, your pole tips will engage the surface just fine.

 

[slow-line-fast]

Next skating problem, pumptracks are great, but for sure are intense interval training. When just on a road/path, the rest time between intervals is easy, just coast around a bit, keep moving but lightly. But the pumptrack is separated from any flat pavement by an awkward waddle through sloping grass/gravel. Or I just sit or kneel somewhere (no movement, no bueno), or fuss with taking the skates off to walk around and put them back on again. No good option for 1-3 minutes of slow easy rest movement and then straight back into the next interval. All I can think of is laying on my back and sort of bicycling my feet in the air...

 

[slow-line-fast]

... or take my actual bike instead

 

[slow-line-fast]

It is the season of wet decaying leaves.

Wet decaying leaves are my nemesis.

 

[cantunamunch]

It's deffo 2-footed skate season here too.

No-lift double push and inflatable tires work but ... eh, I think I'll shift to cycling by Nov. 5

 

[Shawn]

It is the season of wet decaying leaves.

Wet decaying leaves are my nemesis.

-I got injured earlier in the month. Had a little "oops" fall on my butt after tripping over autumn trail debris. Thought I was okay, but one downside of carbon-fiber skates with very thin padding is that there's very little to cushion the ankles in a fall. Ending up banging my ankle bone pretty hard against the stiff shell even though it was a minor fall that I didn't think twice about at the time. Even skated the next day! But by the third day I knew I had to take some time off.

-Have only skated 75 miles this month. It's been raining every single day. The trails here take at least 36 hrs to dry out in the shadier sections with a lot of leaf fall.

-November and December will be busy. The trails will be free of leaves for the most part. But the colder temperatures and darker skies will test my motivation. I need a little over 500 miles to meet my goal of 2,022 miles in 2022. I may resort to a few half centuries just to get the miles down to a more manageable amount. It's easier for me to skate longer distances in 50-60°F weather because my heart rate is so much lower than in the summer.

-Form-wise, it's definitely two-footed season as cantunamunch says above. I don't have great form, so it's not like I trust my outside edges much to begin with. But I definitely don't trust them in autumn. Way too easy to get deflected when gliding on that outside edge.

 

[slow-line-fast]

Bummer, heal up well.

On my regular route there are just a few major problem spots. If only rollerski pole manufacturers also offered a broom attachment, I would just stop, click that in, and take care of the mess. No guarantee the market for that would be more than one person.

 

[cantunamunch]

I just rode 5 miles of solid wet leaf bed. Yeah, waiting for November to change to 100% cycling might be stupid, and I'm just not excited for garage cross.

 

[neonorchid]

Bummer, heal up well.

On my regular route there are just a few major problem spots. If only rollerski pole manufacturers also offered a broom attachment, I would just stop, click that in, and take care of the mess. No guarantee the market for that would be more than one person.

Back when I was skating Kelly Drive path I used to bring a flat shovel and broom to clear the bend by the cave like bridge just before the grandstands/John Kelly statue.

-Form-wise, it's definitely two-footed season as cantunamunch says above. I don't have great form, so it's not like I trust my outside edges much to begin with. But I definitely don't trust them in autumn. Way too easy to get deflected when gliding on that outside edge.

Been a while since I skated the 202 trail (Rt 63, 309 on out to Doylestown), but I recall it was an open landscape thus always clean and free of organic debris. Could be worth checking out if you don't mind an intersection ~ every mile.

My friends won't drive from the city to 202 trail, heck they don't like meeting at SRT Spring Mill Station either and I'm not a big fan of SRT to begin with. I plan to continue with MLK Drive but on the paved pedestrian path and adding a few extra laps of the 2.4 mile RT loop of closed road from Sweetbriar to Spring Garden St bridge since we haven't heard anything about MLK drive continuing to be closed to traffic on weekends Nov - March.

It's deffo 2-footed skate season here too.

No-lift double push and inflatable tires work but ... eh, I think I'll shift to cycling by Nov. 5

happy to hear you are back to inline and cycling.

I just rode 5 miles of solid wet leaf bed. Yeah, waiting for November to change to 100% cycling might be stupid, and I'm just not excited for garage cross.

I love trail running on the leaf bed, wet or dry, newly fallen or mulched out it's all good.

 

[neonorchid]

It's deffo 2-footed skate season here too.

No-lift double push and inflatable tires work but ... eh, I think I'll shift to cycling by Nov. 5

I've long abandoned the double push, too unnatural of a movement, always felt like a receipe for ACL failure and the leg in the air pendulum follow thru from behind "forward kick" tends to throw me off balance if I'm not 100% ready for it. Classic push is good enough for me. I'm not competing against anyone in marthons or part of a race team, not looking to set a PB, I'm just in it to maintain fitness.