How fast have you gone on rollerskis?
 

Hi,
A few weeks a go I got a Garmin Forerunner 201 (a wrist-worn GPS
unit) from my wife as a 12th anniversary present. Quite a neat little
gadget.

I was out rollerskiing with a friend yesterday and we did a few informal
double-poling maximum speed tests. The terrain was straight, flat, and
the trail we were on (the Sammamish River trail, north out of Marymoor
Park in Redmond, WA) was largely deserted except for us and the
occasional walker or runner. The person wearing the unit would double
pole for a minute or so, looking at the speed readout at the end of the
interval, and during it if they could manage to sneak a peek. The
highest speeds I saw for me were 15.9 MPH, 16.6, and 16.1 MPH.

In various books and articles written by US ski team members (Endless
Winter, Momentum, etc.) I think I have seen comments that these folks
have gone in excess of 30 MPH on downhills. Is this really the case? I
can't imagine going that fast on rollerskis downhill; not with the
pavement monster just waiting to take big bites out of any flesh that
comes its way. Anybody else know their maximum rollerski speed, on
either flat or downhill?

Chris

Chris,

If you include roller blade wheeled roller skis ... I think you will
find that they can go much faster than 30 mph. In Alaska there is the
legend of John Svenson, a former UAA xc skier and now roller blade
product manager for K2, hitting 57 mph on roller blades coming down a
freshly paved long hill near Anchorage called Turnagain Pass. The
story goes that he was tucking right next to a car the assistant UAA
alpine ski coach was driving who was calling out the speeds. Things
got exciting when a wheel started to seize, John climbed through the
window when the car was going over 50 and dripped molten plastic over
the back seat (which ****ed off the coach). This speed run was 20
years ago - so I imagine rollerblade composite and bearing technology
has improved so that you can go even faster these days. Like I said,
this is a "legend" and I can't verify the actual speed. But Svenson
was/is a wild man and I don't doubt the claim.

TK

Ask Tegeder and Wenner about the skiers from the 50k club that rollerski in
Afton, MN. I'll bet that they get going 30MPH.

Greg Fangel


"Chris Esposito" wrote in message
...
Hi,
A few weeks a go I got a Garmin Forerunner 201 (a wrist-worn GPS
unit) from my wife as a 12th anniversary present. Quite a neat little
gadget.

I was out rollerskiing with a friend yesterday and we did a few informal
double-poling maximum speed tests. The terrain was straight, flat, and
the trail we were on (the Sammamish River trail, north out of Marymoor
Park in Redmond, WA) was largely deserted except for us and the
occasional walker or runner. The person wearing the unit would double
pole for a minute or so, looking at the speed readout at the end of the
interval, and during it if they could manage to sneak a peek. The
highest speeds I saw for me were 15.9 MPH, 16.6, and 16.1 MPH.

In various books and articles written by US ski team members (Endless
Winter, Momentum, etc.) I think I have seen comments that these folks
have gone in excess of 30 MPH on downhills. Is this really the case? I
can't imagine going that fast on rollerskis downhill; not with the
pavement monster just waiting to take big bites out of any flesh that
comes its way. Anybody else know their maximum rollerski speed, on
either flat or downhill?

Chris

I am sure I've exceeded 30mph on a dayly basis.
I've never checked it and I don't think it is relevant.

Rollerski races in Europe report up to 70 kph on downhills.

Your speed on the flats is quite high too. I wonder if it is better to
slow down the wheels so it would feel more like your "snow speed".

When I first got rollerskis I started "chasing" bicyclists just
like I did on skates. It was fairly idiotic activity.

Not only it does little to improve technique, it confuses pole to leg
coordination to the point that when you get on snow it feels that you
are rollerskiing through molasses.

Which is not the point.

The world rollerskiing record is over 60mph. It was done by some speed
skiing guy with full-on speed gear: aero helmet, rubber suit, boot fairings,
etc.

We have a canyon nearby that can be pretty exciting on the descent and I
timed myself over a few of the miles once with some pretty fast rollerskis
and a huge tailwind. My fastest mile time was 1:38, which I think is around
35mph average. I know that I've hit higher speeds than that on steep
sections of road elsewhere, but I don't have any objective confirmation of
that other than the huge amount of fear/clarity that comes when you go over
40mph on 3-inch wheels without brakes.

I think I recall those guys measuring their speed on a mile section and
hitting 45.

-Nathan
www.nsavage.com

"Chris Esposito" wrote in message
...
Hi,
A few weeks a go I got a Garmin Forerunner 201 (a wrist-worn GPS
unit) from my wife as a 12th anniversary present. Quite a neat little
gadget.

I was out rollerskiing with a friend yesterday and we did a few informal
double-poling maximum speed tests. The terrain was straight, flat, and
the trail we were on (the Sammamish River trail, north out of Marymoor
Park in Redmond, WA) was largely deserted except for us and the
occasional walker or runner. The person wearing the unit would double
pole for a minute or so, looking at the speed readout at the end of the
interval, and during it if they could manage to sneak a peek. The
highest speeds I saw for me were 15.9 MPH, 16.6, and 16.1 MPH.

In various books and articles written by US ski team members (Endless
Winter, Momentum, etc.) I think I have seen comments that these folks
have gone in excess of 30 MPH on downhills. Is this really the case? I
can't imagine going that fast on rollerskis downhill; not with the
pavement monster just waiting to take big bites out of any flesh that
comes its way. Anybody else know their maximum rollerski speed, on
either flat or downhill?

Chris

The speed where aerodynamics (air resistance) becomes a big factor is
about 40mph and it takes much steeper hills to break the barrier.

The average speed descending the major hills in the Gatineau Park,
Canada in a full tuck is near 45mph. So 40 mph is routine. In a
group, the fastest has been about 55mph. The road in this case is
closed to traffic and has grass siding.

Incidently, I saw some good point-of-view footage of a 50+mph descent
with roller skiers and in-line racers on a recent nordic skiing movie.

I did a quick web check and you could say, in a rather lame way, that
the world in-line speed record is 280 kpm. I say "lame" because the
skater reached this speed by hanging onto the back of a motorcycle.

See: http://www.skatelog.com/countries/de...ine-record.htm

The "pavement monster", as Chris mentions, would have a very large
appetite at this speed !!

(T. Young) wrote:

The average speed descending the major hills in the Gatineau Park,
Canada in a full tuck is near 45mph. So 40 mph is routine.


That's ~60KPH!
How fast are those descents on skis on reasonably fast snow?
Are those hills part of the Keskinada?
(Thousands of skiers successfully descend them during the race?)

Kevin Miller
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

"Tim Kelley" wrote in message oups.com...
I did a quick web check and you could say, in a rather lame way, that
the world in-line speed record is 280 kpm.

Did you mean 280 kph? kpm means something related but entirely
different to someone such as myself. 280 kpm on rollerskis wouldn't
be very impressive.

I say "lame" because the
skater reached this speed by hanging onto the back of a motorcycle.


I've gone 280 kph on a motorcycle, and I wouldn't characterize that as
lame, so, on rollerskis or rollerblades..... ;) Actually, it scared
the you know what out of me when speed shimy hit on the motorcycle,
so, I can't imagine what it would be like with nothing between you and
the pavement.

See: http://www.skatelog.com/countries/de...ine-record.htm

The "pavement monster", as Chris mentions, would have a very large
appetite at this speed !!

Very hungry indeed.

280 kpm on rollerskis wouldn't
be very impressive.

That depends ... 280 kilometers per month? or 280 kilometers per minute !

jw
milwaukee