Nick, you're very brave to give this a try again given longstanding
balance issues (at 66, I've found my balance is much better than when
younger, in good part due to the demands of x-c skiing and
rollerskiing).

If you pursue this, then I think it's a choice of picking your poison:
get the longest commercially available rollerskis (Marwe combi
+ wirewheel at about 825mm for classic; maybe the longer Jenex for
skating?); or you can build something that will be too unwieldy for the
physical conditioning you desire. For the first choice especially, I'll
suggest Crash Pads (for snowboarders and skaters), lightweight knee and
elbow pads and, of course, a helmet. Crash Pads:
http://www.crash-pads.com/. I used to use the mesh-underwear style and
they're very effective. Once lost my balance going downhill on
rollerskis and took a ten foot slide on my hip/butt. No scratches, just
shook it off, got up and carried on.

Btw, another way to employ rollerskis would be just to use them for
double poling. Very effective workout, perhaps the most effective on
rollerskis, and much safer; can build up to 1.5 to 2 hour sessions.
It could be done on skate rollerskis with longer poles or on
something like the long Marwe I suggested above with classical
poles.

The third choice is to skip it and do lots of other long and short
distance exercising (bike, row, hike/run), plus gym work (strength,
elliptical machine, etc.). There are people I've known over the years
who choose not to rollerski and do just fine racing, getting back what
they need at the beginning of snow season.

Gene

On Sun, 28 Apr 2013 12:57:45 +0100 (BST)
wrote:

In article ,
dardruba wrote:

For various reasons, I need ones a couple of
metres long, with ratchet wheels on the front and a REAR braking
system operated by moving my calves.

Hi Nick, you seem reluctant to tell us why you Really Really need
this item, who would be using it and on what terrain.

Not really, but I was trying to keep it simple :-(

If you could give us some clues as to its potential usage I'm sure
the skiers on here could help.

I doubt it :-)

I believe that length will not get you round any of the sharp
corners on the tracks used for our roller ski events and as for
going up inclines you will need those forward roll wheels to stop
you from glissading backwards.

I have a strong negative interest in such tracks.

As for the long road in Hyde Park or on Blackpool Promenade you will
not have the ability to skip around the gawpers who stop in front of
you as we do on roller blades or roller skis.

I have a Very, Very Strong negative interest in such locations.


Now, as to why:

I am 65 (and hence vulnerable to crashes) with no vestibular
(semi-circular canal) balance at all. None whatsoever. I balance
almost entirely by touch, and have done for almost all of my life,
so I can ride a stable bicycle and ski (to some extent). In
particular:

I want to be able to use this to get fit for real cross-country
skiing (which I might take up again, after 40+ years), and am
talking about travelling at 10-15 MPH. I need to be able to stop
in an emergency, and therefore need brakes.

If I catch my feet when leaning forward, I WILL crash onto
my face. That was why I couldn't learn to skate in my youth,
because they required us to use figure-skating skates. Therefore
I must have rear brakes.

Short rollerskis and (effectively) a J-stop WILL cause me to
crash. I can do that on snow, because I can (just) control the
side-slip. That is not available with wheels.

Work that lot through, and you will see that I have two options:
to abandon this altogether, and to take the approach I am planning.
If you think that you have another approach that might work, you
are 99% certain to have misunderstood the constraints caused by
my balance.

On that matter, it is a myth that balance is controlled by one
sense. 70% of the semi-circular canal data controls eye tracking
(which I don't do - I predict), and it is the primary balancing
method in people with no handicaps. But is disappears as they
get older, and needs to be replaced by touch, which is why old
people need sticks and to hold onto things - it's NOT primarily
for support.

Vision is the third method, but is useful only to tell you which
way is up, because it is too slow (a 0.2 second delay in the
visual cortex). So I am back to solely touch. That is slower
than vestibular (tolerably so), but its real gotcha is that any
uncertainty in sensations through the feet takes nearly half
a second to reequilibrate. Oops. CRASH!

So I need to be able to stop in an emergency without having any
functioning organ of balance. With long skis and rear brakes,
it would be feasible (just) - I am not going to explain how I
know, but it's experience with similar activities. With short
rollerskis, no chance.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.