rollerblading to improve BC Skiing?

I've considered getting a pair of rollerblades to improve my right-foot
response. I had a brain injury in 2002, and my right foot is partly
paralyzed. I've done some telemark turns since then, but the situation here
is rather odd, in terms of getting practice. I live in Las Vegas; even
though deep snow is only 50 minutes away, I can get out to the woods rather
infrequently, and the choice of ski areas has been limited by the avalanche
danger this season. The terrain here is mainly rather extreme -- very few
places nearby where one can practice.

I CAN get out often and run around my house, however -- I work at home, and
the mild ambient temperatures allow me to go for a 10-mile run twice a week,
which fits into my work schedule nicely. I've never used rollerblades
before, but I guess I could use my running days to blade instead.

So, does rollerblading do anything to improve skiing skills?

H.W. Stockman wrote:

So, does rollerblading do anything to improve skiing skills?

It certainly won't hurt your skating technique, though you don't want to
try stepover lead changes on skis! ;-)

As well as being good for skate technique (which can be very handy over
frozen lakes or plateaus covered in corn) it's good to build up your
thighs which means having your quads catching fire doing teles will be
put off for a while longer.

Having said the above, roller skis will give you a better ski-specific
workout than blades, but they cost a /lot/ more, are harder to get hold
of and don't let you do various other things possible on blades (like
stepover lead changes) that are fun while zooming about on good tarmac.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch wrote:
H.W. Stockman wrote:

So, does rollerblading do anything to improve skiing skills?


It certainly won't hurt your skating technique, though you don't want to
try stepover lead changes on skis! ;-)

As well as being good for skate technique (which can be very handy over
frozen lakes or plateaus covered in corn) it's good to build up your
thighs which means having your quads catching fire doing teles will be
put off for a while longer.

Having said the above, roller skis will give you a better ski-specific
workout than blades, but they cost a /lot/ more, are harder to get hold
of and don't let you do various other things possible on blades (like
stepover lead changes) that are fun while zooming about on good tarmac.

Pete.

Since you mention it, I've see several pair of roller skis
for sale on ebay from time to time. I'm not in the market,
but was curious. You'll find them in the cross-country
skiing specific area.

Might be a way to try Pete's suggestion at not too much money.
VtSkier

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In article ,
VtSkier wrote:
Peter Clinch wrote:
H.W. Stockman wrote:

So, does rollerblading do anything to improve skiing skills?


It certainly won't hurt your skating technique, though you don't want to
try stepover lead changes on skis! ;-)

As well as being good for skate technique (which can be very handy over
frozen lakes or plateaus covered in corn) it's good to build up your
thighs which means having your quads catching fire doing teles will be
put off for a while longer.

Having said the above, roller skis will give you a better ski-specific
workout than blades, but they cost a /lot/ more, are harder to get hold
of and don't let you do various other things possible on blades (like
stepover lead changes) that are fun while zooming about on good tarmac.

Since you mention it, I've see several pair of roller skis
for sale on ebay from time to time. I'm not in the market,
but was curious. You'll find them in the cross-country
skiing specific area.

_ It depends what you define as "ski specific", roller skis are
notorious for messing up your classic striding technique and as
far as turning goes they are no better than roller blades and
many of the older designs are just terrible. Also, there have
been many misteps in design over the years. I would not buy
roller skis unless you are serious about XC racing, and get some
experienced advice about exactly what to use. For just a general
workout they are overkill IMHO.

_ If you put slow wheels and bearings[1] on your roller blades you
can get in a very decent XC skating workout with poles. You can also
get good parallel turning practice by slaloming down hills, however
there are subtle differences in how to initiate the turn that can
lead you astray[2], but the fore/aft balance you gain on roller
blades is very useful.

_ You can even practice something that looks like a telemark
turn, although I'm not sure that it's all that useful other
than as a quad burning exercise.

_ Running is good aerobic training, but on flat ground it
doesn't provide the quad and body core exercise that skiing
requires. Roller blading does a good job with both of these,
I try and skate at least once a week during ski season.

_ Booker C. Bense

[1]- Or just find a long gradual uphill.

[2]- Basically, roller blades don't bend, so they don't respond in
the same way to weighting/unweighting that is central to any
skiing. They are very good at simulating angulation though and
are good practice for the new skis that respond well to "rolling
the knees".

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Booker wrote
[ lots of good advice and anaylsis ]
. . .
roller blades don't bend, so they don't respond in
the same way to weighting/unweighting that is central
to any skiing. They are very good at simulating angulation
though and are good practice for the new skis that
respond well to "rolling the knees".

I agree, it is amazing to me how much linked downhill turns on rollerskis
with strongly flexed ankles feels like carving on modern shaped skis. Even
though the physics is completely different.

My problem is that the cost of replacing wheels -- after the inside edges of
the wheels have been grinded by putting a little "skid" on the end of each
christie turn for braking on a moderate downhill. I think the
wheel-replacement per vertical feet of descent is almost as much as buying
lift-tickets at a downhill resort.

Ken

Booker C. Bense wrote:

_ It depends what you define as "ski specific", roller skis are
notorious for messing up your classic striding technique

I'd not heard that, to be honest. Also the case that the technically
best nordic striders I personally know, all current or past BASI Nordic
coaches, use and suggest roller skis. Me, I use blades 'cause they're
more fun IMHO, but the serious Nordic folk I know all say rollers do a
better job.

far as turning goes they are no better than roller blades and
many of the older designs are just terrible.

Granted.

_ You can even practice something that looks like a telemark
turn, although I'm not sure that it's all that useful other
than as a quad burning exercise.

I imagine it would be a bit like a tele on randonee gear, on tippy-toes.
Must admit the one occasion I tried to initiate one I abandoned it in
favour of not doing a body-plant on tarmac...

_ Running is good aerobic training, but on flat ground it
doesn't provide the quad and body core exercise that skiing
requires.

I dislike running because of the impact (I'm a heavy, clmsy runner and
have very high arches, it just hurts too much), but cycling I do like.
Not much for the body core, but it is good for the quads.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

"Peter Clinch" wrote in message
...
Booker C. Bense wrote:

_ It depends what you define as "ski specific", roller skis are
notorious for messing up your classic striding technique

I'd not heard that, to be honest. Also the case that the technically
best nordic striders I personally know, all current or past BASI Nordic
coaches, use and suggest roller skis.

I, too, was surprised by that comment. They are certainly recommended for
classic stride training by the Ski Research Group out of Eagle River.

I would note that the major roller ski manufacturers, in particular, V2,
make different models for classic or skate stride. A free rolling roller
ski might not develop a good kick and glide technique because of lack of
resistance but good roller skis all have resistance built in now.

Tommy T.

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In article ,
Peter Clinch wrote:
Booker C. Bense wrote:

_ It depends what you define as "ski specific", roller skis are
notorious for messing up your classic striding technique

I'd not heard that, to be honest. Also the case that the technically
best nordic striders I personally know, all current or past BASI Nordic
coaches, use and suggest roller skis.

_ If you're racing they are a must, and for skating I'm not aware
of any drawbacks if you can get enough friction in the wheels to
simulate snow speeds. There is nothing like specific training and
roller skiing is as specific as you can get without snow, but
until they figure out a way to simulate the effect of weighting
the ski to set the kick wax, roller skiing can lead to some
bad habits that require unlearning once you get on snow. For
a good skier with a coach, this disadvantage is greatly
outweighed by the specific traing provided, but for a novice
skier with no supervision it can really cause problems.

_ Back in the dark ages when I was XC racing, my coaches used
to emphasize that aspect a lot during dryland training. We
were taught to focus on weighting the ski during roller skiing
even though the mechanism did not require it, or at least not
to the extent that a highly cambered racing ski does. Personally,
I detested roller skiing and would rather do just about any other
kind of dryland training. I'm sure roller skis are much better
now that back then, but from what I read on rec.skiing.nordic
it seems like this is still a problem.

_ As for the original poster, you might try poking around
ebay or garage sales for a Nordic Track trainer. Here's
what I mean

http://tinyurl.com/49blg

_ You can get them used fairly cheap and they do provide
a good ski specific workout.

_ Booker C. Bense





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Peter Clinch wrote
roller skis will give you a better ski-specific workout than blades

Why? How?
What is it about the physics or biomechanics of rollerskis that makes them
more "specific" for backcountry skiing than inline skates?

After spending lots of hours over a couple of years skating on both, I don't
see the advantage of rollerskis. I've pretty much abandoned rollerskis
except for occasionaly poling workouts for my upper body, but not for my
legs or balance.

How many rollerskiers can make linked christie/parallel turns down a hill
like a good inline skater?

How many rollerskiers can make a long glide on a single ski and change
between the inside and outside edges 8 times like I can on inline skates (or
on a single backcountry snow ski going down a firm-snow slope).

Ken

Ken Roberts wrote:

Why? How?
What is it about the physics or biomechanics of rollerskis that makes them
more "specific" for backcountry skiing than inline skates?

Because you use a boot that flexes under the ball of your foot to
transfer power straight back, where blades will only allow you to kick
off at an angle to the line of the skate.

How many rollerskiers can make linked christie/parallel turns down a hill
like a good inline skater?

How many rollerskiers can make a long glide on a single ski and change
between the inside and outside edges 8 times like I can on inline skates (or
on a single backcountry snow ski going down a firm-snow slope).

And how many rollerbladers can use good straight ahead diagonal stride
to cover a lot of ground over the great majority of muscle use time
spent over a day?

Personally I use blades, but my friendly neighbourhood nordic instructor
and professional backcountry tour leader uses rollers in direct
preference because they're more like skis for the business ofbasically
covering ground. If you're in a steep up, steep down mode then I would
say they'd have little utility, but a lot of backcountry skiing is about
covering reasonably level ground in straight lines, which rollerskis can
help with better than blades.
My backcountry touring typically uses more nordic flat technique than
downhill with day's hut to hut in Norway typically involving single
figures of tricky turns, but double figures of kilometers following
tracks. YMMV.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/