From: dcchan@engin.umich.edu (David Chi Wei Chan)
Subject: Rec.skate FAQ
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 92 13:38:05 EDT
Organization: University of Michigan Engineering, Ann Arbor

Frequently Asked Questions for rec.skate

Q: Who is this newsgroup for?

A: The charter for rec.skate is for all kinds of skating: traditional roller
   skating, in-line skating (sometimes mis-spoken as Rollerblading), figure
   skating, speed skating, and participants in hockey. Skating-related
   discussions not held in rec.skate include pro and college hockey (held in
   rec.sport.hockey) and skateboarding (held in alt.skate-board).
   Cross-country skating skiing may be discussed either here or in rec.skiing.

   Within the various disciplines of skating discussed here, most anything
   goes: discussions about equipment, maintenance, technique, competetions,
   access to skating areas, etc. are all welcome.

   At this point, the majority of the discussion in rec.skate (and virtually
   all of this FAQ) is about in-line skating. If you want to discuss something
   else, feel free to discuss it. If you have some material to add to the FAQ,
   send me mail.

Q: I'm interested in getting a pair of in-lines for outdoor skating. I want to
   get decent stuff, but I'd rather not spend a lot of money. What do I need
   to get?

A: First off, your budget should include protection: knee pads, wrist guards,
   and a helmet. Elbow pads are optional. These "pads" should have a hard
   plastic shell -- they should slide on the asphalt when you fall. Good
   brands of protection are the Rollerblade TRS or the Dr. Bone Savers (DBS)
   set of accesories. For helmets, any well-fitting ANSI/Snell approved
   bicycle helmet should be fine.

   The in-line industry is a lot like the bicycle industry -- specialty shops
   generally sell and support more expensive functional skate brands and
   department stores generally sell inexpensive lines that will never work
   well. Also, there's usually a much greater chance of getting spare parts
   and service from a specialty shop than a department store.

   Rollerblade is the best-known brand of in-line skate; they make a whole
   family of different in-line skates. Any skate in Rollerblade's line at or
   above the Lightning skate should work well and last a long time. Other
   reputable manufacturers are Ultra Wheels, Riedell, and Bauer. The
   higher-end skates in the California Pro line are functional and relatively
   inexpensive. Performance Bike is introducing a line of skates at a low
   price; quality of these skates is unknown at this point.

   You may wish to rent a model of skates before buying. Some shops will
   discount part of the rental from purchase price if you buy skates later.

   Fit of skates should be comfortable but snug. Unlike hiking or running
   shoes, it's OK for your toes to be loosely in contact with the front of the
   boot.

   Unless you have a background of speed skating, beginning skaters should
   avoid the 5-wheel skates. The problem with isn't the inherent speed of the
   skates, it's that performing turns takes much greater committment. The
   5-wheelers are great fun, but master the fundamentals on a shorter
   wheelbase first.

Q: I want to get good in-lines, but I can only afford $150.

A: At this price point, you'll have to be pretty resourceful. First, note that
   the in-line "season" begins somewhere around the end of March. You'll
   probably find some good bargains in stores in the Jan-Mar time frame. Like
   many sports, the in-line market is style-oriented: you may find last year's
   style at a huge discount.

   Even at this price level, you should avoid "department store" skates
   (unless you want to buy skates that you won't use). You're far better off
   buying a pair of used Rollerblade Lightning skates.  If you don't see
   anyone selling your size, consider putting an ad advertising that you want
   to buy skates. The going rate for used Lightnings in good condition is
   around $80-100. If wheels and bearings are shot, cut that to about $40 --
   you'll need the other $50-60 or so to get new wheels and bearings.

   Use the other $50 to buy protection. Don't skimp on protection! A knee is a
   terrible thing to waste. Used protection in good condition is fine.

Q: HOW DO I STOP?

A: Good question. You've taken the most important step -- realizing that there
   is a need to be able to slow down. The rest is just practice.

   There are several general techniques for stopping while remaining on your
   skates: generating friction by dragging your brake pad, generating friction
   by sliding your wheels laterally against the ground, jumping onto grass and
   killing your speed by running out, and pushing against a slower-moving or
   stationary object with your hands. There's also falling, which is a valid
   last-ditch technique that's a good to learn.

   These techniques are described in a document, Speed Control on In-Line
   Skates.  That document will be posted periodically as a separate FAQ.
   Here's the section on using the brake:

   I finally learned how to brake well when someone described this image: your
   brake foot has just slipped on a banana peel. Whoops! Your brake foot will
   be about a foot in front of your body. The leg will have a slight bend. The
   rear wheel and the brake will be in contact with the ground.

   At first, your non-brake foot will be bearing almost all your weight. That
   leg will be directly under your body, and the knee will be bent. The amount
   of bend in your knee will determine how much braking force you can apply.

   Your feet should be very close to your centerline. This should help keep
   you going straight forward when braking (pretty important!).

   There should be a slight forward bend in the waist. It may also help to
   keep the hands at waist height or so. This keeps your center of gravity
   lower.  Try to keep your hands (and your whole upper body) loose; clenched
   fists do not make the brakes work any better! Relax.

   After you've tried a dozen or so stops, add one more refinement: drive your
   back knee into the back of the front knee while braking. This creates a
   triangle with your lower legs and the pavement between your skates. As all
   the Buckminster Fuller fans out there know, triangles provide structural
   stability. This triangle should enhance your braking power and ability to
   run smooth, straight, and true while stopping.

   As you master braking, begin to shift more of your weight to your front
   foot. The Masters of Speed Control can actually decelerate while standing
   only on their front foot. Good trick, that.

Q: I've learned how to slow down. How do I go faster?

A: First off, keep learning how to slow down! Learn new techniques; refine the
   ones you already know. Until you master slowing down, your mind will limit
   how fast it will let you go on skates.

   Watch good skaters. Notice that they rarely have both skates on the ground
   at the same time. This independent leg action is something you'll master
   over time; you can practice by seeing now long you can glide on a single
   skate. When you can glide on a single skate for more than 30 seconds (both
   left and right legs!), you're well on the way.

   Notice that almost all of the side-to-side motion is happening below the
   waist. Eliminate any twisting motion in your shoulders -- keep your
   shoulders square to your direction of travel. If you want to move your
   arms, move them forward and back -- crossing patterns may have you twist
   your shoulders. Relax the muscles in your lower back to allow your upper
   body to remain quiet.

   Watch your stride. Are you pushing more to the side or to the back? Shift
   your stride to be pushing almost exclusively to the side.

   Where do you set your skate down at the start of your stride? Shoulder
   width? Start setting your skate down on the centerline of your body. After
   you're comfortable with that, start setting your skate further in beyond
   your centerline.

   Do you flick your toe at the end of your stride? If so, stop. Instead,
   flick your heel -- drive your heel out at the end of the stroke. This will
   feel very strange for the first 10,000 or so times.

   Relax. Then relax some more. Discover levels with levels of relaxation.
   Travel fast while moving your skates slowly -- your body is swimming
   through air. Consider beginning to practice T'ai Chi Ch'aun postures daily.
   Relax some more.

Q: What sort of maintenance do I have to do?

A: Things that need maintaining are the wheels, bearings, and brakes.

   Rotate wheels every 50-100 miles. To rotate a set of wheels, remove the
   frontmost wheel, stash it away, move all the other wheels up one position,
   and place the front wheel in the rearmost position. Flip each wheel as
   you're rotating it, swapping the inside and outside edges.

   With each wheel off the skate, clean around the bearings. Spin the wheel to
   see if the bearings are in good shape. If bearings are bad, replace them. 

   Replace the brake pad when it's worn out (there's a "wear-line" on the new
   brake pads if you don't intuit this).

   Practice preventative maintenance: avoid sand, dirt, and water as much as
   possible. These guys are what cause bearing failure. If you want bearings
   to last, vacuum in/around your runners with an upholstery accessory after
   every day. If you do want to skate in sand/dirt/water/mud, get a set of
   sealed bearings.

   Rotate your wheels often. It can be done in about 30 minutes tops.

   Buy a Rollerblade "Y" tool to remove bearings from spacers, or buy one of
   the aftermarket bearing spacer kits. These make bearing removal much
   easier.

Q: What other information is out there to help me with in-line skating?

A: There are two magazine that exist for in-line skating: In-line
   Magazine and the Speed Skating Times. In-line Subscriptions are
   available through In-Line Subscription Department, 1919 14th
   Street, Suite 421, Boulder, CO 80302.  Telephone number is (303)
   440-5111. Speed Skating Times is more race-oriented. Can someone
   e-mail me subscription infomration?

   There are several videos that are marginally good at training. One
   of these is the Rollerblade/Ski Magazine Skate to Ski video. Your
   local Rollerblade dealer should have training videos available for
   viewing in the store and/or rental.

Phil Earnhardt		pae@netwise.com
Netwise, Inc. 		Boulder, CO  (303) 442-8280

From grr@cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com Tue Mar 31 09:38:26 1992
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Date: Tue, 31 Mar 92 08:14:43 EST
From: grr@cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com (George Robbins)
Message-Id: <9203311314.AA24887@cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com>
To: adchen@phoenix, pae@netwise.com
Subject: Re: FAQ
Status: RO

Hi Phil:

Here are my comments on your FAQ stuff.  BTW, I don't see any real problem
with having several FAQ documents covering various aspects of the sport,
let this be the generic one, but keep the "braking" and other similar
documents separate, even maintained by different folks.  This is done for
some of the other groups which include diverse interests.

> Frequently Asked Questions for rec.skate
> 
> Q: Who is this newsgroup for?
> 
> A: The charter for rec.skate is for all kinds of skating: traditional roller
>    skating, in-line skating (sometimes mis-spoken as Rollerblading), figure

how about: (sometimes called Rollerblading, but Rollerblade is the trademarked
name of a particular brand of in-line skates)

>    skating, speed skating, and participants in hockey. Skating-related
>    discussions not held in rec.skate include pro and college hockey (held in
>    rec.sport.hockey) and skateboarding (held in alt.skate-board).
>    Cross-country skating skiing may be discussed either here or in rec.skiing.

I'd leave out mention of cross-country skating skiing.  It's probably adequately
covered in rec.ski except for an occasional comparison to other forms of skating.

>    Within the various disciplines of skating discussed here, most anything
>    goes: discussions about equipment, maintenance, technique, competetions,
>    access to skating areas, etc. are all welcome.
> 
>    At this point, the majority of the discussion in rec.skate (and virtually
>    all of this FAQ) is about in-line skating. If you want to discuss something

Insert: This isn't to denigrate other forms of skating, but just reflects the
  fact that because in-line skating is currently a highly visible and fast growing
  segment of the sport, many of the questions in the newsgroup relate to in-line
  skating.

>    else, feel free to discuss it. If you have some material to add to the FAQ,
>    send me mail.
> 
> Q: I'm interested in getting a pair of in-lines for outdoor skating. I want to
>    get decent stuff, but I'd rather not spend a lot of money. What do I need
>    to get?
> 
> A: First off, your budget should include protection: knee pads, wrist guards,
>    and a helmet. Elbow pads are optional. These "pads" should have a hard
>    plastic shell -- they should slide on the asphalt when you fall. Good
>    brands of protection are the Rollerblade TRS or the Dr. Bone Savers (DBS)
>    set of accesories. For helmets, any well-fitting ANSI/Snell approved
>    bicycle helmet should be fine.
> 
>    The in-line industry is a lot like the bicycle industry -- specialty shops
>    generally sell and support more expensive functional skate brands and
>    department stores generally sell inexpensive lines that will never work
>    well. Also, there's usually a much greater chance of getting spare parts
>    and service from a specialty shop than a department store.

Discount and mall chain sporting goods stores tend to carry the low-end to
mid-line products, often at the best non-sale prices.

>    Rollerblade is the best-known brand of in-line skate; they make a whole
>    family of different in-line skates. Any skate in Rollerblade's line at or
>    above the Lightning skate should work well and last a long time. Other
>    reputable manufacturers are Ultra Wheels, Riedell, and Bauer.  The
>    higher-end skates in the California Pro line are functional and relatively
>    inexpensive.

Might want to say that "low-end" skates such as those marketed by Roller Derby
are inexpensive, but may be of too low quality for serious use.

> Performance Bike is introducing a line of skates at a low
>    price; quality of these skates is unknown at this point.

better left unmentioned then - there are other new brands showing up
but better to wait until you've at least seen them...

>    You may wish to rent a model of skates before buying. Some shops will
>    discount part of the rental from purchase price if you buy skates later.
> 
>    Fit of skates should be comfortable but snug. Unlike hiking or running
>    shoes, it's OK for your toes to be loosely in contact with the front of the
>    boot.

I think "be able to reach, but not touching" is closer than "loosely in contact"
- I have a funny callus on the tip of one toe, plus occasional buised nails that
says 1/2 size larger might be a good idea next time...

>    Unless you have a background of speed skating, beginning skaters should
>    avoid the 5-wheel skates. The problem with isn't the inherent speed of the
>    skates, it's that performing turns takes much greater committment. The

how about: it's that manueverability and flexibility are sacrificed for the
  sake of racing performance, so turns and and other maneuvers require more
  commitment...

>    5-wheelers are great fun, but master the fundamentals on a shorter
>    wheelbase first.

 are great fun on the open road....

skipping...

> Q: What other information is out there to help me with in-line skating?
> 
> A: There are two magazine that exist for in-line skating: In-line
>    Magazine and the Speed Skating Times. In-line Subscriptions are
>    available through In-Line Subscription Department, 1919 14th
>    Street, Suite 421, Boulder, CO 80302.  Telephone number is (303)
>    440-5111. Speed Skating Times is more race-oriented. Can someone
>    e-mail me subscription infomration?

Might want to add refereces to "Wheel Excitement" and "Outdoor Skating"
(Frank Simcoe - pre-inline, but the bell-bottoms are amusing and the girl cute)

BTW, do you know this guy by any chance?  The book has him as a pro at
the "Flatirons Ice Arena" in Boulder ca. 1980.  Redoing the photography/
graphics and moderate editing to focus on in-lines would make this a
pretty good in-line skating book, much better than "Wheel Excitement".

>    There are several videos that are marginally good at training. One
>    of these is the Rollerblade/Ski Magazine Skate to Ski video. Your
>    local Rollerblade dealer should have training videos available for
>    viewing in the store and/or rental.

You might want to add a Q+A for:

Q: I just got some rollerblades, but don't really know how to skate -
   everybody makes it look easy, but how do you get started.

the answer might include check with retail shops for clinics, group
lessons at an ice or roller rink, books/videos.

We really need a short - learn to skate FAQ documnet, which could be
assembled from rec.skate postings, but I don't have anything coherent.





>From your next message:

> Does this sound like an appropriate FAQspeak answer?
> 
> Q: How come my branch of skating is never discussed here? Why do I have to
>    look through the other discussions I have no intereste in?  Why don't we
>    have rec.skate.figure (or rec.skate.roller, rec.skate.in-line,
>    rec.skate.speed, etc.)?
> 
> A: If you want to see discussion about something, start discussing it.  If you
>    don't want to look through uninteresting discussions, investigate the
>    mechanisms within your newsreader to create a KILL file. With a KILL file,
>    you can easily and effectively filter out threads you don't wish to follow.

<<<<<<
>    We currently don't have the message volume to justify separate newsgoroups.
>    Besides, some of us like having a single group with all skating discussion
>    in one place. If *you're* interested in trying to create new groups, then
>    start reading the appropriate groups to find out how (Note: this may take
>    over a year of study before you really understand it). If you want to tell
>    us that *someone else* should be investigating creating a new group, you
>    should realize that such messages are invariably usless (and, ironically,
>    can themselves become a huge waste of bandwidth).
<<<<<

This paragraph just sounds pissy.  I'd say something more like:

Over time, there really aren't enough messages for the various sub-topics to
keep intersting discussions going or justify separate newsgroups.  At present
it seems best to keep all skating subjects in one area and just skip over
the occasional bursts of un-interesting messages.

>    Summary: discuss skating in the group. Contribute postings on subjects
>    you'd like others to post more about. With your newsreader, filter out
>    messages you'd rather not read. Don't complain about things unless you're
>    willing to do something about them yourself.

ditto.


Good job overall!

			George