ASRA - Australian Skateboard Racing Association

Yoyo, just starting to get serious about downhill Boarding, craving the speed and nice long hills..

If anybody is ever around Belgrave in the Dandenong mountains let me know @ louiscallas@hotmail.com or facebook me if you board around south eastern suburbs and want to chill and cruise!
 

Experienced or just skating for fun all welcome i have heaps of hills for all levels!
Peacccccce! 

Tags: Skating, cruise, down, downhill, hills

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louis, most crew know the area pretty well, rad offer but its been being hit since late '08 early '09 my a few of the crew on this site

Hi,

I am in the process of testing dry surface carving ski which as you may see here http://youtu.be/6eiSip6J03Q works pretty well on a slightly sloping hard surface. I want to test it on something a bit steeper without killing myself and crashing into a moving car. I'd appreciate if someone would let me know if there is a good place somewhere East or South East. Dandenong Ranges would be fine.

Cheers,

J.

carparks are good, some of those can be quite steep, might be worth joining a sunday night ride in the city

Any carpark in particular? Most city carparks that I know are multilevel which could be interesting. The problem is that wearing ski boots I'd have difficulties running away from security guards :-)

sean meaney said:

carparks are good, some of those can be quite steep, might be worth joining a sunday night ride in the city

if you hook up with one of the sunday night rides security is not an issue, they normally kick off at fitzroy gardens at around 7pm

Hi Louis,

last Sunday I went to the Cardinia Reservoir Park to do some tarmac skiing but found all the entry gates locked due the strike of Parks Victoria staff members. However, the exit gate with spikes in the road was opened so people could walk in and all the roads were free to ride on without cars. I did one run down to the nearest flat section of the road but walking up in the skip boots was not fun so I ended up skiing on the outside no through road and it was quite fun see http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-dsoDCUD3FI

I went to Falls Creek on the Anzac day and caught up with the freestyle ski coach Mitch Smith who gave my improved gear a go. Here's Mitch riding down the 1km stretch of the main resort road.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HiyhcMHz24

Hey Jack, interesting looking things, are the wheels rubber?

Have you tried inline skates - with 5 wheels they handle very well for ski training, and much simpler than getting around with the ski boots, you can skate back up hills etc.



Sean said:

Hey Jack, interesting looking things, are the wheels rubber?

Have you tried inline skates - with 5 wheels they handle very well for ski training, and much simpler than getting around with the ski boots, you can skate back up hills etc.

Hi Sean,

the wheels are rubber, 6-inch pneumatics. I tried 4-wheel inline skates (quite a lot) but the problem with any type of inline skates is that they do not really simulate modern carving ski and you can only turn by pivoting or positioning your advanced skate into a trajectory divergent from the other one. My device has special wheel assemblies with the front based on a pivot caster and the rear synchronised with the former. They turn by tipping on the edge and simulate side cut and reverse camber.

Another problem with in-line skates is that they do not practically provide fore/aft support and my device which is about 3 foot long has plenty of it. I have normal ski bindings and use my ski boots which allows to put pressure on the tongue of the boots like you do when you ski. Last but not least the thing is intended for mild off road conditions such as short grass which is a bit more forgiving than bitumen when you fall. Having said that, it is far more stable than in-line skates.

Hi Jack

Your device sounds interesting.  Obviously with rubber tyres you will have more grip and can thus get more lean than with urethane wheels and if you can simulate side cut and camber that's impressive.

I think you are selling the inlines a little short though.  I specifically mentioned 5 wheelers as they give you a significantly more ski like feel - more grip and also more fore/aft support.  Some say that having less fore/aft support is a plus as it promotes keeping your balance centred more.  5 wheels also provide more stability at higher speeds.

I also take issue with this:

you can only turn by pivoting or positioning your advanced skate into a trajectory divergent from the other one

 It surprises me how many skaters do turn this way, many of whom are good skiers too, but its by no means the only way.  Once you have a little speed up (ie 20-30 kph) you can certainly turn in a completely parallel manner very similar to skiing, just roll your knees/ankles.  In fact, Bill from Skater HQ is of the opinion that turning on inlines is more similar to carving skis than the older skis.  He is a former Salomon ski rep who lived in Aspen for a while so he does have skiing form.

I humbly(!) submit a clip to demonstrate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRywRMkrFRc
Here's another clip that demonstrates reasonably well, not always great technique, but see esp 3:30 to 4:30 mark http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C48ATawaLDU.  This guys got 7 wheels by look of it!

Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that inlines are a pretty good training tool for skiing.  While they may not be the perfect simulation, they are simple and easy to use - no need to be driven around, less gear and hassle, good fitness etc.  Though being driven up hills is of course awesome no matter what you're riding down on!


Hi Sean,

obviously some people will prefer in-lines and others will be devoted to Harb carvers (a type of 2-row inlines with ski boots). However, no matter what they say you can only turn on them by either making a slight pivoting movement, which is possible due to their short length, or advancing one foot and putting your inlines in a divergent position which simulates an arc.Obviously when you turn you lean into the turn so from the lateral balance point of view it's similar to carving.

You can clearly see this in your second video above. Carving in skis is possible due to a combination of a side cut and reverse camber. People use inlines because, if you don't count rolling tread grass skis, there have not been too many alternatives which was the motivation for my little project.

Anyway, don't take my word for it. Here's what Mitch who is a K2 and Falls Creek demo skier and coached freestyle Olympians and X-game winners wrote to me:

"I have had experience with roller‐blades and, though some minor likenesses to skiing were
there, the forward and aft support and stability wasn’t and there ends their application as a
serious tool dry‐land skiing. ...


As with a ski, it took me a couple of turns, literally, to find the balance point and how to close
and elongate my trajectory. I was amazed to find that within minutes my natural skiing
ability took over and enabled me to use the Roller Carver in a fashion so similar to skiing it
was uncanny.
After about 15 minutes on a steady slope in a Falls Creek car park, I found myself confident
and wanting to find a larger slope to really give them a go. I went out into the car
park/fringes of the main road and headed down. I was elated. Immediately I was able to
string turns together, both short and long radius. ...

I noticed straight away that the muscle groups used for carving turns on snow were all being
employed in exactly the same fashion on the Roller Carver. Even upper body positioning was
naturally in the same position as on snow. Being in ski boots and in a ski binding I was right
at home straight away on the Roller Carver and was able to put them on and remove them in
an almost identical fashion to skis.
After a couple of runs down approximately one kilometre of bitumen, I was comfortable and
loving it. I noticed that with very little speed, I was able to go from short radius to long
carving radius turns and really push out of each turn and into the next. On snow this would
require quite a bit more speed and a lot more area."

One of my aims was to enable skiing on rougher surface such as short grass or dirt. Watch this video with Mitch going down a dirt road with loose stones and sand. There is no way he could do something like that on inlines.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je-1G3jTkUk

and check this one when he rapidly turns into a very rough road

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aehF-puXd9I

As far as the fore/aft support is concerned you are more often putting pressure on the tongues of your ski boots than not, especially when you ski steeps. This is not quite possible with inlines.

Hey guys i'm trying to get into Dh but cant find big hills near melbourne...just wondering if there are any safe hills around Mt Dandenong with not many cars... looking for somthing nice and long around 50km/h -75km/h  Thanks.

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