New West Coast US Skater

[buckwilson]

Howdy everyone!

I'm Buck (@buckwilson on Twitter), and I just moved to Portland, Oregon and I'm starting to take up Slalom skating. I've never really done any inline skating at all, and I just got my skates yesterday (twister 2 pros), so I'm at the point where I'm trying to get comfortable with everything.

I haven't rockered my wheels yet or removed my heel brake. I'm learning to T-Stop currently (I can slow down fine but coming to a complete stop is proving difficult). I practiced slalom for an hour yesterday without cones or anything just to get a feel for it.

It's a little strange getting used to maneuvering without being able to bend at the ankle... it took some practice but I can put one foot in front of the other and snake around relatively well. It seems a lot of my turning is coming from upper body momentum rather than leg momentum. I'm not sure if this is right, but it seems to feel right.

One question : if I rocker my wheels now will I die if I try and, oh say, commute to work? Do I need to practice the basics on flat skates now or should I just rocker them now and get it over with so I can learn to skate on that setup?

I set up a lame little journalblog documenting my escapades. Hopefully it will document the progression of a complete newb to a total master of the art! http://freestylebuck.wordpress.com

Everything I learn I'll wind up putting there, so maybe it'll be a good resource for other people just getting started. I'm psyched to find a forum and I hope to contribute instead of just leech (but I'll definitely be doing some info leeching up front)

So in conclusion: What's up all! Happy to be here!

[jlacivita]

i had been skating for 20 years before i rocked my wheels, and even then i was a bit shacky "commuting to work"

Since you're new i'd hold off skating in traffic with or without rockered wheels, but go ahead and rocker them now if you want.

[jlacivita]

silly me.

Welcome to the group!

[buckwilson]

Right on, thanks for the tip. Do you know if I can rocker the wheels on the Twisters without buying new wheels? I suppose I could just wait until I get home to find out...

edit: to clarify, commuting to work would be via sidewalk / boardwalk... but I can definitely see myself gliding into traffic at an intersection.

edit 2 : thanks for the welcome!

[denni]

twisters, from what i understand, need different sized wheels to rocker them. sizes 72/76 is standard.

[Jointlock]

Welcome to the board
I started on Twisters... you have to get different sized wheels. 72 are hard to find, but you can fit 76 & 80 with no problem. The Twister stock wheels will wear out pretty quickly. They say they are 82a, but I doubt it. I killed the original set in a month. Look at it this way, if you buy a full set of each size you end up with 2 sets of rockered wheels.

[dougp]

Hey & welcome to the neighborhood.

We've got a number of slalom skaters in the Seattle area, so if you are ever up this way let us know and we can get together. Stacy also teaches slalom classes on Saturday mornings in Bellevue (will be starting again in September).

As you may have figured from the forum posts, you just missed a rock'n good time in Seattle. How's that for timing...

There's one skater from Portland (Maria) who has been to a couple of Naomi's workshops in Seattle, but I don't think she spends much time slalom skating as she has no one to skate with.

Here's a little pimer I wrote on slalom skating, it may help with some of your questions.

Doug

[tomvv]

Welcome, Buck.

Check out the group PISA on Yahoo. That's Portland Inline Skaters Association. Sign onto it and you'll get email notifications when folks gather to skate. The Waterfront isn't perfect for skating, but it's a good place to meet and skate away from. Tuesdays at 7pm at the Salmon Creek Fountain, a group usually meets up and skates about an 8 mile loop, going south along the Willamette, crossing on some bridge or another, usually the Sellwood, and coming back up the other side. As the days shorten, the start time will move to 6:30 before the rains pretty well shut things down for the Winter.
I live in Seattle but get to Portland often for work and I skate with the pisans whenever my schedule allows. It's always a friendly group, varied in age and ability. Maria S. moderates the goup on Yahoo and and also comprises the entire Portland slalom community. Well, I guess she's only half of it now that you've hit town with an interest in slalom. I'll PM you my phone and maybe we can practice when I'm in PDX.
I checked out your blog. You really scored with the Twisters, even if you'll need some other wheels eventually. I've found them to be a good all around skate. Keep your brake on if you're going to commute. Brakes are cheaper than wheels, and T-stopping eats wheels. Besides, I like the frightened look on pedestrians' faces on hearing a shrieking heel brake. Riding on rockered skates around town isn't as bad as it sounds. I've skated through many parts of Portland with my rockered Twisters, and they're a bit twitchy going down hills, but that's the only time I miss a longer wheelbase.
I hope we can meet up on wheels one of these days.

[buckwilson]

Wow! This community rocks. I'm happy to see all of the responses.

I'll see if I can get ahold of some 72s... the wheels on my twisters are 76 80a. I assume the set of 72s on ebay for like $15 probably aren't worth looking at. I'll peek around some skate shops here to see if I can find anyone that stocks inline equipment. Back when I used to skate(board) all skate shops stocked inline stuff– now, it seems, not so much.

Any good internet stores / wheel brands for me to peek at?

Doug - I've run across your primer before and read it through several times before getting my skates! The information there is quite valuable! Thanks for putting it together. Yeah it's a shame I missed the freestyle battle in Seattle–– maybe next year I can compete

Tom - I'll definitely check out the PISA Yahoo group. Skating will be way more fun with other people, for sure. I live at the South Waterfront so meeting at the Waterfront is right up my alley. 8 miles is a bit out of my league right now though

Yeah, $91 shipped for a perfect fitting set of Twisters is amazing. I really lucked out. I'm looking to buy some wheels ASAP.

I actually commuted to work today (via the Waterfront) and it wasn't too much fun. The texture they raked into the concrete there is killer, especially uphill. It feels more like sprinting to work

Thanks all for the awesome welcome!

[RollRSkateGirl]

Hey welcome!! I'm Rachel and I live in Knoxville Tennessee (close to the Smoky Mountains National Park). I'm all by myself over here too, though Naomi did come by earlier this summer for some sight-seeing, rink skating, and a mini-workshop for me and my cousin Roz (who lives in North Carolina).

This site has REALLY cheap wheels if you want to get something to try out.
http://www.inlinesports.com/wheels.cfm

You might want to try to find some 72's and 76's with a higher of duometer number (that's that 80 A number - the higher the number the harder the wheel) so that they don't wear down faster than your other wheels. A good duometer for outside slalom skating is usually 83-85.

Edit: Just browsed that site (haven't been on it in awhile) and it seems they don't have as many $1 wheels as they used to, but there is a few out there. If you want the best, you can always get some Seba wheels from Stacy or Jeremy.

[buckwilson]

Awesome-- thanks for the help regarding the wheels!

Do these look like good wheels for freestyle?
http://www.inlinesports.com/wheel_temp. ... erformance

I'd get 4 76mm and 4 80mm in the 84a. Shipping is a bit steep at $11, but I think I can handle it. Are there any other good online shops for wheels?

[slowtofastest]

those may be indoor wheels, i can't remember off hand. i dont think that is necessarily bad as my two bigger wheels are indoor wheels, but i dont know for sure. remember that the 84a is a measure of "hardness", not a measure of resistance to abrasion.

if you are just starting out, get whatever is cheapest. if you can find an extra set of 8 really cheap wheels on that web site add those to your order and grind them down first. my first set of wheels is still working, been on them since march/april, and those are just the random indoor 76mm wheels i could bum off people on the speedskating team plus some other totally random 72s i had on a pair of skates sitting in the corner. that's actually what i do, the nicer wheels i bought i only put on if i'm going to the roller rink so they have essentially no wear, i'm grinding down the cheap crappy ones first. and i have 2 sets of backup cheap crappy wheels on top of that, so the good wheels will last indoors for a long long time.

[JohnS]

those wheels are quite nice, ive used them before. they were also somewhat cheap if memory serves me correctly.

getting whats cheap is definately a good idea if your just starting out. (wheel wise i mean).

[buckwilson]

Cool. I wound up finding some $1 72mm 83a or 84a, and paired those with the ones I linked for a rocker'd set. We'll see how all that goes.

I've made some decent progress on the front cross, but can't skate backwards at all. I'm not even sure where to begin! Might meet up with that PISA group to see if I can get some inline basics down (making tight turns, skating backwards, stopping suddenly without spinning backwards, etc).

Thanks again for everyone's help and input!

edit: I take that back, the two I wound up with are both 82a, I think. Couldn't quite piece together a rockered set of 84a from that site.
Wound up with these and these.