Seen as a standard summer road hazard around my neck of the woods! I have to avoid them on a regular basis, particularly on the final hill up to my village which they see as some kind of "roller skiing Everest" that must be conquered The only time I wish for rain to be honest, as they don't come out so often and clog the back roads up!
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Amazing effort.
After all it is free
After all it is free
Blimey.
See them doing that here from time to time, but fortunately they stick to (pretty wide) bike paths. Fun watching them try to cross the 6 lane road and tram lines though.
In NL it used to be rollerbladists, but they're more in to speed skating there.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Roller-skis are good fun but they do need a hard surface and you can't just stop so not so good for the roads. I use mine on the local cycle track, they're really good for pre-season training for touring.
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
OwenM, The German Biathalon team skiers I saw training on them this morning seemed to be stopping quite easily on the hills to let the cars pass by. God knows how they were doing it, I was exhausted just watching them. One of the girls seemed to be able to stop with her roller skis facing uphill so I can only assume that there is some kind of braking system but I'm blowed if I could see it.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Maybe mine are just very old and basic.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Samerberg Sue wrote:
One of the girls seemed to be able to stop with her roller skis facing uphill so I can only assume that there is some kind of braking system but I'm blowed if I could see it.
Sue - At a guess they would have been on rollerskis adapted for classic ski-ing. These have a wheel on each ski fitted with a ratchet which allows it just to rotate one way. These rollers work for skating too, so long as you aren't trying to skate backwards.
It is possible to buy roller-skis with brakes, but I gather the performance is compromised and the brakes aren't too effective. For those reasons, most of the people you see rollerski-ing don't have brakes that work when they are going forward. Stopping going downhill can be "interesting". Hence the padding on the sharp corners on the roller-ski track at Ramsau.
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
nordicfan, not sure what style they were using as I was pretty near the finish of their training run. Their coach had a minibus parked a few metres away from my car, but they had a fairly steep climb to reach it. A couple of times cars pulled around them on the approach, but I was fascinated to see one of the girls stop with the skis facing uphill and then step sideways on to the minimal verge to allow a car to pass her as another came down the hill. The ratchet idea might explain it if the catch is on the heel side of the rear wheel as I saw nothing in the way of extra construction around the back of the wheel.
I certainly did not see anything that could be called brakes on any of the skis!
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Just seen a group of them for the first time this year. Incredible speed going down a slight incline, actually on a road (brand new freshly laid about 2 months back). No knee pads / elbow pads / skidlid. Hope they stopped OK.
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Samerberg Sue,
Stopping uphill is easy, if they were classics the ratchet only allows the wheels to go forwards, but even with skate skis (no ratchets) a fairly moderate v with the skis will stop you going backwards. Downhills are harder, some in our club like to have brakes or speed reducers for the downhills. If your training long uphills are great, but its a pain if you have to walk back down. on
Next race in the GB series is at Hayes on July 14th - 1hr race and it was team sprints today. Mid August through September looks busy with races most weekends.
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Dave Horsley, They were training. The road up to my village is part of the Bayern-Rundfahrt (think small time Giro d'Italia) and features as a sprint climb for the cyclists. The steepest gradient is 16% so that is fairly heavy duty training. I did not see any one V the roller skis, so I assume they had ratchets.
We have the Bundespolitzi Leistungssportzentrum (Federal Police Performance Training Centre) in our neighbourhood which is where the Ski teams do their physical training, particularly the summer endurance training. It is not unusual to see the Alpine and Langlaufers on our hills, on roller skis or bikes.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
We have three hill races over the season. The Clashindarroch race was the second weekend in June in classic style, 8.05 km with an overal height differnce of ~182m. A nice route as there is some downhills to get a rest on. The route is shown here:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1918563
Winning time was 26:27, I managed it in 40:01 and have broken 40 minutes in previous years.
There are two races later in the year from Glenmore to the Cas carpark at cairngorm, the first is in free technique - ie everyone skates it except me who classics it and a classic race at the end of the year. The route is shorter at ~5km but is almost unremittingly uphill and the height difference is greater (at ~350m afair). I must find a decent long hill and get into practice before this year. I skated the free race last year but was actually 7 mins slower than my normal classic time and skating should be faster. Could be my poor technique though.
I train a lot at Huntly Nordic and Outdoor Centre north of Aberdeen where a lot of the Gb juniors train as it has a purpose built rollerski track and a mat track for normal skiing.
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
The only time I wish for rain to be honest, as they don't come out so often and clog the back roads up!
