Quad skating up and down hills?

[Sadistic Siren]

I'm "fairly" new to quad skating. And I'm pretty broke. Going to rinks for open skate is pretty costly, especially since not only do I have to drive a decent distance to the closest rink, but then you gotta pay to get in and if you don't own a pair, you gotta rent skates.

So, although I currently own a pair, I decided that in order to get more skate time in, I'm gonna go outside.

I work at a hospital that's actually located on kind of a hill in a city. I park down hill and take a shuttle bus usually to the hospital, since employees cannot park in the parking structures. It's a decent walk, around 20 minutes or more, so I thought... well why don't I skate? It'll give me a lot of practice and exercise.

But like I said, it's on a hill. The hill isn't a steep hill, but it's pretty noticeable when you're down hill, looking up at the hospital. Which brings me to my question, is going up and down hills on quad skates possible and even more so, is it a safe option?

[Mystic]

Up hill is easy on quads. The front toe stop makes it easy to keep up your pace.

Down hill is more fun. Just keep cutting back and forth to keep the speed to your liking.

[Bill in Houston]

Up is no problem, and is "safe". You could still eat it after hitting a tiny gravel or something.

Down, ooo, you gotta figure that out.

[cliff]

You'd better be very competent to be skating downhill. If there is traffic, stop lights, etc., that makes it even harder. You say you are new to skating. Then my suggestion is you gain a lot of experience on flat streets before making a habit of this hill.

The basic downhill technique is to slalom, that is, to weave left and right as you move forward. That slows you down. You can also go down hill and then circle back uphill to slow down or stop.

Repeat, delay skating on this hill till you have proved to yourself you can handle any situation, including traffic. Maybe first practice on a less steep hill that has little traffic.

[NCskater]

I don't know how it is everywhere ...but some rinks use to frown on people using wheels on their floors that had been used for outside skating.

[cliff]

Softer for outdoors, say 78a; and harder for indoors, like >= 92a. Indoor wheels will disintegrate outdoors.
It's funny, way back when, when I was primarily an outdoor quad man, I skated my Kryptonics indoors, too. The smoother indoor surface made less work for my powerful muscles, so I didn't realize that harder indoor wheels would open up a new type of skating experience.

[Armadillo]

If the grade of a hill is not to steep, then you can usually maintain adequate uphill speed without having to work so hard that you get all sweaty. A lot depends on your technique and how powerful a stroke you can maintain without strain. Good high rebound wheels of the proper firmness are also very important to keep your momentum.

As for downhill, this is a different story. Many more issues come into play that can easily make things quite unsafe very quickly. I assume you will be skating on streets? If so, the grade can vary. While it might be manageable in most places, when it gets a little steeper, the runaway train effect can kick in before you know it. The street traffic situation may not allow you enough room for adequate use of the slalom slowing technique, and you may find your speed building up way too fast. Now you have to worry about both the cars and your speed. This is a recipe for an accident.
I strongly advise you get clamp on heel brakes for both skates. These are way more effective than toe stops, and they use the cheaper style replacement rubber with the 5/16" screw inside.

They are easy to learn how to use, but you do have to be good at skating on one skate plus two rear wheels of the other one. You will use a lot of rubber if it is a long hill, so it might be too costly an option. Depending on your plate style, you can also reverse mount your plates to convert the toe stop into a heel stop. If you do this, the Snyder large toe stop is the best one I have found for stopping power and lasting longer, but they are also pricey. When it comes to safety, being cheap is not smart. Full protective gear is also mandatory, including helmet.

http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/rr259/RRLedford/Aerial/IMG_37151.jpg
http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/rr259/RRLedford/IMG_3447.jpg

-Armadillo

[BWI-Sheldon]

I work at a hospital.....
What's the big deal, you work at a hospital? Go for it! Your coworkers will fix you up just fine. :p:D

[Hazelnut]

What about skating up hill to work and then taking the shuttle back to your car or walking down hill? Then you get the benefits of safe skating for one half of the trip to work.

[cliff]

What about skating up hill to work and then taking the shuttle back to your car or walking down hill? Then you get the benefits of safe skating for one half of the trip to work.

This is a smart way to get into this type of travel.

And by the way, it has happened to me more than once that I sweated my way skating up a hill only to realize I dare not roll down the other side. I had no shame. I did the sideways skate walk down the hill. Or put on the shoes I had in my backpack. Better embarrassed than broken.

[Sadistic Siren]

Thanks so much for the advice guys. :)

I was planning on buying outdoor wheels and switching as need be. Since winter is almost here (boo!) I probably wasn't going to buy them until spring, which sadly doesn't usually happen until May or June here, haha (yay Michigan).

I didn't even think of just skating up hill and just taking the shuttle when I'm going back to my car. That is a great idea. I may go that route.

I'm pretty experienced in roller blading, I've been doing that almost my entire life (all of a whooping 21 years), so it's not a "huge" transition to quad skating. On roller blades I'd go down the hill no big deal, but :P

I will say it's not super duper steep but it's not like a straight away, obviously, so maybe I'll try it once and if I spill, well, then so be it.

[ursle]

Please don't commute to work with hills on skates, use a bike...
Hills are only something to endure untill a flat spot looms...
If there were no autos involved it would still be %upid

[Armadillo]

One option that could help would be to use EXCESSIVELY SOFT - POOR REBOUND wheels on your downhill trip, and good firmer high rebound outdoor wheels on the uphill trip. The poorly performing wheels would really help a lot for shedding speed on the way down. I am not sure which of the bad performance wheels would do this job most effectively. I have never had any bad soft outdoor wheels.

-Armadillo

[Bullseye]

I bought some large wheels and spacers designed for outdoor skating. These wheels are really narrow and usually push rocks out of the way the spacers make the wheels sit out from my skate about 3/8 inch. So it took a little to get used to but I skate up and down hill with little worry..

[Sadistic Siren]

Please don't commute to work with hills on skates, use a bike...
Hills are only something to endure untill a flat spot looms...
If there were no autos involved it would still be %upid

Thank you for your positive, constructive input to my question. It's really helpful. >:|

[Uma Plata]

Be sure to wear knee pads and if all else fails you can drop to the knee to stop. Of course, if you use this technique to stop often, you will want to add toe guards to your skates.

[A-Town Sk8er]

Be sure to wear knee pads and if all else fails you can drop to the knee to stop. Of course, if you use this technique to stop often, you will want to add toe guards to your skates.

Did you get your name from the BJJ technique?

[Uma Plata]

Yes, I got it from the BJJ shoulder lock. My real name is Tiffany, and I use Uma when I play roller derby. It's a really fun gimic and it's kind of a little inside joke between me and my fellow fight/jiu jitsu fans ;)

[A-Town Sk8er]

Yes, I got it from the BJJ shoulder lock. My real name is Tiffany, and I use Uma when I play roller derby. It's a really fun gimic and it's kind of a little inside joke between me and my fellow fight/jiu jitsu fans ;)

:D

[Goldnblazer]

Be sure to wear knee pads and if all else fails you can drop to the knee to stop. Of course, if you use this technique to stop often, you will want to add toe guards to your skates.

I have used that method several times outside. You can't even feel it if you are using 187 pads. It is effective in an emergency.

I just realized who you were. You skate for Demolition, right?
I follow ROSI, but we have a couple of common friends on Facebook.
You won't hold that against me, will you?

[CrazeeDave]

The length and degree of incline of any downhill you tackle should be within the ability of your equipment. Be aware that high speeds on blacktop can vibrate not only your teeth but your skates. I for one like very sloppy trucks [fast turns] but when doing any rough surface downhill I tighten them up considerably. One particular hill that my buds and I ran regularly would start near uncontrollable vibrations in my trucks around 40mph and increased exponentially. This hill was a giant adrenaline rush as-is but when your doing 50+ and have zero control, the thought crosses your mind that not inspecting and adjusting your boots beforehand may have been a fatal error.

Going out to tackle some downhill?... check your equipment 1st!

[Uma Plata]

I have used that method several times outside. You can't even feel it if you are using 187 pads. It is effective in an emergency.

I just realized who you were. You skate for Demolition, right?
I follow ROSI, but we have a couple of common friends on Facebook.
You won't hold that against me, will you?

No way, Uma has derby love for everybody :biggrin:

[Goldnblazer]

No way, Uma has derby love for everybody :biggrin:

:D Good luck on your season opener.

[SmileySk8s]

The length and degree of incline of any downhill you tackle should be within the ability of your equipment. Be aware that high speeds on blacktop can vibrate not only your teeth but your skates. I for one like very sloppy trucks [fast turns] but when doing any rough surface downhill I tighten them up considerably. One particular hill that my buds and I ran regularly would start near uncontrollable vibrations in my trucks around 40mph and increased exponentially. This hill was a giant adrenaline rush as-is but when your doing 50+ and have zero control, the thought crosses your mind that not inspecting and adjusting your boots beforehand may have been a fatal error.

Going out to tackle some downhill?... check your equipment 1st!

I agree with looser trucks making turns faster and easier, and to carve back and forth across the hill to control speed. Downhills take lots of practice... you can really gain a lot of speed really quick. make sure you use all safety equipment too. One rock will send you soaring.... and when that happens hope you are near grass....

[SmileySk8s]

What's the big deal, you work at a hospital? Go for it! Your coworkers will fix you up just fine. :p:D

I like this :D