Wheels for wet/cold weather
Blaz F. Selih
at least some grip on wet asphalt?
I currently skate on 82A Hyperformance and while they are great for
dry and hot weather I get almost no traction whatsoever on wet
asphalt.
There is about a 1km uphill (not very steep) stretch of a road where I
skate and it goes through a forrest. It's almost always slightly wet
there and I'm having great trouble ascending it even with modified
double push.
I tried some cheap 78A wheels but they were just as bad as 82A
Hyperformance but I wore them out to 78mm in about ten days.
Thanks!
--
v v
Blaz F. Selih b...@twu.net
hurs...@debitel.net
funciton of hardness. I think softer wheels are likely to be, but
might not be better in rain... I have a set of old Hyper-Racing 78A
wheels that I run if I'm sure it'll be wet, they've lasted forever
because wear seems to be minimal on wet surfaces and luckily I don't
have to race in rain all that often. In really wet conditions you
have a great advantage if you can get some grip because it seems most
folks are hesitant to run a slower wheel.
On the other hand as I'm writing this I realize you said you were
skating through forest. In some cases the dust and sap or whatever
that comes off of the trees can be *extremely* slipperey when it gets
wet and I don't think you'll find anything that'll grip in those kind
of conditions. I have some sections of trail where I skate that can
get so slipppery its almost hard just to coast accross them without
slipping!
Chris
PS I've prettey much given up on trying to skate here in northern
Germany in the wet/dark/cold. The hassle of getting myself and the
skates cleaned up afterward just isn't worth the return of at least
getting some skating in. Getting indoor time here seems to be just
about hopeless too....
Uwe Brockmann
<hurs...@debitel.net> wrote:
>PS I've prettey much given up on trying to skate here in northern
>Germany in the wet/dark/cold. The hassle of getting myself and the
>skates cleaned up afterward just isn't worth the return of at least
>getting some skating in.
When I met you this summer I probably told you that a few years ago I
lived only about 50 or 60 miles from where you are now.
I skated year-round under all conditions (except thunderstorms),
including rain, snow and ice, and solved the associated problems to my
satisfaction.
For skating in the dark I used a NiteRider lighting system
(http://www.niterider.com/). These are distributed through bike shops
in Germany I believe. Alternatively, you may want to look into ordering
from BikeWorld (http://www.bikeworld.com/) in the U.S. I like their
dual-beam system with the electronic control system. Most other skaters
prefer the single-beam electronic system which weighs less, costs less
and can be helmet-mounted more easily. The electronic NiteRider lighting
systems are expensive but are worth every cent. Nothing else I have
tried, incl. the non-electronic NiteRider systems, is reliable enough
for daily use.
For skating on wet surfaces I use Rollerblade-brand hardshell
plastic-boot 4-wheel skates. I used an old pair of Aeroblades at the
time. My feet tended to get wet and cold in them due to the ventilation
holes despite my attempts to cover them with duct tape. Now I use
unventilated Rollerblade Lightning skates which keep my feet much drier
and warmer. You do not want to use your nice 5-wheel racing skates for
training in bad weather.
The key to skate maintenance under these conditions is to do as little
as possible since it is impossible to keep the skates in "good"
condition anyway. I basically did none. The bearings tended to seize
after skating in rain or snow. Most of the time I could get them
working again by just turning the wheels hard by hand. If that was
not sufficient I removed the offending bearings, added oil (without
bothering to clean the bearings or remove any shields) and tried to get
them going again by hand. If they still refused to turn, I threw them
out.
Even in the worst snow/salt conditions I had to throw out fewer than one
bearing per skate on average. I replaced them with used bearings which
tend to be cheap. Most serious skaters probably have a number of used
bearings lying around that still turn. If a bearing turns at all it is
good enough.
For lubrication I used the water that was thrown into the bearings
automatically as I was skating over wet surfaces. Especially in winter,
when there was a lot of salt on the road, bearings eventually became so
loose that the wheels started to touch the frame. That meant that it was
time to replace the offending bearings.
When the roads were not wet enough to provide sufficient water
lubrication for the bearings the bearings made a lot of noise and I felt
a lot of rolling resistance. Usually I did not let this bother me. When
it really bothered me, I rotated the wheels and squirted some oil into
them from the inside shield (without removing any shields or cleaning
the bearings). That usually silenced the bearings and reduced rolling
resistance until I encountered enough water to wash out the oil.
I did not clean my skates after skating in wet weather. I just took a
shower and dried my wet clothes on an indoor clothesline. They were
usually dry within 24 hours when I needed to reuse the line for the next
batch of wet skating clothes.
Snow conditions varied. Some streets became unskateable despite my
determination to skate on anything. However, snowplows and road salt
always kept at least the major streets clear of anything but (very
skateable) snow mud. I sometimes was forced to abandon my low-traffic
routes and skate in streets with more traffic. That was probably the
biggest problem that I faced especially since the major city streets
became narrower in winter due to snowpiles on either side. I tried to
reduce the problem as much as possible by skating late at night when
there was less traffic.
I never worried about wheels much. Whatever wheels I normally used in
dry weather also seemed to work well on wet roads. I adopted a variation
of the double-push technique to increase my speed under limited-traction
conditions. You probably do not have any problems with wheels and
technique.
I still skate in wet weather regularily. However, there is little snow
where I live now. Skating in inclement weather has become routine for me
and I do not give it much thought anymore.
It is not for everybody but at least for me it is a much better option
than crosstraining by cycling or running. I may not be going fast
(depending on the exact conditions) but I have no trouble reaching
my target heart rate and mainting my skating-specific and general
conditioning while also having fun.
--
Uwe Brockmann, u...@netcom.com
--
Uwe Brockmann, u...@netcom.com
Mark Pan
wrote on 8/11/00 11:24 am:
> I still skate in wet weather regularily. However, there is little snow
> where I live now. Skating in inclement weather has become routine for me
> and I do not give it much thought anymore.
Uwe,
Allow me to just say that you're a bloody inspiration to people like me
who're worried about a little rain. Awesome man!
I don't know if I can bring myself to treat my K2 Kinetics this way, but I
will surely try it out on my Ultrawheels :-)
Mark Pan
Website:http://home.pacific.net.sg/~mmenace
--
Husbands. A small band of men, armed only with wallets, besieged by hordes
of wives and children.
National Lampoon
Robert Stradling
dedication.
Robert
Heather Halvorson
Robert Stradling wrote:
> Good for you, Uwe. Inspiring. Hope you get good results from your
> dedication.
>
> Robert
i would consider uwe brockmann skating 296 miles in 24 hours to be fairly
good results :-)
(24 Hour In-Line Skating World Record-
Uwe Brockmann- 296 miles (283 miles- old record)
Georgia Dome, Stone Mountain, Georgia )
of course, this wr has been broken several times since (crazy buggers). still
_very_ impressive. (i'd just be happy to be able to skate for 24 hours
period! i can't even stay awake that long.)
his post on skating in all weather conditions was very inspiring to me also.
heather
Robert Stradling
know what can be achieved.
Robert
Heather Halvorson wrote:
> Robert Stradling wrote:
>
> > Good for you, Uwe. Inspiring. Hope you get good results from your
> > dedication.
> >
> > Robert
>
Blaz F. Selih
>including rain, snow and ice, and solved the associated problems to my
>satisfaction.
<descriptions of skating in awful weather snipped>
Wow, man, you are dedicated!
I did a bit more od testing this weekend and here's what I found out
regarding the wheels for wet weather.
Some softer wheels do grip better. I tried my brothers skates with
some 'pro-fit' 78A wheels. Traction was noticeable better than
Hyperformance 82A on wet asphalt but just as bad on that forrest
stretch.
Hyper NHL pro 250 82A seem to grip a bit better on wet that
Hyperformance 82A. On dry they are pretty much the same.
Then I went to skate to a parking lot that has some trees on the
sides. It was about three hours after the rain so it was still
somewhat wet (no puddles though). The ground under the trees was so
slippery that I accidentally 'invented' a new stopping technique. It's
a 270 spinning combination of hockey stop and powerslide. It's pretty
useless (and probably impossible to do) on dry surface but maybe some
of the aggro guys could pull it off with very hard wheels.