An article about moving from 4 wheel inline skates
to 5 wheel speed skates, by Joakim Wassberg, a swedish inline skater
who lives on Gotland Island off the Coast of Sweden.
This was the day. I was going to buy my first 5-wheel inline skates.
I had been skating for a couple of years, and felt ready to make the move.
What would it be like? I knew that there was an extra wheel. I knew that
the wheels were bigger and harder than my old ones. I knew that the boots
had a lower cut then my old ones. But how would it feel? Was I ready to
make the change? The skates were expensive, so why could I not stick with
my old skates? Weren't they good enough? They had served me well for four
years, so could I not keep them for a while?. Maybe I could find someone
with a couple of 5-wheelers that I could try.
The questions were banging in my head as I entered the shop. I had been
there the day before and I had no choice of brand. They only had one pair
in stock. I had tried them on, but not skated with them. The shopkeeper
helped me heat-mold the shoe to make it fit my feet better. This was
feeling strange. The shoe was like a part of my foot, not as a cement
block, like my old boots. But the shoes were also harder, much harder.
How would this be?
Out of the shop. Strapped them on and took my first strokes. Ouch!
This was different! This was strange! The blade was so long. I was
so high above the ground (yes, I know that the wheels only were a
couple of millimeter larger, but it felt much more). Yes, I did miss
the support for my ankles. My feet felt wobbly and unstable. But the
greatest difference was the speed. I was just standing straight up
and was rolling down a small slope. But the skates did never stop.
I just kept rolling. And now came the next problem. The skates did
not have a brake. I thought that I was a good enough skater to
manage without a brake. But how could I stop these rolling
monsters under my feet?
I had no accidents, and skated all the way home safely. The same evening
I went for a longer ride. I was picking up the technique. The idea was to
take longer strokes. I was skating with long easy strokes and I noticed
that I was gaining speed in a way I never had been able to do on my
4-wheel skates.
When I was skating my old ones the feeling had been that the upper limit
for high speed had been the skates. With my new skates it felt that the
limit was my technique. As the months went by, I was improving my technique,
and was able to use the benefit of having a lower cut boot. The design made
it easier for me to develop a rather good Double Push because I could flex
my ankle.
The only problem that kept following me was my chafed feet. I had to
heat-mold my boots some more, and use a knife to reshape them a bit.
But the best thing for my feet was just to use the skates a lot. Let
my feet get used to the hard and tight shoe.
After two months I went for a ride on my old skates. That was not
fun at all. There is no way I will change back and use 4-wheelers again.
If you are looking for greater speed, and want to take long rides with
skates, do as I did. Make the change.
About the author...
Joakim Wassberg is a teacher, computer programmer, and inline skater from Gotland, a small island in the Baltic Sea, off the Southeast coast of Sweden. He has been skating for nearly 10 years and he loves to take a 30-mile ride on his skates. When he's not skating, he is playing with his two sons and teaching them to skate. He also tries to find time to compose music on his synthesizer and guitar.
|
Related Links
Skating in 100 Countries
All Skating Articles
Introduction to Skating Disciplines
|
