Too obvious you say? Yeah, me too. I durn near nailed myself going backwards
down a dangerous set the other day. I guess I figured that stairs were stairs.
Wrong thinking is punishable...via PAIN!
From: rbutera@owlnet.rice.edu (Robert John Butera)
Tonight I finally did my first competent stair bashing, doing 6-8
stairs at the Party-on-the-Plaza in downtown Houston. I thought I'd
share some of what I learned with others, since this thread comes
up a lot.
* I was surprised how EASY is was - a lot of it is overcoming
the confidence factor and being relaxed.
* It really helps to watch someone. I decided to try it when
I saw someone that I KNEW was a much less experienced skater
than me, and decided, dammit I'm going to tackle this thing.
* The BIGGEST tip I have for getting started is to constantly
remind yourself to keep one foot in fron tof the other. The
ride is a lot smoother. After about an hour of doing it,
I could get myself to do it with my skates almost
side-by-side, but your much more likely to lose your balance.
* At first I kept on tripping on the bottom stair or two (yet
miraculously I never fell!). The guy who showed me how to do
it noticed that as I progressed down the stairs, my rear foot
was moving forward and becoming more "side-by-side" with my
front foot (see the previous note). The trick was to relax
yet concentrate on foot placement.
* When I got back to campus, I tried skateing backward down
some wimpy 2-4 stair spread out stairs. The people here are
right: I think backwards stair crashing might actually be
easier. I intend to go downtown tomorrow night and try the
backwards thing on some larger stairs.
Overall, a great night for skating. I also found the "ideal parking
deck" with those two important prerequisites: no visible security and
a working elevator (its really steep, but has 6-7 levels). Such
parking decks are becoming few and far between around here as more
skaters start "invading" them, making the security dudes a lot more
testy ...
Thanks for everyone's responses on the axle kits. Those who have
made comparisons seem to prefer the one by Lazzy Legs.
--
From: @sedona.intel.com (Kenneth Creta)
In article <23r8i1$6d6@cmcl2.NYU.EDU>, prokoshn@acf2.nyu.edu (Andrew) writes:
> I've been skating for about 3 month now, but still can't skate down-
> stairs. I tried to go up the stairs and it works well, very fast! I saw people
> going upstairs and did not find it difficult at all. But looking down from the
> top of even 7 step stair scares the shit out of me.
Try a smaller set first. A wouldn't advise going straight to 7 stairs.
>I tried going down from the
> fourth step of a 15 step stair, but I ended up running downstairs, not skating.
This will never work. You need some speed to prevent your skates from catching
on them. My friend and I (we do stairs all the time) have recently started
hit the stairs at a snail's pace. Not as easy when going slow.
> Do you have to keep the blades horisontally, when you go down, or at a 45 angle?
Although I don;t really think about it, I guess I'd have to say horizontal.
> It seems that if you keep the skates at an anlge, you end up running downstairs,but if you keep them horisontally, the brake would definitely get in the way on
> almost any stairs, except very flat ones. Or you have to approach the stair at
> an angle, to make the path longer?
A good way to start. Stairs are much easier at an angle. The easier way is
if your front foot is opposite the angle your going. In other words, if
your back foot is your right (mine is) try angling right to left.
If you go slow, your brake will definitely be a concern. I don't bother with
one anyway. What could make someone want to stop anyway :)
Ken
From: matt@unidata.ucar.edu (Matt Hicks)
I saw some street freestyle on Prime Sports Network (I think it was) a
few weeks ago and I noticed that the guys doing stairs seemed to be
just dragging the toe wheels of their trailing foot (feet?). All their
weight was on the leading foot and the trailing foot seemed to be just
a rudder or for balance only. Anyone had any experience with this
technique? See the worst ASCII drawing in the world below if this is
not clear.
/ /
/ / \
/ / \
O|---------- /\ \
| | / | |
O| ----------/ | |
______ O| / | |
| |__| |----|
|_O_______ | |
| | \__
|________ | \
| |________|
|___@ @ @ @_
|
|
--
From: kcreta@sedona.intel.com (Kenneth Creta)
Hi,
I've been stair bashing for a LONG time now. However, I've always
wondered about my form and whether I was doing it right because it has always
seemed that my ride was ALOT rougher and bumpier than others I've watched.
Last night proved that something was wrong. My friend and I were
taking our favorite set of stairs REALLY SLOW. This isn't so easy. Howver,
while my friend was able to do it OK, I found that my back (right) foot kept
on catching on the steps. My friend thinks I put too much weight on the back
foot and I think he might be be right because when I listen, he sounds like
CHUNK-KA CHUNK-KA where I sound like CHUNK CHUNK. You know what I mean.
Any of you find yourself in a similar situation?
Ken
--
From: sokay@cyclone.mitre.org (Stephen J. Okay)
In article <1993Aug6.173554.206@leland.Stanford.EDU> harrier@leland.Stanford.EDU (Lawrence Chr-Jr Liu) writes:
>Jeff writes:
>
>Out of curiosity, do most skaters think 180's or 360's off stairs are easier?
>I'm trying to learn 360's, but I can't quite get the hang of it -- any
>suggestions? (These 360's are on flat ground for now, I don't have the full
>no fear mentality -- yet ;) )
I haven't quite gotten there either yet, so I'm going to say 180s :)
My typical approach to 180's:
Approach the stairs at a moderate speed and when I reach the first one, jump
up like I was going to do a curb jump. I usually land on the 3rd or 4th step
and stop there quite solidly and firmly. As soon as I'm sure of my purchase on
that step(about a second or so), I push back with my front wheels and turn
around to land facing forward.
is it much of a transition to make this a 270?
I think the reason I haven't done a 360 yet is that I'm not that comfortable
landing backwards. Although I am getting better with the heel-to-heels, so
I do feel more comfortablke landing and then spinning or doing wide circles.
(Thats the best I can manage with this so far...but they are getting WIDER! :) )
ObTrick: Found another cool office over the weekend. TThis one not only has
a deep curb ramp, but also a long cement one running up to the front
door. I was catching some major air off this, almost enough to start
doing tricks in midair..
For those in the area,this is the Dept. of the Interior building over in
Sir Isaac Newton Square in Reston...they've got some pretty cool stairs too..
--
From: kcreta@sedona.intel.com (Kenneth Creta)
In article <1r7rsi$b5c@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu>, cd517@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Douglas J. Narby) writes:
> Stairs (this one not explained too well; and I haven't had the Testes to
> try it without some clues).
Remember to bend you knees and put more weight on the back foot than the
front. I put my left foot 1/2 a foot length ahead of my right (my right
leg is the stronger of the two) and bend my knees to absorb much of the
impact. When people get scared, they straighten up which winds up in a
wreck. Also, while going down, try to be light on your feet. I know that
sounds funny but picture it and "float" over the stairs. Use the force,
Luke :)
If you try backwards, put your stronger leg forward (uphill) and put your
(most of but not all) weight on your toes. Like forward, put most of the
weight on your stronger leg. Too much weight on your heels can result in
catching the foot throwing you on your back.
We have two flights of 6 steps with about 5 feet of flat in between and I
like to hit the first going forward and then switching backwards for the
next flight. Or going down the first set, and jumping into a 180 over
the second and so on.
> My best trick so far is jumping a flight of four stairs. Now I am trying
> to learn to do crossovers whilst skating backward.
I think backwards cross-overs is one of the best techniques that develops
overall skating ability. It really forces you to balance and takes quite
a bit of practice before you are really comfortable. BE SURE TO PRACTICE
BOTH LEFT AND RIGHT EQUALLY. I see alot of people who can go one way but
not the other.
New Tricks:
Work on 360 jumps off the ground (forward and backward). Once you
have those down, hit a jump and do it (again, forwards and backwards).
Try a "Dutchman". Jump off a ramp, grab both feet behind your back
while in the air and land (on your feet :)
--
From: cowl@elec.canterbury.ac.nz (DAve.)
Subject: Re: Stair/Wall Jumps..
In article <holeC62453.FCH@netcom.com>, hole@netcom.com (Will Leland) writes:
> RE: how to ride down stairs
> SPEED! just get going a good clip, put your weaker foot in front of
> the other for more stability, and ride down with most of your weight
> on the back skate.
> I ran into an upper limit on stairs though. When I got up to 10 steps
> I ran out of speed (and balance) and did a major face plant. Do those
> hockey helmets come with face cages :)
Speed is nice - balance is better! :-)
Once again, though, you need to be able to skate more or less one foot in front
of the other. I like to push my front foot out, almost straight so that if
it gets caught on a step it 'springs' back in front really quickly.
Then place the trailing knee really close and almost behind the leading one.
This forces one to bend that trailing leg, which takes up a lot of the bumpiness.
The more relaxed the back leg is, the smoother the ride goes.
I have managed 15 consecutive steps this way. The only reason that that is
the limit, is that I have not found more than 15 consecutive steps. :-)
It is real easy to lose your nerve after 12 or so. As soon as you stiffen or
straghten up the back leg, it is all over :-\
Anyways, this is *MY* method (MHOs only) - it is certainly not everyones.
I think one just needs to find what is most comfortable for oneself.
--
From: kimon@iat.com (Kimon Papahadjopulos)
First of all, like most everything else, this skill comes with practice,
and at first that is really hard to do since you don't know how to do
it yet.
The first thing you have to do is find is a good bunch of stairs to practice
on. On the Berkeley Campus there is an ideal sight: one of the buildings
is built on an incline so that the bottom floor is underground at the
top of the hill and completely exposed on the bottom.
Because of this, a stairway that runs the length of the building
"fades away", so that there are no stairs at one end, but it builds
up gradually to about twenty steps at the other end.
Besides being very wide, the the steps are also very long. If you
can find a set up like this, your halfway there already. This way
you can practice with one or two steps, and move up one at a time when
you get more confident.
>When skating down narrow stairs, is it easier to go straight down
>or is it easier to go at an angle? It seems like going at an
>angle might be easier because it would provide more opportunity
>to have both skates in contact simultaneously.
Can you really go down truly narrow stairs at an angle? On a wide
bunch of stairs, going down at an angle is much easier because you don't
go nearly as fast. This is essential when you are learning.
>How should your weight be distributed? Should it be equally
>distributed, shifted mostly to the leading leg, or shifted mostly
>to the trailing leg?
Almost all on the trailing leg. The front leg is mostly a guide.
>Does having a brake on one skate increase the risk of a fall?
>Since the brake extends beyond the rear of one skate, my concern
>is that it might get caught on the edge of a step. Therefore,
>should the skate with the brake lead, follow, or does it matter?
Learn how to t-stop before you learn stairs. The back break is a hazard
for any sort of trick, whether it be crossovers, skating backwards, or
going down stairs.
If you are interested in doing any of the above, it's well worth your
while to learn how to get by without the back brake. It will probably
save you a bunch of nasty falls.
IMO, anyone that is trying to learn stairs with a brake is just asking
for it. Generally, learning a t-stop is your first trick, since it's
easier to learn, and makes most other tricks easier.
It also kind of proves that you know what you are doing, and are ready
for the next level.
And you're right about the brake getting caught on the edge of
each step.
Also, when you are practicing, you often times are not in the best balance
when you finish a set of stairs. If you happen to catch your brake
when this happens, you are probaly going to end up on the pavement.
>Is there a safe, piecemeal way to learn skating down stairs, or
>should I necessarily expect to fall as part of the learning
>process?
Again, if you can find a nice set of stairs, you don't necessarily have
to murder yourself. Practive on two or three stairs and then move up.
But of course, wear full protective gear, and don't complain if your
skates break. Rollerblade Lightnings are very sturdy, and hold up fairly
well. I'm sure TRS's are good too, maybe even Macroblades and Aeroblades.
But don't use Zetra's or any skate with a metal blade. SwitchIts in my
experience are somewhat frigile for this sort of thing.
!*!*!
It should be understood that if you push beyond the level of your
abilities, and you happen to land on your head, even with a helmut,
you could kill yourself.
!*!*!
>Is stair skating always risky, even for those who have mastered
>it, or is it fairly safe once a skater understands how it is
>done?
I have not done a lot because I have concerns about my knees: going
down stairs really puts a lot of stress on your knees, as well as your
skates. From what I have done, I believe that skating stairs
becomes as easy as anything else after a while, as long as you know the
particular staircase that you are going down, and there is no one walking
up it.
From: ahernsd@expert.cc.purdue.edu (Sean Ahern)
>IMO, anyone that is trying to learn stairs with a brake is just asking
>for it. Generally, learning a t-stop is your first trick, since it's
>easier to learn, and makes most other tricks easier.
No way....I learned you to skate down stairs by teaching myself to be
aware of the brake and what I was doing with it.
I have also taught other people how to do this as well.
I think leaving the brake on makes you more aware of what your skates are
doing.
>It also kind of proves that you know what you are doing, and are ready
>for the next level.
Exactly my point about leaving the brake on.
Now while I don't use the brake except when I have to do SUDDEN stops like
when a car pulls in front of me, I think it's a good thing to leave on for
safety's sake.
>And you're right about the brake getting caught on the edge of
>each step.
Well, not if you have enough speed. I have found that stairs are actually
harder at slow speeds. Going slowly, the edge of the stair will give a pivot
that can throw off your balance. If you are going moderately fast, you just
skate right down the stairs, almost as if they are one surface.
You MUST make sure that one skate is in front of the other and your knees are
bent deep. You also might crouch down a bit and lean forward. I have found
that this helps me keep my balance. Don't lean forward too far or you will
tumble forward. (not fun on stairs)
>Also, when you are practicing, you often times are not in the best balance
>when you finish a set of stairs. If you happen to catch your brake
>when this happens, you are probaly going to end up on the pavement.
Ahhhh, if you are not leaning backwards when you are going down, you shouldn't
be in a position to catch your brake anywhere.
>Again, if you can find a nice set of stairs, you don't necessarily have
>to murder yourself. Practive on two or three stairs and then move up.
Yes, this is very true. Start out on a wide set of stairs. If you can get
one stair (kinda like a curb), try to keep going and get the next one. If you
get pretty good at this, try doing them a little faster. You will learn the
basic techniques of stairs this way and will soon be able to move onto steeper
and steeper stairs.
>>Is stair skating always risky, even for those who have mastered
>>it, or is it fairly safe once a skater understands how it is
>>done?
>I have not done a lot because I have concerns about my knees: going
>down stairs really puts a lot of stress on your knees, as well as your
>skates. From what I have done, I believe that skating stairs
>becomes as easy as anything else after a while, as long as you know the
>particular staircase that you are going down, and there is no one walking
>up it.
It DOES get easy, after a while, but they are still challenging as every flight
of stairs has a different slope and width to them.
--
From: jim@lvld.hp.com (Jim Aites)
re: stair-riding (from an e-mail discussion...possible FAQ submital)
>For the intermediate skater who hasn't tried stairs yet, what would you
>say are the basic skills?
Practicing curbs is a good idea, specially if you 'drop off' instead of
'hop off'. The difference being one of jumping vs riding. A short set of
two or three easy stairs (with wide risers) would be the next step.
>...t-stops with either foot. Probably backwards skating, too?
180's and 380's are probably part of that as well. Not that these are
*needed* for stair bashing, but if someone is doing this level of stuff
then they could certainly handle stairs.
>Is there anything else that people should master before they begin?
No...not 'master', but there are a few things a person needs to know in
order to be relatively successful at handling stairs:
1) a 'reasonable' speed is required!
Contrary to common knowledge about the laws of physics, folks generally
lose speed when going down stairs. Backwards bashing however, will
actually cause one to GAIN speed. No, it's not 'magic'...
Many of us have started down a flight of stairs at a good speed, only to
slow to a crawl, and end up 'bailing out' before reaching the bottom. This
'leap of faith' (hoping you can reach a flat spot when you throw yourself
over the last few steps) is probably the most dangerous thing about riding
stairs. So, if going forward - hit them at speed!
The loss of speed is mostly due to that fact that folks tend to ride the
stairs 'flat', instead of leaning into it and angling the skates as though
on a hill. Riding 'flat' means that the slope isn't really affecting your
speed. While bashing backwards, however, EVERYONE lets their heels lead
the way and the foot naturally angles (er...toes up), thus restoring the
'slope' and gaining speed.
While flat-riding, it doesn't matter what style you use...but keeping
your weight on the trailing skate is relatively standard. Aggressive
bashers often use a wider front-to-back skate placement, but more
importantly, they LEAN into the slope to avoid losing speed.
Note: go easy on this folks...nobody wants to see you do a header down the
stairs.
2) they call it 'bashing' for a reason. Accept it!
Yup, bashing, bone jarring, bouncing, slamming, and in general, beating
yourself up (ok, your skates) while riding stairs is an expected part of
the game. A willingness to accept that it feels uglier than it looks is
needed. Hummm...some folks may argue that it 'looks as bad as it feels'
as well! Either way, you've got to go with it.
3) backwards *IS* easier. But more intimidating.
Honest! Because there is an extra 'shock absorber' (ie your ankle can flex
to your toes whereas your heel is pretty solid) and because your feet will
naturally angle down, the backwards ride is a heck of a lot smoother than
riding stairs frontwards. If you have trouble just 'going-for-it', then
start slow, and use a hand-rail. (normally this is NOT a good thing to do)
Keep a reasonable front-to-back stance and let everything flex!
Note: If you find that going backwards is NOT easier/smoother, then please
let me know. Not that anyone can help you at this point, but rather
because I'd be curious to hear about the 'exception to the rule'.
4) failure to wear a helmet ANYTIME you are rolling backwards or doing
stairs is (of course) enough to get you 'certified' (as insane) in most
states.
I was the first in our group to do 'killer' steps (4 flights of seven
stairs each) backwards. I started from a standing-start at the top while
clutching a hand-rail. The clutch turned into a light balancing guide
after the first three steps...and then I was free-wheeling down the rest.
