I would like to try rollerskiing, but absolutely cannot handle the off-the-shelf ones. For various reasons, I need ones a couple of metres long, with ratchet wheels on the front and a REAR braking system operated by moving my calves. There doesn't seem to be any easy way of getting components (affordably) to build my own. I would probably use wood for the bearing member, or possibly aluminium section - very light weight and elegance aren't needed.
Has anyone done this, or got any useful information?
I doubt that a couple of meters will be workable. It will be very long and bulky. Remember, this is ski boots with only a binding pin or two for connection. You're talking nearly three times longer than the existing classical rollerskis, two and a half for the longest (Marwe combi with wire wheel extension). Even the old ones back in the 1980s were not more than about half that, as I recall from photos. You're not going to be skiing but walking, if you're lucky. Think this needs serious rethinking.
As for materials, I don't think wheels, including ratcheted wheels and bindings should be a problem getting. Use wood or an old ski section or shape some metal. Check online for instructions, as I recall seeing them somewhere. Perhaps one of the Jenex braking systems would work for you, or it could be modified.
On the other hand, it is no longer than my cross-country skis (shorter, in fact), which have the original Nordic Norm bindings, and no bulkier than the even earlier ones (which used Telemark bindings, admittedly). And I really do mean that I really, but REALLY, need that length and those properties. There is just no chance of me handling things as short as even a metre.
That's what I thought, but I failed to get much further. I did check online and failed to find anything very useful, but the problem nowadays is fighting one's way through the jungle of marketing bullshit and plain irrelevance.
Hi Nick, you seem reluctant to tell us why you Really Really need this item, who would be using it and on what terrain.
If you could give us some clues as to its potential usage I'm sure the skiers on here could help.
I believe that length will not get you round any of the sharp corners on the tracks used for our roller ski events and as for going up inclines you will need those forward roll wheels to stop you from glissading backwards. As for the long road in Hyde Park or on Blackpool Promenade you will not have the ability to skip around the gawpers who stop in front of you as we do on roller blades or roller skis.
Not really, but I was trying to keep it simple :-(
I doubt it :-)
I have a strong negative interest in such tracks.
I have a Very, Very Strong negative interest in such locations.
Now, as to why:
I am 65 (and hence vulnerable to crashes) with no vestibular (semi-circular canal) balance at all. None whatsoever. I balance almost entirely by touch, and have done for almost all of my life, so I can ride a stable bicycle and ski (to some extent). In particular:
I want to be able to use this to get fit for real cross-country skiing (which I might take up again, after 40+ years), and am talking about travelling at 10-15 MPH. I need to be able to stop in an emergency, and therefore need brakes.
If I catch my feet when leaning forward, I WILL crash onto my face. That was why I couldn't learn to skate in my youth, because they required us to use figure-skating skates. Therefore I must have rear brakes.
Short rollerskis and (effectively) a J-stop WILL cause me to crash. I can do that on snow, because I can (just) control the side-slip. That is not available with wheels.
Work that lot through, and you will see that I have two options: to abandon this altogether, and to take the approach I am planning. If you think that you have another approach that might work, you are 99% certain to have misunderstood the constraints caused by my balance.
On that matter, it is a myth that balance is controlled by one sense. 70% of the semi-circular canal data controls eye tracking (which I don't do - I predict), and it is the primary balancing method in people with no handicaps. But is disappears as they get older, and needs to be replaced by touch, which is why old people need sticks and to hold onto things - it's NOT primarily for support.
Vision is the third method, but is useful only to tell you which way is up, because it is too slow (a 0.2 second delay in the visual cortex). So I am back to solely touch. That is slower than vestibular (tolerably so), but its real gotcha is that any uncertainty in sensations through the feet takes nearly half a second to reequilibrate. Oops. CRASH!
So I need to be able to stop in an emergency without having any functioning organ of balance. With long skis and rear brakes, it would be feasible (just) - I am not going to explain how I know, but it's experience with similar activities. With short rollerskis, no chance.
Wow, such an interesting response. Thank You. I wish you well in your enterprise.
I have one final question, should things work out for you and you get that build up of skills and the opportunity to ski on snow, where would you aim for and what sort of terrain would offer you fulfillment? Since you have knowledge of skiing would you like to be out along the canal towpath, around the city park or on machine prepared forest trails?
Probably none of those :-) 35 years ago, I used to be a fairly good cross-country skier by UK standards of the time (i.e. dire), and did up to 30 km a day on the Hardangervidda. I would like to do some of that again, though probably less vigorous, and probably elsewhere.
The rollerskis I've seen with brakes have all been on the rear wheel. However, based upon your balance issues, I think that getting the best protective gear is a big issue.
Nick, you're very brave to give this a try again given longstanding balance issues (at 66, I've found my balance is much better than when younger, in good part due to the demands of x-c skiing and rollerskiing).
If you pursue this, then I think it's a choice of picking your poison: get the longest commercially available rollerskis (Marwe combi
wirewheel at about 825mm for classic; maybe the longer Jenex for skating?); or you can build something that will be too unwieldy for the physical conditioning you desire. For the first choice especially, I'll suggest Crash Pads (for snowboarders and skaters), lightweight knee and elbow pads and, of course, a helmet. Crash Pads:
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I used to use the mesh-underwear style and they're very effective. Once lost my balance going downhill on rollerskis and took a ten foot slide on my hip/butt. No scratches, just shook it off, got up and carried on.
Btw, another way to employ rollerskis would be just to use them for double poling. Very effective workout, perhaps the most effective on rollerskis, and much safer; can build up to 1.5 to 2 hour sessions. It could be done on skate rollerskis with longer poles or on something like the long Marwe I suggested above with classical poles.
The third choice is to skip it and do lots of other long and short distance exercising (bike, row, hike/run), plus gym work (strength, elliptical machine, etc.). There are people I've known over the years who choose not to rollerski and do just fine racing, getting back what they need at the beginning of snow season.
P.S. Your estimate of 10-15 mph seems way high, assuming we're using the same system. Ten mph is a mile every six minutes, which translates to ~3:45/kilometer, if my calculation is correct. At any age, it's unlikely balance is a serious issue at that speed. My hunch is something more in the 7-9 min/mile range, which if you're having balance problems is fast enough to be quite scary at times.
At 64, I decided to try downhill skiing, on the grounds that it was then or never. Half of my friends said I was a total loon, and the other half said "Go for it". Well, 150 hours of practice (and I mean that) later, I can handle blue and the easier red, but I have to concentrate 100% for that, so it's VERY tiring. I am OK on green. That's all parallel turning.
I am not quite sure about the latter. It's really the muscles at the front of the thigh and hip that I am thinking of, and the length of the ski doesn't matter. I would be using a very long, straightish stretch of tarmac, so turning isn't an issue.
I take the points about protective kit on tarmac - I don't mind falling on snow or moorland, but rock and tarmac can break things. The problem about other exercise is that it wouldn't help much for the muscles and ligaments that I remember suffering. It took me a week to be free of pain when I was 30, so only the second week was entirely pleasurable!
That could well be. I failed to find any reasonable indicative speeds of rollerskis, and was guessing from my cycling and old skiing speeds. 6-10 MPH might be more plausible, but it doesn't really help, as the real damage comes from the falling down from a standing height.
I have seen someone using ones that long, or at least significantly longer than most of the ones showing up on Google images, but have no idea what fittings they had. (It was on holiday in France, so not somewhere I can look out for him again and ask....) He seemed to be using his poles for propulsion rather than skating or ratchet wheels (fishscale/skin equivalent?), and it looked like XC ski bindings for his shoes. But that was from just casually seeing him pass, not detailed study. (But having now Googled the calf activated braking systems for roller skis, I'm pretty sure he didn't have them.)
I noticed there were used skis at Milton recycling centre the last couple of times I've been dropping stuff off. You would have to be slightly cautious they had been thrown out because of surface/edges being beaten up and not structural damage, but would they be any use as the bearing member? Or would they be much too flexible when supported by wheels at the end rather than along their whole length?
I would think you could get much of the muscle development you're looking for with an elliptical machine (arms, legs), the kind where the foot pieces can go forward and back, and the forward position allows being upright or forward leaning. Pedalling backward is really good for the quads and anyone with a bad knee. Forward gives all around legs and conditioning. It's not nearly x-c skiing in aerobic demand, and there won't many long distance like sessions, but it does help a lot. I use one regularly at the gym, such as for getting race pace intervals from 3 to 30 mins on the cheap.
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