Technical Q&A

My personal style, "Freestyle slide," is a remix of a few regional styles, namely NY/NJ-House, (Ohio) Cleveland Freestyle & California Slide and benefits from a sturdy boot. 

(1) I perform edge slides on the corners of my wheels and often (2) jump onto the corner of my wheels -> slides which instead of relying on my ankles to take the impact and remain straight, I press into the reinforced quarters of my boots.

(3) I'm not very good at higher rotation jumps yet but I do enjoy the boot not bending as I land 540° jumps.  Using proper artistic roller skating (ARS) from is not common in Cleveland Freestyle however, I appreciate the fact that my boot doesn't contort as I land.  

(4) I recently focused on improving my spins and very much appreciate my boots' ability to [completely] restrict my ankle movement. The restriction allows me to focus on my weight distribution and position instead of keeping my foot straight.

Good practice to me is a 2h+.  Here is a hidden playlist of video I recorded when practicing. Where I am skating determines what a session looks like:

• At a rink, I tend to spend ~3 laps to warm up -> ~30 min freestyle/vibe dance (my style) -> 30 min repetitive style element practice -> 1h spin practice or freestyle/vibe dance skate (my style)

• At the gym, I jump straight into repetitive style element practice.

• Outdoors, I set up cones and practice freestyle around them.

While any practice is good practice, I believe that you cannot make meaningful progress without dedicating a significant amount of time to a task.  20 minutes here and there will not do anything IMO.  When I was practicing the OBU spin, I practiced about a month and recording my efforts and analyzing my approach and performance. Whether that is my skill acquisition rate or a generalized skill acquisition rate given 2h of dedicated practice per session, I think it's a good case.

Speed wobbles are a real-life example of a self-exciting oscillations. They can be both annoying and dangerous. In skates, they can be caused by uneven-ness in your skates' alignment as the trucks attempt to self-correct directional changes. The as-experienced effects are compounded by speed as higher speeds have the period of the oscillation re-occur faster, thus exciting the feedback loop.

Driving factor:

• poor [skater] edge control

Emphasizing factors:

• soft cushions/high action

• high-rebound urethane parts (wheels, cushions)

• cushion wear

• wheel and/or bearing misalignment

• wheel geometry discrepancies (coning and/or wear)

• skater panic

-- -- -- -- --

More experienced skaters will still encounter speed wobble but typically notice it in its early phases (when the wobble wave pattern is starting) and properly compensate by shoring their balance.

Short-term solutions:

• Reduce action - load your kingpin/tighten trucks

• Reduce action - use harder cushions

Long-term solutions:

• Higher plate - the larger the distance between plate and trucks the larger the wave shape will be (giving the skater more time to feel the oscillation/wave before it builds in intensity)

• Smaller kingpin/pivot pin angle - Reduce the sensitivity of the skater's input action

• Get good - Stronger edge control by the skater avoids the oscillations from starting. Intentionally shifting your body-weight over your kingpin (standard plate)/pivot pin (Arius) and reclaiming stored energy from rebounding cushions will minimize->eliminate speed wobble occurrences.