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Cones / Cups
There seem to be several types of slalom 'cone' options in use, and these vary around the world. The most prevalent I have seen in the UK
(and I believe in France as well) are cups available from Ikea (in the kiddies section along with other plastic dinnerware in the store
I went to in London). At a price of 6 cups for £1, these meet the required criteria of cheap, fairly small at 8cm dia, 9cm high (to make easier
to stack in a bag and avoid on your skates!) and a reasonable weight to require a reasonably strong wind before they blow away.
A second option (pictured) is the Starway cone, which is that used in several of the official slalom competitions. These have the added advantage of being collapsible, so that if
you land on one the cone won't hurt you (the ground still can of course). Having once had a massively bruised leg and associated limp for a few days after landing on a cup I can see the appeal. However these are not cheap @ ~15 Euros (£10) for a box of 10 plus shipping. Note that due to their small size these are only legal in the Starway roller contest if you are thinking of competing!
I have seen numerous other types of 'slalom cones' ranging from tall metal tubes (very noisy and painful if you land on them!) to what look like roadworks cones (prevalent in the USA and Japan).
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Slalom Spacing
There is no standard spacing in use for slalom competitions. For instance in speed slalom, the common distance is 80cm however the French championship is 1m. In European freestyle slalom competitions, usually two runs of 20-25 cones are setup at two different spacing intervals. These seem to be '50cm and 80cm' or '80cm and 1m20', however other combinations involving 1m, 1m20 and 1m50 have also been used. Obviously the closer the cones the greater the difficulty level for many tricks!
I currently use an 80cm spacing at long last after learning on a 1m distance. Hyde Park (beach end) has spots marked at various distances including 20cm, 40cm, 50cm, 80cm, 1m and 1m50 according to this posting and this posting on LondonSkaters. If you are fortunate to have an area you can mark permanently then 40cm spots are probably the best bet - that way you can place cones at either 80cm or 1m20 depending on what you are working on...
In the USA (and Japan by the looks of the videos), a 6 foot spacing is the most common. The main focus in the USA is apparently speed slalom, and the only videos I have seen from there involve just a few tricks (backwards one foot, criss-cross or independent) quickly through the cones. Apparently sometimes there is the odd change to 4 or 3 feet spacing - which would certainly be a challenge given the size of the cones they use!
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Skates
Slalom skating is an awful lot easier on the right skates. It obviously requires considerable precision and sharp turns, as well as a nice smooth run on your wheels - and a light boot also helps! For obvious reasons then you will not see any serious slalom skaters on aggressive skates. Likewise, even recreational skates while fine for beginning on are not favoured by serious slalom skaters.
For a good RollerFR article on skate and wheel recommendations, click here.
If you have watched any of the French videos, you will see almost everyone wearing 'orange' boots - the Tecnica Twister. This model is only available for purchase in France and Italy - but it is regarded as the finest boot for slalom. It has a plastic shell, short frame and low ankle support - and is fairly inexpensive at around 250 Euros (£180). However the only colour available until recently is orange, which is as ugly as sin!
The 2003 Twister+ is currently available in orange and a more palatable gold/black combination... a review in french of the model can be found here (part 1) and here (part 2). This model does have issues though as highlighted in the review.
The alternative popular options are a hockey skate (such as the Mission D1, pictured) or Salomon FSK (a lot cheaper!). There is some debate on the viability of a Hi-Lo setup as found on the Mission skates for instance for freestyle slalom. Seb Laffargue posted in a thread on Hyb-Ride that he felt it made the forwards moves harder than the backwards ones, resulting in a more jerky style. Having spent considerable time skating with at least one extremely fluid slalom skater using Mission skates perhaps this is not always the case...
I learnt to skate/slalom on a pair of K2 Xcelerate rec skates, and have just recently purchased a pair of Mission D1 hockey skates. Personally I have found a considerable difference between the two - totally different ankle/heel support in the Missions means I am much more stable on one foot tricks, and the shorter frame (once rockered) means turns are ridiculously sharp.
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Wheels / Rockering
Slalom (and slides of course) is probably the most demanding skating as far as wheel wear is concerned. It is also by it's nature performed on smooth surfaces, so softer wheels are not as necessary for comfort as they are on London streets. Hence 82A or harder wheels are ideal.
Rockering is defined as using different size wheels (or wheel axel positions if your frame supports it) to alter the profile of your skate on the ground. Most skates when you purchase them are 'flat' (OOOO) ie. all wheels touch the ground at once for maximum stability at speed. The most common setup for slalom is the banana (oOOo), to give you greater turn response both backwards and forwards (as only two wheels touch the ground at once). For instance on my K2 skates, I rockered them with 76-80-80-76mm size wheels on each skate. As your toe wheel and heel wheel wear faster than the middle two, the rockering becomes even more pronounced - great for sharp turns, not good for street skating in the wet!
You can of course also rocker skates that have a hi-lo setup - for instance my Mission skates which come with a 72-72-80-80 Hi-Lo I configure as 68-72-80-76. You don't need to buy a 68mm wheel of course - just use a worn older wheel.
If you are not used to it, rockered skates can feel a little odd to begin with. Once you do get used to it however then when rotating your wheels if you end up with a flat profile your skates will feel absolutely disgusting!
Depending on your skating style (whether you do slides which I don't etc.) then I find the toe wheel wears faster than the heel, particularly if you do a lot of backwards skating. If you do not have a Hi-Lo skate frame (eg. my K2s) I swap those two wheels frequently. Once the toe/heel wheels are worn down, I move the middle two wheels to be the new toe/heel wheels, and put new 80mm wheels in the middle.
If you do have a Hi-Lo setup, then your rotation options with rockering are a bit different - it becomes a case of swapping wheels around based on their size to maintain a rocker profile.
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Other Equipment...
Most slalomers use no skating protection - occasionally I will wear wristguards if attempting to learn something dodgy. The slower speeds and lots of practise will quickly get you to a point where you will fall less often, and react more quickly to reduce the chance of serious injury other than a bruised ego.
Assuming you are not skating in a place already marked with spots you should have either some chalk or a permanent marker/spray can (if you have permission/can get away with it - we don't want to be banned from everywhere!). A tape measure or marked length of string obviously helps in getting the right spacing - when learning it can be hard to adjust to cups not on line or different distances apart as no rhythym can be established. As you progress this is less of a problem, however when doing some of the 'unsighted' moves it is far more reassuring to be able to guess where the next cup is!
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Slalom Locations
The perfect slalom location is a nirvana that seems to be very difficult to come by in London. An ideal location would be:
- Perfectly smooth clean surface, but still some grip.
- Covered for during winter/wet days.
- Well lit during the evenings.
- Clear of pedestrians, and safe to put your bag down nearby.
- Able to be permanently marked with spots for the cones.
- Long enough to put at least a dozen cups down, with room before/after for acceleration/braking.
- Wide enough to allow several skaters to pass without danger.
- Flat! Although a very gentle slope can help practise certain moves (due to momentum being maintained).
- Not too inconvenient to get to.
Here are some of the places I slalom in London...
Royal Victoria Docks - Near my flat is an unused concrete dock floor, with fabulous views and no pedestrians! It's not perfect, as it is outdoors and not overly well lit at night. Some cracks between the concrete slabs are wide enough to be annoying (I just bought some cement to go fix that one day soon). Still, it is 2 mins from my flat so for convenience it can't be beat... and I have it all to myself so no security issues or idiots getting in the way...
Trafalgar Square - While not official we have been allowed to skate in the South-West quadrant, just outside the fountain area. It is a very small area and the surface used to be perfect although sadly it has deteriorated severely the last 2-3 months. Fri and Sun nights will often see the Quad dancers there. Far better lighting than Hyde Park, and about the only place we have found to slalom at night in London.
Hyde Park - The most popular and well known area to slalom. Serpentine Road up the end near the lake is marked with several rows of spots as indicated above, and is frequented by some of the best slalomers in London (and sometimes visiting skaters from France etc. too!). Unfortunately it is way too crowded for my taste - pedestrians, kids on scooters and people without a clue standing in the way. I prefer to skate further down the road - Ken and Melodie have now marked some spots for slalom at the other end of the park, thanks guys!
Kensington Park - Haven't been there personally but there is another group of slalomers that hang out in a spot near the Albert Memorial I believe. Bound to be less crowded than Serpentine Road, but I hear the surface is rubbish so hence I have not been there!
Carpark Buildings - A good option especially during winter if you can wangle it. Unfortunately security are usually not too keen - you may convince the guard on duty but his supervisor can get grumpy as we found out. Worthy of asking around and begging to be let in...
Sports Halls - An expensive last resort option - get a group together and hire out a hall, once you have convinced them about insurance issues and the lack of marks on the floor from heel brakes.
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Tips...
I will be the first to admit I know very little being so new to the sport, but there is still plenty of helpful things I have picked up from others or found useful to date...
- Take your heel brake off if you have one! It makes Criss-Cross and Crazy much safer... lol
- Your skate should be firmly laced, but still with some flexibility in the ankle. In particular your heel most be held in the back of the boot as much as possible.
- Most of the advanced tricks are just elements of basic tricks combined. Get your basics down smooth and the harder tricks will come much easier...
- Learn every move on both sides, especially the basic ones. We all have a 'natural' and a 'bad' side - if you want to get really good you have to train out your weak side! Many of the advanced moves require elements of your 'good' and 'bad' sides (eg. Crazy Sun) - you will lack fluidity and precision until you can do the basic move well on your 'weak' side too.
- Your 'weak' side will feel really awful to begin with - and you may wonder if you can ever get it right. From even my limited experience - practise fixes all, do it enough times and it will eventually feel and look right!
- Try to minimise upper body movement. If you watch a Sebastien Leffargue video, his shoulders and arms barely move in most tricks, they do not windmill around! Work towards being able to place your hands by your sides, on your hips, behind your back or in your pockets if that's what feels most comfortable...
- Banana rocker your wheels as described above - it makes moves like Crazy so much easier...
- Don't be too quick to try a new move with cups - it can limit your fluidity as tension in the body takes over and your brain overloads thinking both about the new move and those plastic things in the way. By all means practise it parallel with the cups until you are comfortable with the footwork.
- Don't be afraid to use a larger spacing to begin with for a new move. If you are sharing cups with others, you can try to do the move every 2-3 cones rather than every one. Then reduce the spacing/cups missed until you are at your 'normal' distance.
- Once you learn trick transitions slalom is even more fun - for instance simply combining snake and criss-cross allows you to practise four skills (snake, criss-cross, transition from snake, transition from criss-cross) all in one slalom run. A nice way to take the drudgery out of practising your weak side too!
- I use VirtualDub to watch slalom videos in slow motion. This lets me step frame by frame to examine the footwork, body position, relative position to the cones etc. Also a great way to identify new moves or transitions you haven't seen before in a freestyle video!
- Get a video of yourself doing various moves - having never done this myself I am relying on people to tell me their opinion on how a move looks! A video allows self analysis and comparisons with the great skaters to identify areas for improvement...
- To learn to sidesurf (heels together, toes pointing 180 degrees away from each other) you will probably need to increase your flexibility. Do plenty of stretching (while warm!) to open your hips - sit with the knees bent and soles of your feet touching each other, and gently allow your knees to sink towards the floor. Do this every day for a few weeks, and I am told that should help get you there...
- I like to run though virtually all the tricks I know during a skate session (on both sides of course!) to remind the body muscle memory what each should feel like. If one variant doesn't feel quite right, do it again until it does.
- Keep it fun! We all have bad days, where the legs feel like lead and the cups have magnets in them. Try working on something new or some other moves not involving the cups. Or take a break for a while and be prepared to come back the next day when the body may feel more refreshed...
- Believe in yourself! If I can do this stuff, anyone can! Moves that at what time had me thinking "I could never do that" have become second nature after practise. Some skaters may learn faster than others, but I am growing to believe that unless you are one of the most uncoordinated people on this earth (who incidentally I did see at Hyde Park one day) then simply hours of practise will allow you to do virtually any move...
- One exception to the above - you will never ever see me attempt Reverse Eagle (toes pointed together) - that move is for women and small children who don't know any better only...
- Come to Hyde Park and speak to anyone there! They are all friendly people and happy to show off their skills and pass on knowledge...
Got another tip? Please e-mail it to me.
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| Last Updated Mar 16th, 2003
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