When skating conditions are changed by water – either because of falling rain or just a wet skating surface, how do you change your skating, and select the right wheel setup, to get the best performance?
Hilde Goovaerts Berlin WIC Marathon Winner
If you watch the best skaters when they’re racing in the rain, any change to their technique is almost unnoticeable. The best seem to just be able to skate normally in the rain, while others really appear to struggle.
While the Storm Surge wheel has redefined skating in the wet and allowed skaters to use much more of their natural power when pushing across wet asphalt, there are still a couple of key techniques to employ in slippery conditions to maintain your speed and save your legs:
Keep your push underneath your body
On wet roads, oil and other ‘added slip’ areas become harder to see. One strong push that breaks traction on an area like this can make or break the race – providing just enough loss of momentum to lose the wheel of the skater ahead.
Keeping your push underneath your body: concentrating your push into a more compact lateral area, and pushing hardest when the wheel is closer to vertical, will minimise any dramatic loss of grip you might experience when skating over oil, a surface change, or a painted line.
Drive forward at the hip & thigh
Shane Dobbin 2008 World Marathon Champion (Gijon, Spain)
With less traction, your power is necessarily reduced – and ability to accelerate strongly is reduced with it. As grip reduces the further your push travels from your body, getting lower and pushing longer isn’t a solution for added speed and acceleration in slick conditions.
What you can do, is maximize the momentum-conserving effects of the recovery stroke. As the weight of your leg leaves the road at the end of a push, a well-practiced loop recovery stroke conserves that momentum and redirects it forward right before you bring the skate back to the road. Accentuating the forward hip- and knee-drive of the recovery leg as you bring it down to the road will add to your rolling momentum and make it easier to maintain speed in the wet.
When accelerating too, lift your stroke rate and maximise this forward drive before resorting to ‘getting low’ and ‘pushing hard and long’. You’ll see your acceleration improve, and you’ll conserve energy to be able to accelerate more often.
Redirect your push slightly to the rear
To assist you in modifying your stroke for the rain, and keeping your push under your body, you can redirect your initial push slightly – which will help you keep the wheels more upright and provide you with more grip. If the ideal initial push direction is at 90-degrees to your direction of travel, visualize your wet-conditions push being sent at 95-100 degrees (or with 5-10 degrees of added rearward direction).
…and practice
Skating in the rain is subtly a technique all its own. Mastering it will dramatically improve your performances in races where the rain is a factor, but practice is key. So try these tips: get yourself a set of Storm Surge wheels to use or mix when it gets wet, and don’t be afraid to hit the road to practice sometimes when its wet outside.
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