Join the ISSA 25 cone series. One cyber race every second month!

Regular sessions allow newbies to join our community and discover slalom racing.

John Gilmour

There is probably some optimum cone spacing/board size/truck width/wheels size that would optimize speed through a slalom course of a given cone distance. So far for moderately pitched slopes and courses that do not veer more than 40 degrees off the fall line it seems that spacings slightly under 7 ...

John Gilmour

I used to use the wax marking sticks that contracters used. I later found that if you criddled a cone- your wheels would act like a printing press roller and print the wax all over the course- eventually making the course slippery. At Catalina the course got much more slippery as the day went on bec...

John Gilmour

Actually Giant slalom is called giant slalom because Giants excel at it.

John Gilmour

I use small paint pens. I make 5 dots like the number 5 on a pair of dice.

No one notices them unless you are looking for them.

Then if you decide to race the course you can circle them with chalk.

John Gilmour

Well for skills required slalom is much more than you would think at first glance. Power, strength, agility, balance, coordination, timing, speed, quickness (not the same)are helpful to the racer Then there is Equipment Knowledge and set up Tuning Wheel truck and board selection Course strategy Stra...

John Gilmour

Please post your slalom spots and likely times ...and perhaps an email address so others can get in contact with you to skate. Some that come to mind are: - the Trocadero in Paris, France (the giant fountains across from the Eiffel Tower) where Quad skaters regularly set courses in the afternoons in...

John Gilmour

I think it would be a big help to our sport if when we have contests that we set a time where an airport pick up could be arranged prior to the contest...or perhaps give a contact name of someone who could arrange a pick up. This would especially encourage younger foreign skaters (yes even younger w...

John Gilmour

I think it would be great if someone who reads this site and works in a prnt shop could cut Adam trahan a deal on stickers which could be applied to cones and be easily read from a distance of 40 feet. Nothing else would help more to push our sport forward. While GS is a rush ...it is unlikely that ...

John Gilmour

So that being said teh first course a complete newbie would like to try is about 8.5 feet on center...merely straight cones. Eventually tighten the spacing until about 6.5 feet- then start experimenting with offsets. (such a course has no technical components- just straight cones.) Your first attemp...

John Gilmour

I use a rather soft hardboot called a Nordica tr-9 which is a few durometer points stiffer than the old Nordica SBH hardboots. They allow for a lot of forward ankle flex- but ride awful if you aren't in a fully hunkered down compressed committed style. They are light weight ...comparably....and warm...

John Gilmour

So lets try to get some nomenclature to try and describe the difficulty level of the course. I tried to do this for the first July 4th race. Then I used single digits for simple loose courses Double digits for looser courses that had technical features. And triple digits for courses that required te...

John Gilmour

I was wondering what the typical course layout would be? Any ideas?

John Gilmour

So it occured to me that there is a sort of natural progression to TS courses and difficulty levels and so forth. If I were to post 5- 10 "canned courses" for people to work on in a logical progression in terms of speed, technical difficulty, and body english people would have a better idea of where...

John Gilmour

Well imho, Newbie Board costs do not necessarily have to be "expensive". Hopefully costs can be kept low for beginners and even amatuer racers. Perhaps Amatuer racers would in the future get a discount on entry fees as would kids and women since they do not share in the same purse as the pros....pro...

John Gilmour

I made a few mistakes this World championships. I took a short board into the GS figureing I could double pump the top....and forgot to double pump.ooooooops. I ended up being forced to criddle the entire top of the course falling so far behind as soon as the race started. Then in the TS I used my G...

John Gilmour

The one you rode is actually a softer flex one. The stiffer flex ones are better suited for our weight.

John Gilmour

I know Paul Dunn had wedged his front seismic for more steer- but I felt that 45 degrees was already a lot of steer and there was no reason to add more load to the kingpin by increasing the steering angle. Perhaps on longer wheelbase decks it works better. Riding the Seismics on a narrow deck like a...

John Gilmour

I got the new trucks- even nicer as they use fewer tools for adjustment. There is a stronger return to center feel and subtle changes like using left handed threading to reduce the likelyhood of hanger axles coming off is a welcome addition. Bushing access is easier as well and the new increased siz...

John Gilmour

Well I was thinking that I would spend a week in Connecticut and drive around to the various schools and do a little demo since they are all within about 30 minutes of one another. As for coaching I figure a ski coach would take it on. As for skateboarding as a sport I think the kids would sell the ...

John Gilmour

What is your schedule looking like for next year? I would like to come over and race.

John Gilmour

Are there any well established slalom spots with high foot/tourist traffic in Germany like the Trocadero in Paris? I think an effort should be made to host any comps in conjunction with another event that has possible sport crossover....like Bicycle racing or snowboarding. We had many events in the ...

John Gilmour

At the Grass roots level.... it is important to find practice spots that are visible to the general public. And for that reason it is important that simple parallel straight slalom not be completely lost as a slalom discipline as the course is easy to be set and can be set on flat or easy slopes whe...

John Gilmour

So how should the sport grow? I proposed sending out a trunk of boards a "Slalom kit" if you would.... with say 10 complete decks, timing system or rules for grass roots racing, cones and so forth. This would be sent out to several Private Juniorhigh/ highschools that all competed in the same "leagu...

John Gilmour

In California we are seeing many "old school skaters" from the early 1970's buying up the new gear- and to some extent hoarding new gear in fear of a scarcity...particularly after EBAY showed used Turner decks going for over $500 and Hyper Stradas going for over $100 for a set of 4. It seems there a...

John Gilmour

Skateboarding started in California and bled westward. Slalom skateboarding was embraced by many skaters in the 1970's that we not in California because many of the skaters in the Midwest and East Coast did not get the skateparks that California got so early. Skating remained a neighborhood sport fo...

John Gilmour

Has anyone spoken with Giammarco Luca, Paulo Gatti, Joseph Stevka, Daniel Ridoli, or Andres Sidler recently - those were some the fast European racers. Have they retired since 1995?

John Gilmour

When running a short TS course that is tight- acceleration is the most important thing..... not top end speed. So a short wheelbase board with about 3 inch hangers will give you the quickest time through the first 5 cones. A hard wheel in front is absolutely necessary. You won't be needing much trac...

John Gilmour

I'm currently using a Seismic 110 as a front truck and find the return to center really seems to help in tight slalom.

Has anyone really experimented with different wedge angles on the front truck?

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: John Gilmour on 2002-10-02 00:14 ]</font>

John Gilmour

I rode 'em. I like 'em. I can't afford them... but like all the stuff I can't afford that really impresses me........I'm going to buy them anyway. Besides... often the items I can't afford but "have to buy" are the ones I end up appreciating the most. I figure you will too.- eventually. At the curre...

John Gilmour

That downhill deck is 36" which was chosen as 36" was the cut off for many deck size categories and so it could be run in either class. It is a truly unique deck as it is quite thick and riding it was describe to me by Jeff Caron of Catek Bindings as "Pure meditation". There is no other board like i...

John Gilmour

Hybrid would seem to indicate a blending of two types...ie a blend of TS and GS. So that a person running the course would not have an advantage if they chose either a GS or TS set up. Hybrid could also be taken to mean that there are no true GS or TS spacings. IMHO hybrid has come to mean this. Hyb...

John Gilmour

It seems that this forum might be better focused if there was indeed some definition of what is GS. What type of spacing and offset is currently run and called GS? It makes perfect sense to have an event where the course is makable for most of the contestants. The difficulty for the course setter is...

John Gilmour

I think if you do put in the practice time- you will improve your time and even get some "fast twitch" out of it. In Karate most people have to learn to develop their speed. IMHO some people who you would never expect to be fast- are in fact fast- because they have developed some quick response. Som...

John Gilmour

Rain and high winds kills it for Saturday.

John Gilmour

A "hip ripper" is when you set a Gilmourian curve and have one of the "outside" cones on that curve stick out further to the outside- this forces the skater to re-think his line as normally the skater would attempt to keep his hips inside the curve- but this stray cone "rips" the hips out to the out...

John Gilmour

IMHO I do think that some attempt should be made to optimize your deck trucks and wheels for a particular course. In a tight straight course there is really no need for a wider truck since traction is no nearly as important as maintaining a tight line close to the cones. In Tight straight cones with...

John Gilmour

The 28th seems to be a good date but we should watch the weather forecasts. I won't be around on Sunday unfortunately but of course the hill is there for everyone. There are lots of premarked courses as well.

John Gilmour

I am still scarred from Breckenridge lol. But Henry In think a ramp with teh works would be killer. The staggered starts could introduce a new option.... adding the differential time gap to be made up to the other racer. For instance if I were to lose by a second to Giammarco Luca in the first race ...

John Gilmour

I wish I could draw an example of these things...is there an easy way to do this wihtout needing a scanner?

Any comments ...questions on the above before I describe another TS trap?

John Gilmour

Uneven spacing can be used to force a racer to check his speed or force a racer to take another line. Perhaps even to force a criddle. You could imagine a row of cones say 5 cones in length and 7.5 feet apart with a single cone say 5 cones in that is 5 feet apart or even 4.5 feet apart. In order to ...

John Gilmour

Line leaders. A line leader is nothing more than a straight set of cones that is set to force a racer's momentum in a particular direction. The use of a line leader can be to lead a racers momentum in one direction so that he must strategize to get his momentum going in a new direction. For instance...

John Gilmour

I think the Grass series should go southwards as the dates get later to make for more pleasant racing conditions. Is there any interest for some impromptu racing the weekend of the 27th,28th and 29th of September in the Hamptons? Most racing would happen on Saturday. Troy and myself would be hosts. ...

John Gilmour

There are different components to setting a course. In GS most gates are all offsets. You may work across the fall line or with it. in TS the closer proximity of the gates allows you to lead the body in one direction and the board in another. Are there pople who would be interested in knowing the va...

John Gilmour

I did enjoy the Swiss Mini bus mounted ramp quite a bit as it was one of the few ramps that really gave you a good amount of speed into the course. Also the entire ramp mounted on top of the bus and as a result was easy to transport (no trailer needed- and as the base of the ramp was the bus no scaf...

John Gilmour

When I see a new face at a race I try to make it a habit to go up and talk to the new would be prospective racers. Unfortunately I do get negative feedback about the ramps..... perhaps because people know where I stand on ramp starts. Unfortunately the only skaters you see competeing have already ma...

John Gilmour

Does anyone know where you get these. Track and field uses them for the high jump- I would like to find some in expensive inflatable bags. Hay bales are not soft and make a mess and are hardly portable.

John Gilmour

Tway- don't kill me for this one. I would like to see a timing system set up that runs off a PDA. And of course your existing timing system could interface with a PDA or laptop. As for Displays Alex Scott has made a large 6 foot tall digital display where each numeral is 6 feet tall. It is inexpensi...

John Gilmour

Push starts still happen and as they are the easiest to do as the require no ramps I hope they will continue. Ramp starts I believe were to help equalize the playing field however experienced Vert skaters have an easier time with the ramps and newbies are often imtimidated by the ramps. Many of our ...

John Gilmour

We are starting to see longer board lengths (Some 36" models by Pocket Pistols, Roe, and longer ICKS) so indeed the cone distances are growing. In the USA the concern of FCR has been not to host an event where there are cones being hit and scattered as it would look bad for television. The distances...

John Gilmour

There are so many things to consider when setting a TS course. Everyone has their own particular style. Things that define a Tight Slalom course IMHO are: 1. The gates dictate the line taken by the racer as opposed to GS where the line is up to the racer. 2. The more advanced the course becomes the ...

Join the ISSA 25 cone series. One cyber race every second month!

Regular sessions allow newbies to join our community and discover slalom racing.

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TS and Video games 'Welcome to the next level'

Different TS course components