ISSA - International Slalom Skateboarding Association

Hi there,
today we had 2°C in the morning !!
I'd like to know if you slalom in wintertime and how ?
Esspecially if you don't have a possibility to skate indoors!
What about the guys from sweden ? Corky, Peter, Marcus ?

Brrr...thank.....brrr....you....

Hey Carsten,
we skate in a heated garage, under a hanger at Stockholms second largest airport. Its dirty but warm, flat but smooth.

The Stkhlm possés will be in Paris, fast as f#@k.

I´m really disappointed, censured at a skate forum, lame…
I can always write in Swedish...

??? why censored ??

Unquestionably- the best winter training is Alpine Snowboarding (freecarving) in Hardboots on a race specific deck or a if you want thigns less intense a freecarve specific deck.

1. You'll build leg strength far beyond what skateboard slalom will do for you- you can easily pull over 1g and sometimes up to 3 gs of force ina turn under the best firm conditions.

2.You'll go at speeds far beyond slalom skateboarding (for some over 80mph)- skateboarding down a hill at 30mph will seem like a joke after that.

3. You'll learn to suck up surface imperfections when riding bad snow conditions- and this can translate in dealing with problems like crowns in the road when skateboard slalom racing.

Slalomers who ride hardboots + Alpine set ups while snowboarding.
Kenny Mollica- backflips on his alpine set up, Jon Rutherford tears it up, CMC, Chris Stepanek, Eric Brammer, Glenn Chapman, John Gilmour, Andres Sidler, Daniel Ridoli, Anatoly Matsukevich, Alex Lutz, Santi Diaz, Vlad Popov, Jeanie Clarke.

Kids: Eric Schipwert, Ben Chapman, Mille Chapman,

If no mountain is accessible to you - you could also try short track speed skating, I have not done this yet, but some Chris Chaput claim it is an intense workout - especially while cornering. But so far as I know there is not a Black Leather speedskating team, however many of todays racers would find a use for their lycra in the off season.

We skate every Sunday, year round where i'm at....The temps in Detroit usually top out near 30F (just below 0C) from late december till early march, but if the sun is out it's not too bad...We skate outside on the same hills we skate in the summer, which are plowed and salted regularly.....
A few tips?...
Buy really good Thermo's and dress in layers
Buy a cheap helmet and tear out some of the padding so it can fit over your knit cap.
Get good soft wheels...80a for the front will feel pretty hard when it freezes
Wood boards only...no foamcores...too risky and untested below freezing
Salt is SLIPPERY....sweep it off your course or bring a gas powered leaf blower and blow it off
Lift a cone now and then to see if theirs a "ring"...sometimes the ground gets damp and slippery and you dont know it..if it's a lighter color under the cone, the grounds wet....get ready to slide a bit (but that's no reason to stop)
Disassemble and clean your board after every day racing, including bearings if you have allot of salt on the road (may want to consider putting those Bones Ceramics away until spring)
Wear your pads....it's going to be icy...you will fall now and then
If it's snowing enough that you cant skate, find a parking garage and set up a cyber

But dont let the weather get you down.....there's nothing like standing at the top of a hill in the winter, snow on the grass, with a sunny sky....completely silent with no crowds...just you and your skate bro's

Alpine snowboarding.

Add Sinodalova from Saint Petersburg to ze list.

And hardbooters/slalomers from Moscow:



Alex A. (3d place Moscow Open last year behind Jani and Matsukevich)
Alex K.
Andrew
Yuri
Valery
Anton
Igor
Sergey



Ellena
Katya
Yulya
Olga

Hey Vlad,

My friend Bill Boothbe is going to help me get started with some carving this winter. I'm stoked.

Jack

hey carsten,

in berlin we skate as long as the pavement is dry give a f#@k on temperatures below whatever degree. like one of the other guys said its a question of good underwear. skate intense for two hours, get a cup of hot tea in between and avoid longer breaks. warm up a bit before the session and choose maybe a softer wheel combi. take a set of shoes a bit larger to pull good socks on. i mean its like every outdoor activity in winter - its like christopher said - fresh air, cold but sunny and a few close buddies around. occasionally we go to the int. congess center tunnel and set a 20 cones or so flatland slalom which is not reaaly my thing, but if its wet for a longer period theres no other way.
our indoor bowl and pipe spot is not heated as well and sometimes it feels colder inside than outside. but the pipe is large and smooth and fast, the bowl could be a bit larger but anyway its worth for a winter session to keep the old bones in motion. carsten dresscode like in the older days - jogging pants and pads you know what i mean.
last but not least we have no other chance, cause we are not in california but its for sure no reason for a "slalom freunde winterfest" ...

cheers

I'm looking forward seeing you guys from Berlin in Cologne for the
"Slalom Freunde Winterfest" (that means: Slalom Buddies Winter Party):-)

And lets skate with several layers of clothes, down jackets and some heating equipment (i.e. "Glühwein" ----> hot spicy redwine )

uh...........Mr Gilmour.........

Should you really be singing the praises of snowboarding? Isn't there some "incident" you're forgetting about?




just funnin' with ya'!

I agree, it really does give your legs a workout. I also spend a lot of time on my balance board. Indo, VooDoo, they're all good!

anyone got any suggestions that dosn't actually involve "snowboarding"

Distinct Lack of snow in London,

Also Distinct Lack of Dry Pavement...so actually Slaloming is out!!

No slalom...no snowboarding...the only other thing I can think of that might be of use is an Indo Board - www.indoboard.com. You can do it indoors! I've never actually tried one though...

Of course you could always just try to get yourself in better shape - run, bike, lift, swim, etc. It will help next slalom season!

Great Jack, good luck!

Kenny mentioned in WV he needed/wanted to update his hardboot setup.

PS. I missed another guy from St. Petersburg and I know one hardcore harbooter in Siberia who has my first foam Roe, so that's 2 more.

hi,i dont hard boot,but in terms of a really carvy suprisingly fun board,i reccomend the burton "fish".it has a stance set towards the rear like the late 80's boards.just a suggestion for those that wont make the leap to hard boots.cf

This always works. A great offseason workout. A must for any slalomer. An Olympic sport...someday.

Vlad,
does this work also in snow ??? I don't think so !

what about some training at Donalds hall this Sunday...We have two new Kaliber decks to test. Lets talk about it. regards Heiko

SOUNDS GOOD
i have my new euro-fighter concave deck for testing too

Sunday 14Uhr...Is that OK for you?

I'LL BE THERE !!!

definitely

<a href="http://rootsnattysk8.online.fr/images/d ... sinsun.jpg"> As the weather is a bit too wet to skate in France at this season and it's too early for me to go in the mountain, last week end I went back to the Atlantic Coast to surf probably for the last time of the year.

Water temperature was about 13/14°C (55/57°F) - not so cold in fact as it doesn't hurt too much your head while duck divin'
but wind was offshore (and really cold) during a few days... great little waves, not much powerfull but what a training for the arms!
Autumn light as something magic on the Ocean...

picture by Amelie
</a>

Nice Picture Vinz,
where was it ? Hossegor or Arcachon ?
greetz from Cologne,
Carsten

Hallo Carsten
it's the spot I've learned to ride waves (and I still learn there when I can)
it's called <a href="http://www.wannasurf.com/spot/Europe/Fr ... _Bud/">Bud bud</a>
it's more in the north of the "GOlfe de Gascogne" than spots you mentioned: in Vendee (~between Nantes and La Rochelle) where I've lived a few years
I hope to move back from Paris to the coast one day... and perhaps we'll organize slalom comp not too far from the beach

But for the moment in Paris we're searching for good spots to slalom during rainy days ...
for the moment we've got only one under the metro (under a section that is not underground) but it's OK only if there is not too much wind
we've got a few big train bridges to test too.
The search is on!

Hi Vinz,
the "factory" where Donald (Campbell) produces his Pavel Skates and Peek Skateboards, has a large and warm basement.
It works for a 30 Cone tight slalom !
Now we are able to skate in t shirts while outside the temparatures are below zero !!
Carsten

yep

that's the place to be at the moment,definitely
lots of new composite decks to be tested each weekend.pavel and kaliber from cologne are really pouring out the good stuff.
lots of innovations,different concepts on boardbuilding are happening there.
cool people to hang around and skate with.

best thing to happen during the cold days