Anyone,On 2003-03-21 10:07, John Gilmour wrote:
Well, we all have cyber slalom to try and rank each other.
We also have some history of a 100 cone course. So find a better hill, adjust the cone spacings to suit you, ride today’s new and improved gear, have a huge tailwind behind you. Your work is still cut out for you.
Or you could look at some people who raced on both circuits. We all age- so figure the gaps don't vary by much. This is not a hard and fast rule- but some indication could be drawn. Look at Martin Drayton’s times over the course. Now look at the fastest racers time. What percentage was Martin's time to the fastest racer? You can also do this for Paul Price, Myself, and Beau Brown, and Paul Dunn. No offense to Strouble and crew- but their speeds compared to the speeds of Ridoli, Sidler, Diaz (1st string swiss) are not very close. Some of hte 1st string showed up at a Swiss event, expecting the ISSA spacings but found themselves in a longboard event and left the competition. Hopefully we will see all the disciplines well represented at the next big Swiss race.
Now look at my results, PD's results, Paul Prices results this season. We all won something- here in the USA. But in 1993 neither PD, Myself, or Beau Brown even qualified- in fact we were near the very last....not mid pack- I have the video to prove it. We didn't even make it to the actual competition.
I thought it would be easy pickings...I lost over and over again- more often than not by more than a second in each race.
An American has never won a European slalom race for over 20 years.
I don't know the history really but would like to. Who were the fastest slalomers?
I think I am hearing that the European courses were flatter and tighter. That they did not race on hills like in the USA. And that this might have been a difficulty for the few USA skaters who did travel to Europe to adjust to the tighter courses that were on flat ground.
How many of these European racers that some claim were the <b>"fastest ever"</b> came to the USA and won? Or did only a few USA racers only go to the European contest? And were these racers the fastest that the USA had to offer? Did maybe the rise of European skaters happen at a time when slalom racing was fading out in the USA?
What was the equipment difference between the USA and Europe? Did European racers have shorter wheelbases, different truck and wheels, etc? Was the difference between the USA and Europe as if it were two completely different disciplines?
Let's get to the real facutal history here.
John, could I see some of the video you are talking about?
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A few Euro results and rules at the ISSA websites: http://home.delfi.ee/~erikr/ and http://www.pcpal.se/issa/
and in the few Slalom! so far online: http://www.slalomskateboarder.com/magazine/archive.html
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Glenn on 2003-03-25 08:17 ]</font>