I can haz a rocker! or How Pixie got her freestyle slalom on

I started skating (again) on a whim in March with a girlfriend of mine who is interested in roller derby, but switched to inlines in June to play with slalom. All told, at this point, I’ve been rolling around various rinks around Seattle for about 6 months. Yesterday, I switched from a flat 72mm 4-wheel setup to a 68mm heel and toe, 72mm for the center wheels; a configuration known as a “crescent rocker“.

I am now a proper slalom freestyle skater!

My first revelation was “Wow, minus-2mm makes a bigger difference than I expected”, which occurred in the nanoseconds between me standing and me pitching myself backwards onto the floor, butt first. After a few orbits around the rink, the difference became apparent in entirely different ways…

1. Inlines rocker a bit naturally due to stopping/slowing down with heel and toe wheels
2. Because wear is an organic process, the edge is maintained and functions as a single line
3. Gosh, a 2mm difference is flippin huge

Basically, I went from having an inner edge and an outer edge on each skate… to having 6 distinct edges; toe-center inner edge, toe-center outer edge, center inner edge, center outer edge, center-heel inner edge, center-heel outer edge. (I realized the edge-multiplication after pitching myself onto the floor in the middle of crossover…) I was able to feel these edges while in motion after a few more rounds around the rink.

I started playing with a move adapted from roller skating, where you drag your left heel in front of your right toe and then alternate to right heel in front of left toe, etc. Then I practiced dragging my left toe behind my right heel, rinse, lather, repeat, etc. What I was looking for was the point at which I went from using front two wheels, to center two wheels, to back two wheels… and articulating the new, now two-wheeled, edge.

(you may want to mute your speakers if you click through to the links in this next paragraph, annoying munobal.net music)

I played with a few basic slalom moves like fish and snake before attempting to tackle Marbrouk/Grapevine, a move that’s been plaguing me for weeks. I’m fairly happy to report that after banging my head against the final transition before the pattern repeats itself… that it has been made RETARDEDLY easy by the rockered wheels. I think the reason for that is that, on the rocker, you are able to just use your front two wheels of each skate as you do the toe-toe/reverse eagle spin around the final cone.

(you can unmute now)

At the very end of the night, I got brave enough to try some of the pivots that I’ve been learning, such as Grand Vault/Volte and Korean Vault/Volte. Initial experimentation seems to have gone well.

What I like most about the rocker setup is maneuverability. Like maneuverability times 10. I now have 6 edges and 4 potential pivot points per skate (as compared to 2 edges and 2 pivot points on a flat setup). I imagine that the trick menu could turn into an all-you-can-eat buffet, which is wickedly exciting to me. I think the downside, at least while I’m getting my sea-legs, is speed. There is potential to recover that aspect after I get more comfortable using my edges, but initially I see it as a drawback.

What are your thoughts? Did you start on a rocker? Since being on a rocker, have you tried doing slalom tricks on a flat setup? Do you have any stories about early rocker experiences?

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