Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Skate gaits

In the animal physiology world, we call different ways of moving as speed increases "gaits". The most well studied gaits are those of the walk-trot-gallop of the horse.

The 5 gaits of skating are (notice the Canadians use different names for these gaits)

v1 -> climbing steep hills

v2 -> climbing shallow hills or flats if you are sprinting

v2 alternate -> flats, when your arm turnover cannot keep up with your feet! Note these guys are climbing with v2 alternate which takes phenomenal cosmic power, superb technique, and awesome conditions.

free skate (no pole skate) - shallow down or transitioning to the up, following a down when you still have lots of speed

tuck - downhills

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