Beginner roller skating
Push Off the Toe Stop: The Thing That Stops You Rolling Makes You Fast
The most counter-intuitive use of a quad toe stop is acceleration. The skater behind this site, who learned on quads, says it plainly: you can use the front stop for strong pushes to pick up speed. The reason is the same one that lets it hold you still — without a point that does not roll, you cannot push hard against anything. Plant it, push, roll off onto the wheels.
Of the three real uses of a quad toe stop, this is the one nobody expects. An object that stops a skate from rolling is also the thing that makes you fast.
The skater behind this site, who learned on quads, puts it plainly: you can use the front stop for strong pushes, to pick up speed. Rock the pushing skate onto its stop, drive against that fixed point, and let the other skate carry you off.
The reason is the same reason it holds you still. A wheel that rolls slips away from the force you put into it; a point that does not roll takes all of it. Without something fixed under you, you cannot push hard against anything — which is exactly why a pushing skate on its stop gives more than a pushing skate on its wheels.
The sequence is short: plant the stop, push, roll off onto the wheels of the skate that is gliding. Then the other side. It is a way of getting going, not a way of cruising, and it is the opposite of what the stop looks like it is for.
From the notes of the skater behind this site, who learned on quads and now skates inline. This page is about QUAD skates: the toe stop it describes sits at the front of a quad skate, and nothing here transfers to the brake at the back of an inline skate.
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