Beginner roller skating
Why the Powerslide Beats a T-Stop on a Hill
On a slope, a certified coach rates the powerslide as by far the most effective stop of those relying on technique rather than hardware: it stops you at a precise point, and it does not strain your muscles the way a T-stop does when held against a gradient. Precision and no strain are the two things a hill takes from you. Steeper than my stops? I ride it out — Cass. Technique from ICP-certified coach Asha Kirkby.
On a flat road most stops are interchangeable enough. A gradient sorts them, because it keeps feeding speed in while you are trying to take speed out.
Of the stops that rely on technique rather than hardware, a certified coach rates the powerslide as by far the most effective on a slope. Two reasons, and they are the two things a hill takes away from you: it stops you at a precise point, and it does not strain your muscles.
The strain point is the one people underestimate. Holding a T-stop against a gradient is a sustained muscular effort — the longer the hill, the more it asks, and a leg that is tiring is a leg that lets the angle drift.
Precision is the other half. A stop that fades out somewhere in the next twenty metres is fine on an empty path and useless at a junction. The powerslide puts the end of the movement where you chose it.
I stop in a T myself, so this is written about my own default, not somebody else's.
One thing sits above all of this, and it is mine rather than hers: a hill I doubt I can stop on, I ride it out rather than brake. Trying to brake halfway down a gradient you have already misjudged is worse than riding it to the flat — Cass, a non-professional street skater.
Technique from Asha Kirkby of Skatefresh, an instructor certified by the Inline Certification Program. She teaches inline skating, and that is the discipline this page is about.
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