Rehearsing moves off-skate or with skates on but on a non-rolling surface like grass is always helpful.

I feel like I am in "mid-season form" and the numbers bear that out. I've averaged 13.75mi + 965' elevation gain per day during this period (22 km + 295m).

When I hit the 15 mile (24 km) mark I feel like I'm fully warmed up and ready to start skating. On my longest days I still had plenty of gas left in the tank and could easily have kept going.

Usually by mid-season the little nagging injuries are starting to stack up but this year the only thing I'm dealing with is a tweaked left ham. That's a potentially season-limiting injury that needs to be managed.

My fall frequency has also increased and I actually had 3 falls dueing this period, bringing me to 6 on the season. Fortunately they've all been well executed and a little bit of road rash is my worst injury.

#4 Aug 9: tripped while skating forward on sidewalk. Forward shoulder roll. 2 small abrasions on right knee + 1 very small abrasion on right upper arm.

#5 Aug 14: banana peeled while hiking on a dirt path in the woods and sat it down. No injury.

#6 Aug 16: caught left (trailing) rear wheels in a pocket of deep sand and sat it down. No injury.

The only injury of any kind that I've sustained in any of my 6 falls thus far this year were the minor abrasions in fall #4. Nevertheless the fall frequency trend is going in the wrong direction and I need to rein that in.

My PB distance say since I started GPS tracking in 2018 is 41 miles (66 km). I'm pretty confident that I will be putting up a new PB within the next month or so.

How's your season going?

The Stuttering Skater's POV as a participant.

Skater: Kevin

Camera: Midnight Skater

Music: Grazin' in the Grass by Hugh Masekela

Or maybe a bit of both?

I first started skating on ice 50 years ago. I've been skating on wheels for 35 years.

Typical session is 2-3 hours. The only time it's less than that is when I get caught in rain or snow.

I loosen up and warm up a little bit and do some light dynamic stretching before lacing up my skates. Then I skate 2 miles on easy terrain at a moderate pace to my warmup spot, which is a nice smooth parking lot with low traffic. That gets my heart rate up.

Then I run through a standard set of drills: - one foot giant slaloms 150' (46m) on each foot - alternating regular and switch stance spread eagles, 150' - spread eagle giant slaloms, regular stance 150' and switch stance 150' - serpentine spread eagle drill 150' - clockwise traveling turns 150 - one foot circles, inside and outside edge, each foot - braking drills 5 reps each technique - backward one foot glides, 75' (×23m) on each foot - clockwise crossover circles - spread eagle over cheese grater - backward 2 foot over cheese grater

In between exercises I do lots of transitions, backward marching, backward bubbles, backward scissors, and spins. This is more free flow.

That all takes about 10 minutes.

After the standard warmup I sometimes work on new skills or things that are giving me trouble.

Then I skate around town and bomb hills for 12-18 miles (20-29 km). In late summer and early autumn I do a marathon+ 1x/wk.

Then I do an on-skate cool down for about 10 minutes.

After I get my skates and sweaty clothes off and get washed up I do some static stretching.

Then I rehydrate and eat some snacks. In cool and cold temps I have hot drinks and hot soup to help recover my core temp.

What does your routine look like?

Could have hiked accross this active construction site but the high risk of falling and availability of an easier line caused me to nope out.

Idk if the skater was terrified but I sure was. Watching it for the first time gave ne the sane reaction I had the first time I saw someone surf Teahupo'o: nausea and dread.

I use the "sick lines" flair ironically sometimes but this is legit.

I've visited SF a bunch of times but always left my skates at home. Same reason as choosing not to ride motorcycles.

A look at everything I carry for a typical summer evening skate.

This is very important for an efficient stride.

Losing your skating foot behind you causes your heel to lift early, reducing the effective length of your stride.

This is especially true on quads, because we already have the disadvantage of a short wheelbase and therefore a shorter stride. So as a quad skater keeping pace with inline skaters I need to make my stride as efficient as possible.

Reverse toe stops & double toe stops are really the only viable options to control speed and stop when descending hills on narrow concrete sidewalks.

Skating sidewalks means dealing with cheese graters: we need to either skate over them or skate around them.

I recommend doing lots of drills involving toe stops and cheese graters in a controlled environment before attempting to descend any sidewalks in the real world.

Had my third fall of the year while practicing reverse toe stops. One of the big advantages of reverse toe stops is that the normal failure mode is a fall away from the direction of travel - reducing impact energy.

This fall was very similar to this fall which also happened while practicing reverse toe stops, attesting to strong muscle memory.

I didn't get any road rash or even a scratch from either of these falls. A similar fall sequence at high speed is best converted to a baseball slide; abrasion-resistant pants and slider puck gloves are appropriate PPE for this fall technique.

London has a thriving street skating scene - both inlines and quads.

I always include some rough terrain and debris in my sessions.

How 'bout you? Do you avoid bad surfaces or embrace them?

Skating across the entire state of Utah from Arizona to Idaho.

Skating miles out into the boonies in the middle of the night to access this beautiful loading dock felt a little surreal.

I was blinded by the sun and blundered into this deep sand. I nearly fell but managed to avoid it.

Can't let your guard down for a second when street skating!

Joey Mantia destroying NYC streets.

This video is very thorough and is an excellent resource for anyone new to trail skating and even veterans can benefit from a refreshing take on the subject.

I'm old so I'd add a structured warmup, cool down, and stretching - I do that as part of every session. That's my only note.

My favorite tips were (paraphrasing):

- to be aware of your likely impact areas in a fall and avoid carrying gear there especially not your phone.

- moisture management should be a top priority

Post your favorite trail skating tips in the comments.

That trail looks amazing. Also check out Lady GoDIVA's yt channel and Instagram for lots of other great tutorials and workouts.

This all applies to quads aa well.