Roller Skiing: Tools of the trade, rules of the road

Menbers of the Park City Ski and Snowboard Nordic Team roller skiing. Photo: Michele Roepke

PARK CITY, Utah. — Today, July 4, and every July 4, small-town Main St. Western USA parade watchers are enjoying whimsical floats, lovingly handcrafted, from the fire dept., the real estate companies, the recycling nonprofits, the ski resorts, the libraries and the like. The local dance troupes, the pet adoption centers, et al will walk slowly serpentining throughout. In Steamboat Springs, CO, however, the cheering spectators are in for an added bonus. Preceding said parade is a roller ski race on the roster of which are winter Olympians and Olympic hopefuls going full-out, PA announcers at full volume for the annual Jumpin’ and Jammin’ nordic combined competition. The sport of nordic combined sees winter athletes training in the summer for the cross country half on roller skis to simulate winter skiing for which the other half of the sport is ski jumping.

In Europe, in the summer, international nordic combined athletes compete in the Federation International de Ski (FIS) Grand Prix, a series, not dissimilar to the world cup, that technologically strives to simulate snow for apples-to-apples muscle and cardio training. Across the pond, the real races produce real results for FIS points and often come complete with elaborate lighting and pyrotechnic displays. Steamboat has the best of the West while Europe has the best of the best.

Meanwhile, in Park City, all summer long it’s increasingly hard not to notice roller skiers training on all manner of pavement paths. Many Utahn’s possess a pair or two in their quiver, whether skate or classic equipment and style, thus work-out.

Around Park City, drivers may see athletes from the University of Utah, Soldier Hollow (SOHO), the Utah Nordic Alliance (TUNA), the Summit Team, the Park City Ski and Snowboard Nordic Team (PCSS) and the USA Nordic National Team.

Record numbers of participants prompted Olympic Champion and local resident Bill Demong to write on social media, “You know you’ve officially retired from nordic combined for a while when you no longer recognize every roller skier in town.”

Gotta crawl before you can walk so before Demong-level global domination, novice roller skiers train in parking lots. Next their safety and confidence evolve to paths both seen and unseen from roads. Regarding the athletes actually sharing the roads with motorists in the bike lanes, ain’t their first rodeo. Skiing flat or hilly paths is to train the brain and the body is one thing but breaking, well, that’s a different story. Next time you’re headed up Olympic Parway, notice the roller skiers headed up too then notice that you won’t notice any coming down. With no official breaking system, mechanically, skiers utilize a sort-of crab walk maneuver to slow to an awkward stop on even the moderate of summer slopes and they tend to avoid huge hills altogether.

Biathlon athletes are out there blissfully roller skiing their summers away as well.