You might be asking yourself, “why would anybody want to rollerskate on synthetic ice?” As silly as it sounds, you can believe that there are people out there that have an interest in being able to skate on any kind of flooring that they can. Whether it is synthetic ice or authentic ice, gliding across the floor on wheels might be a bit more difficult than you could imagine. Can you do it? If you have the skills, yes. If you don’t have the skills, you might want to try to build them before you rush to the floor and give it a go.
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Synthetic Ice is Slick
Back in the early 1960s when synthetic ice first came into the public eye it might have been much easier to rollerskate on it. At first, artificial ice was cumbersome and bulky. This kind of flooring had to be constantly lubricated in order to be slick enough to allow ice skates to glide over it. Although we don’t know of anybody that tried to rollerskate on this particular flooring back in those days, it is possible that there were people that attempted it. With and without the lubricant.
Rollerskating on an Ice Rink
Ice is slick. It gets even slicker when something causes friction on it that generates enough heat to melt a little bit of it. When this melting occurs it creates a natural lubricant that sends whatever is upon it gracefully on its way in a glide across the surface. However, wheels are not made for slipping across a surface, they are made to roll. When you roll your wheels across the ice flooring, you cause a little bit of the ice to melt. Your wheels will not turn on the floor as they would on solid ground; they will slip and slide, making your range of motion very difficult, and your ability to stop without falling almost impossible.
Rollerskating on Syntetic Ice
Now, there is a type of dryland hockey flooring that is similar to synthetic ice but made for rollerblades and shoes. However, slick tiles and synthetic ice panels are very different from each other. Synthetic ice can be created in a number of ways, but the high-quality flooring that has self-lubricating properties is slick and very similar to real ice. If somebody was to rollerskate across the surface of a synthetic ice rink, they would more than likely suffer the same fate as they would on real ice. This is not to say that it is impossible to rollerskate on this surface, but that it could prove to be challenging to do so. As for actually playing a game, or practicing hockey moves on synthetic ice flooring in roller skates, or rollerblades it would not be recommended to even try. Rollerskates and synthetic ice do not mix well.
Ice Skates on Synthetic Ice
As we mentioned above, some synthetic ice comes equipped with a built-in lubricating system. Lesser quality synthetic ice requires some sort of lubricant or additive to the flooring in order to be an effective ice skating flooring. With that being said, synthetic ice was created specifically for ice skates. This means that it is built to endure and last the abuse of the ice skating blades that are on ice skates. For the most part, ice skating on artificial ice is much like ice skating on real ice, however, there is a bit of a drag for skaters. The resistance that is present for the skaters is not a bad one. Having to push harder and put out more effort in order to stay in motion can build muscle and endurance.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, rollerskating on any kind of ice flooring is not a good idea. However, some people are adventurous and love a challenge. Yes, it is a horrible idea to try and rollerskate on ice, but even worse to skateboard across it. But, who knows…maybe there will be a sport built from wheels on ice someday.
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