rollerblading downhill

Question
I just rollerblading and have been doing it for maybe a couple weeks, and i got the hang of it but i was wondering if you could tell me the best position to be in when going downhill and how to slow down and stop at the end of the hill. (I use agressive skates with no brakes)

Answer
Hi Klarissa,
  Be careful going down hills until you're very steady on your skates.  
  The only thing I can tell you about going down hills is to keep your knees bent and don't lean forward too much.   Keeping the knees bent give you more control over your skates.

  As far as stopping at the bottom of the hill?  Since you don't have brakes on the back of your skates you have 2 options.

  You can slow down by using a T-stop but that kind of stop tends to wear your wheels down fast if you're going very fast and also can give you flat spots on the wheels.

  The other way of stopping is to do a hockey stop.  It's like a 1/2 spin.   For either stop I would suggest you coast till your speed slows down then try either the T-stop or the hockey stop.

  The T- stop is done by turning one of your skates outward and dragging it to slow you down.

  The hockey stop (if you're turning to left) is done by placing most of your weight on your right foot then bringing your right shoulder over to where your left shoulder was.  It looks like a 1/2 spin but the pressure of digging your right skate into the ground will slow you down and bringing your right shoulder over to the left side will force you to do a 1/2 spin which should stop you.  

  If you'd rather turn to the right, just reverse what I told you above.   I would suggest you try this on flat ground first to get the feel of what you have to do.  Once it's comfortable then try it at the bottom of a hill.  

  The T-stop will slow you down and can also stop you where the hockey stop will just stop you if done correctly.  So you may want to use a combination of both of them.

  Good Luck and be safe.

Pat