Skiing on flat roads: When you ski on a flat surface, you have just one force acting against you: Friction. Although there is a force of gravity, it is cancelled out by the ground and the wheels that act as normal force to hold you up. So if you want to start skiing you must exert a force greater than the maximum amount of friction (this can be also know as the friction coefficient times the normal force). This task is typically not very hard. Home Previous page  Next page