Rebuilding my old skating boots

I'm grateful that I have found roller skating, but I had come to realize that I need a big commitment to indoor skating and coaching to enjoy its full potential. Outdoor roller skating... well... too hot for me, the weather that is... No wonder I LOVE ice skating, that is COOL!

 I know I will have to order custom ice boots, for now Riedell seems the best option. But it is a 6 hours drive so with the fitting I will loose 2 days. 

Meanwhile I decided to rebuild my old boots at a local shoe repair shop. They were recommended to me by skaters and I already went there to reinforce the tongue and I was very happy. They said they need 2 weeks...

Roller skating

Mmmm roller skating... There are few challenges here. 

Firstly the equipment is paralleling the ice skating equipment trouble somehow. I was telling you that I was lucky to find a used set. The boots are SP Teri and they fit quite well. The plate I am not experienced enough to know if I would want something different, I think is fine. The cushions are some soft plastic that go in between the plate axis and the wheels and their softness gives the degree of maneuverability.  I was advice to change those, and unfortunately the technician choose without consulting with me, the hardest set, that means you have to press harder, or be heavier to get edged. Then is the wheels, and this choice is related to the surface you plan to skate on.  The roller skating wheels have different diameters: the bigger it is the faster it goes, but it is also less maneuverable, so I chose a small diameter. The wheels also have different levels of hardness and in the surface quality. The outdoor surface that I use is not ideal, it has some debris, it is not perfectly straight so a softer wheel is recommended to go over the debris. But a soft wheel is slow, it feels "sticky". 

The equipment should match the style of roller skating you intend to do, and my purpose for this summer was to figure out what I would enjoy best. Here is what I see:

1. Trails. I went once with a friend that was walking and I was always ahead, it was not fun. I am afraid to go by myself and I don't have anybody to go with... Also I feel for trails, inline skates would work better. The quads give edges that are tiring to control on trails. I think a group could have fun strolling and stopping, I saw groups like that, though they feel half my age so I don't feel connected with them.

2. Outdoor courts, like the one I use. The skaters do "tricks". They dance JB style. What? That is James Brown... It is cool looking but it is completely different than the ice skating, it is mostly on 2 feet. My age also be a factor in not finding the desire to learn this style. I was trying to do stroking with extension, crossovers, Mohawks, edges, chasses. But long one foot gliding doesn't go well on debris and on sticky wheels.

3. Indoor courts. You can do Freestyle, Dance and Figures. That's nice... But... I would need lots of practice time, coaching, exactly like like ice skating, in order to learn. they are far away from me, so more difficult to plan than figure skating. And... I still love ice skating more.

For now, I'm doing the outdoor roller skating with focus on enjoying the fresh air and maintaining the muscles for future ice skating.

Little bit of skating, little bit of roller skating

 I told you in my last post that I'm not skating... But a skating friend that moved away visited, and she wanted to go skating. I am still having the new SP Teri boots with blades on them, so why not go?

I would describe this skating as "public skating style", we mostly talked. It was also great to have fresh ears to share my boots troubles and to get fresh perspective on my situation. It is becoming very clear that I need custom boots...

It also gave me the perspective that if I don't try to "work" on specific skating skills I can enjoy skating. So I went skating few more times, just "public skating style".

I've also went roller skating. There is a big park close to were I live and I found a facebook group that organizes to meet to skate twice a week, on some soccer field. As I went to check it out, I found out that there is basically somebody skating there every evening... So I could go there confident that I won't be by myself, afraid that somebody would bother me, or I would fall and there would be nobody to help. 

Roller skating may be the solution to carry my love of skating through, until I figure out some ice boots that fit me...

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

Two months ago I was on my old boots, not feeling secure and mostly just skating around... social skating. Then I found new boots and I knew I'll have to spend time to break them in and adjust to them.

So, before moving my old blade to the new boots, I thought to try and prepare and test (by recording the test and submit it for virtual judging) the long overdue Pre-Juvenile MITF test. I was confident in all the moves, I just needed to present them with confidence. I talked about this testing preparation here. I don't have the result just yet, I'll let you know as soon as I find out.

The rest of the month went into the new boots... like in a black whole. This process of changing boot feels like giving and giving and... getting nothing back. The first issue was that while these boots, SP Teri brand, are heat moldable, the bootfitter doesn't like to do that, because it would take from the longevity of the boot. Anyway it felt that I needed two good weeks, skating 3 times per week to get them tight enough. The next issue was the insole. I've bought the same brand "custom insole", and that was customized support under the heels for pronation, but didn't have any arch support. I need arch support, I have flexible feet and if I don't have arch support when I press into the foot, I get too much space into the boots. I also didn't like this pronation adjustment. I had it on both insoles, but I pronate only on my right foot. But I didn't really like it on my right foot either. So, finally... I'm back on my damaged yellow superfeet. The next issue is the blade alignment. I'll have to buy new superfeet insoles and then, my bootfitter will come to watch me skating and align the blades. The problem is that he leaves in vacation and another trip and that will make him unavailable for the whole month of May. 

The plan for this month is to make do... The last time I was on ice, on my old insoles I felt clearly that the heels on both blades needed to be moved towards inside. The "custom insole" I had in the boots up to now and adjusted for pronation compensate on the blade alignment. I actually called the bootfitter and asked permission to move the blade myself... the screws too. I asked him if I can damage the boots, he said he trusts me... I already did that on my old boots... so fingers crossed. I cannot really plan anything else for this month, just to keep settling into the boots. The good thing is that while I don't love them for the moment, I have some hope that they'll end up working for me.

Meanwhile, I finally bought roller skates. I wanted them from the last summer, when I hesitated into buying an expensive set without trying it on. Then, when I had problems with my ice boots (needing low volume ones) it become clear that I'll have the same problem with the roller boots. The plan was that after I'll find ice boots, I'll use the old boots for roller skating. Meanwhile, I found a pair of old roller boots trough a friend that takes lessons at an roller rink. The boots are SP Teri, as my new ice boots and same size. They look sad, worn out, but they actually fit quite well. I will of course paint them, the roller skating boots are rarely white, they are all these fun colors... I'm excited about that! The wheels look really worn out, that I will surely have to change them. I'll also have to check why the left foot goes to the left on its own. The left plate is mounted way more towards inside of the boot than the right one, so I think it has to be remounted. There is also the possibility that the left plate to be damaged and because it is an old brand, parts to repair it may be unavailable. But for now, let's hope for the best...

Roller skating and roller boots

 I did have those strap on roller quads as a kid and enjoyed them a lot. I was just skating forward outdoors. I wanted to buy some last summer but everything low to mid price got sold out quickly and I didn't want a more expensive boot without trying it on, and I didn't know how to choose a plate. And all the stores were closed... So I gave up for the moment. Then I realized that I needed ice boots, and I would have my old boots for rolling! You know that my try to buy ice boots didn't go well... Then the plan was to rebuild the tongue of my old boots so I can still use them for ice skating and buy new rolling boots.

I looked for roller skating shops and one of them was in a roller rink. I made an appointment for boot fitting close to the time they had public skating session so I could get to skate too. 

The bad news is that Riedell, the brand I'm in for ice skating boots, has the same update for roller boots as for the ice boots, the high toe box. That didn't seem to work for me on the new ice boots I've tried. So what roller boots then? The bootfitter said that the artistic roller skaters mostly use Edea... He gave me to try an outdoor (read inexpensive) set of boots that came with the plate and wheels. Well, the size that fit in length, felt large in width. So, the bad news is that I don't have a plan in what rolling boots to buy...

The good news is that I roller skated in rental boots and I loved it and I did quite well, considering the modest equipment. The public session was 3 hours long and split in "play" segments, like 15 minutes man only, then women only, then reverse the direction, then skating backwards... and more. But what it is more attractive to me would be artistic skating, dancing and figures, and especially outdoor skating.

A friend that already has roller skates went to another rink where there is an artistic rolling club with cheap monthly membership for training and she found a dance instructor. Oh, I sooo want it! And I'm aware that a group was meeting last summer weekly for rolling in my local park. And another group was meeting in another park...

I'm back to my old plan to buy ice boots and have my old boots as roller boots... I cannot wait...