Punching out.

I now have a little under twenty hours in my new boots.  Most of the pressure points associated with new, stiff boots have worked themselves out but there are still a couple areas, namely around the pinky toe of each boot which continue to annoy me.  I asked Mike to punch out those areas.  For those reading this post who are not familiar with the process of "punching out", it's basically a way of removing pressure points in boots by locally stretching the offending area. Figure skate boots have to be stiff and close fitting in order to support the ankle during jump landings and spins.  At the same time, the ankle must be able to bend deeply in order to get and hold the strong edges required by most skating elements.  It's not exactly a mutually exclusive scenario but sometimes it can feel that way. Bottom line: if the boots are eating your feet, you're not a happy skater.

My right boot getting punched out on the outside edge near the toe box.  My pinky toe is much happier now.

Want to see a boot punch in action?  Check out this youtube video:

Breaking in is so, so very hard to do.

Apologies to Paul Anka for today's post title.  Yesterday was a big day for your old diarist: my new skates were in at Skater's Paradise, so directly after my ice dance lesson it was time to point the bow of the might Volvo station wagon south towards Waldorf.  I arrived just after 1pm to discover my new heat moldable boots were already in the oven.  Mike brought them into the fitting room and warned me to mind the hooks (Hot!) as I put them on.  He laced up the boots to a tension which he liked and told me to enjoy the cooling process while he and Joan attended to other customers.  Every so often he'd come over and feel one of the boots and after 20 minutes or so he had me slip them off.  He then took the boots to the rink snack bar's freezer room where he parked them for 10 minutes to quickly remove the latent heat and lock in the shape which my feet had left inside the boot interiors.

After that, I told him I wanted to take a tracing of the blades before he sharpened them.  This would give me a reference point after future sharpenings.  Each sharpening removes a bit of metal and over time the overall rocker profile as well as the location of the spin rocker part of that overall profile tend to change and flatten out.  And although I plan to return to Skater's Paradise for sharpenings, one can't predict that I'll always live close by or indeed how many more years Mike and Joan will remain in business.  It only takes one bad sharpening to ruin a pair of blades.

My new Ultima Aspire XP blade profile before the 1st sharpening.  Mike humored me.

After the sharpening it was time to go out on the ice to check blade positioning.  I kinda hoped I wouldn't make a total fool of myself--new blades are always a bit spooky at first; your muscle memory has become accustomed to the old blades which over the course of many sharpening have lost a bit of the rocker.  I stepped gingerly onto the ice with the master watching.  I took a few strokes and it felt like I was a raw beginner!  I perimeter stroked a couple laps and as I did the blades started to feel a little better under foot but whoa baby, compared to my old blades the new ones were like the difference between a Ferrari and a pickup truck.  I tried an outside forward three turn (in my "good" direction) and almost bought the farm.  After a few more laps I tried doing some power pulls and felt a lot steadier.  I T-stopped in front of Mike and he said "you were going at a pretty fast clip.  I was hoping you wouldn't have to slam on the brakes."  It was a public session and yepper depper, there were a fair number of ice tourists on the rink.  Funny, it felt like I was crawling--sort of deceptive, like driving a new powerful but quiet car and discovering that you're doing 80 when you thought you were at the speed limit.  Back we went into the shop.  Mike adjusted the blades slightly and put in enough screws to keep things from moving until I have the boots broken in.  As for the boots, they're much stiffer than my old ones even though they're the same model.  Besides being new, boot designs (even within the same model) constantly evolve.  I told Mike I wanted to skate the public session long enough to see if there were any spots in the boots that needed punching out before I left.  He told me that although he could slip me out on the ice for a few minutes for test purposes, if I wanted to skate longer I'd need to buy a pass.  Fair enough.

A little friendly reminder from rink management on the public session wrist band.  Kinda reminds me of the disclaimers at the end of ads for the latest offerings from a pharmaceutical company: "be sure to ask your doctor if death, bodily injury or property damage are right for you..."

Anyway, I got back out on the ice and skated the last 30 minutes of the session.  That was just about the right amount of time for me to gain back most of my forward skills and learn what parts of the boots I needed to have punched out.  It also gave me the opportunity to test whether going down a half-size in boots would eliminate the dreaded heel slippage which has been part and parcel of my old ones practically from the first day.  In the new boots my heels felt locked down even though the laces were only "snug" rather than in "as tight as I can physically make them" mode; and the top hooks were left undone in the interests of ankle bend; and I didn't have bunga pads on (an obligate requirement to take up the slop in the old boots). Whoot! Whoot!  It will probably take a couple weeks to break in the boots and adjust to the new blades but after that, Look Out!

A new beginning

With every visit I discover something new.  How I missed this poster during my first visit is a mystery.  Skater's Paradise, it seems, isn't exclusively about figure skating.  The Cunninghams have their share of admirers in the NHL.  Here we see Bobby Orr in full flight.

Back in the 1970s, I was in the Coast Guard, attached to the Cutter Sherman which in those days called Boston her home port.  When the ship was in port I was occasionally lucky enough to see Bobby Orr skate for the Bruins.

But skater's Paradise isn't all about the past.  Here's a brochure for the USFSA Championships which take place this coming January in Greensboro, North Carolina.

This leaflet looks even further into the future.

 So, OK, today I went to my fitting appointment for new boots.  My current boots and blades will be three years old this coming February--which I've been told is an eternity for figure skating boots.  Either that or I'm just hard on my equipment.  Mike suggested that I should stay with Jackson boots since I have wide feet.  Interestingly, after measuring my feet he reduced the boot size from nine and a half to size nine.  We discussed various Jackson models.  I'm currently in the Freestyle model.  Mike recommended that I stay with that since the next boot above the Freestyle model is quite a bit stiffer.  Female skaters have an intermediate stiffness boot within the Jackson line up but males do not.  Mike didn't want to "over boot" me and I told him that he was the doctor, so another pair of Freestyles, abet a half size, smaller it is.

He suggested that I move up to Aspire blades with cross cut toe picks.  This is a step up from my current Mirage blades which have straight cut picks.  Both the Mirage and Aspire feature an 8 foot rocker and have 1/2" radius of hollow so I shouldn't notice a big difference in blade feel.  New generation Freestyle boots come standard with Aspire straight cut picks.  Hopefully the slightly smaller boots will eliminate the heel slop I've dealt with almost from the beginning with my current boots.  The new Freestyles also have much better padding for the tongue of the boots than the previous boots, as well as a rolled and padded collar area around the top of the boots for a bit more comfort when deeply bending the ankle.  The boots and blades should arrive in a week or so.  I'm looking forward to having new, potentially better fitting boots.  I'm hoping the break-in period is swift and not too painful.  It remains to be seen what, if any, difference the cross cut picks will make.  Bottom line is not a lot of change.  The $64,000 question is will the small, incremental changes to slightly smaller (better fitting) boots and slightly more aggressive blades add up to a measurably improved geezer skater?  We shall soon see!

Mon Dieu! Catastrophe!

Ever have one of those days when despite your best efforts things just seem to spiral out of orbit?  I proudly arrived at the rink with enough time, for once, to warm up my legs before my ice dance lesson by walking around Allen Pond at a brisk clip.  I entered the lobby of the rink full of sweat and purpose.  Feeling ready for a productive session, I carefully pulled on my boots (newly inspired after a trip of Skater's Paradise) and as I was removing the slack from the laces of my left boot, the leather around one of the top eyelets tore through!  This was 5 minutes before the lesson.  With no good alternatives, I skipped those eyelets, (telegraphing even more tension to the remaining good eyelets), and told myself I still had plenty of support--so suck it up buttercup.  I was able to stagger through the lesson in reasonable form, and afterwards took my injured boot to a local cobbler.  The lady looked at the boot, shook her head worryingly and then, after discussing various patching strategies, told me "$15 dollar, you pay now.  Boot ready Tuesday."  English is not her first language, hopefully leather repair is.  So that's it.  No skating until Tuesday after 4pm--assuming my cobbler remains timely.  I was hoping to delay springing for new boots until after Christmas but I think they're gently telling me that they're tired of the constant punishment, and that they long for retirement.  And what of the lesson itself?  Despite my best intentions, it was kind of a blur.  We worked on partnering and posture.  The only thing I clearly remember is the coach telling me that the female skater is the "picture"; the male skater is the "frame".  Translation:  the judges and the peeps in the bleachers are focusing on the girl in the skimpy costume--the guy in black is just an afterthought!

A Pilgrim's Progress: I journey to Paradise (Skater's Paradise that is).

I booked an appointment with Mike Cunningham at Skater's Paradise back in September after my ice dance coach told me that she thought I had equipment issues with my right skate.  Conversely, I've had "issues" with the left skate almost from the beginning.  Mike is a busy man and is only available a few days per month.  After a month, my appointment day had finally arrived.  It proved to be Ymmm, Ymmm, Good.

I'm surprised the sign doesn't include weddings, funerals and Bar Mitzvahs--they seem to cater to practically everything else.  Skater's Paradise is located within the Capital Clubhouse Rec Center in Waldorf, Maryland.  Waldorf is about a 45 minute ride down route 301 from Bowie.  The rec center is tucked away, back in a shopping mall and is invisible from the road.  I've passed this way many times going to boat regattas in Norfolk, Elizabeth City and points south and didn't realize until recently that I was passing a Skater's Mecca. 

Paradise lies somewhere inside this building.  I arrived way early for my 1pm appointment just so I wouldn't risk being late.

Skater's Paradise shares space with a hockey oriented shop.  The fitting room is a small closet to the right of the shop's entry door.  The tool room where magic is performed is to the left, deep within the hockey side of the enterprise.  The hockey part of the store is also, somewhat confusingly, run by a different "Mike".

After listening to my tale of woe, the good Doctor took my skates back into the inter sanctum.  The first thing he did was to place my left boot up side down on a cobbler's anvil and rest a steel straight edge against the side of the blade.  The blade proved badly warped.  The right blade was also warped but not as much.  Hey, maybe it's not all me after all!  If you look at the end of the work bench closest to the camera, you will see a blade straightening tool.  Basically this is a flat platform with a steel wheel on a handle which can be moved horizontally along the side of the blade, allowing pressure to be applied at targeted locations.  Mike quickly tweaked the blades on this truing stand and worked the warp out of both.  One of the best parts of going to Skater's Paradise is that Mike has an agreement with rink management so that he can put skaters out on the ice for a few minutes after a modification to see if a particular tweak is an improvement or not.  After remounting my blades we did this.  The ice at the Capital Clubhouse Rec Center proved to be fast hockey ice which amplified the fact that my blades also needed sharpening--I could barely hold a right edge (which is what my ice dance coach had picked up on).  It's always a good thing if the patient can present the symptoms in front of the physician--this is usually not my luck with either medical issues or car repairs, but I digress.  We came off the ice and Mike took the right blade off again and made up a couple of shims from a sheet of thin plastic material.  We on-ice tested several positions and thicknesses under the outside portion of my right blade before Mike was satisfied with my edge.  I was both impressed and humbled by the amount of time he took with a low level figure skater who showed up at his door with middling level equipment.  This, after all, is a man who has been the US figure skating Olympic team's skate technician for several Olympiads and has worked on the blades and boots of elite skaters.   

After spending an hour and a half tweaking my equipment, Mike took the skates one last time to the back room for a sharpening.  I waited in the fitting room with his wife Joan, admiring the autographed memorabilia from various Olympic games.  This framed sweat shirt is from the 1998 Nagano games where Tara Lipinski narrowly edged out Michelle Kwan for the ladies gold.

Yes, that's the "Kween's" autograph (with the butterfly wings over the M) above the U of USA

This autographed banner is from the 2002 Salt Lake City games.

An autographed poster from the 1994 games in Lillehammer signed by Surya Bonaly among others. No, I didn't look for Tonya or Nancy's signatures.

Michael Weiss is another satisfied customer.

For those with a technical bent here is a of pix showing the shims Mike installed under the outboard side of my right blade.   The rear stanchion has a similar shim.  Hopefully this will translate into me holding better edges on this foot. 

With over 600 hours on my current three year old boots and blades, I have a feeling this will not be my only visit to Skater's Paradise. I asked him about laces and told him that I have to retie mine after the first twenty minutes or so.  He said that's a sign of the boots breaking down rather than the laces stretching.   Mike told me many of his regulars are lucky to get a year out of a pair of high end boots.  Mike said my blades still have plenty of life in them but after having the warping removed he wouldn't bother mounting them on a new pair of boots.  All in all, a very productive session.  Of course now I've got to stop compensating and get used to blades which aren't warped and a right boot/blade combo which is angled slightly differently!  That all starts with my next moves lesson at 7am this morning...

The dreaded Click-Clack

Tuesday's and Thursday's summer rink schedule tends to bring out the over-achiever in me.  Adult group lessons run from 6pm to 6:30.  On Tuesdays, a two hour public session starts at 6:45 after ice resurfacing.  Thursday's schedule is the same except that the public session is replaced by a two hour freestyle session which mercifully can be purchased in one hour chunks.  So, I take a group lesson and then after a 15 minute break go back out for thirty minutes of practice followed by an ice dance lesson, followed by more practice (on Tuesday's less spendy ice).

This Thursday was going to plan.  I'd just finished the group lesson and walked from the rink barrier into the lobby to pay for an hour of freestyle time.  In my haste to pay for ice time I forgot to put on my hard guards as I walked the short distance from the ice to the rental counter where the ice time sign on sheet is kept.  This memory lapse was to soon prove important.  After paying, I walked back to a bench so that I could retie my boots and be ready as soon as the gate reopened.  As I walked I kept hearing a faint clicking noise.  The penny finally dropped--the noise was coming from my left skate.  I sat down and grabbed the heel of the blade.  Yep, it was loose.  The guy behind the counter had a Phillips head screw driver but even thought he's a beefy guy he couldn't get the slop out of the blade.  I looked through the lobby windows and the Zamboni was half way through resurfacing.  In a few minutes the clock would start ticking on my expensive hour of freestyle time!  I hobbled into the pro-shop and luckily my favorite skate tech had just finished sharpening a pair of skates.  Without having to remove my boots he was able to take a battery powered drill-driver and tighten the offending screws in the heels of both blades.  After thanking him profusely I quickly got out on the ice, wondering if my blades had shifted position during this little episode.  Fortunately they hadn't.  The upshot was that I missed a few minutes of ice time but it could have been a lot worse.

There are a couple of take homes from this little cautionary tale: (1) although my hearing has diminished over the years it's reassuring to know that I can still heard the faint warning signals of impending doom (!);  (2) more importantly, along with keeping track of the hours between blade sharpening, I need to be a little more attentive to inspecting the screws which hold the major parts of my equipage together so that I don't emulate the horseman in the old rhyme "for the want of a nail the kingdom was lost".   When was the last time you reached down and gave your blades a good yank?

Oh, and how did the first ice dance lesson of the new season go?  As I suspected, my partner and I have become quite rusty during the two month hiatus when our rink was closed for annual maintenance.  Having said that it felt good to be back in the harness.  Our coach didn't apply the lash too severely and I predict that we'll make good progress this new season!

Heel cup update

Of all the various things I've tried in an attempt to get my Jackson Freestyle boots to fit properly the gel heel cups which I blogged about earlier today are easily the most effective mods to date.  I skated the late afternoon public session today and slipped them in my boots just prior to taking the ice.  Truth be told I still had to come in and retie my laces after about twenty minutes but that's twice as long as previously and once retied, my boots stayed pretty much spot on for the remainer of the session.  For the first time my heels felt locked into the boots.  As a result all the elements which depend upon the left foot improved immediately.  That not only included left outside 3s but also alternating back cross-overs at speed.  I can't wait for power stroking tomorrow!  Maybe it's all in my head but I don't think so.  My confidence increased with each successfully completed jump and improved turn, spin, etc.  I just wish I'd tried this sooner.  The heel cups I purchased were relatively inexpensive at $11.65/pair (tax included) at my local Sports Authority store compared to the similar Silipos brand items listed at one on-line site for $29.99 plus shipping.  If you are experiencing heel movement with your boots by all means give these a try.

Boot Fit: The Saga Continues

Above is my latest gambit in the seemingly never ending war of boot fit--yes, my boots and I are still at war.  When the laces (and boots) are snug then my clockwise skating is markedly better than usual but after ten minutes I can almost always feel my heels (left one in particular) moving around in the boots when I do forward swing rolls, for example.  Hopefully these gel heel cups will take up just enough space to eliminate the slop without elevating my heels to some new weird angle.  I'll find out this afternoon.  Little by little I'm getting these boots to bend to my will.  Being somewhat fatalistic, I'm inclined to believe that I'll finally achieve perfection about a week before they wear out!

Ain't no cure for the summer time blues--or is there?

I don't know about you but after an energetic skating session the insides of my boots are good and sweaty.  Maybe it's a guy thing.  Maybe I just have sweaty feet.  Don't know.  In winter this is usually not a problem since in between skating sessions I take my skates out of the bag and open up the laces while they "rest" in our heater room.  With the utility room door closed and the gas heater cycling at regular intervals, the interior of the boots usually dry out by the next morning.  However, now we're in spring here in central Maryland.  The heater is off but we haven't turned the air conditioner on yet.  Spring is nice and green and humid. I skate four to five times per week and my boots most times are still damp the next time I put them on, but the worse thing is that this is the time of year that they get mungy (might be a word) smelling.  If other people can smell me coming that's their problem, but when I can smell my own equipment it's problematic for me!  In the past I've tried baking soda and a house-hold product called febreze. Neither one worked well in my hands.  The baking soda simply caked inside my moist boots and then got all over my socks the next time.  As for the febreze, the boots still smelled like stinky boots but ones now parked in a vaguely scented meadow.  Yep, in both cases the boots still smelled and took forever to dry out.  This year I decided I'd needed to do better.

I started out by calling the folks who made my boots.

If you live in North America you can call up Jackson: 800.263.1666 and talk with their tech peeps.  I asked if I could use a typical boot drier with electric heating elements, like the ones used to dry out wet hiking boots or cycling shoes.  My concern with that approach was that the drier might not be consistent with heat moldable skating boots.  The nice lady fielding my call put me on hold for a few minutes and  came back to say that her supervisor didn't think that this was a good idea.  She then asked me if I'd tried baking soda.  When I told her that I had and didn't like the results her reply was that everyone has this problem and to have a nice day!  So much for the manufacturer.  They probably gave me the correct information but it didn't add up to a solution for the problem.  My next step was to go to my local sporting goods store (Sports Authority) and ask for their advice.

The products above are what I came home with.

The Sneaker Balls are the same strategy one might find in a powder room; basically an "air-wick" type substance enclosed within a plastic sphere.  You twist the ball to open the vents and drop one into each boot.  The vents on the sides permit the contents to volatilize and diffuse within the moist boot.  The Fresh Fogger is an athletic take on febreze.  Neither product will dry the interior of the boots and it remains to be seen (or smelled) if either one has a leg up on febreze.  In the end I just may go ahead and see if there's a boot drier that has a temperature setting.  Ideally, what one wants is just a smidgeon of warmth to complement a fan blowing air into the boots.  Too much heat and the boots will lose their shape.

Now if any of my readers has cracked this nut I'd love to hear what works in the comments box.  I promise not to make any snide jokes about your smelly skates!

Wiggle room and misc.reports from the ice.

When I last checked in, I was moaning about how my laces go slack after 30 minutes or less of ice time.  At that point I tried waxing the laces to see if they'd hold better.  The short answer is "No", at least the way I did it--dragging the laces around the stump of a Christmas candle several times.  That didn't do diddly squat.  Additionally I've tried replacing the stock Jackson insoles with yellow Super Feet brand insoles; I've swapped out the stock Jackson laces for Riedell laces; I've tried different socks and combinations of socks; I've had the boots remolded; tried different lacing techniques; tried skating with and without the silipos gel tubes I usually wear to prevent ankle chaff.  I may have done other stuff but with so many variables I've probably forgotten some.  The bottom line is that I still have to come off the ice after skating briefly and adjust the tension of the laces.

Super Feet insoles.  Did they make a difference?  Maybe a small improvement, or maybe it's just wishful thinking after spending money.  At any rate Super Feet didn't entirely fix the problem.

Now, while I was trying different socks and combinations of single vs double socks I realized how limited the choices are for male skaters in a sport which is top heavy with female participation.  Women figure skaters have a number of options from which to choose--tights, trouser socks, knee socks, short socks etc. of varying thickness, materials and texture.  Men on the other hand do not have that range of foot coverings to pick from.  Even thin dress socks are too thick and squishy and also tend to roll up the malleolar ankle sleeves which I put on before socks.  While sorting through my alternatives during the loose lace trouble-shooting period I noticed my wife's thin trouser socks and stole a pair.  They worked so well going over the silipos malleolar ankle sleeves that I had diaristwoman go and buy me several pairs of my own.  I've since been told that many male skaters raid their wives hosiery department to obtain skate appropriate sockage!  When getting my boots remolded I wore a pair of these without the maleolar sleeves to get the tightest fit possible.

I wonder what all the other manly men are wearing this season?  Diaristwoman says she's good with this as long as my adoption of women's underwear begins and ends with trouser socks.

So where does this leave me?  I've become resigned to my fate and I simply need to be disciplined to show up at the rink early enough to put on the skates, do squats and stomp around in them for 15 minutes and then untie/retie the laces once more before stepping out on the ice.  I suspect that my feet warm up the boots which causes them to expand and in turn that stretches the laces to the point where I'm aware of a sloppy fit and reduced "blade feel". After the second session of tugging on the laces I always have more lace to deal with after tying the bow knots so I know it's not my imagination. 

Final thought:  I think when I go to buy the next pair of boots I'm going to insist that the boots are sized to my left (smaller) foot, with the notion that if that size pinches my right foot then I can have the right boot stretched.  It's probably easier to stretch a tight boot than it is to get a loose one to behave.

To Wax or Not To Wax, That is the Question.

Left skate, lace, candle; A still life Haiku question; Will it stay tightened?

I'm talking about skate laces not my hair.  Try as I might, my left skate in particular gets loose after about 30 minutes of skating.  This is most annoying as the 30 minute mark is just about the time that ancient leg muscles get warmed up.  I talked with the owner of our rink's Pro Shop about this (he's a hockey player) and he recommended waxing the laces with a little candle wax.  I've done a little google search snooping and there's a fair bit of posting both pro and con about waxing skate laces to keep them tight, but only in reference to hockey skates.  Is this a bad idea for figure skates?  It seems there's only one way to find out.  So your ever faithful diarist shall, for better or worse, test this idea to see if it's sound advice or a brain fart.  It seems counter-intuitive but who am I to question the council of professionals--at least until I've tried it?  Stay tuned.