Synthetic Ice Rink - Any one used them?

[Jester]

Hi all

I'm new to this site and just wanted to ask you all if you have ever skated on a synthetic ice rink. Its not actually ice but a mixture of raw materials compressed into an ice-like material.

If you have, what are they like?
Does it feel like ice to skate on?
Do you need special blades or can the normal ice skate blades be used?

Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks

[AW1]

I haven't skated on it. But I know my daughter's coach has - she said it feels a bit weird. She did it while she was overseas, and they used it in shopping malls to do displays of the ice shows she was performing in...

[TaBalie]

Here are a few old discussions on the topic...

http://skatingforums.com/showthread.php?t=11317&highlight=synthetic+ice

http://skatingforums.com/showthread.php?t=12901&highlight=synthetic+ice

www.coldproducts.com/ezglide.php

http://skatingforums.com/showthread.php?t=17320&highlight=synthetic+ice

http://skatingforums.com/showthread.php?t=20583&highlight=synthetic+ice

Hope this helps!

[Skate@Delaware]

We talked about them before...(see above thread links). At our last membership meeting, the skating director asked for volunteers to think about skating in the shows over the summer...some of the things to think about:

-it's hot
-the ice is covered with silicone so whatever you wear had better be washable
-you need to get replacement blades (i.e. if you skate on ice over the summer you should have a 2nd pair of boots unless you want to keep swapping out your blades)
-the blades for synthetic ice get sharpened every 2 hours (done for free for show skaters)
-the skaters for the shows done at the state fair get in for free!!! (all 10 days)
-skating on this stuff makes your legs tons stronger, when you eventually hit the ice (ours shuts down in summer) your jumps and spins are better!!! I have seen this and have been amazed

I am thinking about doing this-it is a lot of hard work, but think I can do it with my schedule, plus it is a way of staying "on the ice" without the drive up north.

[littlekateskate]

Anyone ever skated on synthetic ice like super glide. I read about it online and in the ice skating magazine add. And am considering getting it for my daughter to play on. Obviously it small strip wont be huge but she could still play around on it..

Just curious if anyone had messed around one before and hated or loved it! :)

[Isk8NYC]

Merged with prior thread about the same topic.

Never skated on artificial ice - my blades are too dear to me to experiment.

You might want to check out backyardrink.com; they have a messageboard for people who make their own ice rinks.
Could get some good opinions from there.

[Kat12]

I admit, this stuff intrigues me. The first time I heard about it was several years ago when a friend mentioned that my former hometown had a sheet of it...I saw it once when they had it set up at the farmer's market, but I think they were only letting kids skate on it (figures).

I'd love to try it out some time, more for the novelty than actually thinking I'd probably like it.

Have any of you ever been on the stuff? What is it like? It must be pretty durable if it doesn't get scratched-up and nasty from all the blades...

[Bill_S]

Questions about synthetic ice arise occasionally, and this thread might offer some opinions from skaters...

http://www.skatingforums.com/showthread.php?t=22571&highlight=synthetic

There are links to additional threads about synthetic ice within the thread above.

I THINK that Skate@Delaware did it for a while, so maybe she'll chime in. If I'm wrong, I'm sure she'll tell me! 8O

[Skate@Delaware]

Questions about synthetic ice arise occasionally, and this thread might offer some opinions from skaters...

http://www.skatingforums.com/showthread.php?t=22571&highlight=synthetic

There are links to additional threads about synthetic ice within the thread above.

I THINK that Skate@Delaware did it for a while, so maybe she'll chime in. If I'm wrong, I'm sure she'll tell me! 8O
Bill, you are not wrong, I did skate on it! Go to the old thread and read up on it, there is a lot of info about it. Overall, I did enjoy it more for the training aspect than anything else (the convenience is nice, skating in summer when there is no ice is nice as well). Your legs build up superfast but there is a larger learning curve (you don't glide very well, altho I'm told there is better stuff out there than the stuff we used).

[AgnesNitt]

When my coach was a show skater she skated on this for shows. She told me if you want slim beautiful legs, skating on synthetic ice will do it. Apparently the effort to skate on it really turns your legs into pure muscle.

[Skate@Delaware]

When my coach was a show skater she skated on this for shows. She told me if you want slim beautiful legs, skating on synthetic ice will do it. Apparently the effort to skate on it really turns your legs into pure muscle.
I don't know about "slim" but it really does build up muscle! If you have a hard time getting any "push" out of your stroke, then perhaps synthetic ice is for you!

I'm hoping that my rink offers some training time on it this summer-I've lost some of that ooomph I gained from last time. It's great for gaining height on your jumps!

However, if you have knee/hip joint problems, I'd recommend some caution as it might aggravate these conditions. And it does dull your blades quite a bit faster. AND (last bit) I'm thinking it contributed to my boots breaking down earlier than normal (keep in mind that I was skating in the summer, in a humid & non-air conditioned room which was super H-O-T!).

[RachelSk8er]

I had to skate on synthetic ice for a lame festival thing my synchro team did one year. That was when senior teams still had 24 skaters, the ice was less than half the size of a normal rink, so all we did was this cheesy watered down program. I didn't notice it being that much harder to push on, but under the circumstances, we couldn't really push hard and get gong fast anyway. We all wore old skates/blades.

[Skate@Delaware]

I had to skate on synthetic ice for a lame festival thing my synchro team did one year. That was when senior teams still had 24 skaters, the ice was less than half the size of a normal rink, so all we did was this cheesy watered down program. I didn't notice it being that much harder to push on, but under the circumstances, we couldn't really push hard and get gong fast anyway. We all wore old skates/blades.

I bet you were using better stuff than what we have. I'm told there is a synthetic ice rink upstate from me, and one of the girls who skates at my rink has skated on that stuff, she says it feels more like real ice than what we have.

Our "ice" surface is about 20x15 (give or take) and that's about studio size. Not big enough for pubic sessions unless you are a toddler :lol: and NOT big enough for more than 15 people (I can't imagine 24 synchro skaters)!