your own skates

[debrag]

If I was to use my own skates what do I do?

I mean with rentals I would place everything in a locker then go and get my skates. What do I do if I use my own? Do I leave my bag etc in a locker and then go to the rink what I'd put my skates on and leave my skate bag, trainers & blade guards etc?

It may sound like a very strange question but I'm just not sure lol

[Virtualsk8r]

Sounds like another silly question but: Are you allowed to walk from the locker area to the ice surface wearing skates and guards?

Normally, you would put the skates on in the dressingroom with the lockers, leave everything else in the locker, and walk out to the ice surface wearing your hard guards which you would leave on the boards.

I've seen skaters put their skates on in the dressingroom and then take their skating bag, purse etc. to the penalty box and leave it there - but that is usually on club sessions where people don't normally go near the penalty boxes rather than public sessions.

[littlekateskate]

I guess it would depend on your rink.

All three rinks we skate at we are very comfortable leaving our bags with soakers, guards, ect in it. We just leave them at the benches where we put them on. Now as for purse and such. If i am skating i leave it in my car and lock it. Then I just throw my keys in my bag and some cash or card in a pocket.

But I am sure some rinks and pending time of day you may not want to. If it was a busy public session I might be more leary.

[debrag]

well I start skating again this coming Thursday and I'll be wearing rentals for my first lesson, I will just watch what others do :)

Need to go shopping for my bag & guards tomorrow.

[Ice Dancer]

At mine it varies, some put theirs on rink side, some in the locker room. I do it rink side, but that's the habit I'm into. Don't worry it will soon become second nature, and there isn't overly a wrong or right answer to it, only if something isn't allowed at your rink.

[Mrs Redboots]

Whereabouts are you (there are only a limited number of rinks in London)? At my rink, I would certainly use a locker (or a kind friend) if I were skating on a public session; even on patch I only take my handbag if I absolutely have to and hide it inside my skate bag - and leave it where I would notice if anybody went near it. Most days I can manage with my keys & phone in my coat pocket, and if I need to bring my wallet, that, too, goes in my coat pocket.

Most rinks provide lockers, and if you're wise, you'll use them when you're skating on a public session.

[Sessy]

Don't let anything lay around on public sessions. People will steal anything! Even my blade guards were stolen once. Friend of mine had the 50 cents she had in her pocket (for shopping wagons at grocery stores) stolen out of her coat pocket, too.

I don't take my mobile phone to the rink, usually, so I'll just put my keys in a front pocket and my wallet in a back pocket usually. That's been okay, even falling. But a box of mints I once had in my back pocket, now that left an ugly bruise (and a very flat iron box of mints).

During lessons, I just leave everything in the bag and then bring it to the boarding. There's so many moms there, I'm hoping people won't dare to take anything (most of all, the lockers aren't available during lessons at our rink, so).

[Ice Dancer]

God I must be lucky, you can leave anything about during public session and no-one has ever had a problem. We aren't stupid, generally everything is left in your skate bag, but even if you leave guards or something out no one touches it. I used to use lockers, but then they upped the price of them, and no one else used them so i figured there wasn't a problem, and touch wood there hasn't been for any of us. As I've said before, it's losing shoes i'm really worried about as I have a long drive home!!

[NickiT]

I skate on patch and leave my stuff rinkside. There are only a handful of us on patch but even on the daytime public sessions it's pretty safe to leave stuff there as it's pretty quiet. Would be a different matter on a crowded sesion though, but never skate those so don't have that problem.

Nicki

[flippet]

For me, it's always depended on where I'm skating. At one rink, I had no problem just leaving all my skating stuff in my bag, and leaving the bag under a bench in the lobby--everybody did, and I never had anything disturbed.

But at another rink, the clientele was a bit different---and there, I'd actually put my skates on, put my guards on, and then take my bag out and lock it in my car. (I don't think there are lockers---or if there are, they aren't big enough for a skate bag.)

[Isk8NYC]

Some rinks have coaches rooms, but it's a luxury. (One had a combo code. When the mgr. told me what it was he said "Get it? All odd numbers because figure skaters are odd. :roll: If he had been anyone else, I think I would have kicked his snarky little ***.) I only use it now when the benches are crowded because I like to chat with the skaters and parents.

I usually change my skates on the benches in the lobby, where it's warm. I stuff my sneakers right into my skate bag and zipper that compartment. I can't imagine anyone stealing my sneakers.

I take my few valuables (wallet, phone, car keys) onto the ice with me in a small tote bag and store it the scorer's box. I can't forget it because my car keys are inside!

At my old rink, one of the mothers from Mommy & Me had someone go into her backpack and steal her wallet during our mid-morning class. The wallet, less cash, credit cards, and metro card, was found in the trash dumpster at the rink. They suspected it was one of the maintenance men who was on duty that day. (He disappeared a few days later and never came back to work.)

[Kim to the Max]

Where I usually skate, there are so many parents around in the lobby that I feel completely comfortable leaving my wallet, cell phone, etc. out there with them in my bag (usually all zipped up). When I skate at the campus rink, I also leave my stuff in my bag, because I know the folks who work there (and many of the Public Safety officers!), and that rink is generally empty, and the third rink where my coach and I have been doing our lunch time lessons the past few weeks, I also leave my stuff in my bag because again, it's usually just my coach and me on the ice :)

I'm pretty lucky, but, I'm also a little too trusting, and I know that!

[FSWer]

Ok,I don't know about other rinks. But as a Novice Learn to Skate Skater. I myself do have 2 pairs of my own skates (I don't have a bag yet),and I usually just take the skates in, lace and tie them up (LOL,or will be wwhen I get my passes) and just leave at least what I do have on Rinkside and hide or watch it. Hope this helps.

[Sessy]

2 pairs?! what are you doing with 2 pairs?!

[Isk8NYC]

I thought about this thread this morning while I was skating. A man, whom no one had ever seen before, came into the rink and sat down on a bench right next to my skate bag. He was sitting there and it looked like he was "buffing" a pair of skates. I had nothing of value in my bag, but he was making me uncomfortable because no one knew him.

After I left the ice and retrieved my bag, I realized he had something black about the size of a chalkboard eraser in his hand. It must have been a whetstone. This guy had about four or five pairs of rental skates nearby and he was running the stone back and forth across the blade bottoms. I said hello and asked what he was up to and he said he was "sharpening the skates."

Now, I stone blades from time to time, but I always work on the outside edges, never ever ACROSS the bottom. I said "Do you work here or for the pro shop?" He answered no, he was taking his kids skating in a little while.

I'm watching him eliminate the entire hollow from these blades and I couldn't take it anymore. I said "They're not speed skates, they're not supposed to be flat. Your kids won't be able to stand up without edges - there should be a hollow running down the center to define the two edges." He smiled and sweetly said he was just cleaning them up.

I finked him out to the skate guard when I walked into the lobby, shaking my head. Can you imagine?

[debrag]

I'll be skating at Queens & Sobell. I have no clue what they are like.

[airyfairy76]

I'll be skating at Queens & Sobell. I have no clue what they are like.

Well, I can answer about Sobell as I skate there once a week on a Sunday public session.

The rink is very small, and the lockers are right by the rink. My favoured locker is only about four foot from the barrier gate! I can just about squeeze my skatebag in there (after bending it a bit!).

However, I would NEVER leave my stuff out there. I do at Ally Pally when I skate on a quiet daytime public session (and at patch) on the benches, but you get all sorts skating at Sobell on the public sessions. As the lockers are so easily accessible (and they give your money back, unlike Ally Pally!), it really isn't a problem.

[Mrs Redboots]

Queens is also very small; I think I'm right in saying that the lockers are in the café area as there's nowhere to sit down in the actual rink area. You may find other skaters leave their equipment at the side of the rink furthest from the entrance, but certainly the first week I'd use a locker until you see what other people do.

[Helen88]

When I skate [Ally Pally], I just leave my bag on the benches where I put my skates on. When I have my jeans on [practicing], I keep my phone, lip balm, money etc in my pockets, but when I have my joggers on I just leave my phone in the bag, same with lip balm, and try to take the correct amount of money. My bag is in plain view of both the coaches office place thing and the rink anyway.

[flippet]

I thought about this thread this morning while I was skating. A man, whom no one had ever seen before, came into the rink and sat down on a bench right next to my skate bag. He was sitting there and it looked like he was "buffing" a pair of skates. I had nothing of value in my bag, but he was making me uncomfortable because no one knew him.

After I left the ice and retrieved my bag, I realized he had something black about the size of a chalkboard eraser in his hand. It must have been a whetstone. This guy had about four or five pairs of rental skates nearby and he was running the stone back and forth across the blade bottoms. I said hello and asked what he was up to and he said he was "sharpening the skates."

Now, I stone blades from time to time, but I always work on the outside edges, never ever ACROSS the bottom. I said "Do you work here or for the pro shop?" He answered no, he was taking his kids skating in a little while.

I'm watching him eliminate the entire hollow from these blades and I couldn't take it anymore. I said "They're not speed skates, they're not supposed to be flat. Your kids won't be able to stand up without edges - there should be a hollow running down the center to define the two edges." He smiled and sweetly said he was just cleaning them up.

I finked him out to the skate guard when I walked into the lobby, shaking my head. Can you imagine?



What the hell? Did he have kids with him?

Or was he just destroying the blades for the hell of it?

That sounds very, very strange. In fact, it sounds like he was scoping the place out, either for theft, or for worse.

If you see him again, have him watched---and if it doesn't look like he's there with his own children, have the manager confront him and get some information---and have him kicked out if necessary.


*shivers*

[Amandaskategirl]

There are lockers at Queens. You pay £5 for the key at skate hire and then get £4 back when you return the key. Queens also have lots of rules - you are not allowed to leave bags on the side at the rink (unless they are the other side of the glass in the warm area - not recommended). It would be best to get a locker anyway.

[debrag]

thanks. I'm using my own skates tomorrow so I suppose I should go get my locker key first :) and find a seat in the cafe lol.

I've never even been inside the center lol

[Mrs Redboots]

When I skate [Ally Pally], I just leave my bag on the benches where I put my skates on. When I have my jeans on [practicing], I keep my phone, lip balm, money etc in my pockets, but when I have my joggers on I just leave my phone in the bag, same with lip balm, and try to take the correct amount of money. My bag is in plain view of both the coaches office place thing and the rink anyway.

When I've skated at Ally Pally I've left my stuff in the hockey sin-bin area - this seems fairly safe, although we did used to keep our eyes open if people came wandering in off the street to watch, as sometimes happened.

[RoaringSkates]

If I have my car, I leave and lock my wallet and other valuables. If I'm taking the train, I try to bring as little valuable as possible, and I keep my wallet in the zippered pocket of my jacket (not my trousers, where it would impede movement.) My wallet is rather small, so this certainly helps.

I do not bring a handbag to the ice rink. Actually, I don't carry one at all, but it would be silly to bring it, and everything else, to the ice rink, and then to have to worry about it. Just pull out what you really need.

I usually put my skate bag in the hockey box. During a public session, I usually just leave it at the boards, but again, I have nothing of value in it, so if it walks away, so be it. And the bag itself cost me $12. I like it, but if someone really wants that purple rolly POS, well...

See what people do at your rink. Be observant, and do what they do, if you're comfortable doing it.

[Isk8NYC]

What the hell? Did he have kids with him?
Or was he just destroying the blades for the hell of it?
That sounds very, very strange. In fact, it sounds like he was scoping the place out, either for theft, or for worse.
If you see him again, have him watched---and if it doesn't look like he's there with his own children, have the manager confront him and get some information---and have him kicked out if necessary.I don't know where his kids were - he had 4-5 pairs, so I guess 4-5 kids - they were probably in the game room. There was a half-hour before the public started, so he was happily destroying the blades. I thought he was shining shoes at first - buff, buff, buff! roflol

I can't fathom anyone renting skates and feeling the need to "clean them up." If they're dull, have the rental clerk switch or sharpen them. DIY when you don't know what you're doing? :roll:

I'm sure the kids won't want to come back - he dulled the skates so badly, they were probably flopping on the ice left and right. I feel sorry for the next renters, though. They've been sharpening or replacing our rental skates lately, so they won't be in bad shape for long.

I guess because I'm from NYC, I tend to notice odd people and what they're doing. Plus, he sat right next to my huge skate bag, even though there were plenty of empty benches. I feel like I'm the rink tattletale because I'm always the first to mention oddities to the skate guards and clerks.

[Isk8NYC]

Just wanted to share something I found on the web. My first pair of "my own" skates were Hydes (circa 1980) like these: http://cgi.ebay.com/Hyde-Ice-Skates-Size-4-1-2_W0QQitemZ270204985471QQcmdZViewItemQQssPageNameZ RSS:B:SRCH:US:101

Blisters, bloody wounds, twisted ankles, and lots of stumbling because they were too long. Ah, good times, good times. *sarcasm*