Oh dear oh dear oh dear. I bought new blades. Dance 99s. They are lovely - but they have a rocker. And even though they have a large toe-rake, for dance blades, it is 100 miles away from the bit of the blade that is on the ice.

This does NOT make me feel secure! I obviously have a very bad habit of using the toe-rakes to slow myself down when going backwards.

Yes, I know, I need to bend my knees more and sit down into my backwards skating.... and when I do, it feels great.

I think I shall like these blades when I'm used to them, but right now twizzles are impossible and even stepping to forwards feels like a mighty big adventure! Especially with a partner doing a 3-turn or Mohawk round me. I am not quite sure why we decided doing a Willow Waltz was a great idea, but somehow or other, that's what we did!

Wail..... we have a competition in two weeks and I'm sure I'm not going to be able to do a bunny hop or twizzles by then!

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

Been there, done that! It's the worst part of new blades, isn't it?

Aww... I know how it feels to know you can do something, but you just can't because of the blasted blades.

Trust me. I just changed from a blade that has a 8ft rocker, to a top-of-the-line that has a 7ft rocker. My previous blades were shorter than recommended. Now, the toepick is huge, like if I look down I see this huge honking thing extending out.

Just keep doing edges, deep knee bends, crossovers (be careful, don't trip) and hope for the best. If you have any thing that works better, tell me!

Have fun doing stuff that you're supposed to know how to!

Oh dear! So close to your performance too. I wonder, is it possible to switch back to the old blades until after the performance so you can start off fresh with them when you can relax about it more?

I am sure that once you get over the shock and take a deep breath, you know exactly what you have to do.

My suggestions, for what they are worth:
as much time on them as possible
constant checking your posture & knee bend
exercises that get you lifting up onto the pick and getting back onto the heels
lots & lots of turns, edges etc

Changing boots or blades does seem to be a major upheaval.

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Katz

Saved by Synchro!
I was over it, now I'm into it again !

Oh dear Mrs R! I hope things are a little better today. I second Katz's suggestion of using the old blades until after the comp.

If this isn't possible, then the only thing for it is lots and lots of ice time. Especially going backwards.

Good luck.

I had these blades at one time never really did adjust to them (switched from a different dance blade), but I also had them on boots that were all wrong for me (Risports) so I don't want to really blame the blades or scare you. All my problems were with the boots. I broke the boots down in about 8 months (I was skating on a senior synchro team at the time but boots were lasting me 12-16 mos), and couldn't re-use the blades on my next boots because the Risports took a 1/2" shorter blade than Riedells, so I sold them to a friend/teammate with smaller feet. She loved them and those were the blades she wore up until she quit skating in college.

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I expect I shall adjust in time. The competition is only a local rink one - we only entered for fun, and are transforming our free dance into a pairs routine for the occasion! I'm not going back to my old blades - they appear to have led me into bad habits, and the sooner I lose those habits the better.

I am seriously thinking, though, of suggesting to coach and husband that we have my solo lesson tomorrow & postpone our couples' lesson until Wednesday. I don't quite know why we thought it a good idea to work on the Willow Waltz in these blades.... the Swing Dance would have been easier!

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

It's probably a good idea to go back to basics with these and adjust from there. I'm not sure what you're switching from, but if you were in freestyle blades especially, the way your weight needs to be centered and the part of your blade you use to turn, push, etc is different and takes getting used to. Since these are shorter, thinner and more rockered, you'll also notice the slightest shift in your weight more. In the end, they'll probably make you a much better skater, you just have to be patient!

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2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything

I just switched from freestyle blades to synchro blades. My rocker is the same, but the toe picks are much smaller. At first, it felt exactly the way Mrs. Redboots is describing, but I've had them for a week now and they feel a whole lot better. I even managed to survive a dance weekend on them this past weekend! Hang in there - it should feel much better by the time your competition comes around!

Ugh! I hear you! What seems to help me adjust to new blades the best is doing lots of 3-turns, especially double 3's. It gets my body familiar with where the new ball of the blade is.

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

Although I don't compete, adjustment to a completely different blade has turned me off from trying new blades that I probably don't need anyway. Just getting a new pair of my old standard, MK Pros is hard enough when the old pair has gone almost flat after too many sharpenings.

When I get a new set, I have to spend time just doing 2-foot slalom then stroking, 1-foot swizzles on a circle, stroking, etc. All basics then work my way up.

Good luck w the new blades. I ordered a new pair of Pros and will be doing the same soon.

Kay

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Switching from John Watts dance to these. A huge and very steep learning curve - but today I simply love them! Everything is faster, edges are massively more secure - it feels like one is on a really wide path (hopefully not the one that leads to destruction!).

A lot of things still not happening, most notably stepping to forwards. Backspin also not there, although the forward part of our changefoot was lovely. Pivot spirals didn't happen, but that was bottle on my part, nothing more. The other spirals were a lot better than I thought they would be. We didn't run through our programme, but just did the elements in isolation.

Twizzles are returning, sporadically, and 3-turns are okay, although double 3s (which have always been a bit iffy) weren't happening. Skating forwards in waltz hold was tricky, simply because I'm going faster than Husband thinks I am!

In fact, quite the absolute best bit was we did a lap or a side or something of outside swing rolls in Kilian hold (or possibly Reverse Kilian, I know we did both), and I said afterwards, "Those felt good, but weren't they really slow?" Husband and Coach looked at me and said, "No, that was your normal speed!"

Oh, I am going to like these blades more and more each time, I think! They are just sooooooo smooth! Even though they do show up all my bad habits.

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

I'm so happy to hear they have started to work for you!

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How wonderful!

Equalize the field. Tell everyone else in the competition how wonderful the new blades are. By the time their blades get there, they will just have one week to get used to them.

Pretty soon you will decide all your students should switch too.

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Mitch Grunes ModifyingBoots FallingGently HomePage

At first this whole thread scared me Mrs. R. Because I'm planning on switching from Pattern 99 to Dance/synchro blades with in the next year. Not sure which ones yet. And for my I'm terrified of the shorter heel.

But glad to hear it's all coming together now. Phew!!

I expect the dance 99s are very similar to the pattern 99s, just shorter. Today was less awful than Sunday, but not as good as yesterday, as we tried to run through our free dance/pairs routine. Big Mistake!!!!! I hope we won't have to scratch, but as everybody says, we needn't decide that yet.

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!