I've been feeling kind of bad because I haven't been skating very much - only a couple times a week - due to having a lot going on, waiting for various (skating) injuries to heal and so on. I haven't felt good about my skating when I have went, as I felt my skill had declined in all areas. I went skating yesterday, then forgot to dry my blades or take them out of the hard guards, or even to bring them into the house when I came home, so when I fetched them from my car this morning, the blades were all rusted up.

I took the sharpening stone I bought, and with the aid of some water and lots of patience (and frustration), an hour later the blades were rust-free and honed to perfection, nice and sharp with no nicks. I even got up into the part of the blade right next to the toepick that the machine never sharpened and got that to match the rest of the blade. Then I cleaned off the blades with a cloth soaked with olive oil, and went skating this evening. The blades were amazing, they felt like a hot knife cutting through butter.

I skated fast and with power, did all the moves and jumps I know and felt good about nearly everything. Some other decent skaters with good speed tried to keep up. Is it just me or does it feel like you're dolphins or fish racing along when there are several of you skating fast together, passing each other and so on... An hour or so into things, I fell (for the first time) and hit my right shin with my left blade (never did that before, but it *HURTS*). A girl who'd been skating fast and one of the guys stopped and asked if I was alright, and whether I would skate with them for the rest of the night. I said sure, but I needed to tend my ankle first (I looked down and saw a blood mark on my pants).

The damage wasn't too bad, the blade didn't cut through the pants, so that helped a lot. There's a nice big scrape edged by a cut about an inch and a half long, but not too deep. I washed it off and went back to the rink. The others (3 of them) that I met and I introduced ourselves to each other and started talking about skating in general. The girl (who was the best skater among them - she took lessons in previous years), said that my waltz jump was really big. But then when I had her show me one, it was the best waltz jump I've ever seen in person! So then I paid attention and measured the distance of the jump by the tracings, and found that when I jump a big waltz jump, it's 8 feet from toe leaving the ice to landing. Is that a lot?

We all had a lot of fun, various competitions of skills, practicing different/new things, racing around the rink, and so on. They left an hour before the end of the session, so I stayed and skated more myself. I don't know why but I just feel much more back into the rhythm of skating, and it's a great feeling.

So now hopefully I'll be going on nearly a daily basis, and trying to learn the loop again. Does anybody know a website that had good explanations of how to do the different jumps?

__________________
Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable" ~ Christopher Reeve

sk8stuff.com has pictures explanations everything, but you'd probably be best with getting an instructor.

Anyway I know the feeling. I can only skate once a week, and it's at a dead rink (I.E. a rink that doesn't have anyone interesting though it's nice to have the ice to yourself). You should be lucky you can skate with people that can match you, it's very thrilling. Dare I call it an adrenaline rush?

__________________
The spotted bird flies
Rising through winds of turmoil
I am not regret.

Yeah, no instructor for the time being. I'm living on $1000/month (ahh the joys of running a startup ) and a skating habit is expensive. Besides I want to take my time watching all the coaches at the new rink before picking one.

Hehe, well they couldn't match the speed when I really fly. One thing I can do well is go fast. I've only encountered one person at the new rink who has gone faster than I can, but she was doing triples so I didn't feel too bad.

Dead rinks are an interesting phenomenon. Sometimes it's great to have the rink to yourself. Other times it just sucks because there's no motivation to try your hardest when there's nobody around, even if the people around aren't paying any attention...

__________________
Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable" ~ Christopher Reeve

I used to skate a morning public where I was the only person on the ice. In a way, it was nice, because I could do whatever I wanted to without watching for others. Great when practicing programs. On the other hand, it is boring without another soul to talk to or watch.

My first time back on skates last week, I had the ice to myself. I so wanted to do all the things I was doing before I broke my ankle, but with all the open ice, I did laps around the edge of the ice. At least I could go both directions.