Flash Back 4th of July Fantasy Ice Show!

Basic 1 skater practices keeping his head up

Basic 2 skaters keep their eye on their caoch

Does this hat make my head look fat?

Costumes the Adult Skaters wanted for their number

Costumes they got!

Coach, I need some "patton" before I go on!

Skating director exhorts, "Go out, skate good, and remember have a good time!"

Happy 4th of July

Everyone on the east coast, stay as cool as you can! Good luck getting power back.

Great Moments In Public Skate.1

Someone skates in front of me and I'm all dodgy;

And the ice tourists are all:

How'd she do that?

Or maybe

What just happened?

But I feel like:

Until some 12 year old does a flip right in front of me.

Someone Gets in My Way During My Lesson

Oh, please, don't tell me you haven't had 

daydreams about this!

2014 Figure Skating Resolutions

Generally, making New Year's Resolutions doesn't work.

source: Pusheen the Cat

But you can look at this page to see what might help you with with your resolutions.

My resolutions this year....

1. Start Group Lessons again.

2. Relearn FI3----yet again!  

3. Improve my mohawks!  Specifically get the free foot over the circle on the back edge!

4. Get some check in FO3 and mohawks.

5. Get more than 3 rotations in my 2 foot spins. 

6. I may be pushing the edge of the envelope here....Do a Bunny Hop.

Dull Blades Get an Appointment (UPDATED)

So I have an appointment tomorrow to get my blades sharpened. I'm able to skate on them for now only if I have really deep knee bend and perfect edge placement. Really, I should keep skating on them because maintaining edge control on dull blades is good exercise.  

So my basic rule is, when I'm working so hard to skate that I think...

Time for a sharpening!

I haven't had a sharpening since March! And despite my off and on  skating, I think I've put in the 25-30 hours that's expected between sharpening. So, my sharpener squeezed me in on Sunday. 

And I know what will happen. He'll run his thumb nail over the blade and he'll say the same thing he always does.

"These blades don't need a sharpening,
they've got plenty of life in them."

But it's been 10 months since I had a sharpening, so I figure I'm due. Otherwise 2013 would go down as the "Year without a sharpening."

And if he says, "These are still skatable," I'll do my Tim Curry face!

(Update: My skate tech reported they were dull but with no nicks!  That's so unusual, I have no funny face for it!)

Lost and Found

Got to the rink and discovered one of my wrist guards was missing.

Turned up in Lost and Found!

Thank you, some honest person!

Unlike whoever walked off with my knee pads a couple of months ago.

Ooooh, if only......

Things I Hate about Skating. 7, 8, 9 (Pre-Xmas 3 for 1 Sale!)

7. When  RINK STAFF (!) interrupts my lesson to talk to my coach 

On the outside

On the inside

8. When some guy in hockey skates decides to hog the center hockey circle to practice his crossovers

Dude, you're annoying me--and all the spinners, jumpers,
skaters in lessons...

9. When the ice is too cold, too hard and covered with bumps over the entire surface

Things I Hate on Ice. 6

What My Coach Is Teaching Me To Do

What I hear.

What happens as a result.

My whining excuse.

Things I Hate About Skating. 5

I was on light skating this week due to an injection in my knee, so Miss Bianca was having to think deep thoughts about what I could do that wouldn't stress my knee too much. It's always a bad sign when a coach thinks about what she wants you to do. You never know what will come up.

Then Miss Bianca gets some inspiration.

"I want to see your Hockey Stops,
 right here, right now!"

Yes, we all know adult learner figure skaters all hate hockey stops. Keep your chest forward, twist your hips, do this thing with your feet really suddenly and don't fall on your ass. 

But as much as I hate them, hockey stops are important. Having the skill to stop when you're going fast, is critical to safety, and it allows you to skate on crowded sessions with more speed but without danger to slamming into anyone.

There's some really good tips out on the web. I like the hockey stop page at Robby Gantz Power Skating. Really an excellent write up, and a nice bit of animation to go along with it. 

Anyway, Miss Bianca has me skate to the hockey circle and do the stop on the circle line. I sort of sneak up on the blue circle, then gently do a one foot snowplow.

"That's a rolling stop! You need to come to a complete stop!"  Miss Bianca is firm, "And you need to do a hockey stop too!" 

What Miss Bianca wants:

Sadly, when I start to do them, this is what she gets:

But by the end of the lesson, I'm doing better! More like this!

Maybe, next week I'll be doing them as well as the 9 year old hockey boys!

When You Take a Friend to the Rink because They Want to "Learn To Skate"

First you help them out on the ice:

And they grab you and take you down

 Then you get away from your friend as quickly as possible, letting them skate on their own:

Watching them grab for the boards can be amusing too:

Finally after a long hour at the rink, you go home and take a well deserved nap!

You Know You Skate Too Much: 3

You come home from the rink and tell someone you love how you spent your day working on your skating and they respond:

Yeah, who understands what we say except other figure skaters.

P.S. The Ice Doesn't Care will be down for a few days while I upgrade my computer. Sorry, no Sunday funnies this week unless a miracle occurs and everything works the first time. 

The Marker of Doom. Mark II

Miss Bianca reaches into her pocket and pulls out here coach's marker.

You may have read how I feel about these here.

"Show me your 3 turn," she says.

I pop one out. Nice point, good shape.

Tiny.

Miss Bianca says, "Do you want me to draw you an arc?" Oh, the voice is sweet and nice. But deep underneath is a threat...'make it bigger'.

"No," I say in a little voice.

I want to hide when the marker comes out

 Miss Bianca draws an arc anyway. I know what's she's thinking...

Well, uh, falling....

You Know You Skate too Much.2

And you don't regret it for a minute!

You Know You Skate Too Much.1

You look at this picture

And you think…

Progressive….

Cross Behind

Slide Step.

What a cute piece of footwork.




And then you realize it's a gif of Buzz Lightyear.

Speed on Ice

I hadn't seen Miss Cheerleader for a few months, and when we got together on the ice this weekend, we yakked about her Silver Dance test next week, and her work on her Gold Moves.

We're on public and as we skate around the rink yelling over the music, we're going like fire.

Sort of like this.

We're blowing past the people in rental skates, weaving around the hockey boys, zipping along at  fast and serious pace. Oh, I can remember the old days, when moving this fast would have panicked  me.

I used to feel like this when I went fast

"Hey, you're keeping up really well," Miss Cheerleader says, "Your knee must be better!" I agree, and say, "Look I know you have tests to work on, don't let me keep you."
And Miss Cheerleader was gone…

Miss Cheerleader

Yeah, no keeping up with THAT!

But I'm gonna try!

The SLOWEST Person on Ice

Last weekend I was heading to a blue hockey line where I saw Skate Dad working on his 60 revolution 2 foot spins. When he headed off to the far end of the rink, I started doing my forward edges. Before I  could get even one finished, he was back at the blue line, and nearly ran into me.

I might as well, be standing still, I'm so slow.

But classy. Like a fine wine….or cheese….or  a double wide trailer with a gas fireplace. (wink, wink)

I Turn Five Again

Poor Miss Bianca. I must be the biggest five year old she's ever had as a student.

She has a plan for my lesson. A well thought out, professional plan where she builds on my skills and corrects my errors with guidance and thoughtful corrections.

And then I start talking:

"See my edges! See my lunge!
See my two foot spin! See my crossovers!
See my under push and extension!
Look at my bad side mohawks!"

Poor Miss Bianca. When I'm on an enthusiasm tear, I'm like a five year old, I want to do everything at once. I want to jump ahead in the lesson.   Miss Bianca has to work her coach magic...

Now I'm finally ready to receive her instruction!

Hi! I'm ready for my lesson!