So what's up?

So it's been a month since I've posted - not sure why - I think on some level I am done blogging about the state of the ice rinks here in Portland. I mean, what else is there to say?

So just a brief rundown of my most recent observations:

The ice at Valley is better than it was last winter - it is more even and I was even able to skate on the end part of the rink closest to the lobby, an area which I had considered basically off-limits because of the severe ruts and sloping - I basically had altered most of my skating to avoid this part. The other day I actually set my figures up on that piece of ice because that was the only clean ice available (I'm thinking other skaters have learned to avoid it also - so that's why it was clean. Habits. Interesting.

The ice at LC has generally been very good - the other day it was so fast that I got scared while doing one of the dances - I was moving too fast! They are eliminating one of the dance sessions (Saturday early-evening) in a couple of weeks - it was poorly attended and I guess the management decided they would try to leave the public session open longer in hopes to gain more revenue (? - oh well, at least they have a plan) - so now the only social ice-dance session is Sunday morning and hopefully the attendance will improve in the fall.

The ice at Mt. View has been a little disappointing - I have been still going to the Adult-only Coffee Club on Wednesday at noon - it is very quiet and nice ice - we can play our own music and I can get a lot of skating done. I don't think they are actually cutting the ice before the session and only laying water on so it is a little rutted and not that "smooth-as'glass" surface that I enjoyed so much earlier in the summer. I also wondered if it just didn't seem as good since the ice at Valley has improved so much.

So we are getting ready for the "High-Level Adult Dance Camp" which will be at Mt. View and Lloyd Center the weekend of July12-14 - we are expecting a lot of good skating - I don't plan to do the whole camp but I will be helping with the food and going to the off-ice and social sessions as long as my feet can hold me up - it should be fun and invigorating to the skating community in general and especially the people who are interested in competing.

Otherwise it's business as usual - getting out there and skating and hoping for good ice and acceptable customer service...

For What It's Worth

I stopped by Valley today to see what the ice was like (I was sort of in the neighborhood) - and it looked okay. I asked one of the skaters I saw there if it was better than last Friday and she said it was a lot better.

But I got a report from her coach (and another skater who emailed me) that it was terrible this morning and that some of the adult skaters turned around and went home when they found how bad it was.

What I saw this afternoon looked okay - it didn't have those zamboni-wide "shelves" where you were constantly entering new levels and it looked like the flow was pretty good from what I could see of the figure and recreational skaters that were on the ice this afternoon.

That's all for now - I will try again tomorrow as I have a friend from out of town who wants to skate and she has liked Valley in the past...).
Lisa, your redundant reporter.

Is There ANY Excuse for This?

I should make this picture bigger because I'm not sure that you really get the picture of this ice that was experienced this week at Valley. I mean - they were having pretty good ice this summer up until this week - and then what happened?

What you see in this photo is a series of deep ruts (make by hockey blades) over another rut made by the zamboni itself - these zamboni-ruts create what look like shelves across the rink (each shelf being the width of the zamboni-blade) - and so when you skate you kind of go down these little shelves. In themselves it wouldn't be that bad, but add in the completely-random hockey-ruts in almost every sector of the ice rink and you basically have a disaster on your hands.

And a disaster that is not worth the $8 for the session plus the time and money spent getting there.

I can only hope it is better next week. I'm going to try to get a lesson with my Valley-bound coach this week but after this week she will be out of town and I may enjoy my end-of-summer ice at Lloyd Center, Mt. View and hey - maybe even make the trek down to Sherwood because THIS JUST AIN'T WORTH THE AGGRAVATION!!! (am I yelling?)

Another view, just in case you didn't get it the first time:

In Case you Don't Believe Me

This is a typical day at Valley these days - showing an actual hockey lesson (with stick!) on the left, a figure skating coach, two teenagers figure skating, and on the far left, some recreational skaters hanging out by the wall (at least that's what I think is going on) - add in some ice-dancers, an adult doing figures and maybe someone else doing Moves and you have a typical summer day at the Valley. Not too crowded, smooth ice, pleasant personalities, good music...

And yes, HOCKEY LESSONS (with sticks) - (can you tell this is my least favorite part?).

Valley ice

Was at Valley yesterday for 1:30 session. Forgot that over the summer there would be other people there - lots of kids for a birthday party.
anyhow, the ice was good, no more sloping - and you could actually see all the hockey marks-a great improvement.
They got new carpeting - it is certainly unique and bright.

Hope you are having a nice summer.
CHERYN

Another Skater Sighting - NYC!!

Gotcha!!

I didn't actually see him, but I saw a photograph of John Zimmerman in the window of a nearby discount shoe/clothing store modeling for something - I didn't actually notice that part...

Just for that I had to buy something there. A pair of bright orange Crocs to soothe my aching feet!

Goodbye NYC!!

Too few rinks in NYC!!

No - I didn't bring my skates. I thought about it but decided against it because 1) Chelsea Piers is having "summer skating camp" and the only sessions I could go to were early morning Dance practice sessions (hey, I'm on vacation) PLUS it was so expensive!! ($29??? Forget it!).

I am in touch with skaters from other skating boards and one NYC-skater offered to pick me up in Brooklyn and bring me to her rink (Aviator - looks like a nice facility and good prices and ice-times... but getting to Brooklyn and all of that just seemed like too much and she ended up being too busy - it was a nice offer...

And of course the famous outdoor rinks - Rockefeller Center and Wolman Rink in Central park are closed for the long, hot summer and so those were out. I did manage to walk by Rockefeller Center Plaza and look down on what would have been the ice - it is a restaurant in the summer and so that was fun. But there are no other rinks on the island - Hackensack would have been nice, but too far and I'm sure there are other rinks on LI but again... a hassle for what has essentially been a 4-day trip...

I did meet with a friend who is a skater and also a veterinarian - you better believe we have a lot to talk about - got some good tips about where to get used blades and also a little just general skating tip which I will use when I get home - it's always fun to talk about skating with people from around the country because you never know what will come up and what you can use. Plus she told me about the Hackensack Adult camp and how awesome it was working with John Zimmerman (yes, he is just as good-looking in person she assured me) and his wife Sylvia Fontana - she got some good advice from her, which was great hearing about... we went to the Natural History Museum (being essentially vets and scientists I figured this was a good choice) and had a great time walking aruond talking skating and vet med and looking at dinosaurs and dioramas...

Also glad I didn't bring my skates because after 2 days of walking in NYC (and walking, and walking and walking...) I have ginormous blisters on my foot and would not have been able to get my foot into the boot anyway... so the whole thing would have been a waste of time and energy.

I hope someday to broaden the PDX rink report to include ice rinks from all over the country (and perhaps, the world) but for now I can just dream of coming back to sweet Portland and it's abundance (compared to NYC in the summer) of sweet summer ice...

And yes, I've seen other famous people - Colin Firth anyone? (he is REALLY skinny!) And Kathleen Turner looks just as good as she does onscreen!! But no other skater sightings... sigh...

Skater Sighting in Denver Airport!!!!!!!!!!

So I'm on my way to NYC - vaction for me and work-related stuff for my husband. We had a long layover in Denver and so spent quite some time hanging out in the Denver airport.

You wouldn't think you'd see anybody famous there - after all, I was going to NYC where I was sure to run into some familiar-looking faces. I would just expect that sort of thing. No big deal.

So imagine how surprised I was to run into someone who is famous (to me, and undoubtedly to some of you) EVAN LYSACEK as I was getting off the escalator at the Denver airport.

It was kind of shocking. I looked and then looked again - "Evan!!!" - screamed in my mind. I looked again and then looked at my husband - he said, "That was Evan" (how great to have a husband who recognizes fame in the skating world!!) - I looked again as he was going down the escaltor. Should I say something? Get an autograph? The instantly shy side of me kicked in and I so I didn't do anything - I figured he needs his privacy, and as Chris pointed out to me afterward, he was on the phone at the time. It would have been quite rude.

I was wondering about that phone call. Who was it? Tanith? Frank? (Johnny? :)! )

And why Denver? Maybe he was in Colorado Springs getting some choreography from Christopher Dean... (I think this is how those rumors get started) or maybe just like me he was on his way... somewhere else...

And here in NYC? Yes, I've seen some familiar and somewhat famous faces. But it isn't really the same as when you least expect it.

Quiet Summer - Not So Much to Write About

Well, I've been thinking about this blog and I just don't have as much to write about these days - the ice is generally good, the kids are nice and the hockey lessons are just what they are... hockey lessons.

Although it was kind of funny the other day at Valley. It looked like just another normal morning - some freestyle kids, some adults, some adult ice-dancers, me doing figures and Moves and dance patterns, some lessons, some hockey lessons (with sticks)... and then this group of teenagers got on the ice - about 25 of them -- so there were basically every kind of skating going on (no speedskaters...) and the thing that struck me the most was how odd the hockey players with all of their gear and sticks and everything in that melee... it was a good session but...

Hockey lessons... Now there is an oxymoron.

So I will not be bloggig for a couple of weeks I think - I am leaving for vacation tomorrow (we are going to NYC) - and I don't think I'm going to bring my skates... haven't decided yet but it doesn't look like there are many open sessions on the area rinks and the ones that are open look kind of far away on the map... we only have 4 days. If only we were going in the winter, I could go to Rockerfeller Plaza or Central Park...

So have fun fellow skaters - stay cool and have great skating times!!!!

More Adult Bliss at the Valley

I know - Valley and Bliss in the same sentence? It must be an oxymoron!!

I got there early today so that I could warm up - I finally had a lesson (it's only been a couple of months) and I wanted to be at least semi-warmed up! That freestyle session on Tuesday morning had only the few adults it usually has during the school year, which was great!

The ice was pretty smooth and it is definitely lower than it was for most of the winter - you can see the yellow boards and they are even all around. I tend to avoid the ends and the corners but I think it is mostly habit and smaller dance patterns - I should try to lengthen them out again because I think the ice is okay as far as dipping down at the ends and the corners. Must remember for the next time.

The other thing I noticed is that there were remarkably fewer hockey lessons (thank god!) and the ones that were there were very quiet and nice and you hardly noticed them. I like that when they don't come out brandishing their sticks like they were weapons of mass destruction - that really really scares me sometimes! I mean, there they are in all of the "armor" and then there's little me in my little skirt and white skates with those delicate dance blades - no decent picks to kick them with - like I could get through all of that gear...

Digressing again..

Adult Bliss at Valley.

Tomorrow: the smooth, cool ice at Mt. View beckons me.

Just a few random notes

I don't have time to do a regular blog with stories, etc. today but I wanted to make some notes on some random observations on the rinks, the ice and the participants:

Lloyd Center - where on earth are all of the multitudes of ice-dancers that we have in Portland? I have been to the Sunday morning social sessions for two weeks in a row now and the attendance has been pretty sparse... and we're not seeing the kids that we were seeing a lot of for a while. Maybe they are too busy skating during the week to make it to the Sunday sessions (and with school being out they do have all of that time) or maybe their parents are feeling the heat of the economy and they are not wanting to drive into LC for these special sessions.

I don't know. It's nice to have all of that room, but they are sorely missed!

The ice was beautiful both weeks, by the way.

Valley: Well, the week after "hockey camp" and things are just as they always were. No ice cut this morning but some early-morning "fog" on the ice left the ice with this kind of odd surface. "Summer ice" is what I could call it. Kind of hard to skate on but at least it was even.

Hopefully tomorrow morning (Tuesday) will be better because they will for sure do an ice-cut after the early-morning hockey session. Now, how well it will be done remains to be seen...

"Which One of You is The Blogger?"

I went up to the Adult session at Mt. View today. When I first got there I was the only person there and I was late. So I figured, "Oh well, I'm going to be the only one there... oh." Well.

So I put on my skates and went into the middle to do some figures. I didn't bother with the patch blades - too much trouble to be changing skates all the time... and of course I was late so I didn't want to waste even more time with all of that skate-changing and I just wanted to get some exercise and try to get my skating-legs under me and all of that stuff.

Then a couple of friends came in - my friend and her family, who also skate (speed-skaters, but oh well) - THEN another person came onto the ice and as she got on she said to my friend and I, "So which one of you is the blogger?" I of course said it was me and she said that it was because of me that she was there!! I thought that was awesome! This was an adult skater (okay, Gordon, "grown-up skater") who was coming back to the ice after a long absence... wanting to get back into skating... the same story that a lot of us have -- and she came to Mt. View because she was looking for those adult comforts that this session provides - AWESOME!!!! (Me, a celebrity!).

This alone justifies why I'm doing this blog - if one person comes back to skating or finds out about a session that they are missing by reading my blog, then my work is done.

Yea.

It was a good session although I got almost nothing done because I was too busy chatting. Oh well, this social stuff is part of skating. Being an ambassador of the sport and all of that.

Because the summers are long. There was "hockey camp" at Valley this week - could they have told me about it last week when I was there? - NO - I found out from my coach, who I called to see about a lesson this week - if I hadn't have called her I wouldn't have known... the on-line schedule makes it look like they are having hockey camp and public and stick-time all at once. It's impossible to tell if there is an 8:45 ice-cut or whether they will cut the ice at 9am for the hockey campers. These are important things for the working adult or even competive young figure skaters and their coaches, but of course, these things are not addressed. We are left to hang out to dry, so to speak.

At least the Lloyd Center makes it clear what they are doing: "Kool Kamp" kids are on the ice from 10-2 and 2-4. That is "their time" and it is great.

It's odd to me though that these things are called "camps" when that name alone evokes memories of activities done outdoors and out in nature, eating S'mores and all of that... but oh well, in our urban landscape we have urban "ice" camps.

And so it goes...

It's Going To Be A Long, Long Summer

Why do I say that? The sun isn't even out yet and I'm complaining about a long summer?

It used to be we adults dreaded summer skating because the rinks were over-run by free-wheeling freestyle skaters. I used to hear some of the kids say things like, "Just run them over!" - words which caused me to skate as close as possible just to see if they would do it. They never did.

Now I totally welcome the freestyle kids. The group we have now is very nice, would never think to "run us over" and their numbers are few.

What we have now is Big-Boy Hockey Players With Sticks Taking Hockey Lessons. HOCKEY LESSONS! Okay, I'm happy for the coaches. They are earning $60/hr or so just like the figure-skating coaches and it's great to see them getting actual instruction in something that is probably useful to their playing that great sport of hockey. Sometimes their drills look just like what we learn in figure skating and sometimes it looks a lot harder. Of course with all that padding, if they fall they can't possibly hurt themselves, but once again I totally digress.

I was at the Valley yesterday. I came late to the morning public session and so of course I didn't expect clean, patch ice. There were several lovely teenage figure-skaters and one adult. There was one figure-skating coach. Several groups of recreational skaters (moms with groups of kids) were doing the wall-hugging thing which is no burden to me. There was also one hockey lesson - a little kid - he and his coach were in the far corner next to where the zamboni comes out - not prime real-estate as far as the state of the ice goes, so no big deal. I got on the ice and did my thing with a few simple figures.

I found a LOVELY patch of ice at the far end and was doing some more complicated figures. I didn't seem to be in anyone's way and the ice was flat and clean. Oh boy! Then these two tall teenage boys came out in full hockey gear and were skating around with their sticks - FAST -- I was like - "They better not hit me!!" but I held my ground. THEN their coach came out and deposited his cones adjacent to where I was skating - "Hey, I was here first!!" - he didn't seem to notice.

He had the boys come down the outside lane really fast with their sticks flying - right at me!! I bailed - one of them almost checked me and I was like, "Watch out!" I moved my "patch" over a bit to get out of the lane. At a certain point I gave up and just continued to skate and work on Moves. They took up the entire end with all of their scraping and stopping and all of that. I wished that I'd had the energy to work on dance patterns - it would have been nice to have a partner - a really strong one, and just go sailing through their crap. Maybe another time...

This whole time the figure skaters and their coach didn't seem to notice or really care, which makes me wonder... why do they and their parents allow this sort of thing to occur? I wonder if other rinks around the country have to deal with this? Yet another thing to be steamed about...

Why do I keep going there???

Today I plan to go up to Mt. View for another serving of Adult Bliss. Hopefully there will be no hockey players, with coach and sticks. Only cold and smooth, smooth ice. I better remember to bring more music this time...

New "Coffee Club"

This week I decided to venture up to the Mt. View Ice Arena in Vancouver, WA to try out their new Adults-only session "Coffee Club" which is Mondays and Wednesdays from 12:15 - 1:45. Usually I don't find this noontime skate to be very convenient to my very laid-back veterinary housecall schedule, but I had the day off and wanted to check it out since this session may be one of the only "hazard-free" summer sessions in the area that I can attend.

By "hazard-free" I mean no kids, no wild freestylers (well, maybe there will be some wild adult free-stylers...), no busloads of school or camp groups, no hockey players or hockey lessons... just adult skaters quietly doing their thing...

It was a cold June day and the rink was very cold. I asked if there was any heat anywhere and they said they don't leave it on unless they are having an event (apparently they save $7,000/month by not turning it on). It was really cold!! For the first time ever I wore my long coat (lined) onto the ice - I figured if my coach can do it, so can I!!

But I was the only one there and they had cleaned the ice and left the lights on, which was great. I asked the guy at the desk about the lights and he says he sometimes turns them down lower but today he would leave them up (yea!).

I was able to go through some figures and eventually took the long coat off. It was kind of lonely and I didn't play any music or anything (reminding me of the old "patch" days - we never even thought to put music on back then). Finally another one of the adult dancers came - so great - now I had some company!

The ice was BEAUTIFUL! At first I kind of had to get used to that hollow sound the ice makes when you strike the ice, but after a while I got used to it and really felt like I was flying around. No ruts or bumps really - no obstacles of any kind. We put on some music (I only had one CD with me) and eventually a hockey guy came out and skated - and then there was one woman who probably hadn't skated before and he stayed with her for the remainder of the session.

Apparently these sessions haven't really caught on yet... but this is how it started in Sherwood when they first had the coffee club - for about the first year or so there were only a couple of people, but rather than have "dead ice" they just kept the session and eventually it filled up and is very popular.

I had to ask for my coffee and there were no cookies in sight, but since I'm off sugar so that was no big deal.

Nice session. I will go again and hopefully some of my "ice-starved" adult skating friends will come and skate with me. I don't want to go lonely-skating this summer!!

"Hosed" at the Valley

Some of us were making jokes yesterday about the fact that there had been a hose on the ice that had left a mark. I'm not sure if it left a rut, but there was a mark on Monday morning that was unmistakably that made by a hose left on the ice. We could joke that we were "hosed" - apparently the ice hadn't been cleaned in the morning, or was so hard to skate on that it appeared to be so - I wasn't there so I can't comment, but let's just say that there had been some complaints.

So Tuesday started off as another day of "Adult Bliss" - joking around - "Oh no, there are a couple of hockey lessons today - watch out!" -- that kind of thing.

And then the two busses pulled up. And the teenagers starting pouring out of them and into the Valley lobby.

The dreaded school group. And worse yet - the dreaded school group from Salem - the worst school group known to man (in my experience). Could no one have warned us that this would happen?

I tried to skate a few figures as fast as I could -- too bad I had taken so long to warm up and put my skates on... but I had no warning... couldn't they have told us?

And what about those hockey lessons?

Well, apparently no one knew about this group - what the -- another communication breakdown at the Valley.

At least I could play my own music... that might calm them down... (I find that if you play the right type of music, you can soothe the savage teenager... or child for that matter) - but if it's the crap radio, then the frenzy just gets bigger...

So the radio comes blaring out and so I asked if I could please at least play a CD. Nope. No CD. "They requested the radio." They requested the crap radio? I don't believe it.

So I left. Befuddled and angry once again at the lack of respect and lack of communication at the Valley. My time was not well spent... and I don't have to even mention again the whole price of gas fiasco...

But hey, the ice was good - nice flow for the few minutes that we had...

Adult Nirvana at Valley Ice Arena

Why do I call it "Adult Nirvana"? --

In Eastern philosophy - Nirvana is kind of like heaven, some might call it enlightenment with extras - that amazing feeling you get when all is right in the world...

Or on the ice.

The flow is good, the ice is relatively flat. There are ruts, but so what - it is a hockey rink after all. The kids are out of school, the days are getting longer and the sun is out...

Oops - scratch that thought... the sun is not out. It should be, but it's not. So the rink is cold, but all of those other factors are there - a bunch of blissed-out adults (bliss is something you get in nirvana, apparently) enjoying their passion in these last final days before school lets out and the figure skating and hockey lessons and general recreational "mom-and'me" crowd starts to come and wreck havoc on our little patch of glorious, fantastic, mind-blowing hobby...

Addicted? I would say yes I am.

Lloyd Center being closed this week hasn't brought what I thought would be crowds - no doubt the coaches feel more welcome at Mt. View. Oh well, let them have their fun up there - we will still be enjoying this for another couple of weeks at least. And yes, the lights are on:

Valley Ice

Went to Valley this afternoon - ice was actually nice and the hockey lines were more visible than I have seen them in a long time. A few more people than usual at the early afternoon time (1:30). Wonder how crowded it will get once school ends. Usual problems continue with the service there and the general cleanliness of the rink, but you can't be perfect.

CHERYN

Do you think?

Do you think those guys read my bog? The managers, the staff, the "powers-that-be" at Valley?

The reason I'm wondering is that I skated both Memorial Day and Tuesday morning and the lights were on! Not full-out hockey lights (who needs THAT much light???) but the 1/2- 3/4 lights that make seeing the ice, the room, and your fellow skaters that much easier...

Memorial Day I could understand. There were lots of figure skaters there (hmm, a preview of what the summer ice is going to be like?), a couple of hockey lessons (why do they need lessons - I never remember this from the past - don't they usually have one big group lesson called "drills"? -- anyway, another digression...) and the usual adults (getting ready for an upcoming test session?) and, well, me.

Tuesday we were back to the usual "adult bliss" - good ice, lights on, pleasant company. Is it because there is early morning hockey ("old-man hockey") and they just inadvertently left the lights on after that session? Time will tell when I trespass towards the Valley again tomorrow, for the much-anticipated "Thursday morning with clean ice" session.

Meanwhile I will probably begin lobbying a little harder for an 8:15 ice-cut on Mondays and Wednesday (IF I start going to those sessions... hmmm) because it gets pretty chewed up especially with all of those freestylers in the mornings... whatever happened to that 8:15 ice-cut anyway???

It just disappeared...

But since the hockey lines have ALMOST re-appeared, maybe that ice-cut will do the same...

Why, Why Oh Why (ine)

Why Why Why can't they turn on the lights? I know we are all trying to save energy.

But is there something about figure skaters (and public recreational skaters) that don't need light to skate? Do hockey players need more light than figure skaters?

Yesterday morning I went to Valley to do a critique for one of the adult skaters who is working on a Moves test. The lighting was the dark and dingy stuff and I wasn't feeling so well in that my head was stuffed and I felt dizzy. The lighting didn't help. So I asked this adult student's coach if she could have the guys turn up the lights so that I could do a proper critique - with lights!!

So the coach went in and asked and came back to say that they were told not to turn the lights up for the public session. Okay. BUT the coach (and her family) own the rink!! Doesn't that count for anything???

So I had a dull and dismal skate, didn't stay long, that's for sure... although I did notice that 2/3 of the way through the session the lights were up - they have to start warming the lights up early for the big hockey session that follows...

Nothing makes sense anymore (am I have a life-crisis? Am I going to go all philosophical on you guys?).

And other thing (here comes the whine of the why's) - I took a look at the schedule that is on the internet. It says that Thursday morning there is a freestyle before the public session at 9:30. Well, this comes as news to me because I thought they used Thursday morning for "ice maintenance" - which is why I like to go for the public -- the ice is clean and good on Thursday morning and I can sort of count on it.

So I called this afternoon to get some clarification. Of course the guy I spoke to didn't really know much, but he didn't think they were doing ice-maintenance on Thursday mornings since the schedule says there is freestyle...

Why don't they advertise the change in schedule? Don't they kow by this time that figure skaters are creatures of habit and like to schedule skating around the rest of their busy lives? Do they think we wake up one morning and think, "Oh, I think I'll go ice-skating?"

Our recreation, our exercise, our passion, is kind of like a job... for better or worse, for most of us we need some kind of structure for the practice.

Anyway, I digress once again.

I guess it's time to program the rink's number into my cell phone so that any time I might get up and think, "Oh, I think I'll go ice-skating" I will call first to make sure that there is ice. Especially when gas is $4/gallon (and rising...).

Hell Has Frozen Over at the Valley Ice Arena!!!

And why has hell frozen over, you may ask???

Well, to start with, they are playing CLASSICAL MUSIC during the public sessions!! Not CDs, but the radio - the classical station!! They've been doing this for several weeks now thanks to one of our lovely skaters who made the suggestion to the staff there. Thank you! This is Great.

For another thing, the ice is almost even!! I noticed today that those yellow boards are almost the same height all the way around. The area directly across the rink from the CD player still looks a little high, but really the general surface has levelled out considerably, making it (presumably) easier to navigate.

And I'm not sure but it looks like the lighting may be better, but as I've noted before when one or two things are better, it is easier to ignore some of those other bothersome problems. Yea!

The ice surface is still rutted (post-hockey zam-job? zoned out zam-staff?) in places, but generally much better or at least more tolerable. Since I came into the public session late - more than 2 hours after they passed the zamboni over the ice, I didn't expect good patch ice or anything... and so, yeah, it was pretty good.

The adult crew at Valley is enjoying those last blissed-out empty public sessions of spring in the few weeks before school lets out (the dreaded "summer-season" of hockey lessons, figure skaters and recreational skaters...) and I enjoy the company there very much.

In the end, it's still the Valley, but on some level... it is home.

My skating? Still weak in the legs and dizzy in the head. This cold/flu really knocked me this time, but at least I was there. At least I was there.

Still Sick? Well, Not Quite... BUT

Since I haven't skated in over two weeks I thought I would try it. I would just take it easy. Just skate around, do some edges, not work too hard.

It wouldn't be that hard.

Or so I thought.

I decided to go to Lloyd Center since it's warm and very close to where I live. I went to the 10am public. No one there. The ice had not been made (which they usually do, but hey, it's off-season, there are energy considerations, etc. and so - what's the big deal?).

I was exhausted by the time I put on my skates. I thought, "Oh man, this is going to be hard."

And it was. At first I could hardly skate AT ALL - it was as though I had never skated before... knees wouldn't bend, ankles were stiff - Aeeeiiiee - what am I doing??????

I stayed on the ice for about a half-hour - eventually doing some edges, some crappola figures and little parts of dances. I even went backwards!! Too dizzy in the head to do many turns...

It got kind of boring - there was only one hockey-guy on the ice. And me. I wished there had been someone to talk to, someone to skate around with while talking. That was about the level that I wanted to skate... maybe I should join the Hooky Club.

Not using your body for two weeks really makes a difference!! I wouldn't have believed it.

So when do I go next? That is the big question! Dare I go over to Valley, only to pay $8 to skate around in the cold?

Maybe tomorrow.

Maybe next week.

We shall see. I do miss it. And miss my friends.

Your Redundant Reporter

Is getting even more redundant it seems... This is another video of empty ice on a public session at Valley in the morning.

It's weird, but it IS mid-season - I mean, who is really thinking about ice-skating that much with spring in the air???

I was thinking about when I was a kid - NOBODY skated mid-morning except for the elite skaters at our rink (and I'm talking National and World Champions here!)... so maybe we are just spoiled...

I Shouldn't Advertise This!!

Thursday morning is probably the best time to skate at Valley these days. They make ice for the public and it is empty, empty, empty!!!

Especially when I am not there - still out with a cold, but will probably try again tomorrow or next week.

Thank you Skatecam, for providing these provocative videos!!

Smooth skating at Valley

Hi!
I was at Valley this am for my weekly lesson - the ice was actually smooth and many of the hockey markings were actually visible - they had disappeared for awhile - nice to see them back, even if very light - who knows how long they will last. Ice seems to be better since the hockey season has ended & with it the early am hockey - free style actually occurs on some mornings early - don't know if anyone goes, but if you want empty ice, it might be worth calling to see when they are having free style sessionsl

CHERYN

When You're Sick...

You don't want to skate.




You don't want to work.

You don't want to blog.



I have the flu and have not been doing much. Bummer. It has been a few years since I've been sick and now I am wondering what it feels like to be normal.



I did get some photos for the blog from the elusive "Skatecam" - ice at Valley this morning was quite beautiful and apparently, pretty empty:





I don't know how they play hockey in there - you really cannot see the lines - makes me wonder what the refs do when they have to make a call... "Um, well, I THINK you were over the line..." (Line, what line?).


I was thinking we need a web feed from all of the rinks so we can see the conditions/crowdedness at any time during the day. The security cameras at Lloyd Center could pick that up easily...


Will have to make friends with someone in the security office over there...

Happy skating everyone! And be well!

Where Have All the Dancers Gone??

It's a beautiful sunny Sunday in Portland. I decide to head out to the Lloyd Center to go to the social dance session. I'm thinking, "What a great day for ice dance - I'm all relaxed, the sky is blue and I want to dance!"

I guess very few other people felt that way.

It was a nice session - don't get me wrong. It's nice to take a lesson and not have to worry too much about getting in everyone's way, or feeling uncomfortable with other dancers buzzing around me... but c'mon people - where were you?

There were about 10 of us on the ice today. Maybe. 2 men, the rest women (makes for a lopsided social session, that's for sure!). The ice was beautiful. The company, fantastic.

We were able to do figures and work on parts of patterns. That is nice.

Oh yeah, and there was the "runner" on the ice. This kid jumped over the barrier and started running and sliding on the ice. I took it upon myself to tell him to "Get OFF right now!!". I didn't know I had it in me - he looked kind of startled. Oh well, it kind of made my morning.

One of the skaters took a lot of photographs at the sesion so I am happy to post a couple of them to show everyone just how empty it was! You are missed, fellow dancers!!!

When It's Good - It's REALLY Good!!

No - Not my skating!!!

The Ice At Valley!!!

I got there today at 9:10 and the ice was being cut for the 9:30 public. Thursday is the only day of the week that there is an ice-cut for the 9:30 public and so this week I decided to take advantage of this fact. Not only were they doing an ice-cut, they were putting hot water on the ice.

This is something they should do all of the time, but apparently they don't. I still don't know that much about zambonis and how ice is made (although I do have a video about it that I have never watched...) but if you put hot-water on the ice while you are making it, it makes for a very smooth sheet of ice.

And smooth it was. I could tell from the instant I touched my blade to the ice that I would have a good skate. Fast, smooth ice. A smoother feel than Lloyd Center ice, which has been more "crunchy" of late. I can't describe it exactly, but it feels like butter. Very nice and very smooth.

It is still somewhat sloped, but I think that if I were to choose between having a totally flat rink or a smooth, buttery surface, I would choose the smooth surface. For figures it's nice to have flat ice because you don't feel like you are going to lose your momentum when you go up the hill, or lose control when you go down. For the most part, if you do your figures between the two blue lines (if you can see them) you will not have to deal with the slopes of the ice.

So yes, it is better. It still is a 20-mile round trip for me to go there in the morning. I may make this a "once-a-week" special trip rather than taking the time to go there more often.

But when it's good, it's very very good.

[And when it's bad - it's horrid].

Rink Judging System

I was thinking today as I skated again on "Little Shiny" (LC Ice) that I could take the new judging system created for judging figure skating (called IJS or International Judging System) and apply it to my judgement of the rinks I skate at in the Portland area. Since I am a judge of figure skating (albeit I don't use this new system very much as a test judge, but I do have some exposure to this system) I figured I am somewhat qualified to use this system in any way I want, so here goes:

So in this judging system the skaters are given two sets of marks by the judges - the "Grade of Execution" for each element in the program - these grades range from -3 to +3, with 0 being "just okay" or "Just right" - nothing special but the element has been performed. -3 is usually given for a fall or a major error on the element. Positive grades of execution (or GOE) are given if the element is really good or even great.

The 2nd set of marks is more subjective (as if those first Grades or Execution or GOE are totally objective, but I digress) - these are the Program Components. These are what used to comprise the old "Presentation" or Artistry" mark in the 6.0 system and include categories like "Skating Skills" "Performance and Execution", "Choreography", etc. These categories are given a score from 1-10 with 10 being the best there ever was or could be (think: John Curry) and 1 being - well, pretty mediocre (think: me or any recreational or beginning skater).

So how does this apply to judging the rinks, you may ask?

For the GOE, we could look at the different elements of what makes a good rink: The quality of the ice could have a certain set value and then we could add or subtract from that value on any given day. We could look at Customer Service, cleanliness, etc. in the same way.

For the Program Components we could set up another set of criteria (although these criteria might be the same, actually, as I haven't defined that many levels of satisfaction yet...) and then could be judged on a scale of 1-10. In the end we could see who "wins" given these criteria that I have arbitarily set up.

I will work on this more in the coming days.

Tomorrow - a lesson at Valley (I hope) to do figures (I hope) and to figure out the categories, etc. - maybe I will even do a [mock] judging!!
Happy skating everyone!

Another Beautiful Day at Little Shiny

Such beautiful ice! Such beautiful service! 1.5 miles from my house! Warm!

Okay, so the music situation leaves a little to be desired. I think I can play my own CDs on the public, but I'm not sure. It seems like one of the skaters does this, but I can't tell if it is allowed or whether the staff is just placating a certain individual... so today I put on my iPod, which was good, UNTIL they turned the volume up on the speakers so loud that I couldn't hear the iPod!!

Today the ice was so beautiful it looked like glass - literally - or maybe a mirror - just beautiful - maybe just a little crunchy, but who cares?

And it is generally flat, although not completely, which I find amusing... You can't feel it unless you are trying to do figures, which of course, I like to do.

This is my last week of the "free" public sessions (since I am taking a class) and I've decided not to do it for the next 8-week class period since the summer vacation will start at about week 6 of the class and I know that I won't want to go to the publics during the summer. I think.

I will have to think about it.

Maybe I will do some calculations and see if will still make sense to take the class. It will probably turn out cheaper in the long run... even with those weeks of missed public sessions due to "Kool Kamp" (which is a great thing for the kid-set - camp at the ice rink? What a concept!!)

These morning public sessions also seem to be very popular among the "mom and me" crowd (parent and me?) - 3 and 4 year olds coming to skate with their moms. Luckily they are pretty predictable and generally stay around the edges - which is great, unless I am doing some killer dance-patterns...

Well, enough rambling for today. no photographs/graphics as blogger seems to be having some type of problem with that...

Just in from "Skatecam"

"The ice was really good today!!!"

"And there was no one there." - Skatecam

I do declare!! Good ice at Valley!!

What possessed me to go to Valley this morning?

Did I know somehow that the ice would be good?

How would I have known that?

It's not like I have the past to go on - sure it's been getting better but it's still so touch-and go...

But today, it was quite beautiful.

The hills are mere rises and the valleys just the gentlest of slopes.

The ice was made this morning at 6am. There were several skaters taking lessons in the time period from 6:15-9:15. There were no further ice-cuts for the supposed 9:30 "public". Since the morning ice has returned there is no semblance of a schedule.

Someone said that they were thinking of asking for an ice-cut around 8:15 but decided against it because they might screw it up - interesting to have to think of it this way...

Apparently they were talking about me at 6am - this would have been good ice for figures. For Lisa. Nice of them to think of me when I was still snoozing away in my little bed. Early morning ice and I have not been friends for quite some time... that's why I work part-time!!

I digress. I got on the ice at 9:15 and although the I couldn't quite see my figures, I did some anyway and the ice was nice. Softer than it has been and no hockey or Zamboni ruts. the usual crowd of skaters came in and we played great music.

I can skate again - just stroking is a complete pleasure! And I'm getting bolder doing turns, etc., although I'm still wary of the slopes and rises which tend to be in the areas where many of the turns are done in dance. But oh well. It was a good practice. On good ice.

So where do we go next time? Is there any way of knowing whether it could possibly be this good again? Like on Friday morning?

With gas at over $3.50 a gallon I still have to think carefully about making the 20-mile round trip there in the morning. and of course the $8 versus the free public at LC - which is a 3-mile round trip from my house...

Dilemmas, Dilemmas. Such is the skating world in PDX...

Quiet Session at "Little Shiny" Rink (LC)

Oh, it's getting really redundant - skating at the Lloyd Center rink at the 10 am public - very nice... ice is flat... good... very few people on the ice... an opportunity to practice figures for a half-hour and then just having a nice, nice skate... pleasant people who work there...

Is it all just a little bland? The sameness... the niceness... the food court smells...

I could get used to this, but probably won't - most likely heading off to Valley at least one day this week because I got this photograph from the enigmatic "skatecam" this morning of the ice at Valley today.

It looks beautiful - so pristine and white... in reality I heard (again, from the enigmatic "skatecam") that it was still full of hockey ruts (what do you expect for a Tuesday after "old man hockey") had some hills and valleys in the hockey boxes, but was "skateable".

Sigh... What more can you expect?

My loyalties have been split...

I think a Mt. View session is in my future - there is a coffee club there on M and W around noon. will have to try it. Maybe next week...

Smooth as Silk: LC ("Little Shiny Rink")

Saturday evening dance session at Lloyd Center is usually not so well attended. This can be good or bad depending on how you look at it. It's good because the ice is BEAUTIFUL and well-manicured following the public session that preceeds it (which is no small task I am thinking) which is delightful for any ice-dancer.

It's BAD because there are very few people (men) to skate with!

I made the most of the (bad) situation by just enjoying the ice and working on basics and parts of dances, which is about what I am capable of these days - with anything that requires quick turns and changes on the upper-level dances. I am okay with the lower-level and (mostly) forward dances - these are easy (relatively) and I enjoy skating them with about as much flow as I can muster by myself.

The atmosphere in the mall is a little wild in this early Saturday evening time slot - more people hanging out, more people in the food court (watch out for flying french fries!) and just more onlookers than most of us are used to - but as I've mentioned, you learn to ignore it for the most part (although one is ever-wary of things that might get dropped onto the ice, including, it seems, parents who decide to dangle their child over the edge of the barrier - not too smart considering that in this small rink the ice-dancers sometimes need to get very close to the barrier in order to get the patterns into this small rink. I have not seen it happen, but I would hate for some child to get slammed by oncoming ice-dancers!!!

I had to admit I was a little intimidated that I would get smacked myself last night - there was a team of "elite" ice-dancers on the ice last night doing the dances (or the parts of the dances that they could fit into this rink) and I just couldn't help but feel that I was going to get mowed down (or get in their way) at some point. It never happened, but I did feel uncomfortable, I must admit. It's been a long time since I've skated on the same ice with skaters moving at that speed and with that power (oh how I miss skating in Boston...)...

Another good reason to have a partner, even a temporary one at a social dance session - two people dancing together are far more solid than just me skating solo.

Speaking of partners, I want to congratulate all of the hard-working ice-dance teams that just finished up competing at "Adult Nationals" this past weekend and especially to Laura Rose and Kiel Leighton who were 1st in the Original Dance portion of the Championship Dance competition!!! I must say I LOVED their dance at Pacific Coast Sectionals and can't wait to see it on icenetwork!

Also don't know what happened to Portland's other team of Julia and Jordan who apparently withdrew from both of their events and haven't been heard from since... Strange.

I know that I am not usually into "naming names" in this blog but I just wanted to put out a very big CONGRATULATIONS to all of the skaters from Portland who competed in Lake Placid this weekend. I know that every one of you worked very hard to be there!! Yea!

Let's Not Jump to Any Hasty Conclusions!!

Okay, so the ice was better than it has been in the past month or so, but it still wasn't flat. At Valley that is.

This is what one person said: "On Wednesday it was great, Thursday it was good, and today (Friday) it was okay". The public session is after morning hockey ("old-man hockey" - I wouldn't call it this, but that is an exact quote from one of the zamboni-guys who works there) and a once-over with the zamboni isn't really enough to get the hockey ruts out. So there were some ruts, not bad, but my blade happened to fall into them a few times, which makes a person more cautious.

And the hills and valleys? They are still there, but they are better than before the zamboni broke. You no longer feel like someone is pushing from behind or that you have to labor to get up the hills. But they are not gone.

Those hills are just waiting to come back, waiting to turn us all into cautious, scared skaters. Waiting. Lurking. It will be just a matter of time I think.

Lighting is also a problem as the "big lights" are largely burned out - so you will go from very bright to darker - sun, shade, sun, shade, sun, shade - kind of like our Portland weather lately... disconcerting.

Word must have gotten out, though, that the ice was better because there were quite a few of the regulars there, plus a few "freestyle kids" and ice-dancers. Hard to do any figures, but oh well, that is for another rink at another time.

Maybe.

Valley Ice

The Zamboni has been fixed and the ice has also been fixed (or at least significantly improved). There is still a small valley at the ends where the hockey nets sit, but otherwise the ice is flat, and in fairly good shape. I usually go there on Thursday for the early public session (1:30 or so) and have private ice - it would be nice to have some company, as it can seem a little lonely.

Keep on skating.
CHERYN

Zam Fixed??

Apparently the zamboni has been fixed (I heard it was a problem with the transmission - yikes!) AND reportedly the ice is now good. As of yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon.

AND for those of you wondering, apparently a LOT of the hills (and the valleys) are flattened. I'm not sure how that happened but I will be going out to test it myself tomorrow. I will be sure to use the very scientific method of feeling the ice underneath my blades and also standing still and seeing where my blades take me. (THINK: skiing on the bunny hill).

Maybe there is a god after all.

Who AM I?

And why I am keeping this blog?

People have been asking how I have so much time to skate AND to write this blog, so maybe I have a little explaining to do: I am a 53-year-old married small animal veterinarian. I do house-call practice and have been for ten years now. I started skating when I was 6 and skated "in a competitive atmosphere" until I was 14 and then quit for all of the usual reasons (teenage-ness for the most part - crappy skating for the other part...).

Fast-forward 16 years: Torville and Dean win the '84 Olympics. I get the skating bug again. I buy some used men's skates and start to skate at the Boston-area rinks. I have just graduated from vet school. I have no money for lessons or new skates and have tons of school loans. So I just skate from time-to-time from my memory. I used to like dance but can't remember the dances so I make them up. I do some lousy freestyle, but it's fun anyway.

Finally, in 1989, someone tells me about an ice-dance class at one of the local rinks. By this time I have my own white skates and decide to take the class. I enjoy re-learning all of the dances but am worried about not having a coach - wondering how that is all going to happen.

Then I took a job on the south shore of Boston. One day this guy comes into the vet practice with these two dogs - little poodles. My boss winked at me and said, "Come and see these dogs" so I went into the exam room with him. I could not understand why he wanted me to see these two dogs because it was an average visit - then the guy says, "Yup, the dogs are with me all day at the rink."

"Rink?" I say - looking at my boss who was grinning from ear to ear. My boss says, "Yeah, this guy is the owner of the rink a couple of blocks from here". so I ask the guy about dance and he said that yes, they had a dance session - at noon on Mondays and Wednesdays and that there were "some younger people there".

So I went and started ice-dancing with the group at that rink and met an ice-dance coach and started testing, etc. I got the bug bad.

So then in 1993 we decided to move to Portland. I wondered if they would have dance and yes, they do - which is great!! Anyway, I worked several types of jobs here in Portland (all vet jobs of course) but always had the intention of starting a house-call practice, partially so I could control my hours and have more time to skate and not have to depend on early-morning ice.

So why do I write this blog?

I like to write, so that is a start. I wanted to blog about SOMETHING and have a lot of opinions about animal care and veterinary medicine that are not particularly popular and I didn't want to get my clients involved. So I started this blog about the rinks in the area.

I do not have any particular training in ice-technology, only what I can feel with my feet through the skates. I realize that some of the problems with the ice (like say, at Valley) is not necessarily due to negligence but to certain engineering factors that I have no way of understanding. So I hope everyone can take my blog with a grain of salt and know that really, I love skating and I enjoy most aspects of skating in the Portland area, including any perceived problems with the ice and/or rinks etc.

So enough about me - I just wanted to get this off of my chest (so to speak).

I also want to send out a big "good-luck" to all of the Portland skaters who are in Lake Placid RIGHT NOW competing in the US Figure Skating Adult Championships. Go Portland skaters!!

Lisa

Zam Alert: Valley!!

Just got a call from my coach - no ice tuesday at Valley because the zamboni is "broken" - whatever.

I wasn't going to go anyway, but just wanted everyone to know.

Zam alert.

At Lloyd Center, You Never Know

Who or what is going to see you skate!!

So yeah, some people like the idea of skating in private seclusion at the other area rinks. At Lloyd Center you don't have that luxury - anyone can see you in all of your skating glory, which at times is not so pretty!!

So today I got there for the 10 am public. There were only a few people there and the ice was very nice. I went over to the end and set up some figures and was very happy to be doing so. I was doing a (for me) very nice back-outside eight and I saw these people standing near the corner of the ice looking at me. You learn to not look back and so I ignored them and just concentrated on my figure, the tracing, my position, feeling more CORE, etc. Then I could hear the one guy saying something like, "Hey lady -blah, blah, blah". Again I just ignored him - I figured if he wanted to say something he would say it again.

So as I came around the guy says, "Hey, you know they don't do figures anymore!" I just said, without looking, "Well, I still do!" and that was that. But that bugged me. I thought, "Who is this guy and what does he know about figures or whatever... -- What????"

It really bugged me. I wondered if it was someone I knew. This also really bugged me. Why didn't he just say, "Hi Lisa" or something.

Then I saw his wife and realized who it was - a friend who is quite a joker!!

But still you never know who might see you skating at the Lloyd Center Ice Rink.

And then there are the smells from the food court, wafting down at you...

Fewer valleys at Valley

Went to Valley this afternoon for the public session. Got there at 1:30 and left about 2:45 - private ice the entire time. Just wanted to report that there seemed to be fewer hills & valleys - just the bad spots at the ends where they put the hockey nets. They seem to be working on improving the ice conditions, at least as of this afternoon.
CHERYN

The Rumors are Flying at Valley!!

Ha! I knew this would get your attention!! (Really, I had been asked by one reader to include more confirmable gossip - and then that made me wonder - if it is confirmable, is it really gossip?).

I went there today not expecting much. BUT they apparently got a new blade for the zam (aren't they always buying new blades? How long do those things last anyway? Doesn't seem like very long between them having to get a new blade) and the surface of the ice was markedly better with fewer ruts and ridges and zamboni-water lines, etc. (although there was still that one big long line down the left-hand side of the rink - but still).

So at first it seemed okay - but THEN I really really noticed the hills - they are everywhere! If you start standing still between the middle red line and the far blue line and point towards the zamboni-room door, you don't have to push AT ALL and you will go downhill into the zamboni door. It is hilarious. Then when you get to the zamboni door you can make a right-angle right-hand turn and try to make your way up the hill next to the boards to the corner opposite the zam door.

The hockey-goal-boxes are still the worse part - doing a dance pattern which invariably goes into those hockey boxes is impossible - you feel like you are being pushed from behind and then you can't get back up the hill to do the restart. I'm wondering if it is easier with a partner - at least you have someone to hold onto when you feel like you are losing it!!

I have heard that the freestyle skaters are having trouble doing their programs because the jumps are often placed in the corners - they can do the jumps as individual elements in the middle of the ice (easier for loops and salchows and axels I suppose because of how those jumps are shaped - with a flip I would want some power coming into the jump by stroking up the long side first - [of course now that would be known as telegraphing - glad I don't freestyle anymore!!]) and the lutz is generally done headed into the corner but of course you don't have to do it that way) but when it comes to doing their programs the uneveness of the ice is wreaking havoc on the skaters, but I digress.

Okay the rumor is that the manager aparently said they were going to take the ice down in AUGUST and start all over. That's 4 months from now - I don't know if I can wait that long, really.

Can you?

Lloyd Center: The Big Winner!!

The votes are in and the Lloyd Center Ice Rink is the winner of the Portland Rink Report's "Favorite Skating Rink in PDX" poll.

Wow. I guess it was really no contest. The rink is centrally located, is warm and is pretty friendly. The downside is that it is small. Oh well, I guess that this is not really a problem for most of the readers of Portland Rink Report!!

Thanks for voting. I'll try to come up with a more interesting poll next time.

Last Day to Vote!!

It look like there is one more day to vote on your favorite rink in the Portland area!!

It also looks like only a very few of my voluminous readership has voted! What is with the apathy folks?

So far it looks like Lloyd Center is winning hands down, with Mt. View trailing. A few swing voters have gone for Sherwood and Valley - so what is YOUR choice?

Vote today. Vote often. Actually in this poll you can have multiple votes and you can change your vote.

Interesting system...

For Ice Dance - Lloyd Center!!

Ice dancing is really my favorite discipline in skating and I'm so happy that we have really good social ice-dance sessions in Portland at the rink at the Lloyd Center. When I moved to Portland from Boston in 1993 I wasn't sure if there was any dance here and was thrilled to find out that dance was alive and well in Portland!

The dance sessions are Saturday evenings from 5:15-6:15 and Sunday morning from 10am -12 noon. Sunday mornings are generally better attended than Saturday evenings, but this morning's sessions were pretty sparse. Usually we have quite a few young people, mostly teenagers taking lessons and learning dance from the more experienced adult skaters, but there were just a few of them on the ice today. I wonder if that has something to do with spring break?

Anyway, it's a nice session and today was no exception - there were enough social ice-dancers to have people (well, men, in my case) to skate with and enough room for one of our adult teams to work on their compulsory dances and original dance for Adult Nationals (coming up very soon!) and another adult to work on an International Dance with not one, but TWO coaches!!

The ice was good despite some talk about there being something wrong with the zamboni (?).

Overall, no complaints - Ice Dance is alive and well in Portland, OR!!

Who'd a-thunk it 15 years ago when I moved here from Boston that there would be ice-dance out here in the great, wild northwest?

Pleasant Spring Break Surprise at Lloyd Center!

So I decided to brave the Spring Break crowds for the public session at Lloyd Center this morning. And it was okay!! I had thought that being Spring Break and being such a popular (and visible) rink it would be super-crowded at 10 am. I had pretty much decided that if it were to be a mob scene, I would just go upstairs to the very nice Barnes and Noble, get a cup of tea and enjoy a book or magazine instead. But I was happy to be proven wrong.

I got there just as the earlier freestyle session was ending and it looked to me like most of the skaters were taking off their skates and getting ready to greet the rest of their day. Was it possible? Would I be the only one on the ice for a while?

As it turned out there were a few freestylers and lessons at the beginning of the session. But I was still able to do a little bit of figures for a warm-up down at one end and everyone left me alone for the most part. After some time more and more recreational "Spring Break" skaters started to come, but at that point I felt already established on the session and stayed for at least another hour and got some good work done.

I didn't expect the ice would be that great, what with the extra-heavy skating traffic of Spring Break skaters, but the ice was fine and I totally enjoyed it's flat smoothness (emphasis on the word "Flat").

I wish I could have talked my friend "skatecam" into coming with me - maybe the allure of taking pictures of good, flat ice, pleasant, clean changing areas and pretty-nice bathrooms wasn't enough for skatecam -- I mean, what would be the fun in that??

And of course I had no way of knowing how nice the session might be.

Maybe some other time...

Well, It's No Rockerfeller Center... But It's Close

A friend was talking about how nice it was at the Lloyd Center Rink - her daughter has started classes there this winter and is totally enjoying it! she said she had never really thought of the mall as anything but "The Mall" before but now she is seeing it much like cities she lived in in Greece, where every little city and burg had a "town center" where all of the action took place - the people would meet and go to the market and the young people would hang out and play games... just like at the Lloyd Center.

I have thought about this "mall as community center" since I've lived in Portland and spent a lot of time skating there. I have learned that there is a good tailor and someone to fix your shoes, a post-office and various stores and coffee shops and restaurants - and of course the rink, centrally located.

Had my class there tonight. The ice was really hard and pretty chewed up - but of course it IS Spring Break and I am betting the public sessions were crowded with happy kids and dazed parents -- getting some exercise and spending a lot of energy and having fun skating.

Not a bad thing, really.

Can't wait until spring break is over and we have our empty daytime ice again.

I know the early mornings are probably not so busy this week - I hope the figure skaters are sleeping in - their regular schedule of early-morning ice is so grueling - at least it would be for me!!