Portland Rink Report

All-Figures Open Competition

2009-08-03T12:14:00.000-07:00

All ages. All levels. All figures.

This was the basic premise behind the "All-Figures Open Competition" that was held at the Lloyd Center Ice Rink in Portland, OR July 25-26, 2009.

Sponsored by the Oregon Skating Council, we wanted to create a competition where anyone, regardless of age, test level or experience, could compete any figure, and as many figures as they wanted. There would be no pressure to do a figure that a person basically couldn't do just to fit into a prescribed "category" - and no test level requirements to get hung up on - I mean, just because you passed your 8th figure test "way back then" - why shouldn't you be able to compete a figure you could do "NOW" - maybe as much as 30 (or, in some cases) 40 years later?

We weren't sure how to really set this up - very few rinks actually have "patch sessions" anymore and very few coaches are teaching figures per se, except maybe in the context of teaching moves. But we kind of knew there were little pockets of people around the country doing and testing figures still - finding time during empty morning public or freestyle sessions - grabbing a little piece of ice here and there to enjoy learning the basics of what skating is all about - compulsory figures!

Here in Portland two of the rinks offered "Figures class" in the months before the competition. At the Lloyd Center Ice Rink the Oregon Skating Council reserved "summer training ice" on Tuesday evenings for 3 months - the first hour of which was a "patch session" for practicing figures on your own private strip of ice, just like in "the old days". Any coach, regardless of rink affiliation, could come and teach, and one of the Lloyd Center coaches made herself available for lessons/consultations during the sessions.

In April I was thrilled to get an email from a skater in Seattle, letting me know that there were 4 skaters in the area who were getting ready to compete. I was thrilled to know that people were excited about the competition and wanted to come. A month later I got another email from a skater who had just moved to Seattle and had heard about the competition. Interest was certainly starting to build!

In setting up the competition, we did feel a need to have a "Restricted" category - but the "Restricted" category was for skaters who had not passed any test beyond the 1st Figure test or it's equivalent. In the "retricted" category the skater had the option of having circles "scribed" on the ice. A "Creative Figure" was also offered in the "Restricted" group - a skater could make up their own figure and would be judged on creativity and execution of the figure.

In the "Open" category, all figures plus the special category of "Creative Figure" were offered. The figure events were put into groups such as "Brackets" "Back Loops" "One Foot Eight" - meaning the skater could choose which foot to start on, and also chose whether they wanted to do inside or outside edge starts. Everyone could choose which figure within the given category they could be most comfortable. The whole idea was just to have fun, skate the figures you wanted to skate no matter what your level. Very inclusive!!

The competition took place over two very early mornings at the Lloyd Center Ice Rink. The rink is a small mall rink with skylight lighting (which proved to be a hinderance to some of the skaters, what with the sun glare and all). It started with 3 skaters in the "Restricted Forward Outside 8" event and quickly moved on to Open Forward Three to Backward 3 (from the 2nd figure test, for those who follow these things). All five of the judges who volunteered to judge the competition judged all of the events. And I did not hear one complaint!!

The largest event was the Open Forward Serpentine Event, with a total of 6 skaters - some of whom had tested and others who had never tested figures. The winner of this event, Aziza Jappie, is a younger competitor (I believe she is 16 or 17), who has her Senior Moves but until last year had never seen or done figures. I thought it was great that despite her lack of experience, she prevailed in this event against her somewhat more seasoned (on many levels!) competitors! After the event Aziza was overheard saying that she wished she had done figures before doing Moves because she would have understood conceptually what she was asked to do in Moves and would have passed them quicker. I thought that was great!!

On Sunday, the rest of the Open events occured. The highest level figure skated was the One-Foot Eight with three skaters in this event. The judges had a great time examining all of the figures and determining the winners and rankings. As the judges left the ice after the final figure, they applauded the skaters for a job well done. I think they had just as good a time as the skaters!! They certainly seemed thrilled to be there!

In all there were 15 competitors, 15 events and 39 starts. 3 skaters were "kids" (teenagers) and 12 were adults who had mostly tested figures when they were younger. One-third of the skaters came from the Seattle Area. Each of the "kids" won one or more of their events. One skater competed 5 figures total and another skater only skated one. Everyone had a great time and are starting to prepare for next year. Hopefully we will hold this competition next year. Maybe we will be able to attract more competitors. And now we know what we are doing!! And that it worked!

If we build it, they will come has to be our motto!

update

2009-02-18T12:54:00.000-08:00

Hi.
I am still skating at Valley (although a lot less frequently). Ice has been OK on Thurs. am when I go - and there are very few people there - even less than last year. They have rare free style times, due to hockey.

Sherwood ice has in general been good, as has the ice at Lloyd Center - although this week had my dance lesson while a birthday party was going on & had to dodge a bunch of kids who had no idea what they were doing.

CHERYN

So what's up?

2008-09-04T10:34:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-04T16:50:00.001-07:00

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?

2008-08-03T17:13:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-24T14:19:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-18T07:26:00.000-07:00

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!!

2008-07-17T14:04:00.000-07:00

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!!

2008-07-17T08:14:00.000-07:00

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!!!!!!!!!!

2008-07-15T09:10:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-12T15:29:00.001-07:00

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

2008-07-01T16:50:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-30T18:56:00.000-07:00

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?"

2008-06-25T20:42:00.001-07:00

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

2008-06-18T09:46:00.000-07:00

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"

2008-06-13T09:19:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-11T16:35:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-06T10:55:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-05T16:18:00.000-07:00

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?

2008-05-28T09:23:00.000-07:00

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)

2008-05-23T17:28:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2008-05-20T16:52:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-15T10:08:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-14T11:47:00.000-07:00

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!!

2008-05-08T10:43:00.000-07:00

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!!