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.