Update!
I went to a deserted public skate yesterday afternoon. There was one woman and a little girl skating, plus two hockey kids who came and went sporadically. So we had the ice pretty much to ourselves.
When I stepped on the ice, the first thing I noticed was how slippery the new skates were. I mean, I would just stand there, and I would be gliding slowly forward. It was very bizarre, and I can only think that it's because of how sharp the blades were. I also noticed the rocker more than I ever have before. I don't know if the rocker radius of the Classiques is different from that of the Riedell 110s, but I definitely noticed the curve of the blade.
The toe-picks were not much of an issue. I did stumble a couple of times when I scraped my foot and caught the toe-pick. But I'm sure that I'll adjust to them.
I love how snug the skates are. I didn't like that my left toe kept bumping against the toe of the boot. I'll need to try tapping my heel back into the boot harder, to see if I can prevent that from happening again. The snugness, however, is wonderful. It made it so much easier to do stuff! I was effortlessly doing swizzles and backward swizzles, without worrying about my feet sliding around in the boots, or my feet scrunching up in the boots. It was great! I guess I didn't realize that my Riedell's are too big. I mean, I knew they were a little loose, in comparison with the Classiques, but I had no idea what a difference it would make.
So, now for the downside. The arch supports are too high. I have very flat feet. And when I feel around inside the boot, I cannot for the life of me find any arch support. But it must be there, because when I put the skates on, it feels like there are rocks inside, right at my arches. It was fine when I was just wearing the skates around the house to break them in. But on the ice? Ouch! I was able to skate for about ten minutes before I had to sit down. After that, I would skate for about ten minutes, then rest for five. The pain was intense. I think the reason it's so bad is because I have neuromas--tiny cysts on the nerves. The arch support presses right against my neuromas, causing the intense pain. I honestly don't know how I'm going to make it through my 30-minute class this evening.
I'm confidant the arches will break down with time. But what am I supposed to do in the meanwhile? Ugh. (I'm going to start a new thread on this topic, just because it concerns me so.)
Aside from the arch problem, the only other problem I noticed was that the boots were so stiff that I couldn't get a decent knee-bend. I was trying to do turns-in-place and turns while moving, where you go forward, bend your knees, then quickly swivel around so you're going backwards. Only I couldn't bend my knees deeply enough to do it properly. I'd left the top hook undone, but I did loop the bow of my laces around the top hooks, without thinking. Could that have caused the problem? I'll make sure I don't do that tonight, and if necessary, I can leave the top two hooks undone. That will leave me with some very long laces, but I'll find a way to deal with that.
I'll update again after my lesson tonight, to let you know how that goes.