Blades and compulsory skating

[mnrjpf99]

I used to skate years ago about 2 or 3 times a week. There was along time that I didn't skate for different reasons. I am now getting back into it again and I feel like I am starting sort of from scratch.

Anyway. I had always been interested it  compulsory skating. At the rink I go to, jumps and spins are not allowed and plus I am a lil advanced in age for it anyway. Lol I would like to eventually learn the compulsory aspect of skating.

I am wondering if there is a certain blade configuration for compulsory skating? At the moment I have generic boots, soon to be upgraded to Riedells of Jacksons or whatever. I use J W Pattern 99's for blades. The P 99's are an 8' radius with a 1/2 ROH (originally they had a 7/16 ROH but that was changed somewhere along the way) . I got these blades used and they have a fair amount of wear, but they sharpened up nicely...

[icedancer]

I'm wondering what you mean by "Compulsory Skating"?  Do you mean figures?

Or are you wanting to just do what I might refer to as "basics" - edges, stroking, turns etc.

If you are wanting to do figures and you haven't done them in a long time or are new to figures, you can use just about any type of blade - the Pattern 99 should be fine... for a while.  If you are wanting to do more advanced figures then an actual figure blade (very shallow hollow, no bottom toe picks) would be good (or you can get someone to convert a pair of regular blades (like those Pattern 99s) to a figure blade by shaving down the bottom pick and making a flatter hollow.

For basics I would say that the Pattern 99s would be fine.  If they have been sharpened pretty flat you may want to get a new pair so that you will have a nice new rocker to turn on.

Welcome back to skating!

[mnrjpf99]

Yes I am referring to doing figures. I have always had a lot of respect for that part of the sport. I would have a long way to go before that, but I just wanted to get an idea of what I would want to use. That makes sense about a flatter ROH and reduced toe pic.

I may be getting a pair of Riedells next week. Hopefully they will fit better. I am actually over boot by a half size with current cheap boots anyway.

I got all excited today, when I saw a pair of Edea Ive Fly's in the flesh. Lol I think I would be too flat footed for them though and would probably need orthodics for them. :0/

[mnrjpf99]

A little update.

I did more research online about figure or patch blades for compulsory figures and MK and others made blades for the purpose of figures. I ordered a pair of MK Silvertest blades on Ebay, which have an 7' radius and according to the specs I found on them, an 1.5 " ROH. Yes I said 1.5". Wow!

I will install them on my other generic boots for now. I think and hope, it will work out good. :0)