Major skidding - blame the blades or blame me?

[jjane45]

I usually sharpen every 3 months, which is roughly 60 hours. I am currently on a month and half, and mysteriously experienced 4 near falls in one week on LFO swing roll due to skidding. All of them scary because of the speed involved.

The ice seems fine - can't have ruts on all 4 occasions right? So it has to be either the blade or my technique. Not sure if ice dance is more peculiar about sharp blades, but I am not completely new to dance; or maybe I've been pushing for a deeper edge that I cannot yet control - LFO is my dominant foot, dominant direction, could subconsciously push too much.

The blade looks and feels OK, will visit the pro shop over the weekend just to make sure. In the meanwhile, have you experienced sudden skidding while blades are not yet due for sharpening?

[hopskipjump]

I'm sure it's a dull edge.  You should get them sharpened much more regularly.

[jjane45]

Thank you. I've been OK with that sharpening frequency for years, maybe the current dance drills require deeper lobes and threw me off... Not sure why on THAT edge only though.

[SynchKat]

Have you nicked your blade maybe?  I would guess that or you need a sharpening.  
Skidding is my signal I need my skates sharpened. 

[Bunny Hop]

In the meanwhile, have you experienced sudden skidding while blades are not yet due for sharpening?

Yes, it occasionally happens to me. I've always blamed myself for exactly the reasons you stated - deeper edge than I'm comfortable with etc.

[fsk8r]

If it happens because the edge is deeper than I'm comfortable with, it's because I'm not bending my knee enough. Dance coach will sometimes make the edges tighter so I skid as a way of reminding me to bend a little more.

[Purple Sparkly]

I'm sure it's a dull edge.  You should get them sharpened much more regularly.

Sharpening frequency is definitely a very personal thing.  I get my skates sharpened after about 3 months and 100 hours of skating.

I keep a stone in my skate bag and use it on my blades if I think I need more grip.

If your body isn't balanced just right over the edge, it can cause a skid.

[Sk8tmum]

Are you on your usual ice, and/or could the ice hardness have changed? Depending on whether you are on what my kid calls "figure skating" or "hockey" ice, the hardness can change, and that can alter your grip on the ice.  We had a rink guy accidentally turndown the temperature on our pad once, and the kids were skidding around all over the ice.

[jjane45]

Thank you everyone!

I skated on very very hard ice for testing last weekend and came home to discover the skidding problem. Home rink ice did not seem to change.

It's very strange that all issues were with one out of eight edges, the LFO. maybe it's indeed a small nick as I run around without skate guards...

Or maybe it's leaning too aggressively. But why only one edge?

[taka]

Do you mainly stop using that edge? My RI is usually the 1st to skid as I mainly stop using that edge (1 foot snow ploughs).

[hopskipjump]

It's always one edge that dd loses first.

[jjane45]

Do you mainly stop using that edge? My RI is usually the 1st to skid as I mainly stop using that edge (1 foot snow ploughs).

I stop exclusively with right T-stop on the RO edge, but RFO swing rolls are just fine... Sigh, calling the pro shop for sharpening appointment.

[Query]

There are four possibilities:

(1) It's the ice. Your ice is rougher, and is wearing out your edge faster, or isn't holding you up as well. Or maybe it's warmer, and your ice doesn't fully freeze before people start using it.

(2) It's the floor. If you walk on the floor before you reach your ice, you are walking farther, or the floor is dirtier now than before.

(3) Your sharpener has changed the way he/she sharpens your blades.

(4) It's you.

Reason (4) is of course :stars impossible.

So it's the ice, the floor, or the sharpener. 

Anyway, it's easier to fix the blades than the skater. I say, sharpen it.

[RosiePosie.iskates]

Yes, I've had some skidding problems on the take-off for my axel some time ago, when I'd just had my skates sharpened the week before.

My home rink usually has soft ice, and in the dog days of summer, the rink turns into a lake! So, I get used to practicing footwork, and solid landings on the soft ice, then go to the rink I normaly compete at, and can't hold an edge without wobbling, or a landing without skidding, due to the hardness of the ice.

Does the LFO edge still slip even when you're not doing a swing roll? Or just on that particular move?

With my axel, it would only skid on my takeoff, I could hold that edge on every other move...found out I was kicking too much up, and not far enough out. So maybe, you accidentally changed your technique?

[jjane45]

Just the LFO swing rolls, weird.

I worked on silver MITF test too, which includes all three turns, power pulls, all forward spirals, and cross strokes. None of them skidded. Makes me it think it's technique on swing roll as I've been changing the free leg position...

[RosiePosie.iskates]

I worked on silver MITF test too, which includes all three turns, power pulls, all forward spirals, and cross strokes. None of them skidded. Makes me it think it's technique on swing roll as I've been changing the free leg position...

Maybe try doing them the way you used to? Maybe the way your swing your free-leg causes more stress on the edge and causes the skidding.

When I do swing rolls, I tend to skid a little when I swing my leg out straight, hips forward. But, if I turn my hips more outside the circle, this doesn't happen regardless of my leg position.

[CaraSkates]

I usually sharpen every 3 months, which is roughly 60 hours. I am currently on a month and half, and mysteriously experienced 4 near falls in one week on LFO swing roll due to skidding. All of them scary because of the speed involved.

Sharpening frequency is definitely a very personal thing.  I get my skates sharpened after about 3 months and 100 hours of skating.

I am amazed that you can go so long between sharpenings! I skate about 5-6hrs a week and get my skates sharpened every 25-30hrs. Luckily, my sharpening is only $10. FWIW, I wear Gold Seals and skate on hard hockey ice. I primary work on MIF and dance, which dulls yours blades faster because they spend so much more time on the ice then freestyle.

[jjane45]

Another reason I thought it's not the blades is my spins tend to notice the dull edges first. Don't know what to do with swing roll technique at the moment, but will get sharpening this weekend.

ITA CaraSkates that dance is harder on the blades. But why would they "spend more time on the ice" compared to freestyle? When the skater is not jumping, blades are on the ice, no?

[CaraSkates]

ITA CaraSkates that dance is harder on the blades. But why would they "spend more time on the ice" compared to freestyle? When the skater is not jumping, blades are on the ice, no?

True but when you are jumping, your blades are not on the ice. A serious freeskater will spend more time in the air and have less blade/ice contact then someone doing only moves and dance. When I was focusing on only moves (1.5-2.5 hrs a day), my blades got sharpened every four weeks at maximum.

[Janie]

Another reason I thought it's not the blades is my spins tend to notice the dull edges first.

Sorry if this is a little off-topic...
What do you feel in your spins when the edges get dull? (I'm still trying to get a feel of how to determine when edges are dull)

[jjane45]

True but when you are jumping, your blades are not on the ice.

Not sure if you only referred to jumps  The actual air time is very short even if we add up all jumps for the session.  For a while I was thinking maybe the general pattern and edge depth made the difference too.

What do you feel in your spins when the edges get dull? (I'm still trying to get a feel of how to determine when edges are dull)

Everyone probably reacts differently. For me I'd suddenly lose the one foot upright spin: less revolutions and more traveling. Some skidding on the entry too.

[Janie]

Everyone probably reacts differently. For me I'd suddenly lose the one foot upright spin: less revolutions and more traveling. Some skidding on the entry too.

Ha ha then I guess I need to get my one foot upright spin very stable with more revs and centered first before I can observe such a change! Thanks!

[Rachelsk8s]

Everyone probably reacts differently. For me I'd suddenly lose the one foot upright spin: less revolutions and more traveling. Some skidding on the entry too.

I know its time for a sharpening when my spins start acting up too  there's the skidding in the entry but I also find less revolutions and in general just less speed.  I like my skates super super scary sharp though lol I get mine sharpened every 25 hours or so of skating time.

[icedancer]

When I used to spin it was the skidding through spins that let me know that it was time.

Now it is harder to know and I actually find I can skate on really dull blades.  I do notice that I start gripping with my toes more when it is time to get them sharpened.

Otherwise skidding is not a problem for me in general.

[jjane45]

Either the blade has serious issues that even my sharpener could not see easily, or I am totally screwed with posture / technique. Just one week after sharpening, I skidded 3 times today on LFO edge: swing roll, forward cross stroke, and just a forward stroke with some edge. All other edges fine. Ice seems OK although not without ruts...