After another late-ish departure from work on Monday I ended up missing another evening ride. So I decided I'd do some core strength exercises - sit-ups, planks, side planks - which felt good at the time but lead to a mild recurrence of an old back injury. Because of this I've spent the rest of the evenings this week laying on my back in front of the TV. I'm on the mend now, hopefully able to ride at the weekend (within reason), but best of all I can put my socks on without wincing.
We went for a skate on Sunday morning so at least I've had the chance to try the new skates. Skating without brakes is a strange sensation. You're very aware of it on steeper hills but often get taken by surprise just carelessly rolling up to a door or a junction. New skates also mean new wheels which are sticky sided and don't slide very well. This can catch you out when you try some dramatic slide-stops that backfire when the wheels grab.
The K2 skates are a 'softboot' fit. These clench your feet much less than my old FSKs so there's a lot more foot and ankle input required. If I forget to think about my feet I find myself 'flopping' off my edges which feels ungainly & inelegant. They also seem to be less efficient - I think I'd struggle to cover 30km in them wheras I can cruise through 50km with the FSKs. That might just be practice and getting used to them - Monte used the same model of skate for skate Melbourne and apparently found them very comfortable, although he has also been skating for 15 years more than me. The plus side is that the skates feel more like shoes, less restrictive, and jumping already feels easier without the supportive / restrictive structure of the skate. The large 'soul plate' on the side of the skate also makes stalling on ledges etc really easy although the frames seem to not like the battering this gives them.
We went for a skate on Sunday morning so at least I've had the chance to try the new skates. Skating without brakes is a strange sensation. You're very aware of it on steeper hills but often get taken by surprise just carelessly rolling up to a door or a junction. New skates also mean new wheels which are sticky sided and don't slide very well. This can catch you out when you try some dramatic slide-stops that backfire when the wheels grab.
The K2 skates are a 'softboot' fit. These clench your feet much less than my old FSKs so there's a lot more foot and ankle input required. If I forget to think about my feet I find myself 'flopping' off my edges which feels ungainly & inelegant. They also seem to be less efficient - I think I'd struggle to cover 30km in them wheras I can cruise through 50km with the FSKs. That might just be practice and getting used to them - Monte used the same model of skate for skate Melbourne and apparently found them very comfortable, although he has also been skating for 15 years more than me. The plus side is that the skates feel more like shoes, less restrictive, and jumping already feels easier without the supportive / restrictive structure of the skate. The large 'soul plate' on the side of the skate also makes stalling on ledges etc really easy although the frames seem to not like the battering this gives them.
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