round up#

Tue, 28 Feb 2006 12:00:00 +0000

From two updates in the last two weeks the reader may determine that I'm either (a) having too much fun skating to be writing about it, or (b) not doing enough skating to have thought of anything interesting to write. Unhappily it's more towards the latter end: continual experimentation with my ankles (the "have we got it right this time? Seems good so far ... so far .. so far ... ow!" cycle of optimism and letdown, and the awareness that in a week and a half I'll be off to Sardinia and will either have to have found an accommodation with them that doesn't involve violence, or admit defeat and take rec skates as well) have left me rather unexcited about just going out for the fun of it.

Currently we're up to

• very thin socks, because having briefly tried skating unstockinged I have to report that the smell from the boots post-skate is pretty repugnant
• neoprene ankle support (nb wear these under the socks or they slip off)
• "reverse tabbing" both frames to eliminate the 10 degree cant. Which means I'm not standing around perpetually on the outside edge when I don't need to be (e.g. when waiting for traffic). What's so great about the outside edge anyway? There's less rolling resistance on the tops than the edges.
• compressing the padding around the ankle bone area by sticking wheels in the top of the boots while not wearing them. Yes, I know there's something a bit odd about trying to get rid of padding in the boot while simultaneously adding it around the ankle (see previous point)
• doing up the ankle ratchet a bit tighter. This tends to inhibit forward bend at the ankle but does mean the heel is being held more firmly in the heel pocket.
• taking the skates off when I stop skating, instead of sitting around in the pub in them for possibly several hours.

(yes, all of them at once). The last two of these have not yet been proven not to work, but so far I've only tried a route check and a Sunday stroll with them, which is not really long enough to expose the problem. Today I have some kind of head/nose cold and shivers, and am disinclined to do anything more to narrow down the problem, or indeed much else that involves moving more than six feet from bed.

[ Total skating since I last blogged: Tuesday route check, Friday LFNS, Saturday route check, Sunday Stroll. 65km? Sounds more in km, of course. ]