Hello!
I skated as a kid until I was in my late teens. Never competitively and I never tested (family drama - suffice to say if I'd stuck with ballet mom would have paid for whatever I wanted). My last pair of Riedell Royals still fit, and I would skate in them whenever I went out recreationally. For the past 25 years or so, i've mostly just shown off tricks for friends and taught my kids to skate, etc. I've always wanted to get back into lessons, but never made the time. The local rink and club are literally 10 minutes from my home and finally a year ago I signed up. Between the "rust" on my skills and the COVID shutdown (i was off the ice from March to October), I am just now feeling like I'm re-establishing my skills and am consistently landing all singles except for lutz. I don't have super aggressive goals, but I would like to do an axel and basic doubles. I was always a better jumper than spinner, so I'm really focusing on bringing my spinning skills up as they lag way behind my jumps. I'm skating in our little ice show in the spring (virus permitting!).
Anyway, it's beyond obvious that my old skates are a joke and I am upgrading. We have a good local fitter - I've been reading all these posts about fitters pushing one brand over another, and our guy does NOT. In fact, it's the opposite - I'm struggling to get him to make any recommendations, he's just super happy to do whatever I want. But as it turns out, Riedells are backordered like 8 weeks - other than the Vega. He was able to get me an Edea Chorus and they felt pretty good. I mean, OBVIOUSLY these lovely skates feel amazing after skating in my old boots for so long! My feet are average-to-narrow width with high arches, right is slightly larger than left. The Chorus boot felt great on the left the whole time i had it on. After wearing for 15 minutes my right definitely started to feel like OK, these are brand new skates - a little sore/crampy in the inside/back of the ankle. I'm leaning towards going with them because they are 1) available, and 2) my nieces who skate and my new coach all switched from Riedell to Edea and love them.
Which brings me to the next question, which is blades. My coach loves the Coronation Ace, which is a 7' rocker. Skate guy said the Jackson Protege XP (8') would also be good. I do have a weird tendency to rock backwards and I'm reading posts about the shorter rocker that make me worried this will be an issue. I am also just learning what all of this means because my parents made all these choices for me the last time!
Does anyone have an advice as to blade choice, or any thoughts on the boot situation? How about the Vega - I am leery because literally no one I know has these.
Thank you!
TQB
I skated as a kid until I was in my late teens. Never competitively and I never tested (family drama - suffice to say if I'd stuck with ballet mom would have paid for whatever I wanted). My last pair of Riedell Royals still fit, and I would skate in them whenever I went out recreationally. For the past 25 years or so, i've mostly just shown off tricks for friends and taught my kids to skate, etc. I've always wanted to get back into lessons, but never made the time. The local rink and club are literally 10 minutes from my home and finally a year ago I signed up. Between the "rust" on my skills and the COVID shutdown (i was off the ice from March to October), I am just now feeling like I'm re-establishing my skills and am consistently landing all singles except for lutz. I don't have super aggressive goals, but I would like to do an axel and basic doubles. I was always a better jumper than spinner, so I'm really focusing on bringing my spinning skills up as they lag way behind my jumps. I'm skating in our little ice show in the spring (virus permitting!).
Anyway, it's beyond obvious that my old skates are a joke and I am upgrading. We have a good local fitter - I've been reading all these posts about fitters pushing one brand over another, and our guy does NOT. In fact, it's the opposite - I'm struggling to get him to make any recommendations, he's just super happy to do whatever I want. But as it turns out, Riedells are backordered like 8 weeks - other than the Vega. He was able to get me an Edea Chorus and they felt pretty good. I mean, OBVIOUSLY these lovely skates feel amazing after skating in my old boots for so long! My feet are average-to-narrow width with high arches, right is slightly larger than left. The Chorus boot felt great on the left the whole time i had it on. After wearing for 15 minutes my right definitely started to feel like OK, these are brand new skates - a little sore/crampy in the inside/back of the ankle. I'm leaning towards going with them because they are 1) available, and 2) my nieces who skate and my new coach all switched from Riedell to Edea and love them.
Which brings me to the next question, which is blades. My coach loves the Coronation Ace, which is a 7' rocker. Skate guy said the Jackson Protege XP (8') would also be good. I do have a weird tendency to rock backwards and I'm reading posts about the shorter rocker that make me worried this will be an issue. I am also just learning what all of this means because my parents made all these choices for me the last time!
Does anyone have an advice as to blade choice, or any thoughts on the boot situation? How about the Vega - I am leery because literally no one I know has these.
Thank you!
TQB