"big ice" and new friends
Ice Speedskating is an esoteric sport.
Most people that have tried it don't stick with it.
Everyone wants to get on the ice and start whipping around the corners with their hand touching the ice - it looks way cool but it's not that easy.
In order to speedskate well on ice - you have to have impeccable technique. With the time it takes to solidify the basics and most people aren't willing to commit the time/energy/effort to do this.
I've been speedskating off-and-on for the past 3 seasons. I really love long track but the only place to skate long track is Salt Lake City.
So I have to make do with the local short track ice.
Ice time is hard to come by...
The 6am session in Littleton, CO on Saturday mornings doesn't sit well with me...it means getting up a 4:45am on Saturday mornings and I don't like that much. Also, Jondon Trevena (1998/2002 Olympic speedskater) has a class on Wednesday evenings in Fort Collins....i didn't much like making that 100 mile round trip trek every Wed. evening either.
So I must admit - i haven't been consistent. In the winter of 2006/2007 - I made 5 trips to SLC to skate. Due to a variety of reasons I didn't make the trek to SLC in 2007/2008 and my short track sessions were few and far between until January 2009.
Then I met a friend-of-friend on Facebook, Kristin Piljay. We exchanged emails back and forth and she said she was interested (trust me) but I've heard this before so I was skeptical. She said she would try it and lo-and-behold she is one of the few that was willing to stick with it. For the past 3 months we've been carpooling to Ft. Collins on Wednesday to skate with Jondon.
When I suggested a trip to SLC to skate on "big ice" she agreed.
Road Trip - woot!
Kristin is a professional photographer and a photo researcher so luckily she can work from anywhere. Since I can work remotely too - this looked to be a perfect scenario to work remote from SLC and skate at the Oval in the evenings.
We left on Thursday with the plan to skate Thursday evening, Friday evening and Saturday morning. 6+ hours of skating should work us over pretty good.
Also, luckily it turned out we are good traveling companions and friends. We like to stop half-way for a break and food, neither one of us had the desire to turn on the TV at our hotel, and we just got along very well the whole time. On Friday night if felt like a slumber party as we talked and laughed into the night.
I'm a technique snob
i won't race until I know I can maintain some semblence of good technique. Too often I see skaters race too soon and their technique is crap. I mean I don't always have great technique - but I know what it looks like and I don't want to even try to race unless i can maintain it.
I've heard directly from the top speedskaters - that if you don't have good technique then you will plateau and never get *really* fast. I'm sorry - I've heard this enough from Derek Parra, Caroline Hallisey, Jondon Trevena, Mike Mooreland and other world class skaters to not believe this.
Skating at the oval
Kristin took the following 3 pix of me while skating.
I can say I'm happy with my technique:
I am making a circle with my left leg
(getting in a good glide)
here I'm shifting my hips
(not my upper body)
to push off on my inside edge
Meeting new friends
Interesting enough a girl (Connie) i know from the mtbr.com forums lives in SLC and mentioned she was going to start speedskating. Cpnnie is a pro-level DH mtn bike racer so I knew she was tough - but I wondered if she'd have the patience to stick with speedskating.
turns out she did and she said she started in August 2008 and I must say I've very impressed with her technique and skill in such a short time. I'm slightly jealous too! ;)
connie raced the time trials and kristin got some good pix of her - I love the focus she has while she is racing.
it was great to meet someone I've only known from the internet and find out they are just as great in person as they are online.(that's not always the case...)
Hopefully Connie and her husband can meet me and the gang out in Fruita in early May. :)
Most people that have tried it don't stick with it.
Everyone wants to get on the ice and start whipping around the corners with their hand touching the ice - it looks way cool but it's not that easy.
In order to speedskate well on ice - you have to have impeccable technique. With the time it takes to solidify the basics and most people aren't willing to commit the time/energy/effort to do this.
I've been speedskating off-and-on for the past 3 seasons. I really love long track but the only place to skate long track is Salt Lake City.
Olympic Oval in Salt Lake City (all photo credits - Kristin Piljay)
So I have to make do with the local short track ice.
Ice time is hard to come by...
The 6am session in Littleton, CO on Saturday mornings doesn't sit well with me...it means getting up a 4:45am on Saturday mornings and I don't like that much. Also, Jondon Trevena (1998/2002 Olympic speedskater) has a class on Wednesday evenings in Fort Collins....i didn't much like making that 100 mile round trip trek every Wed. evening either.
So I must admit - i haven't been consistent. In the winter of 2006/2007 - I made 5 trips to SLC to skate. Due to a variety of reasons I didn't make the trek to SLC in 2007/2008 and my short track sessions were few and far between until January 2009.
Then I met a friend-of-friend on Facebook, Kristin Piljay. We exchanged emails back and forth and she said she was interested (trust me) but I've heard this before so I was skeptical. She said she would try it and lo-and-behold she is one of the few that was willing to stick with it. For the past 3 months we've been carpooling to Ft. Collins on Wednesday to skate with Jondon.
When I suggested a trip to SLC to skate on "big ice" she agreed.
Road Trip - woot!
Kristin is a professional photographer and a photo researcher so luckily she can work from anywhere. Since I can work remotely too - this looked to be a perfect scenario to work remote from SLC and skate at the Oval in the evenings.
We left on Thursday with the plan to skate Thursday evening, Friday evening and Saturday morning. 6+ hours of skating should work us over pretty good.
Also, luckily it turned out we are good traveling companions and friends. We like to stop half-way for a break and food, neither one of us had the desire to turn on the TV at our hotel, and we just got along very well the whole time. On Friday night if felt like a slumber party as we talked and laughed into the night.
I'm a technique snob
i won't race until I know I can maintain some semblence of good technique. Too often I see skaters race too soon and their technique is crap. I mean I don't always have great technique - but I know what it looks like and I don't want to even try to race unless i can maintain it.
I've heard directly from the top speedskaters - that if you don't have good technique then you will plateau and never get *really* fast. I'm sorry - I've heard this enough from Derek Parra, Caroline Hallisey, Jondon Trevena, Mike Mooreland and other world class skaters to not believe this.
Skating at the oval
Kristin took the following 3 pix of me while skating.
I can say I'm happy with my technique:
I'm getting good leg extension here
I am making a circle with my left leg(getting in a good glide)
here I'm shifting my hips(not my upper body)
to push off on my inside edge
Meeting new friends
Interesting enough a girl (Connie) i know from the mtbr.com forums lives in SLC and mentioned she was going to start speedskating. Cpnnie is a pro-level DH mtn bike racer so I knew she was tough - but I wondered if she'd have the patience to stick with speedskating.
turns out she did and she said she started in August 2008 and I must say I've very impressed with her technique and skill in such a short time. I'm slightly jealous too! ;)
connie raced the time trials and kristin got some good pix of her - I love the focus she has while she is racing.
connie at the start of the 500meter race
connie coming into the last straight-away
look at that focus!
look at that focus!
it was great to meet someone I've only known from the internet and find out they are just as great in person as they are online.(that's not always the case...)
Hopefully Connie and her husband can meet me and the gang out in Fruita in early May. :)
connie and I
final note
also on a final note - I have to post this pix Kristin took of another racer - the look of pain on her face shows just how human and beautiful this sport can be..
final note
also on a final note - I have to post this pix Kristin took of another racer - the look of pain on her face shows just how human and beautiful this sport can be..
pain...
the corner...
side-by-side /
neck-and-neck
neck-and-neck
pink skates - you gotta be good to wear these!
strong legs
strong legs
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