Not getting any? Don't panic!
I'd rather be as I currently am: a skater and involuntarily celibate, than the other way around, *that's for sure*. Learning to spin and jump on ice -- it's every bit as thrilling and fulfilling as good sex (and far more reliable). As good *vanilla* sex, that is. :)
I had my gym stuff as well as my skates with me this evening and had a really hard time deciding which activity to choose. Told myself I'd let the subway decide for me: F train, and I'd go to the gym in chelsea, B/D train and I'd go skate at Bryant Park. The F and the D came simultaneously. My desire for instant gratification (rather than the delayed results of pumping iron) pushed me into the D train. In that very traincar was a Citibank ad for free skating on The Pond at Bryant Park. Good Omen, I thought.
The Pond was crowded as it always is during after-work hours, and although I hit the ice no more than five minutes after they had resurfaced, the ice was already snowy from ice shavings. Amazing, given that 90% of people weren't going fast or even doing stops.
Was this a bad decision I'd made? Would I have profited more by going to the gym than doodling around an over-crowded rink?
NOPE!! I taught myself to do a back-spin today! The key to getting it was a very easy obious thing -- and indeed the same as what got me the forward spin -- but it had been eluding me for months and had me wailing out of frustration on the ice till suddenly it clicked: the free leg has to turn exactly along with the body into and through the 3-turn, almost like you are doing a spinning karate kick. (In physics-speak: my free leg should be held out to the side, and its angular velocity must match that of my hip all through the entry and until I've centered the spin).
Miles of 3-turn entries to traverse before I put either of my spins to bed, but at least now I'm able to spin on each leg.
The other key point was my self-imposed "no jumping" rule (which granted, I've been cheating on, but not too much). Last year and through till the beginning of the summer, as soon as I'd get sufficiently frustrated at not being able to spin, I'd go rip off something easy and fun like a toe-loop. Toe-loop; Toe-loop-Toe-Loop, Waltz-Toe, fast x-overs into a Toe. WHEEEE! What fun! And hence, even with coaching, I couldn't spin.
After a summer of inline speedskating, I got back on the ice with stronger legs, and I think a much stronger *core* as well, and that really helps. But it's the no-jumping rule that got me to the point that I'm actually *comfortable* with my forward-spin entry now, and as of today, can get a back spin going too. All that in what? eight sessions on the ice or so, and no coaching!
I often tell others that "practicing your weaknesses is the surest way to success," but boy did I prove it to myself tonight!
And yeah, jumping is a heck of a lot of fun. But spinning? Especially that one time out of twenty that I feel magicaly centered? *That* feels like the afterglow of good sex. And now, what with Bryant Park open all day, every day, 10-10, I can get it whenever I want, for free, with the only latex in sight being in the weave of my lycra, and no unwelcome pathogens around either (I don't think they like the ice all that much :).
Fuck Sex. Go Skate.
PS: Big Thank You to Angela, my coach from the Spring, for getting me to practice going into an open spin directly from a LFO edge done from a standstill, no x-overs. Felt really difficult at the time, but it was what I needed. Especially for the Back spin, I'd guess, since I'm doing the LFI edge to RFI edge entry.
I had my gym stuff as well as my skates with me this evening and had a really hard time deciding which activity to choose. Told myself I'd let the subway decide for me: F train, and I'd go to the gym in chelsea, B/D train and I'd go skate at Bryant Park. The F and the D came simultaneously. My desire for instant gratification (rather than the delayed results of pumping iron) pushed me into the D train. In that very traincar was a Citibank ad for free skating on The Pond at Bryant Park. Good Omen, I thought.
The Pond was crowded as it always is during after-work hours, and although I hit the ice no more than five minutes after they had resurfaced, the ice was already snowy from ice shavings. Amazing, given that 90% of people weren't going fast or even doing stops.
Was this a bad decision I'd made? Would I have profited more by going to the gym than doodling around an over-crowded rink?
NOPE!! I taught myself to do a back-spin today! The key to getting it was a very easy obious thing -- and indeed the same as what got me the forward spin -- but it had been eluding me for months and had me wailing out of frustration on the ice till suddenly it clicked: the free leg has to turn exactly along with the body into and through the 3-turn, almost like you are doing a spinning karate kick. (In physics-speak: my free leg should be held out to the side, and its angular velocity must match that of my hip all through the entry and until I've centered the spin).
Miles of 3-turn entries to traverse before I put either of my spins to bed, but at least now I'm able to spin on each leg.
The other key point was my self-imposed "no jumping" rule (which granted, I've been cheating on, but not too much). Last year and through till the beginning of the summer, as soon as I'd get sufficiently frustrated at not being able to spin, I'd go rip off something easy and fun like a toe-loop. Toe-loop; Toe-loop-Toe-Loop, Waltz-Toe, fast x-overs into a Toe. WHEEEE! What fun! And hence, even with coaching, I couldn't spin.
After a summer of inline speedskating, I got back on the ice with stronger legs, and I think a much stronger *core* as well, and that really helps. But it's the no-jumping rule that got me to the point that I'm actually *comfortable* with my forward-spin entry now, and as of today, can get a back spin going too. All that in what? eight sessions on the ice or so, and no coaching!
I often tell others that "practicing your weaknesses is the surest way to success," but boy did I prove it to myself tonight!
And yeah, jumping is a heck of a lot of fun. But spinning? Especially that one time out of twenty that I feel magicaly centered? *That* feels like the afterglow of good sex. And now, what with Bryant Park open all day, every day, 10-10, I can get it whenever I want, for free, with the only latex in sight being in the weave of my lycra, and no unwelcome pathogens around either (I don't think they like the ice all that much :).
Fuck Sex. Go Skate.
PS: Big Thank You to Angela, my coach from the Spring, for getting me to practice going into an open spin directly from a LFO edge done from a standstill, no x-overs. Felt really difficult at the time, but it was what I needed. Especially for the Back spin, I'd guess, since I'm doing the LFI edge to RFI edge entry.