- Joined
- Jan 20, 2017
So I'm hoping my skates last at least another year before I have to replace them. I'm just planning ahead in my mind atm.
I'm happy with Matrix Legacy currently. But I've always been in Jackson blades, so I'm very curious about trying a different blade maker.
I started out in Jackson Mark IV blades, since that is the blade that was traditionally attached to their old Freestyle skate model. I have never skated in the modern Jackson boots. I switched to Edea Ice Fly with Matrix Legacy attached and while the transition was rough at first, it's great now, so I totally want to stick with Edea boots in the future.
I've never had any trouble learning how to spin. I've read posts where people claim it's impossible to spin in Mark IV blades or other lower level blades. That was never me. I did sit spins, camel spins, etc just fine in them as a beginner first learning the spins. I learned two-foot spin and one-foot spin in the cheapest no-brand skates, then I switched to Mark IV blades for scratch spin and above.... only because I utterly destroyed the cheap, no-brand skates doing toe loops in them.
I switched to Edea Ice Fly with Matrix Legacy once the Jackson boots reached their end of life and because it was so hard to get a good take-off for axel with the tiny toepick of Mark IV blades.
I struggled with the crosscut pattern and "huge" toepick on Legacy at first, because I was so used to the straight-cut and TINY pick on the Mark IV. But once I adjusted, the larger pick has been glorious! I don't know if I really notice if a pick is crosscut or straight. I seem to be able to adapt to either one after awhile and it stops feeling any different. It's mainly the SIZE of the pick that helped for bigger jumps like axel.
I plain to just stick with crosscut, since it's what I'm used to now and don't see any reason to change.
The other thing that was different between Mark IV and Legacy was the "sweet spot" location for spins. When I was first adapting to Legacy, I would roll up too far forward and get on the "death zone" part of the blade. I've circled what I call the death zone on Matrix Legacy: https://imgur.com/a/8sOjXGL
I remember looking at my Mark IV blades and seeing there was no death zone, just a toe pick. So I could spin wherever I wanted on Mark IV. I just rolled up until I felt the bottom drag pick. With Legacy, I had to get used to spinning further back to avoid rolling up into the death zone area. Now that I'm used to it, everything feels normal again. I can feel the drag pick, but I can't even find the death zone anymore even if I tried. So yeah, I have no idea how I could find the death zone so easily at first, but now I have no idea where it is anymore and everything just feels normal.
What was scary about the death zone is I would step into a spin or start spinning rapidly and then hit that zone and fall out of the spin instantly and suddenly without warning. It was freaky because everything would be normal until it suddenly and violently wasn't. Like falling into a black hole that suddenly opened up on the ice lol.
I'm not able to see the bottom of high-level blades. Do all blades have this "death zone" and it was just the Mark IV blades that didn't have it because it's so low level?
I'm leaning towards Gold Seal since its got a crosscut pick, 8" rocker, and seems the most similar to Matrix Legacy. Both of my old blades, Mark IV and Legacy, are 8" rocker.
Since I seem to be able to adjust to almost anything and never really notice much difference between blades after the adjustment period is over, does it really matter? Is Gold Seal recommended for people who are good spinners or bad spinners? I see myself as a good spinner since I can apparently learn to spin on practically anything and I can save some of the worst spin entrance mistakes and force them to work anyway. I learn jumps quickly too, but I struggle with getting enough height and snapping quick enough into rotation, and that's just something that will have to improve with time, it's not a skate problem, it's a physical problem.
I passed all Adult MIF/FS tests in just 3 years, except for Adult Gold FS. Working on that and Intermediate MIF right now. First year was the Jackson/MarkIV skates and then next 2 years was in IceFly/Matrix-Legacy. I haven't experienced any issues from "overbooting" myself. I'm 5'9 tall, so I'm not a light pixie, even though I'm not overweight.
I'm happy with Matrix Legacy currently. But I've always been in Jackson blades, so I'm very curious about trying a different blade maker.
I started out in Jackson Mark IV blades, since that is the blade that was traditionally attached to their old Freestyle skate model. I have never skated in the modern Jackson boots. I switched to Edea Ice Fly with Matrix Legacy attached and while the transition was rough at first, it's great now, so I totally want to stick with Edea boots in the future.
I've never had any trouble learning how to spin. I've read posts where people claim it's impossible to spin in Mark IV blades or other lower level blades. That was never me. I did sit spins, camel spins, etc just fine in them as a beginner first learning the spins. I learned two-foot spin and one-foot spin in the cheapest no-brand skates, then I switched to Mark IV blades for scratch spin and above.... only because I utterly destroyed the cheap, no-brand skates doing toe loops in them.
I switched to Edea Ice Fly with Matrix Legacy once the Jackson boots reached their end of life and because it was so hard to get a good take-off for axel with the tiny toepick of Mark IV blades.
I struggled with the crosscut pattern and "huge" toepick on Legacy at first, because I was so used to the straight-cut and TINY pick on the Mark IV. But once I adjusted, the larger pick has been glorious! I don't know if I really notice if a pick is crosscut or straight. I seem to be able to adapt to either one after awhile and it stops feeling any different. It's mainly the SIZE of the pick that helped for bigger jumps like axel.
I plain to just stick with crosscut, since it's what I'm used to now and don't see any reason to change.
The other thing that was different between Mark IV and Legacy was the "sweet spot" location for spins. When I was first adapting to Legacy, I would roll up too far forward and get on the "death zone" part of the blade. I've circled what I call the death zone on Matrix Legacy: https://imgur.com/a/8sOjXGL
I remember looking at my Mark IV blades and seeing there was no death zone, just a toe pick. So I could spin wherever I wanted on Mark IV. I just rolled up until I felt the bottom drag pick. With Legacy, I had to get used to spinning further back to avoid rolling up into the death zone area. Now that I'm used to it, everything feels normal again. I can feel the drag pick, but I can't even find the death zone anymore even if I tried. So yeah, I have no idea how I could find the death zone so easily at first, but now I have no idea where it is anymore and everything just feels normal.
What was scary about the death zone is I would step into a spin or start spinning rapidly and then hit that zone and fall out of the spin instantly and suddenly without warning. It was freaky because everything would be normal until it suddenly and violently wasn't. Like falling into a black hole that suddenly opened up on the ice lol.
I'm not able to see the bottom of high-level blades. Do all blades have this "death zone" and it was just the Mark IV blades that didn't have it because it's so low level?
I'm leaning towards Gold Seal since its got a crosscut pick, 8" rocker, and seems the most similar to Matrix Legacy. Both of my old blades, Mark IV and Legacy, are 8" rocker.
Since I seem to be able to adjust to almost anything and never really notice much difference between blades after the adjustment period is over, does it really matter? Is Gold Seal recommended for people who are good spinners or bad spinners? I see myself as a good spinner since I can apparently learn to spin on practically anything and I can save some of the worst spin entrance mistakes and force them to work anyway. I learn jumps quickly too, but I struggle with getting enough height and snapping quick enough into rotation, and that's just something that will have to improve with time, it's not a skate problem, it's a physical problem.
I passed all Adult MIF/FS tests in just 3 years, except for Adult Gold FS. Working on that and Intermediate MIF right now. First year was the Jackson/MarkIV skates and then next 2 years was in IceFly/Matrix-Legacy. I haven't experienced any issues from "overbooting" myself. I'm 5'9 tall, so I'm not a light pixie, even though I'm not overweight.