New blades/blade alignment questions

[trubble]

Hey all,

I have two related questions: is there any reason for me to move to the next level up in blades, and does my blade alignment appear to be "standard" or not.

I'm an adult skater, getting ready for axel, skating on jackson supremes and coronation aces. My blades are getting close to needing replacement. The tech I go to said they only have a couple sharpenings left. I told them I was struggling with staying on my rocker during spins and they recommended moving from Coronation Ace to Gold Seal. I...don't really want to spend that $$ if I don't have to - $300 to $750 is quite the jump. Is it reasonable to stick with CA through axel and starting doubles?

I've also been struggling to make forward scratch spins work properly, and this week my coach commented that I keep flipping to my outside edge as soon as my free leg comes across. Then we noticed that my blade is mounted pretty far on the inside - far enough that it comes off the front pad of the boot, and they're further in on the heel than the blade on my right boot. I had noticed it when they were first mounted last October but figured the tech knew what they were doing so I didn't question it. Is a blade mounted this far inside normal if it's meant to be a standard, center aligned mounting? It feels like no matter how hard I press on the ball of my foot it just flips to the outside edge, and I want to know how much I should press the tech to move the alignment, either now or when I get new blades mounted, or if this seems normal.

 

[tstop4me]

I've also been struggling to make forward scratch spins work properly, and this week my coach commented that I keep flipping to my outside edge as soon as my free leg comes across. Then we noticed that my blade is mounted pretty far on the inside - far enough that it comes off the front pad of the boot, and they're further in on the heel than the blade on my right boot. I had noticed it when they were first mounted last October but figured the tech knew what they were doing so I didn't question it. Is a blade mounted this far inside normal if it's meant to be a standard, center aligned mounting? It feels like no matter how hard I press on the ball of my foot it just flips to the outside edge, and I want to know how much I should press the tech to move the alignment, either now or when I get new blades mounted, or if this seems normal.

Did you and the tech discuss pronation on that one foot? Hard to tell from the perspective of that one photo the degree of offset. Regardless, do the following functional tests, and report back.

* For skating, an initial series of tests to check for supination/pronation consists of one-foot glides in a nominally straight line. [Caveat: First check to make sure that your blades have been sharpened properly with level edges.]

- Stroke forward to pick up some speed. Glide comfortably on two feet in a nominally straight line. Then lift up one foot (let’s choose the right in this instance) and continue to glide on the other (the left in this instance). Don't force the glide to control it; just let it flow at ease. It’s best to have another person observe you from the back. Ideally, you should glide in a straight line. If possible, do the test on a clean patch of ice. Look at the tracing. Ideally you should see two lines of equal weight, such as | |. If you supinate, you will be biased towards the outside edge; you will veer to the left, and the tracing will look like this: | | (outside edge will be heavier). If you pronate, you will be biased towards the inside edge; you will veer to the right; and the tracing will look like this: | | (inside edge with be heavier). [In extremely screwed-up scenarios, you will see only a single heavy line.]

- Repeat with the other foot: lift up the left, glide on the right.

- Then repeat with one-foot glides backwards.

 

[trubble]

thank you! I’ll try that test as soon as I can. When they were mounted they asked and we agreed a standard center mount would be good. I told them I don’t have any pronation or supination issues, I’ve done gait analysis for running shoes and know that for sure.