What's in your gear bag? (& skate care tips)

[skatearoundtheworld1]

Just bought my first pair of skates after a couple months of renting!

Now that I'll need to transport them safely to and from practice and care for them off the ice, I was wondering what your best tips were?

I've read several articles online about boot & blade care, but wanted to see what your best tips & tricks were that I may not have come across.

I'm also not sure what gear I need to buy. It looks like I can use any bag to carry them (I'm thinking I'll use a gym tote). But in terms of new items I need to buy to start, it seems hard blade guards and soft blade "soakers" (I forget what the name is for these) would be a good investment.

So — what's in your gear bag? What should be in a beginner's gear bag? What should that bag be like?

 

[Curlygirly81]

I like to use wheeled bags bc skates get heavy. Soakers, hard guards, towel, mittens, ankle gels or pads ( for when you're breaking in skates) Extra laces, Chapstick... Tissue.. That's what I can think of off The top of my head. Skipping rope can be handy too... If you wanna warm up before hitting the Ice. Skate care depends on your skates and what they're made of. Edea's are cared for differently then traditional leather but for blades be sure to dry them after every skate.

Hope this helps!

 

[VegMom]

From what I've learned as a skate mom, the best tips IMO are:
- Wipe down your blades and completely dry them off every time after skating. Keep them in soakers when you're not wearing them.
- Use guards on your blades whenever your skates are on but you're not on the ice.
- Never keep your skates in a hot car.
- Open up your skate and loosen the laces as much as you can and let them air out between uses.


My skater keeps this gear in the bag:
- A small first aid kit with some bandaids, antibiotic cream, and ibuprophen
- Extra skate socks, extra gloves
- Club jacket and skate pants
- Pads
- Tissues (for runny noses from the cool air)
- Water bottle and a snack
- Jump rope for warming up
- Guards and soakers to protect the skates
- A notebook for taking notes from coach or writing down important dates
- Random stuff like USFSA member card, good luck charms, bunga pads (even though they never get used)...

 

[Ange]

Which bag is best largely depends on personal preference. I like to have a lot of pockets to organise my stuff, so using a simple gym bag didn’t work for me (plus I found gym bags too small). I like wheelie suitcases. I’m currently using a carry on luggage bag which has three big pockets and smaller pockets inside. The middle compartment is the perfect size and shape for my skates. One thing you probably want to consider is whether it has a hard base because skate blades are sharp and if you’re just using a duffel, you can’t really rest it on your lap and you have to be careful when you put it down not to make a massive thud lol.

As for what’s inside, I have:
- Hard guards
- Soft guards (soakers)
- Face washer as my skate towel
- Water and snack bar
- Tissues
- Gloves
- Sanitary items
- Warm jacket
- Phone, wallet etc.
- Lip balm
- All my protective gear
- Notepad and pen

The most important part of skate care is drying them thoroughly after use (the blade, the sole and the boot itself) and never leaving them in hard guards when you’re not wearing them. They should go straight into soakers. Like the above poster said, don’t leave them in a hot car because this can warp the shape if they’re leather. Don’t leave them in the sun for the same reason. Always take them out of the bag after skating to let them air out.

That’s all I can think of. It’s quite similar to what people have already said. Have fun

 

[sandraskates]

I was using a tote bag that had too many pockets and I couldn't find anything!

I bought a Transpack from this vendor so I could have my name embroidered on it:
https://jenskates.com/products/transpack-ice-backpack?variant=39721408594

There are numerous color patterns to chose from and I like the separate, vented compartments for each skate. I think I found out about it via this forum.

 

[likevelvet]

I love my skate backpack for practice! For all-day stuff like competitions I use a wheeled Zuca bag just because it's easier to maneuver around and identify as mine, and the capacity is a little more flexible.

Stuff I always have:
Soakers
Skate towel (I buy little towels from Daiso, they work great, are small and are $1.50)
Guards
Extra pairs of tights and socks
At minimum two pairs of gloves
A warm headband or hat and a tiny makeup bag full of hair stuff, like scrunchies, ties, nets, pins
Boot covers (don't know why, I only use them outside. They're just in my little misc bag I keep my socks in)
K-tape
Trail mix
Bunga ankle sleeves and gel discs

How I take care of my skates:
I wipe the blades and boots down as soon as I'm done skating, paying extra attention to the screws and mounting plates. I put them in the soakers to carry them home and wipe them down again. I store them in the soakers with them all the way unlaced so the tongues are loose and they air out. Sometimes I throw sneaker savers in them if Im not lazy (so not often )

 

[Mussique]

Everything mentioned above. Just some small tips:

Buy good hard guards, and not the cheap ones. You don't need the smell good ones or with special colors or w/e, but they should be hard plastic or else they'll break down super soon and won't protect your blades.

Keep a screwdriver to check your blade joints —don't let the screws come loose, it's super dangerous!

You can save money by making your own soakers. They'll also look super cool. If you need tips with this, pm me! There are many Google pages on this as well.

Since I sometimes skate maybe three or four days in a row, the guards can get wet as well. I usually put them out to dry with the skates. I also have two pairs of soakers and I always keep an eye on the blades being absolutely dry when I get home —sometimes you'll get condensation on them even if you were careful while drying them at the rink.

Also keep a spare pair of laces in your skate bag to avoid a Tonya Harding™ situation!

Btw, I usually have like four pairs of gloves in my skate bag. Not only because I will prefer different types (warmer, lighter, etc) depending on the day, but also because people are always forgetting theirs, so I'm kind of the official lend-me-gloves person, and that's fun as well.

 

[skatearoundtheworld1]

Everything mentioned above. Just some small tips:

Buy good hard guards, and not the cheap ones. You don't need the smell good ones or with special colors or w/e, but they should be hard plastic or else they'll break down super soon and won't protect your blades.

How do I know the difference between good and cheap ones?

Also keep a spare pair of laces in your skate bag to avoid a Tonya Harding™ situation!

LOL!

Thanks to everyone else for the tips as well, quite a few things I hadn't thought of in here

 

[illogicalskittle]

My bag is just an old school bagpack I had lying around since it was the only bag big enough for my skates. The main compartment is big enough that I have extra space to keep my sweats or slacks whenever I skate after work. And a waterbottle. I could keep my macbook inside if I wanted but that would make my bag really heavy.

This bagpack also used to be my cosplay bag once upon a time and I could fit my costume, wig, shoes, makeup, makeup remover in that main compartment

There's also extra gloves, soakers, guards, umbrella, socks, and a towel in the front pocket.

One downside to this is that the boots do get scuffed quite a bit since I have to position them in an 'x' to make the skates fit properly. Much less noticeable on black skates but of course the white skates will always pick up all the scuffs and make them worse HAHA. You can easily avoid this with boot covers or you can just not care about it at all.

I always switch my soakers out with guards once my blades are dry so that I don't stab myself with the pick when I handle the bag again. I travel with this bag a lot so I'd rather not injure anyone and myself by hitting them with a toe pick, even if it is protected by a bag. Nope. Not risking it.

I was heavily considering on getting one of those Edea skate bags since they were pretty compact and small. But since I do skate after work, a bagpack with everything I'll ever need is better than juggling like two different shoulder bags and a macbook. It really depends on your needs!

 

[Sibelius]

Everything above, but one thing missing (at least I didn't see it). Ice packs. The ones you squeeze and get instantly cold. I've used quite a few on my little skater's knees. Spare change for the candy machine!

 

[Mussique]

How do I know the difference between good and cheap ones?

Basically don't buy those (the "centipede" type). The plastic band that attaches those breaks quite easily and it doesn't support the blades as good as the "universal" type does. (Like this ones)

 

[skatearoundtheworld1]

Basically don't buy those (the "centipede" type). The plastic band that attaches those breaks quite easily and it doesn't support the blades as good as the "universal" type does. (Like this ones)

Ohhhh! I had no idea there were different kinds. I ordered the first, so now am following up with the second kind! Thanks

 

[Annelegato]

Basically don't buy those (the "centipede" type). The plastic band that attaches those breaks quite easily and it doesn't support the blades as good as the "universal" type does. (Like this ones)

i thought the first one is for hockey skates...

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

several pairs of hard guards (rockerz ones)
soakers
towel/chamois
chapstick
gloves
spare laces
bungas
ankle brace (soft slide on one)
roll of KT Tape
Gels for ankles/achilles if I'm breaking in new boots
protein bar
Vitamin C throat Drops (like Halls defense ones)
tissues
extra socks
bottle of electrolyte water
baggie with some hair ties in it).

My contents differ depending on the day/travel/situation.

I usually carry an extra layer for warmth with me too (I tend to peel layers as I warm up/skate).

 

[MiraiFan]

I really like my Zucca bag but they are expensive and I feel like they should store way more for the price.
My bag contains:
hard guards
soakers
knee and butt pads, protective head band
lip gloss
tissues
band aids
leg warmers
extra gloves plus my usual skating gloves
notebook and pen

 

[Sunshine247]

Same as what’s above, for the most part. Now a days, spray hand sanitizer!

I bought some gel moisture absorbers in a slim plastic case to help the skates dry out when they forget to unzip their bags. one slips into each skate. Got em from Amazon.

Spare laces I will stress! My daughter stepped on her lace with newly sharpened skates one day, so glad for extras.

Also a spare thin jacket for sure. Especially in summer when you might not already be wearing one. Always spare socks. That been important a few times.

Plus, my skaters put skate tape on their skates to protect them during practice and replace or just take it off for tests and competitions. Keeps them looking good. reminds me. Time to re-do it......

 

[karne]

Holy zombie thread, Batman!

 

[Sunshine247]

Holy zombie thread, Batman!

It was at the top of the main page as unread for me. Probably still helpful since someone revived it? How does stuff show up like that? I learned not to respond to the stuff on the bottom, lol, but this was on the main list of threads/questions as a new topic. I noticed it’s a bit harder to get accurate results from a search too.

 

[GS Forum Staff]

Please remember that staff may have deleted a post as spam, or otherwise, that revives an old thread. Another poster sees the revived thread and responds in good faith without necessarily looking at the first post.

Thank you!

 

[tstop4me]

Holy zombie thread, Batman!

Oh, Oh. A sign that the apocalypse is nigh.