A tour skater on
artificial ice
With a lot of doubt of a tour
skater I steps in 1973 on the artificial ice of the 400 m track of Amsterdam
(De Jaap Eden baan). My doubts turned out to be a
terrible prejudice. Since 1973 I have with great pleasure skated weekly several
times on artificial ice tracks of only 400m. One of the great advantages is
that one can skate there every year from October till March and that the ice is
in general much better than on the canals and lakes. So one does not have to be
afraid of holes or cracks in the ice. Therefore one can concentrate more on the
style of skating. One also can learn a lot of other skaters because one can
skate behind them and try copy their way of skating. In the video below one can
see how the skating is organized in the ice rinks in Holland.
You see that the faster skaters
skate at the inside of the track and the slower skaters have to skate at the
outside. In the evening the skaters know these rules but during the days, with
many children on the ice that is sometimes not so clear.
In 1973 I was 30 years old, I had a good condition and a reasonable technique, although a tour style, I could follow most of the time the skaters in the inner side of the track. In this way I learned the difference between tour skating and speed skating on artificial ice. It will be clear that skating during 10 hours (200km) or even in 4 hours (100km) on canals and lakes or just one hour on artificial ice will make quite a difference. In these skating rinks one bends the knees more. As they say "you are sitting deeper”. One also tries to put more force in each stroke. So one uses more energy to go faster and one is less concentrated to save energy. However one tries always to skate as efficient as possible i.e. the fastest with as little use of energy as possible. In these early years often marathon skaters, semiprofessionals, were also skating during the public hours. I have even several times skated behind Hans van Helden, one of the members of the Dutch national speed skating team for international competitions. He was known for his very nice style of skating so, if he was there, I tried immediately to get behind him to learn more from him. Beware that he was, of course, not skating on his highest speed. This was of course not possible on a track with many people. From him and many other good skaters I have learned a lot and also realized that it was fun to skate in ice rinks of 400m.
In 1973 I was 30 years old, I had a good condition and a reasonable technique, although a tour style, I could follow most of the time the skaters in the inner side of the track. In this way I learned the difference between tour skating and speed skating on artificial ice. It will be clear that skating during 10 hours (200km) or even in 4 hours (100km) on canals and lakes or just one hour on artificial ice will make quite a difference. In these skating rinks one bends the knees more. As they say "you are sitting deeper”. One also tries to put more force in each stroke. So one uses more energy to go faster and one is less concentrated to save energy. However one tries always to skate as efficient as possible i.e. the fastest with as little use of energy as possible. In these early years often marathon skaters, semiprofessionals, were also skating during the public hours. I have even several times skated behind Hans van Helden, one of the members of the Dutch national speed skating team for international competitions. He was known for his very nice style of skating so, if he was there, I tried immediately to get behind him to learn more from him. Beware that he was, of course, not skating on his highest speed. This was of course not possible on a track with many people. From him and many other good skaters I have learned a lot and also realized that it was fun to skate in ice rinks of 400m.
Let me mention two more very
different advantage of skating in an ice rink.
If you go skating with friends in a tour and they have not exactly the
same speed you loose each other out of side unless you adjust the speed to the
slowest skater. In the ice rinks the difference in speed does not matter so
much. You can skate together till one can´t follow the others or has to slow
down. Then he goes out of the group but he can join later. So you always see
each other again at least in the bar afterwards.
If you go skating alone you can make new friends on the ice track because you see each other regularly and skate with each other in the same group. So many friendships are made. In tours these meetings are in general also fun but more incidental and lead very seldom to regular contacts.
This type of skating I enjoyed so much after a while that I went also to winter sport towns that were known as centers for speed skating such as Inzell in Germany and Davos in Switzerland. In the end we preferred Davos more and we went nearly yearly to Davos. I will write about skating in Davos in another section of this blog. First I have to continue with my preparation for the next Elfstedentocht.
If you go skating alone you can make new friends on the ice track because you see each other regularly and skate with each other in the same group. So many friendships are made. In tours these meetings are in general also fun but more incidental and lead very seldom to regular contacts.
This type of skating I enjoyed so much after a while that I went also to winter sport towns that were known as centers for speed skating such as Inzell in Germany and Davos in Switzerland. In the end we preferred Davos more and we went nearly yearly to Davos. I will write about skating in Davos in another section of this blog. First I have to continue with my preparation for the next Elfstedentocht.