Outdoor Ice Skating This Morning

Last night I passed by a small patch of ice on the side of the road. This is the patch my son and I played ice hockey on last January. I stopped to check it out and it seemed fine with no cracking. I hopped back in the car and headed home. This morning I decided to get my skates and go over to this site. It was 7AM and about 32 degrees outside. A light rain was falling as I laced up my skates and started. Cracks started to show but nothing that would stop me from having about 30 minutes of exercise and fun. This ice was soft and water underneath was starting to seep up on the surface. My hockey stop shavings turned to slush. The conditions were not real good but good enough to skate around with the stick and puck. I can see now how the outdoor ice conditions helped the hockey players of old become great skaters. The outdoor ice today for me was slushy, soft, and bumpy. I also had to side step (skate) dog paw prints that were molded in the ice surface. When I get to skate on the pristine zambonied ice surface at the local rink, my skating will be different. I still love ice skating outdoors. This was my fifth time this year. Not sure how many more outdoor skates I will get this winter. I was tempted just to stay inside the warm house on a rainy Saturday morning. I am glad I can still skate for free.