First time in 35 years

Toby

Toby

Cleared for Takeoff
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Feb 22, 2005
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Long Island, NY
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Toby Speed
The last time I can remember doing this, I was 17. I really really wanted to be Peggy Fleming back then and I took figure skating lessons for a couple years, but eventually stopped. This weekend I was in Montreal where they are big into ice, and I decided to give it a try. The first time around I clung to the rail and could only move inches at a time. They have these ugly things that look like walkers, for old ladies and little kids just learning how to skate. I said, damn if I'm going to be seen with one of those. But finally I gave in and pushed one around the rink for a while. After a while I let go with one hand, and about a half hour later I stopped using it. It was great!!!

Have any of you recaptured the magic of something you enjoyed doing a long time ago?
 
Lookin' pretty smooth there, Toby.
Thought I had said goodbye to skating when I moved to 60miles N of Mexico but modern technology allows me to skate about once a month. Skiing too!
 
Are you sure you weren't 7 last time you skated? Couldn't possibly have been when you were 17 or 35 years ago. One must be incorrect. :rolleyes:
 
That is very sweet of you, Dave. :) I wish you were right about the math!
 
It is amazing how when we are older never forget or at least the lessons come back easier. I learned when I was 15 when walking and working on the ramp of the airport was to walk at least one wing length away from the plane. I still do that today, The reason is too long for now.

Interesting not far from my old flying stuff is a pair of figure skates that I have had for over 33 years. They still fit.

Glad you got to enjoy renewing an adventure that you treasured when you were young.

John
 
You are right, John, about how quickly it comes back. Your body just remembers.

Interesting -- skating is a little like flying, isn't it?
 
No picture with the walker Toby? :D Then again, that's probably not an overly brilliant picture to post since it'd probably come back and haunt you eventually.

I went ice skating many years after the last time a while back. Somewhere along the line I managed to forgot about the power of the toe pick. :eek: Put me on the ice instantly. (pitch 90 to 0 step -90 for the programmers out there) I also forgot how much I hate rental skates in turns that need a good file taken to them. But it was fun.
For the last year or so, I have been enjoying the occasional lunch at the local mall watching figure skaters learning. Sometimes when the instructor has USOTC on their shirt, you have to wonder if you'll be seeing those kids in a few years...

Toby said:
Have any of you recaptured the magic of something you enjoyed doing a long time ago?
Click to expand...

Oh yes. I'm going through a very rebellious session of unconditionally less work and much more play right now and damned the ice bergs.

Last week I got my motorcycle running again after a 5 year hiatus. Six miles give or take so far in return to service test riding but I totally forgot how much fun it is. I am so wanting to go run The Dragon now.
Several more significant activities are being lined up again too.
 
One thing that is different at age 40 vs age 15....
a) your CG seems to be a lot higher for many of us (which means a greater altitude from which to gain speed before you contact the earth.)
b) the MGW is higher (which means a greater impact force)
c) the framework is no longer made of a flexible composite, it is more like a thin, brittle metal (so impacts result in greater damage to the structure)
d) the computer-control circuitry responds somewhat slower to sensors, and command inputs (thus reaction time is much greater, making impact with terrain a more likely event)

What the hey, if your mind still says you feel like 18 - you gotta keep at it!
 
fgcason said:
No picture with the walker Toby? :D Then again, that's probably not an overly brilliant picture to post since it'd probably come back and haunt you eventually.
Click to expand...
Here's one for you, Frank. Ugly contraption, isn't it! The second picture is of my photographer.

That's great that you went skating again. :)

Oh yes. I'm going through a very rebellious session of unconditionally less work and much more play right now and damned the ice bergs.

Last week I got my motorcycle running again after a 5 year hiatus. Six miles give or take so far in return to service test riding but I totally forgot how much fun it is. I am so wanting to go run The Dragon now.
Several more significant activities are being lined up again too.
Click to expand...
I totally approve of all this! Gold star for you.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
One thing that is different at age 40 vs age 15....
a) your CG seems to be a lot higher for many of us (which means a greater altitude from which to gain speed before you contact the earth.)
b) the MGW is higher (which means a greater impact force)
c) the framework is no longer made of a flexible composite, it is more like a thin, brittle metal (so impacts result in greater damage to the structure)
d) the computer-control circuitry responds somewhat slower to sensors, and command inputs (thus reaction time is much greater, making impact with terrain a more likely event)

What the hey, if your mind still says you feel like 18 - you gotta keep at it!
Click to expand...
Yes, about the CG and about slow circuitry response. What's MGW?

My big fear was not of skating, but falling. I worry about my bones!
 
Toby said:
You are right, John, about how quickly it comes back. Your body just remembers.

Interesting -- skating is a little like flying, isn't it?
Click to expand...

Absolutly; Skating and flying are very simular.

John
 
Toby said:
Here's one for you, Frank. Ugly contraption, isn't it!

I've never seen one of those before. That's not too bad though. I had a very horrid image in my mind of you with a classic granny's walker on ice. You improved the overall image considerably.
It looks fairly stable but, um, ice and the unprotected ends of that metal thing look like a pre-filled-out accident report just waiting for the time and date to be entered on the form in todays world. Then again, we use to play some really rough games in a working barn with no lasting injuries or scars.

Toby said:
The second picture is of my photographer.
Click to expand...

So...did she keep a copy of the picture in her "Toby-blackmail-pictures" directory? ;)

Toby said:
That's great that you went skating again. :)
Click to expand...

It was probably 15 years between skating sessions with actual ice skates. I did have enough sense to stay away from the wall lest I bend something in a bad direction. I figured a zero friction hard crash is better than getting hard stationary objects involved.

Toby said:
I totally approve of all this! Gold star for you.
Click to expand...

:)
Other activities on the list: Downhill skiing again (maybe this winter if possible but no black slopes on the first outing). Solo multiple week backcountry backpacking (the good life). I really really need to get that clear prop thing going again too but that's on hold at the moment for a good cause and it'll pay off in the long run.
Like I said, rebellion mode full on.

Give yourself a gold star. Then go get another one.
Click to expand...
 
fgcason said:
So...did she keep a copy of the picture in her "Toby-blackmail-pictures" directory? ;)
Click to expand...
I don't know, but I have pics of her in and out of diapers, so I can blackmail her right back!

:)
Other activities on the list: Downhill skiing again (maybe this winter if possible but no black slopes on the first outing). Solo multiple week backcountry backpacking (the good life). I really really need to get that clear prop thing going again too but that's on hold at the moment for a good cause and it'll pay off in the long run.
Like I said, rebellion mode full on.
Click to expand...
Don't forget to tell us about that multiple-week trip. Where and when are you going?
 
Toby said:
I don't know, but I have pics of her in and out of diapers, so I can blackmail her right back!
Click to expand...

Ouch! If she brings a bat to the fight, you nuke the battlefield. Game over.

Toby said:
Don't forget to tell us about that multiple-week trip. Where and when are you going?
Click to expand...

Not sure when yet. I have a few emergencies that must be handled first. Maybe next summer.
One place I'm seriously considering: There is an unnamed 13010 MSL mountain in the Wiminuche Wilderness (SW Colorado) about 12-13 miles from the trailhead that I'd like to make a summit attempt on. Partial visual inspection last time on one side and quadrangle maps indicate at least two possible routes up that do not require equipment. Close up reconnaissance is required first. The 12900+ summit next to the 13010 is an easy climb.

The attached picture is in a high mountain bowl at 11632 MSL. The summit I want to climb is about 2 miles left of the picture via the top of the high ridge (12000ish MSL) in the picture. The picture does not do that place justice.
 
Toby said:
Interesting -- skating is a little like flying, isn't it?
Click to expand...
Hopefully not. I also wanted to be Peggy Fleming when I was little but I had two left feet and not a graceful bone in my body. So I took up flying. :D

Actually the thing I enjoyed doing as a kid was riding horses over jumps. You might say that's a little like flying. I've never gone back to it, though.
 
Toby said:
Have any of you recaptured the magic of something you enjoyed doing a long time ago?
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I started playing hockey a couple years ago after a 35 year hiatus, does that count? I'm playing better now than I did back then, but that's only because I was so lousy back then.

BTW, after viewing the thumbnails and reading about sticking close to the rails, I thought your title meant you got to drive the Zamboni.
 
Gordie Howe, Bobby Orr, Bobby Hull! Phil Esposito! That's me! (in my fantasy-dream world)
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Gordie Howe, Bobby Orr, Bobby Hull! Phil Esposito! That's me! (in my fantasy-dream world)
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Dave, I don't know who any of those people are. But then, I don't get out much. Are they skaters?
 
Hockey players from my childhood.
(Do a search only if you really want to know my age)
 
Not just skaters Diana. Top hockey players.

I used to play hockey on a river that froze in the winter on the SS of Chicago. Since I was pretty light, used to wind up on the bank looking up a lot when one of the bigger guys could check me (which seemed to be all the time.).

Found wres'lin and Gymnastics suited me better. But did enjoy skatin!!

Figure skatin wasn't for real men then. Hockey was what macho guys played. Scars, broken teeth--badges of courage.

Glad I quit!! I can still talk in complete sentences.

Dave
 
Dave Siciliano said:
I used to play hockey on a river that froze in the winter on the SS of Chicago. Since I was pretty light, used to wind up on the bank looking up a lot when one of the bigger guys could check me (which seemed to be all the time.).
Dave
Click to expand...

Haha, I had the same problem playing Football in High School.
Being 6'2 is great and all, but when you weigh a buck 50 to go along with it you get knocked around a lot. So I was a rag doll, haha, I had fun though.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Hockey players from my childhood.
(Do a search only if you really want to know my age)
Click to expand...
Dave you are ageless. All I need to know is that you are a gentle man. :)
 
Ken Ibold said:
Fighters. Er, hockey players.
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nononono, Ken. These guys were slick. They had class. Amazing stickhandling, grace on skates. They were there to play hockey.
Hiring goons came along much later. Thats about when I stopped watching. Although I did catch The Great One and Mario LeMieux a few times.
 
Yup; every time I go down to my laundry room I look up at the shelf holding the
CCM blades and the custom-made black Riedell boots. $400 for a pair of figure skates was a lot of money back then. So, while in college(broadcasting/theatre school) in Boston I met this charming lady who invited me to be her guest at The Skating Club of Boston. She was really good; proficient in all matters of ice; and "Daddy" had spent tons of money supporting her love. Tina was gracious, the pride of her family, and my being on the historic ice up on Soldiers Field Road was a great, recurring experience. I was studying with Mickey Belle Isle, former Ice Cadet with the Ice Capades, at his Belle Isle Ice Studio in Newton Upper Falls. He lost several friends when the U. S. Figure Skating Team was lost in the plane crash, en route to Brussels.

I haven't skated in many years; maybe I should. Oh, and that Tina lady? Google Albertina Noyes, and get numerous hits; as in National Senior Lady's Champion in 1963 and 1964. I was in broadcasting/theatre school from 09/62 to 06/64.

Thanks, Toby; I'm not afraid. I might just get those expensive skates out again.

HR
 
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Bill Jennings said:
Very pretty photographer, must be family. You look great on ice :rolleyes:
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Thanks, Bill. That's my youngest daughter, Zoe.
 
Rudy said:
Haha, I had the same problem playing Football in High School.
Being 6'2 is great and all, but when you weigh a buck 50 to go along with it you get knocked around a lot. So I was a rag doll, haha, I had fun though.
Click to expand...

You're heavy compared with where I was in high school. Heck, I weighed 140 when I got married. And I'm 6'2", also. Don't weigh 140 anymore, however.
 
Toby said:
Have any of you recaptured the magic of something you enjoyed doing a long time ago?
Click to expand...

I did in August. I went to visit some friends in Red Lodge, MT, and we went hiking south of town. It was in the high country, and I didn't realize until I was up there just how long it had been since I'd hiked above timberline. I've done a LOT of hiking over the years, but not much above timberline since I was a kid backpacking in the Sierra Nevada all the time. Brought up a lot of wonderful memories.

Judy
 
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