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Blisters & Bone Bruises: Inline Speed Skate Boot Heat Molding

The backs of my heels resemble barnacles stuck to a breakwater. It's time to heat-mold my skate boots!
After 44 odd miles at Tour de Lions a few weeks back, I didn't really want to skate any more until I felt sure I wouldn't feel skin tearing inside my boots, far from home. So Roadskater and I dug out his old hairdryer, a large patch of neoprene and some tight-fitting socks.
The heat-molding method we used is also described here - not the oven method - using circular pads of neoprene about four-high, placed over the blister site (ouch!). We used the blowfryer to heat one of the boots to about 180 deg F, which took about 20 minutes. I didn't tape the neoprene pads to my feet but there was enough space to manipulate the pads into the right place once I got the boot on, using pain as my guide. I sat there grimacing for another 20 minutes while we heated the other boot. I managed to stand the pain for 40 minutes each foot. We took the boots out on my day-old raw blisters for a spin at Greensboro's Country Park and the right boot felt better, that is, it didn't feel like my blister even came into contact with any part of the boot at all. The left boot was still a problem and peeling skin off with my sock is not one of my favorite things to do in life.
Another skateless week has passed. However, I spent the afternoons heat-molding when I would normally have skated. I have repeated the same 20 minute heating procedure followed by a good 40 minutes boot cool-down period about four more times, socks stuffed with little mountains of neoprene. The fourth attempt at molding the left boot was the most successful, and I think something actually moved in the shape of the boot heel. After skating today I believe that one may be fixed. The right one is still dubious, but I only skated for an hour on a gently undulating course, rather than hills as steep as Country Park. The big test comes after about 90 minutes on bad-technique-hills (the really steep ones where grace goes to hell).
We had a previous discussion about heat-molding, so check it out for more details and other people's experiences.
I think the lesson I'm supposed to learn here is: if at first heat-molding doesn't succeed - try, try again!
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Comments
heat molding and frame position
Hair Dryers, Heat Guns and Frame Positions
Burnt Feet and Food
I will Keep at it
Mountains out of Mouse Pads
Keep Trying Kensun...More Heat, More Pressure
You might try a Google search for the brand and model of your boots with the words "heat molding instructions" added. And of course try the website of your brand too. See below for Powerslide.
Different brands and models have different material and different melting points, so this is good info to have. If you decide to use the oven method don't walk away for anything!
Aside from that, I remember timv said he
That way he knew the carbon material was hot all the way through.
Here are some previous articles from roadskater.net, including InlineNC references that mention heat molding and other boot and frame issues...
You can find that article and more by using the search box on roadskater.net, or this search link...notice the technique of building a search url too (OR and AND in caps) if you like doing that...
My tendency is caution with all of this. Only heat the area you need to. If it's the ankle, I heat from inside because I don't want to disfigure the outside. Slow changes are good since you'll know you haven't drastically altered the cant of the mounts and other crazy stuff somehow, like loosening the bolt mounts!
Most of all don't give up because skating should be mostly pain free, except for muscles and lack of oxygen and maybe a few falls here and there.
These PDF documents have some interesting ideas, some of which are contradictory, some of which are just hype, but they're worth scanning, especially if you're interested in Powerslide (but not just for that)...
Hope this helps.