Cross Country Skiing

[Bron]

I hope it went well!

We´ve just got back from the skating race of the König-Ludwig-Lauf. It was supposed to be 50km, but was shortened to 42. Icy in some places, slushy in others and it´s snowing. We´re entered for the classic tomorrow and I also have no idea yet what wax to use.

I think it went ok today, certainly the best time I have ever got over that distance and I was fast enough that DH wasn´t expecting me - he was collecting his warm clothes and didn´t have time to get back to the finishing line to cheer me in.

[anakiwa]

It went as well as could be given the conditions- icy crust tilled up with a small amount of new snow blown over the tracks. We wound up using green klister under violet klister under violet hardwax. It worked reasonably well for 10K, but the downhills were so icy that nothing was staying on the skis well.

So it wasn't my best ski (I'm usually really strong on the uphills- and there's a fair amount on that course, but it was so hard to get reliable kick) but it was a lot of fun (it's a really beautiful point-to point course in and out of woods and fields with a lot of up and down).

Good luck tomorrow! (May you have better kick than I did.)

[Bron]

Well done, glad to hear that you enjoyed it.

Yesterday was definately a klister day - the course had been groomed and then temperatures sank to -11°C at the start so the tracks were quite icy. My kick was fine but I had the worst start ever (mass start with loads of people falling over) and spent the next 10km just trying to overtake people. Towards the end I started feeling Saturday's race in my arms and legs. I managed to be a minute faster than last year (was hoping for more) on a slower and longer course, so I'm not too unhappy.

[yellow]

I was thoroughly and completely humbled yesterday.

I got some new classic skis...end of the season, great deal. I'd been talking about it as my body seems to like a little break from skating sometimes.

I was using a cheapie pair of "fitness" skis and some pretty floppy boots. I did pretty well on them, but have been thinking about an upgrade and really learning how to classic ski on good classic gear.

Yesterday was my first day on them. My butt was kicked. They are super fast (which means I need to move faster to keep up with them!), and it was pretty warm so I was overheating (which makes me turn into a big ball of waaaah) and dealing a little bit with super-slipperiness. I think I was waxed correctly...I think it was just me. My biggest mistake was using my old floppy boots. I ordered some new ones last night, and while I'm hoping that will help, it's probably more about operator error than equipment issues.

Anyhoo, I'm looking forward to getting out there again soon. I like having new things to learn!

[Bron]

I hated my classic racing skis when I got my first pair - it just felt as though I had no kick at all. One good exercise was scooting myself along with one foot - stand on your gliding leg and just do the kicks with one leg and no poles - this helped me to identify just where the kick started as I was always kicking off too late.

I still prefer skating, but it's quite satisfying to be able to classic ski fast too.

[mudmucker]

When I had bought some new waxable fiberglass skiis mine were also very slippery no matter how much I waxed them in all different conditions. I actually would get tired of it and just started skating on my classic skiis. I actually like to skate that way if I'm not on a totally groomed trail - with the classic skiis - then if the trail narrows or I don't have enough oomph to get up a hill I resort to the diagonal stride. It took about a season and a half to get through that to the point where they were not slippery. I actually took a little steel wool to the kicker portion and that helped alot.

[Skierchickie]

Well, I did my last race of the season yesterday. But the best skiing is yet to come! Sometimes the snow starts going fast right about now, but at the moment it doesn't show any signs. I was talking to one of the groomers today, and he practically guaranteed they'd still be grooming through the middle of April. There is just such a deep, solid base right now. The surface hasn't really even transformed yet. So even though I have to spend most of next week in southern Indiana, I should come home to great spring condition!