Notable Quote of the Week

Ride and Glide Newsletter Week 10-11 Thursday, January 15, 2004 5 Weeks to the Birkie

react differently to heat. Cross Country Skiing is For example, foam cores will absorb more and Good for You more heat, causing the base to bubble as well as to http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2004/01/ seal. 14/local_sports/outdoors/iq_2643737.txt http://www.masterskier.com/archive/0102olym pic/basedamage.html Less than Compassionate Quote of the Week Don’t Give up the Glide (Copied without permission) “ Well BOOHOO. Why don’t you go home to your mommy?” By Lee Borowski -- Coach Ken Tobacman Lee is the author of Ski Faster, Easier and The Simple Secrets of Skating- video and booklet. His latest books are Optimal Cross Country Training and The New Simple Secrets of Skating

What Causes Base Damage? Part 1 of 2 (Copied without permission) To glide or not to glide, that is the question. I guess its human nature to look for this year’s magical solution for By NAT BROWN faster skiing. Racer’s, especially, are a gullible sort, so Contributing Editor for The Master Skier it’s no surprise to see the latest technique short-cut rear its ugly head. Probably the two most common forms of base damage I And just what is the new trend to more speed? In see are poor steel scraping and over-heating with summary it is, “Any time you are gliding, you are the iron. A word about both may save needing to slowing down. So get off the gliding ski as fast as you send in your skis for grinding! Steel Scraping - can.” Be sure to use a sharp scraper or good quality. Let me give you a personal example of how that Avoid thin scrapers that can bend and create concept, taken to extremes, can destroy your skiing. I rounded bases, and avoid using a burnished (wire) was roller skiing (skating) with a good friend, Don edge unless you are very, very sure what you are Bilden. He had just come back from a ski camp in Canada where the instructor emphasized the “little glide” doing. The best steel scrapers are very hard steel, concept. and need to be sharpened on a diamond stone. Was I shocked at what I saw? The last time I roller There is much more about this in The Complete skied with Don, he had excellent technique; powerful leg Guide to Cross country Ski Preparation (The action, great weight transfer and a powerful poling Mountaineers Books - ask your ski store to order motion which was initiated by the abdomen. it ) but learn how to make and use a 90 degrees But above all, his motion had been a joy to watch. But edge on your scraper. now! He was straddling the tracks; had almost no weight Steel scraping takes skill and practice - so don’t transfer, very little glide and almost no propulsion from learn how on you good skis! And do not steel his poles. He was skating like a beginner. I was amazed, scrape newly stone-ground bases - this will but knew he had just come back from instruction so remove the structure. vowed to keep my mouth shut. Ironing - Bases melt at 135°C. Melting the base, But one of my other skiing buddies, Bob Bodensteiner, didn’t feel any such compulsion. He no matter how little, effectually seals the “pores” quizzed Don as to what he had “learned” at ski camp. in the base, so that they will not absorb wax. It is The basic message was, “Glide was bad since you were very important to keep the iron moving (see only slowing down.” Finally at the hour mark, I could no below), to check periodically to be sure there is longer contain myself. I blurted out: “Just think how fast enough wax on the base to insulate the plastic you’d be if you switched to snow shoes.” from direct contact with the iron. And to consider To make a long story short, Don reverted to his old the type of ski you are working on: different cores style of skiing (that he had taken years to develop) and Ride and Glide Newsletter Week 10-11 Thursday, January 15, 2004 5 Weeks to the Birkie went on to have a successful season, capped by winning his age group at the Birkie. Again he was “Mr. Rhythm.” http://www.masterskier.com/archive/0203midseason/gi veupglide.html Section B Members Only Thursday, January 15, 2004

Name: Valeria La Rosa Shuster

Occupation: Marketing and Development Specialist

Other Sports: Running, Mountain biking, broomball, tennis, squash, racquetball, down hill skiing, snowboarding, soccer, softball, swimming

Classic or Skate: skate Level: Intermediate Skis: Salomon

Favorite Course: Up north... by Virginia... sorry, don't remember the name

Favorite Race: Never raced before, but I am looking forward to my first one!

Favorite Athlete: Don't have one... I like Andre Agassi

Favorite Junk Food: Ice Cream

Favorite Movie: Life is Beautiful (Roberto Benini)

Most Memorable R&G Moment: When Steve said "That was 100% better!" (teaching me V1, which I was very frustrated with) Thank you Steve!!!

How did you hear about R&G? My husband

What do you do when you’re not skiing or working? Go out and play some more with my hubby!

Name: John M. Bradford

Occupation: Printing

Other Sports: Bicycling, canoeing, golf, downhill skiing, hockey

Classic or Skate: Skate Level: Int-Adv Skis: Atomic

Favorite Course: William O'Brien State Park

Favorite Race: Birkie

Favorite Athlete: Brett Favre

Favorite Junk Food: Peanut Butter

Favorite Movie: Slap Shot

Most Memorable R&G Moment: Learning to Classic Ski

How did you hear about R&G? From website

What do you do when you’re not skiing or working? My wife and I like to play with our new dog we got from the St. Paul Humane Society Section B Members Only Thursday, January 15, 2004

Name: Randee Edmundson

Occupation: Environmental Science Educational Grant Coordinator

Other Sports: Wilderness Canoeing, Biking/touring & trial riding, swimming

Classic or Skate: Both Level: Advanced Skis: Atomic, Peltonen

Favorite Course: Birke, Timberline Hills, Wm O'Brian

Favorite Race: Seeley Classic, North End Classic

Favorite Athlete: Wilderness Canoeists

Favorite Junk Food: None--too many allergies for these

Favorite Movie: In the Company of Strangers

Most Memorable R&G Moment: The games we play

How did you hear about R&G? David Gorringe

What do you do when you’re not skiing or working? Read, yoga, time with friends

Name: Todd Powell

Occupation: RA, University of Minnesota

Other Sports: Biking, mtn biking, biking and did I mention biking?

Classic or Skate: Both Level: Increasing (hopefully), Instructor Skis: yes, two

Favorite Course: French, love those lights and hills

Favorite Race: Mora Vasa

Favorite Athlete: Juliana Furtado

Favorite Junk Food: Bottle Caps

Favorite Movie: Casablanca

Most Memorable R&G Moment: The first dryland training day of each year!

How did you hear about R&G? Steve Skarvan (so blame him)

What do you do when you’re not skiing or working? Biking Section C Coaches’ Corner Thursday, January 15, 2004

Interm/Beg Skate Group Advanced Skate Group Instructor(s): Steve Thatcher Steve, Ed and Dave Instructor(s): Paul Torniainen, Hank Carbone, Tom By Steve Thatcher Harris We had a full compliment of coaches last night. We By Hank Carbone broke into two groups Advanced and Int/beg. The firm To everything turn... turn... turn... skate lane is sometime hard on skaters who are learning. Paul led the group in an evening of turn practice. We With no give in the trail it amplifies the effect of not started with a small loop with one gradual turn and one being on a flat ski when you are gliding. Riding a flat very tight turn. Activity focused on stepping, rather than ski comes with practice so don't let these conditions get edging, through turns. Stepping is a more efficient you down. Actually skiing on this kind of stuff is good method of making a turn. Alpine skis have a side cut for your balance and fine leg muscle control. and metal edges that enable you to efficiently edge through turns, cross country skis do not offer these We again stressed V1 hill climbing and how it relates to features. After several loops the group moved to the flat cadence. We had people try different step lengths and area and did circle drills for additional practice stepping turnover rates. Most people agreed that shorter faster through turns. Eventually poles were added and we steps worked good for them on the big hills. It's focused on poling to the outside of the turn. This helps something you have to practice and find out what is the propel the skier and enables him/her to actually best cadence for you. We worked quite a bit on step accelerate through the turn. turns in the icy corners and also the Marathon Skate as it's used in corners. Lastly we worked a little on V2. The evening closed with some work on V2 technique. We introduced an easy low effort way to V2 and had people try the V2 up a small incline. Done properly V2 can be used on moderate uphills. A number of people Beginner Skate Group were surprised how they could climb an incline using Instructor: Ed Corazalla V2. It's not something you would do all the time but it's good practice and is a good indicator of proper V2 Where is everyone?? One night I had 26 timing. If you aren't timing the V2 correctly climbing a beginners?? Last night we had about 4 skiers/coach. hill will be very difficult. Try it. If you have trouble on Don't give up just because there is no snow in your back a small incline seek out a coach and have him check out yard. No excuses we have snow! Sure it is man made--- your V2 timing. but it works and it’s even pretty darn fast!! Great to learn on--speed is good a thing. I'd like to encourage anyone who races or has considered racing to do the City of Lakes Loppet. This race has the The beginner group (at least the people that have been potential to become a fantastic event. It's a home town coming to practice) is advancing in leaps and bounds. event, there's a touring option and you don't have to We are now working on rounding the entire course --We drive. I'd like the club to adopt this race as the "Club have graduated from just skiing back and forth! Championship" Let's see how many people we can get out there. Last year I think we had 20 people. Racers, As we skied the course (a pretty hilly 2.5 K) we worked tourers, volunteers, it doesn't matter. Just get out there on matching the appropriate technique to the terrain and and have fun with other people who enjoy Winter. Also, worked on transitions. i.e. changing gears check out videos of members from Trollhaugen. I hope to have world class videos soon for comparison. Diagonal skate --the Granny gear for steep climbs or http://www.rideandglide.bizland.com/ when you have to sit back in a crowd. Work on using this technique for aerobic recovery. When you are on a climb and moving out of your aerobic range (going anaerobic) switch to diagonal skate and relax --catch you breath and let your heart rate drop back below your aerobic threshold. Keep in mind that muscle strength Section C Coaches’ Corner Thursday, January 15, 2004 and aerobic power are both inversely proportional to blood lactate levels. i.e. if you go anaerobic (which Classical Group produces lactate) you will slow down and your working Instructor: Ken Tobacman muscles will feel weak--because you are! Arvid and I started out with only two classical students V1—Your basic power gear for climbing and in slow last night, so we divided up one-on-one. Fortunately, the conditions. Remember the 3/1 timing. Your goal is to two additional classical skiers (who arrived a little late) get quick feet. This technique is up tempo---think quick, found Arvid later, because my advanced student, Randee short and light. As we climb we increase cadence --not and I didn't see them. intensity. You should feel this technique in your Randee was preparing for the Seeley Classic this abdominal. We shorten all the levers, not ski as Saturday, so we did a tune-up session, about 15k of easy complete, and quicken the pace. skiing. It's useful to do a workout like that a few days before a race. If you ski for a moderately long amount V2—Alternate(open field)--for building momentum on of time and avoid going too hard, you deplete some of the flats and on slight down hills. Swing, pole, —-- then your glycogen stores without wearing yourself out. If push. At higher speeds stride length becomes a limiting you follow this up with carbo loading and a short ski a factor. Ski complete! Complete extension forward —-get couple of days later, your body will respond to the way over your ski. Complete follow through with the impetus by fully charging its glycogen stores. You'll be poles... long pole--long glide. Practice building rhythm well-rested and fully fueled on race day. The week of a into your skiing. Rhythm builds momentum. race is too late to get in shape if you're not already there, so skiing hard won't help that much, and may just make V2—High gear for fast conditions and down hills. This you that much more tired on race day. I think Randee technique challenges your balance--good balance = good will be rested and ready, and will have a great race. For skiing. those classical skiers who couldn't make it, I highly recommend a trip to Elm Creek if you want to get some Speed skate—-skiing without the poles, used at high skiing in on a beautifully tracked course. I hope we see speeds when flying down the hills. Let the Quads do all more of you out skiing next week. the work. Keep your V angle very narrow -almost parallel to the direction of travel.

We also introduced the marathon skate and the modified marathon used in cornering. We practiced the small quick steps need to round a fast corner at the bottom of a hill

Ski ya later Coach Ed Section D Upcoming Events Thursday, January 15, 2004

January 24, 2004 Noquemanon Ski Marathon http://www.noquemanon.com/

January 31, 2004 City of Lakes Loppet http://www.cityoflakesloppet.com/

February 7, 2004 Hayward Lions Pre-Birkie February 7, 2004 Midwest Mountaineering Skijor Race on Phalen Golf Course http://www.skijor.org/midwest/

February 8, 2004 Mora Vasaloppet http://www.vasaloppet.org/

February 21, 2004 American Birkebeiner http://www.birkie.com/