Apres rain snow

Slept in this morning then lazed around waiting for the rain to ease…stopped at 10:20 so I hit the road and was skiing by 11:10. Bob and Seth were leaving just as I was getting started. Apparently a really good way to waterproof your pocket is to leave some ski wax in it while drying the coat in the dryer. I’m gonna pass on trying this myself.

The snow was better for me today, more packed, very little loose snow to catch my ski tips. Was only sprinkling periodically then stopped completely. I skated again today since there were no tracks set this morning. Worked on some the tips Bob showed me yesterday. I was able to get some good rhythm skiing offset up the mild hills, but my technique stalled significantly on the steeper slopes. Also worked on single skate technique, feels really nice with the timing dialed in, but I can loose the timing really easy. I guess it is going to take more than 1 practice session to master these techniques. The trails were nearly empty and I was skiing fairly non-stop, had to pack it in after 1.5 hours since my legs were tiring. Overall a pretty satisfying day on the trails. Next weekend is the Nordic Racers training camp at Silver Star Mountain near Vernon.

Ski’n in the rain

Took a ski waxing clinic on Tuesday from Bob at Deep Cove Outdoors, organized through the Nordic Racers Ski Club. Learned quite a bit and put it to use preparing our skis for this morning. Our nice early snow on the trails was forecast to take a beating by some high temps and a flood of rain, and unfortunately the darn weather guys got it right. We (Katja) got on the trails shortly after 9 and the weather was pretty nice for the first hour, very light mix of rain/snow, pretty comfortable conditions. The snow grooming was another story, they’d only groomed some of the trails, and those they had groomed were only done on 1 side, so the trails’ width was half usual, making 2 way traffic a bit dicey at times. I met up with Bob around the time the rain really started to make itself felt. Bob gave me a few pointers on how to offset ski uphill, I do a sort of hybrid offset/2-ski type of thingy to propel myself up hills. Mostly I just work hard, not much in the way of using good technique to actually ski up the hills. The stuff Bob showed my really makes sense, looking forward to getting out again to practice. My hands ended up getting too cold so I had to pack it in early, left the trails around 10:30. Katja stuck it out a bit longer, but her hands were also very cold. Apparently her skis worked great, lots of grip with the new soft snow and was even getting some nice glide. Not sure if the trails will be in any condition for skiing tomorrow, is still raining and quite warm. Might have to go paddling instead.

Windy and wet

We lost our curling match last night, was close till the 6th end when we gave up 3. But in the 8th I made a sweet double take out…had been waiting for 6 weeks to get the call where I could throw an up-weight shot…and nailed it. Helped to alleviate some of my annoyance with our opponents, they were so sloooow. Took all 4 of them to discuss each of their skip’s shots, I didn’t enjoy playing them.

Today’s walk to work was so windy and really wet this morning. While walking over Knight Street bridge a big truck flew past as a big gust of wind hit me, the combined winds turned my umbrella inside out, and twisted four of the wire supports. Looks like I may be needing a new, more durable umbrella soon.

My legs are wrecked today…all the muscles used for classic skiing are a mess. Good thing night skiing isn’t open yet, I need a few days to recover!

Day 2 on the ski trails

Hit the trails this morning with John, both skiing classic so John can test out his new skis/boots…and so I can use different muscles than yesterday’s session. We got underway about 9:15 with JG deciding to do a lap on his old skis first to be able  to compare with his new gear. My feet felt fine in the classic  boots, no discomfort with  my taped up heels. And my tired skating muscles didn’t seem to be hindering classic technique, only my lack of good classic technique was hindering my skiing.

Part way through the first lap we bumped into Frid, seems he is quite an avid skier, and mentioned he got himself  a new marathon layup Vajda K1. Will look forward to seeing him in it next spring. After the first lap JG went to change skis/boots while I did some no pole skiing at the practice area. Confirmed that I still have lots of room for improvement in my form. Armed with his new gear we headed out back on the trails where JG quickly discovered he had less grip such that he had to resort to skating up the hills…and there are lots of hills at Cypress!  After another hour or so of skiing we swapped skis…JG’s skis are so nice, really light and responsive, but lacking grip today. JG enjoyed the grip of my skis’ fishscales while I skated up the hills. We met up with Bob and Kurt at Sigge’s corner where Bob donated some violet wax for JG’s skis. We did another lap and I struggled even more to keep up with John now that he actually had some grip. At 11 JG had to leave to go paddling so I swapped over to skate skis to do another lap. I felt pretty good and worked on my weight transfer, particularly keep the weight over my left ski to get a more powerful drive off this leg. Was out for a total of 2.5 hours and as I sit to watch football games so far I’ve only had 1 cramp in my right calf…I suspect there are more to come!

Sitting on the couch all afternoon is good preparation for my Sunday evening curling match.

First ski of the season

Cypress’ trails were in fine form this morning…and many skiers were out to take advantage of the sunny, cold weather. I skated today while Katja skied classic. My heels were fine in the skate boots, but very quickly the front of my ankles got tired/sore. Seems in skating I use a muscle on the tops of my feet/front of ankles to pick up the ski tips and apparently I don’t use this muscle for anything else. So after 2 hours of abuse I am now hobbling around again, this time with sore ankles. If I ski tomorrow it may have to be classic to rest the skating muscles. Seems the hills all got a bit steeper and longer over the summer, don’t recall skiing being quite so difficult last winter. Must have something to do with it being the first ski of the year…go figure!

Recognized a few faces on the trails: Kurt, Nic, Seb, Reid and apparently Katja saw Frid…oh and Trevor Linden was out skating the trails with his gal. He’s a big guy in person as compared to seeing him on TV. He said his size  doesn’t help him climb the hills, but I’m sure a lifetime on ice skates certainly doesn’t hurt his skate skiing power. We also bumped into some of the Maple Ridge paddling group: Ken, Keith and Sean.

I’m really gonna have to work on my skating technique, I get very little push from my left ski…and take away my poles  and I can barely move. I’ve signed up for coaching sessions at the Silver Star training camp that Nordic Racers is hosting in early December. Hopefully I can get a few more skis in my legs before the camp to help make the most of the coaching. Don’t want to get tired/sore so quickly that I cannot make it through the coaching sessions.

In world racing news, today Canada’s Alex Harvey came 5th in the first world cup x-country ski race of the season, a 15 km skate time trial in Norway. And Tim Jacobs of Australia won the Dragon Run surfski race in Hong Kong, beating a very strong field that included Dawid Mocke, Hank McGregor and our very own Daryl Remmler. Check out the CCC and Surfski.info links to the right of the page for more information on each of those events.

Time to ski…on snow!

Cypress opened the nordic trails today to kick off the 2011/12 X-country ski season. So after work today I raced over to Deep Cove Outdoors to get a lesson from Bob on waxing skis so that I can hit the trails this weekend. I’ll be taking  his official clinic next Tuesday as part of the Nordic Racers ski club. So I’ve got both my and Katja’s Fisher crown skis waxed and my new Madshus skate skis ready to go. I’ll probably take both sets of skis since I’m not sure which boots and skiing method will be easier on my feet. Last Saturday we hiked up Black Mountain to Eagle Bluff and as I seem to do each year, didn’t tape up my heels. My snow boots rub my heels raw so I’ve been paying for it all week. Sunday’s fishing was fine, the lack of skin didn’t bother me walking in my waders. Was able to run to work Monday with only slight discomfort with taped up feet. Walking to work Tuesday morning was slower than usual but not too bad. But by the end of the work day I was hobbling around such that my supervisor gave me a ride part way home. I’ve been driving the rest of the week. Should’ve taped my damn heels before the hike! Anyways, hopefully my heels will be happy enough in my classic or skate boots. Looking forward to getting going on preparing for the loppets I have planned to participate in the new year, starting January 14 in Salmon Arm.