SKIMO RACE SKI PREPPING AND WAXING

With over 30 years of waxing for xc ski racing, including a couple of Olympics and World championships, 100's of ski marathons and countless other races, I feel like I’ve learned a thing or two about prepping and waxing skis. In skimo racing, waxing isn’t a huge factor, but certainly time can be gained or lost on the more flatter “gliding” sections. I find that in my skimo races I almost always make up time on those around me in these sections. I don’t know if people just don’t bother to wax their skis before a race, or simply rely on the last tune they had, or perhaps  are putting on the wrong stuff.... either way, improvements can usually be made.

My first thought on waxing for skimo racing is relief, because of  how much easier it is than xc. You can’t use flouro’s as the slickness prevents skin glue from adequate bonding to the ski. So first off, it’s cheaper, and simpler because you don’t need a big array of waxes. I try to keep things simple. I have a wax that I like and know that it’s generally fast in most conditions. That wax is Rex Blue. It’s temperature range is -1 to -10 C. Even if you’re out of that range, it seems to work pretty good. It’s a very hard wax, so maybe not the easiest to apply,  but that characteristic has many advantages. For one I think it’s more durable. Icy conditions don’t seem to wear it off as fast. I believe it also works well with the ski to skin interaction. A softer wax will actually be removed from the ski and incorporated into the skin glue, thus compromising it’s sticky effectiveness. Finally, as already noted and of utmost importance, Rex Blue seems to make skis pretty fast!

Another consideration that many skiers in all ski disciplines neglect is the structure in the base. This is actually a more important factor than wax in ski speed.  As you glide over the snow the weight and friction actually melt the snow under the ski so you’re skiing on a thin film of H20. This can cause suction-and slow skis. Think about a few drops of water between 2 panes of glass. They’ll be stuck together like glue. Same thing with your skis, so you have to put a structure into the skis to break up this suction affect. Colder temps call for less structure (less thin film of melting water) and warmer conditions call for more structure (larger water film). I’ve noticed that many of the Euro made skis are manufactured with a pretty heavy structure. Maybe it’s because most are made in Central Europe, where it’s warmer and need a correspondingly larger structure pattern.

You can change this by stone grinding your skis. But do this with someone experienced in putting in a variety of grinds. Most local ski shops that just do alpine skis don’t play around with dressing the stone and experimenting with various grinds. I found this out the hard way just before one of the world skimo champs I went to. I had 2 pairs tuned by my local alpine ski shop  and asked for a grind for warmer temps (for central Euro country). The stone grind they put in my skis made them about as fast as skiing on dirt. I was probably the first person to request a change in their stone grind pattern that required them to dress the stone. I ended up scraping this grind out with a utility knife blade which actually puts in a nice little structure itself for colder temps. There are also rilling bars and tools that you can put your own structure in or even the edge of a common metal file works pretty good too. I’ve got a cheap Toko rill tool that I use for my XC skis and the roller bars on it put in a nice linear structure that is pressed in and can be easily scraped out.

I guess the final dimension in prepping skis is sharpening the edges. Your alpine ski racers and tuners will have more insight that this old dog xc ski racer, but I’ll throw in my 2 cents. The best way to get a nice sharp edge is with a skilled stone grinder. There’s nothing better than a fresh grind with a razor sharp edge installed by a skilled technician. I’ve only found one tuner in my area that successfully did this and unfortunately the shop went out of business and sold their stone grinding machine.  That said, it is possible to diy (do it yourself). I’ve tried using the tools alpine ski shops sell for the supposedly perfect angle, but I’ve never gotten them to work. So out comes the trusty file. I use quality ski vises to keep things in place for that nice sharp edge angle. Reliable racing supply (http://www.reliableracing.com/) has a dizzying array of tools for this purpose (files, guides, vises, stones, etc.).

My typical modus operandi for my skis is thus:
Pre-season: stone grind for a nice sharp edge (only time I’ll do this during the year, hoping the sharpness maintains for the season.

Race season: wax and structure as explained above

Post season: repair scratches with p-tex candle, apply a warm summer storage wax (to protect base-from oxidation and keep it from drying out). Put in a ski bag and place in a cool dry location


There you have it. Train hard this summer so you can fully enjoy your fast skis next year!!

Dogtooth Dash, Vert180, end of season

Our ski season started back in October with the Canmore Nordic Centre’s "Frozen Thunder", it continued with various races-for our family xc, skimo, biathlon. Now it’s late April and we’re seemingly going strong still. Lots of backcountry adventures to be had. Currently, April 16^th, it’s really puking snow out my back door. My good friend Ian Murray and myself hammered some runs at Norquay this Morning and I plan to do some backyard backcountry tonight (with sunlight past 8PM there’s no rush getting out there!).

It’s been a great year. Anna brought home so much hardware and really has risen to the top spots in Alberta for her age in both xc and biathlon. Kjirsti really learned how to race this year and has become quite the little skier. For me, the skimo race season was satisfying, but still a little unfulfilled, only because we have so few Canadian races and 2 of the 6 in our nat’l series were cancelled due to extreme cold. This being a non world championship year, I’m really glad I elected to race in the USA. The 6 races I did in the 2 trips (Jackson WY and UT), comprised over ½ my race schedule.


Transitioning at the Dogtooth Dash

In the Dogtooth dash, our Nat’l championship, I finished 8^th overall, 5^th Canuck. Considering I was on the podium 2 years ago, you’d think I’d be disappointed, yet I really felt like I upped my game. 2 of Canada’s best trail runners were behind me and several other good skiers. It’s just that the field is finally getting a little deeper. My overall skiing abilities have improved. Downhills actually became a way to pass people instead of just trying to minimize the damage.

My 14 year old daughter, Anna, and I teamed up for a 2 person relay at the season ending Vert 180. We won the relay division. I helped with a clinic the afternoon before the race. I presented the section on gear.

I guess I do have one more race, the Ski 2 Sea race in Bellingham WA. We’re hoping to move up from last year’s 8^th place. We should. One more reason to keep training.

The only possible glitch here might be some of my rehab. I’ve got a couple injuries I want to clear up before I hit the mountain running hard. I’m currently receiving weekly shots to deaden a 7 year old nueroma in my foot. I’m 3 weeks in. This usually has a 80-90% success rate, so I’m hopeful. I also discovered a couple weeks ago that in the early fall I suffered a "sports hernia". Apparently it’s quite common. Fortunately, it didn’t bother me at all skiing, but now that I’m starting to run a bit (how I injured it-on a 4 hour epic mountain run), I can really feel this tear that can only be cured by surgery. So I hope my surgery date is just after Ski 2 Sea.

Where do I go from here? I tell all the Olympic athletes I work with to never make big decisions like these right after the season. You’re usually a little burnt out and tired. Thinking about cranking things up too soon can often be difficult. I love the sport, and for sure will want to keep racing at some level. I kinda still want to do at least one of the Grand Classic races in Europe. Can’t delay though, I’m not getting any younger! I want to do it with my fitness level as high as can be.

Until later......