What a weekend!
This last weekend was a crazed whirl of activity.
Friday:
I had the day off from work as I planned to head north and get in some skiing. However, before leaving we had to finish getting the CX videos ready to play at the banquet. We weren't sure what technology would be available so we got it ready to play both from the laptop and from the video camera. That seems like such a simple task but actually takes a bit of time. We also had to finish packing, buy groceries, and wax the skis. Waxing is tricky as you never really know the temps but I did a mix of Swix 7 and 8. Swix doesn't recommend mixing but I was feeling crazy so I did it anyway. (I think I'm going to switch over completely to Toko wax though as I know so many Toko wax reps and I should support them). We had 3 pair of skis to wax - my skate, Dave's skate and Dave's classic so it did take a bit of time.
We did finally get on the road and we left town before the storm hit so we had easy driving. We got to Winter Park in time to do some night skiing as the base loop is lit. We did a little over 10k before heading to the cabin we rented for good friends, good food, good wine and good times.
Saturday:
Saturday was all about the skiing. In the morning I headed out with a posse of friends (Dave, Dirk, Sam, Pam, Troy and Cricket). It's been a long time since I've skied with that many people but I was able to mostly keep up which is a change of pace for me.
In the afternoon I splurged and took a private one-hour ski lesson with Dan at Winter Park who is a great instructor. The funny part was having so many people who know me ski by and tell Dan what I needed to work on during the lesson. However, with an hour we were able to cover most topics. I did have a huge break through! I have never been able to V1 on the left side as I'm very right side dominant but Dan found a way to break it all down for me and get me going. I'm also very close to having a V2 but I'm still not able to put it together for longer than like 30 seconds. Soon though!
I also worked a lot on keeping my upper body quiet and facing forward down the trail. I have a bit of a tendency especially on hills to let my body follow my poles. That is a bad habit I need to squelch immediately. I also worked on keeping my hips forward and not doing the typical biker move and letting my butt sink back. The lesson was money well spent as I think I took a nice leap forward in my ski technique.
Sunday:
We didn't have a lot of time to ski but we got out for just over an hour. I skied my old fave trails - Silver Strider, Nepco's Cruiser, Sleigh Ride - and worked on the stuff I learned on Saturday. The left side V1 doesn't feel totally natural yet but I made myself ski most of the time I was out using the left side and was able to do the small hills that way. I still have a tendency to switch over to the right but I'm getting there.
By 1pm we were on the road home which was cutting it close to get to Delafield by 5pm. However, we made it by 5:10pm which was very respectable. A really nice crowd was in attendance this year which was awesome! I was really tired so I didn't circulate as much as I should have so I hope no one thought I was stuck up. I was just exhausted and once I sat down I had a hard time motivating to get up.
The MadCross videos were well received though. I felt bad that I didn't have as much footage as in the past but I lost some of the tapes. I looked everywhere but couldn't find them. The B Men and B Women really got the shaft as I only had like 2 minutes of footage total. I really liked my video from Nationals though. It really showed the course and gave everyone a feel for what Patti, Katie and Sam had to contend with to win their respective National Championships. Those girls (women) totally rock! Actually I think everyone who does the WCA series really rocks as we have an awesome series and it was cool to relive the season.
It made me excited for next season! Although being so wrapped up in ski racing makes cross racing seem somewhat unreal but I guess everyone but me is out riding their bikes. I'm off to Marquette, MI to do the Noquemanon ski race this Saturday. I haven't done this one before but the profile is sweet as it loses more elevation than it gains. I was there last year on crutches cheering on the local skiers and everyone seemed to love the race so I thought I should do it. Plus you get a really sweet hat for doing the race which is reason enough for me!
Friday:
I had the day off from work as I planned to head north and get in some skiing. However, before leaving we had to finish getting the CX videos ready to play at the banquet. We weren't sure what technology would be available so we got it ready to play both from the laptop and from the video camera. That seems like such a simple task but actually takes a bit of time. We also had to finish packing, buy groceries, and wax the skis. Waxing is tricky as you never really know the temps but I did a mix of Swix 7 and 8. Swix doesn't recommend mixing but I was feeling crazy so I did it anyway. (I think I'm going to switch over completely to Toko wax though as I know so many Toko wax reps and I should support them). We had 3 pair of skis to wax - my skate, Dave's skate and Dave's classic so it did take a bit of time.
We did finally get on the road and we left town before the storm hit so we had easy driving. We got to Winter Park in time to do some night skiing as the base loop is lit. We did a little over 10k before heading to the cabin we rented for good friends, good food, good wine and good times.
Saturday:
Saturday was all about the skiing. In the morning I headed out with a posse of friends (Dave, Dirk, Sam, Pam, Troy and Cricket). It's been a long time since I've skied with that many people but I was able to mostly keep up which is a change of pace for me.
In the afternoon I splurged and took a private one-hour ski lesson with Dan at Winter Park who is a great instructor. The funny part was having so many people who know me ski by and tell Dan what I needed to work on during the lesson. However, with an hour we were able to cover most topics. I did have a huge break through! I have never been able to V1 on the left side as I'm very right side dominant but Dan found a way to break it all down for me and get me going. I'm also very close to having a V2 but I'm still not able to put it together for longer than like 30 seconds. Soon though!
I also worked a lot on keeping my upper body quiet and facing forward down the trail. I have a bit of a tendency especially on hills to let my body follow my poles. That is a bad habit I need to squelch immediately. I also worked on keeping my hips forward and not doing the typical biker move and letting my butt sink back. The lesson was money well spent as I think I took a nice leap forward in my ski technique.
Sunday:
We didn't have a lot of time to ski but we got out for just over an hour. I skied my old fave trails - Silver Strider, Nepco's Cruiser, Sleigh Ride - and worked on the stuff I learned on Saturday. The left side V1 doesn't feel totally natural yet but I made myself ski most of the time I was out using the left side and was able to do the small hills that way. I still have a tendency to switch over to the right but I'm getting there.
By 1pm we were on the road home which was cutting it close to get to Delafield by 5pm. However, we made it by 5:10pm which was very respectable. A really nice crowd was in attendance this year which was awesome! I was really tired so I didn't circulate as much as I should have so I hope no one thought I was stuck up. I was just exhausted and once I sat down I had a hard time motivating to get up.
The MadCross videos were well received though. I felt bad that I didn't have as much footage as in the past but I lost some of the tapes. I looked everywhere but couldn't find them. The B Men and B Women really got the shaft as I only had like 2 minutes of footage total. I really liked my video from Nationals though. It really showed the course and gave everyone a feel for what Patti, Katie and Sam had to contend with to win their respective National Championships. Those girls (women) totally rock! Actually I think everyone who does the WCA series really rocks as we have an awesome series and it was cool to relive the season.
It made me excited for next season! Although being so wrapped up in ski racing makes cross racing seem somewhat unreal but I guess everyone but me is out riding their bikes. I'm off to Marquette, MI to do the Noquemanon ski race this Saturday. I haven't done this one before but the profile is sweet as it loses more elevation than it gains. I was there last year on crutches cheering on the local skiers and everyone seemed to love the race so I thought I should do it. Plus you get a really sweet hat for doing the race which is reason enough for me!
posted by MadCross at 10:41 AM
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