I guess it's not hard to see the appeal for me. The cross over from cycling is a natural and I'm drawn to technical, gear-intensive sports. I certainly need another hobby that requires specialized equipment, tools, clothes and lots of maintenance. Apparently, cycling (Cross, MTB and road), motorcycles and target archery were not enough.
My buddy Ted gave me my first waxing lesson today and then we toured White Pine and the Farm. Waxing is eerily similar to gluing tubular tires. It is as much ritual as function. However, unlike tubulars, you have to wax every time the snow temperature changes. Ted showed me a brick of wax the size of of a match box that retails for $120. And I thought Dugas tires were bad.
I have officially jumped off the skating cliff. I bought the skis I've been trying (thanks Bart) and I'm ordering my own boots, poles and wax starter kit this weekend. I've been on borrowed boots and poles that don't quiet fit, so it's time to step up.
Oh yeah, one more thing XC skiing has going for it: Cowbells. I've been watching youtube clips from World Cup races and there's lots of cowbells in the crowd. When I eventually get up the courage to do a race, I'll bring cowbells.
Notice the smile on Ted's face and the grimace on mime. Expert vs Novice technique will do that to you. I also soon learned that fresh now is not a XC skier's friend. However, it was pretty.
Tanner came with us for his first venture on skate skis. After an hour, he was dropping me on hills in spite of no technique at all. A big engine and a strong desire to hurt the old man goes a long way. He had a good time, but is planning to stick to alpine skis.
We skied all of White Pine and The Farm today, and some of it twice. The GPS said 23.5 kilometers.
I have a couple weeks to decide about racing at SH. I wonder if my ego can handle gettin crushed?
1 comment:
That's awesome.
My little brick of Jetstream wax is in it's little jewelry box. That is in a bag along with the special brush and the special "thermopad" you use for the application. This all happens after you apply two different layers of normal wax. Gluing tires isn't near so tricky.
I skied with Reed Wycoff last week who has also caught the bug. Once he gets technique it's going be party over. He was killing me and can't even V1.
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