News from Steve…

City of Lakes Loppet: Next weekend. Volunteers, racers, and tourers. I'm sure we'll have a lot of racers and as usual volunteers. We need a volunteer to lead the Tour Group. Ski together, finish together, have a good time. Right now we've got 4 people who want to do the 10K Tour. Any more? Arvid are you willing to lead the group? Drop me an e-mail at sdthatcher@att.net

Video Taping: Mora Vasa weekend Saturday. Maybe COL Saturday if I can swing it after I get back from Colorado and there is interest. Details later.

Pizza Party: Feb 20th. That means only two more class nights remaining. My how the season has flown by. Come to the party even if you haven't been attending class all that often. Spouses, significant others, friends who might be interested next year and well behaved kids welcome. Pizza will be from Davannis and various items supplied by members. Salads, deserts, etc. Contact Jyneen to coordinate these extra items. Vegetarian requirements considered. Lots of door prizes supplied by our spponsors. Details later

R&G clothing: I should have the clothing order this Tuesday. Please come prepared to pay for your selection. I'll send out a list on Monday of the people my records indicate who ordered things. I have extra items as well. They will be available on Tuesday. Summer bike jersey's have been delayed until Spring.

Well, we made it around the whole loop!!!

We slowly skied the entire loop stopping at selected locations where the terrain transitioned from the typical flat areas that we instruct and learn. We stopped at a long shallow uphill to practice the V1. Remember a flat ski is a fast ski. Good weight transition is the key here. We skied the down hills in a “relaxed” tuck and hands in front of our bodies. Our hands can act as a steering wheel as we move through the turn. We practiced our step turns on the sharp corners always keeping the skis moving. We described and experienced the proper technique we use for the canted hills. Ed described this as a modified marathon skate, always poling up the hill. Finally we ended the loop practicing the V2 on the wide section along the “Como glacier”.

Fantastic progress the class is making on these night of real snow. Calm relatively warm nights are great for learning. Please get out as much as possible wherever and whenever you can and practice what you’ve learned. Practice makes perfect or at least get out and have fun! Remember skiing is nothing more than “dancing on snow”!

Until next time - SDS

Our group of 9 skiers spent most of the evening concentrating on pulling together all of the elements we have been discussing year to date. Minimal drills tonight but worked on smooth, effective motions during V2 and V1. We did some easy repeats where the intent was to see if you could reduce the number of skating motions used to get from Point A to B. Not much hill work but focused on moderate terrain and trying to relax more on our skis.

First part of the class was spent on hill climbing and V1. When I joined the group, Dave G. was having the students work on relaxed skating up a gradual hill without poles. Most students did pretty well here, so we watched strong-side V1 with poles. We noticed some skiers bending too much at the waist and getting the "caboose" too far back, so we reviewed the "gun slinger" position where we bend at the ankles and the hips are pressed forward. The back is parallel to the shins. If it feels like you're dragging yourself up the hill and you have a lot of back strain, you're probably bending too much at the waist. Bend more at the ankles and press the hips forward.

After this we did worked on weak side V1 and switching sides. To switch sides on a climb, the skier taps the poles on the current side and then switches to the other side, where a full pole push occurs. On the way back down the hill, we worked on step-turning in an open area. The outside ski does most of the pressuring in a turn. Keep the knees bent and the upper body relaxed.

Finally, we worked on V2 and field skate in a flat area. A bit of ab crunch will help in the V2 technique. It's also important to get the body high and aligned over the gliding ski in the glide phase.

In the lauch... pole-skate rhythm of field skating, the skier should really be able to feel both skis skating.

The V2 and field skate require lots of balance. Sports like roller blading, ice skating and downhill skiing will help to refine your balance.

Thanks for reading,

Tom H

We working on proper position and technique of step turning around corners (both on the flat and also down a hill). We saw a lot of improvement on the down hill step turns in just a few minutes. We worked on skiing up hills without and with poles trying to refine technique to make it easier to go up the hill.

We finished with some V2 and V2 alternate on the flat area in front of the downhill.

Conditions were really pretty good for skating Tuesday.

Dave Gorringe

The advanced skate group started with a warm up lap of the como course. Sadly a few skis caught the cart path on the way down the hill coming from the back bowl... I know I heard the p-tex on my skis scream.

We were fortunate enough to join in with the Finn Sisu clinic hosted by Chad Giese. Chad emphsaized that skating is a side to side push, not a backward push. One way to test it is to look at your feet while you are skating (preferably on a long open flat area without any obstacles or other skiers). Imagine a line perpendicular to your direction of travel. Do you toes stay in the same plane as that line, or does the toe of your pushing foot drop back behind the line? You want to ensure you are pushing straight out to the side. Chad also showed us how to practice getting low when skating to get a full leg push. This was more of a training technique vs. an actual skiing technique.

Next Chad discussed V2 and field skate. It is important when doing these techniques to stride onto a bent knee, then straighted you knee (knee of gliding leg) as you bring your hip up and forward. This puts you in a good postion to be balanced over your ski. As you complete the poling motion you want to ensure that you are completed with the poling action before you transition the weight to your new ski. We discussed at length in a small group and all agreed that you begin the weight transition when your arms are at the low point of the poling motion, but you don't actually land on the gliding ski until you have completed the poling motion.

After Chad's expert instruction we went to the glacier to do some race start (double pole) drills and then did a drafting drill around the Lex Hills area. Drafting can be a great way to conserve energy in a race. We finished the night with some figure 8 corner drills.

All in all a great night. It was a fantastic opportunity to attend Chad's clinic.

Arvid, Todd and I had about a dozen classical students, who ranged from beginners to the far end of intermediate. We worked in the glacier area, as that had the best tracks at Como. The watch-word for the evening was "relax!" It's hard to get the flow of skiing when your body is tensed up, and you can't get the appropriate muscle groups to respond in the proper order. It takes time and practice to get relaxed and comfortable on skis, but a conscious attempt to relax helps. We continued to work mostly on diagonal stride and double poling, with the usual emphasis on weight transfer for diagonal stride and the forward body position for both techniques. We spent some time at the end of the evening working on step turns, which allow you to turn without slowing down. As with all downhill techniques, it's important to keep yourself from sitting back on your skis, and to lean into the turn so that your ski edges help carve a turn for you. In other words, you need to attack the turn, rather than fighting it. Also, it's ok to fall down - even the best skiers take spills. Without testing the limits of a technique for turning, you can't learn it well. And if you don't let your skis run, you're missing part of the fun of skiing, and you certainly won't be able to ski efficiently.

Giants Ridge has some hills. Well duh, it's a downhill ski area! But 1 week before the Pepsi Challenge I got to experience those hills. mara and I drove up there so she could try out the course for the following weeks ski race. I had missed out on some skiing this year because of my move, so why not go get some good real snow skiing in....right? Right away, I don't remember the trail name, all we did was ski up. Then came a slight downhill only to go up again.....no rest time. I seriously thought I was going to pass out....wow, all that climbing. I am in good shape, mostly because of biking, but man.....not good enough shape to ski Giants Ridge appearantly. So mara had to help me along and help me after I bonked big time. All the factors were killing me. It was super cold, so no glide. I hadn't skied in a few weeks, and I am only in my second year of skiing, so I am sure my technique isn't very good yet. Add all that to a place with such long climbs and....BONK!!

I thank mara for helping me get through it. I think we mostly skied the outter loop and by the time we got back we were both quite cold and I couldn't ski another foot. I am sure mara was colder since she had to stand around waiting for me to catch up most of the time. In the end I learned what it's like to really go skiing under some of the conditions many of you race in. The following week when I was helping support mara during her race, I knew how much effort she must have put in to do 25K of that hilly place. It was also just as cold so I know she had little to no glide. I am also very proud of how well she did. Good job to mara and the rest of you who skiied the Pepsi Challenge race. Just finishing is an amazing feat, yet I see so many at the finish line that look like they are ready to ski more k's. When I got done the previous week after only skiing 16 or so k, I couldn't even stand on my skis anymore!

Now I am back in class after my move. I am glad to be back on my skis. Now if only it would snow. For some reason I get this feeling that when Spring comes and I want to start riding my bike.......we are going to get dumped on!