News

Notice that the new URL for the club is www.rideandglide.org.  that applies for the e-mail lists as well.  The old URL still works but start using the new one whenever you can

Clothing : I've got a reasonable order ready to go.  I'll be sending it in over the weekend or Monday.  Get any last minute orders to me ASAP. Delivery will be in Jan.

Road Trip : We've got room for a few more, especially if it's a couple  (they tend to share beds ;-)  Conditions  should be the best in years.  Here's you chance to ski the Birke trail in a non-race environment.  Tour-ers very welcome.  You'll have plenty of terrain and company.  Let me know

Forum : New question on Exercise Induced Asthma (No answer yet) http://rideandglide.forumotion.com/

Holidays : One more class before the Holidays.  The next class would be on Christmas Day.  There will be no class.  By all means if some people want to ski announce it to the e-mail list and you may get some company.  As fare as New Years day goes I think we will have a class, but in the daylight hours.  We usually do something on New Years Day.  This year maybe even a class.  Start thinking about it.  More info later

Sue's Nutrition Corner

This week’s topic is carbohydrates. Do we really need them? Aren’t they fattening?

Yes, you do need them for overall health and especially if you are an active adult. Whether you ski recreationally or competively. Like everything…moderation is the key to eating anything you want without gaining unwanted pounds. Knowing when and where to consume carbs will be the key to healthy weight management.

First, let’s discuss what carbohydrates do. As the primary energy source, it is burned first of all the nutrients you consume and is the most efficient for energy production. That’s because muscle glycogen is developed by carbohydrate consumption. If you follow the Atkins diet or other high protein, low carb diets, you’ll soon experience fast enough how much energy you DO NOT have. That’s because protein and fat are lousy energy sources. You will not ski up the incline without feeling like you are dying!

So, the first rule of thumb is to make sure that two thirds of your plate is a variety of carboyhydrates (fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nonfat milk and diary) and one third is made up of protein sources. Of course, limit your fat intake because we know that increased amounts can increase the risk of unwanted pounds.

Next week we’ll discuss the difference in carbohydrates to help you in optimizing your training efforts...

We started out the night with some V1 work. A good V1 begins with a good push to the strong-side by the weak-side leg. This feels like skooching a refrigerator with your shoulder and hip, pushing sideways with the weak-side leg. The hand position at the time of the 3 point plant looks and feels similar to the initial plant of a canoe paddle. The outside hand is higher. As the climb get steeper, it's important to assume a "gun slinger" position to keep the hips close to the hill. Keeping the hips close to the hill allows us to keep "falling up the hill". As the climb gets steeper climb we step on to a more bent leg to allow maximal leg drive when the leg straightens out during the skate push. Stepping onto a well-bent leg also helps the hips or center of gravity to stay close to the hill.

We also reviewed the marathon skate, which is an old technique where one ski is left in the classical track while the other ski skates. Poling is pretty much straight back with the skier's weight initially falling onto the skating ski at pole-plant. The pole push and skate occur simultaneously and the skier ends up in a high body glide over the track ski. This drill gives the skier an idea of how pre-weight and pressure the skating ski to produce a powerful skate push. We did repeated intervals on both sides.

After marathon skating. we went to skate turning. Skate turning is a marathon skate where the in-track ski becomes the inside ski. The skating ski is the outside ski. We began marathon skating (no track) on the correct side a few skates before the turn to set up the proper rhythm. Skate turning is a higher-speed technique. If the energy-level is low or if the corner is an uphill corner, it's better to simply V1 to the inside.

Coaches: Steve Thatcher and Kurt Ware

Big group, 35 people, or more.  It's hard to keep track.  Tom and John took the more accomplished of the group.  Kurt and I took the rest.  There really wasn't that much difference between the groups, but we needed to split up.  So we had them all climb the hill at the south end of the meeting area using their best V1 and we graded them 1 or 2.  We went over to the Lexington Flats and practiced the V1 timing by skiing very slowly.  The problem was that the conditions were quite fast and people started moving too fast to do the drill properly.  Skiing slowly with minimal effort and proper technique is very good for you.  We had to find a hill to continue as it wasn't working that great on the flats.  The teaching technique we have been using for the last two weeks is to present an idea to the whole group.  Talk about it, demonstrate it and then have all the students do the drill in a loop while the instructors watch and pull people out one at a time for one-on-one help.  It's been working quite well and getting good reviews from the students.  Once we got to the hill we really slowed down the V1.  True it became physically hard to execute but the timing became very obvious.  Several people experienced the "Aaahaaa Moment" as they finally caught on to the proper timing and movements.  Doing them at speed, the same way was another thing altogether.  But that's what the classes are all about.  Having you understand what's required so you can practice on your own.  Next we did the other extreme.  We climbed the same hill with quick short steps and high tempo.  This also helped several people.  Especially women who tend to have less upper body strength.  Shorter, quicker steps are not as taxing on the upper body and many found it much easier to climb that way.  Finally we let everyone pick their own cadence and ski for a while.  Next week we'll move into more on the other techniques.  Keep working on your V1, it's your survival technique.  Be sure to check out the article and videos of V1 on the web site

Ken Tobacman's comments...

Jyneen, Arvid and I had a large group of "beginners" last night. Despite the variability in experience and skill, it worked out well this early in the season. Everyone should spend a lot of time in December working on technique, to prevent bad habits from running through the whole season.

With this in mind, we worked on the mechanics of diagonal striding and double poling. We continued to work on body position ( the "slouch" - but not bent way over), forward lean, from the ankles and knees, body weight transfer from ski to ski and getting the hip over the ski you're currently gliding on.

For double poling, we worked on the same "slouch" posture, body lean and "falling over your skis." You shouldn't need to strong-arm to get forward motion. Your body weight and the lat and abdominal muscles should be the main energy providers.

We'll contine to stress these things over the course of the season, as we add other techniques and fine points.

Jyneen Thatcher's comments...

Big group on Tuesday, probably one of the biggest groups I've worked with. Arvid, Ken and I took 20+ skiers out to the Glacier area, and started with a warm up drill of skiing back and forth in the people-set tracks from last week. Conditions were a bit challenging, as the tracks were washed out in places, and had an inconsistent base. But the group rose to the challenge, and we were able to separate the group into sub-groups based on the finer points that needed review. Eventually, I took a group of 6 out to the groomed track, where most everyone acknowledged the superior performance of machine-set tracks. My group started again with the very basics, reviewing the strong kick initiation (through hopping and bounding drills) and skiing without poles. When poles were re-introduced, everyone did great, with no significant timing problems. This group had no "fear" of downhills, just a respectable caution, so we did just a bit of downhill work. Enough to give the group something to practice over the weekend. Next week, we will probably follow a similar format, with me again taking the folks who are working on the fundamental skills, and Ken and Arvid taking the more proficient skiers.

The old ski instructor’s saw for teaching double poling is to fall forward from the ankles like a tree – timber! Well, I forgot to mention it, but we did spend the first part of the evening moving from solidifying basic double pole technique to making it more efficient with a fall forward. Even for those reasonably comfortable on snow, this fall of the body as one piece still elicits a fear of falling on one’s face (haven’t we all done that, literally and figuratively?). It takes awhile to work up to letting it fly. Overall, the group did well, some getting all the way and others just short. With practice this week falling against a wall at home and then taking it out on snow, class members should soon have it nailed.

This fall forward from the ankles, facilitated by bringing the core (center of gravity, stomach) forward, applies to most techniques in skiing. It allows us to make a friend of gravity and thus save energy. And it's the foundation of a technically good skier.

After double poling, we moved onto kick-double pole, the rhythm of which the group picked up quickly. Later we’ll see about becoming more aggressive with it. We finished with a bit of a ski around.