Clothing: The order has gone out. Delivery will be around the end of Jan. Sorry it can't be earlier. Things can be added for a few days if you get me your needs ASAP.

Lake Elmo Clinic: Several of your instructors will be giving free ski lessons at Lake Elmo Park Reserve on Jan 24th. I'm not suggesting that these are for club members, but if you have any friends that didn't want to commit to equipment or weren't sure they would like skiing this would be a good chance to give it a try. There will be free classic equipment to use. They will need their own skate equipment. Tell your friends. Maybe you'll have company next year in our club. Click here for more info. Washington County Parks Cross Country Ski Festival

Pastewax: I have decided to use Pastewax this Winter on my rock skis so I can see how the stuff really works. So far I've had some good and some bad results. Don't have enough data yet to form an opinion. I am convinced that the stuff works most of the time however and also that a good base prep is necessary underneath. More later.

Now Sports: Our Bike Shop sponsor is holding their Virtual TT again this year. They do a different course each month. Go in and set your best time. You might win a prize at the end of the year Pizza Party. http://nowbikes-fitness.com/page.cfm?pageID=203 Call them to set up an appointment to ride.

Holidays: Classes will continue to be held on Tuesdays through the Holidays. If you're in town between Christmas and New Years I'm sure people will be skiing somewhere on the weekend and their days off. Possibly we can have a group ski on the 27th. Let's hope for snow. Also the weekend after New Years will be some sort of group ski possibly over in Wisconsin stay tuned. It all depends on the snow as usual.

Steve's Report:

It was a cold night but most everyone came upstairs and got warm before we went out and it turned out to be quite comfortable. Zero degrees and no wind is tolerable if you start out warm. A pretty small turnout due to the temps and the road conditions. We had about 15 intermediate skaters. Kurt went over to help out with the beginners as Ed was a little short staffed with his group. Even some of our instructors couldn't get through the traffic so don't feel bad. We broke into two groups and went out in search of groomed snow. I took one group, Tom and John the other. I had heard that the groomer was broken so that explained the lack grooming. But we made the best of it. We went over to the downhill area to work on hills but found it lumpy and ungroomed with the snow machines running. We found a narrow section that was skiable and practiced V1 in the slow conditions. The slow cold and deep snow made the hill steeper than it was. We concentrated on getting power off the strong side by really getting over that strong side ski and pushing hard with the arms while skiing slow. You can cheat by skiing fast when doing V1. By slowing it down you are forced to do the timing properly or you stall out. It's good practice, try to ski up a hill as slowly as you can with good form.

A new trend in pole planting coming out of the US Ski team this year is to plant the poles closer to your body when double poling and on the strong side V1. "Plant with your hand by your ear" This allows you to really recruit your upper body and abs in the poling motion. You might think this goes contrary to everything you have heard about leading up the hill with that strong side pole. We always tell you to reach up the hill a bit. That is still the case but we also want you to lean your body up the hill so the hand is really about in the same place you have just leaned forward with your ear to meet it. There's a little of both. More forward lean and tighter/closer hand position on the V1'ing. On double poling we really do want you to bring the hands in closer. Plant then by your ears and push straight down. This may sound a little strange. We'll demonstrate when we get on snow again. This is a tip that World Cup skiers use that really works for the average skier. It really allows you to use you strong core muscles to apply power. To finish up the evening we worked a little on V2 but the conditions weren't that great out on the course. By the time we got back to the practice area it had been packed nicely by all the students skiing there. So we left the place better than we found it. Word has it that the groomer is fixed and Como was groomed on Wednesday and it's in very good shape. We survived the rain and ice.

Tom's Report:

After some warm-up, we went to the flats and worked on V2 and field skate. To have a good V2, we need a good double-pole. John and I observed that many skiers were attempting to double pole with straight arms. Very little force can be generated with straight arms and this technique flaw often indicates that the skier is using the poles for balance, not propulsion. Instead, we want to start the double pole with a bent arm. The skate-length poles will be planted parallel, near the heel of the boot so that a forward push begins immediately at pole plant. The whole body is relatively straight and angling (falling) forward at the pole plant with the upper body core muscles doing most of the initial pushing. Skiers will find that double poling in this way will provide a powerful push forward using suprisingly little energy.

To get ready for V2, we then did good double poling with most of our weight on one ski for a few pushes then switching weight to the other ski.

We then did actual V2 using the pole-skate, pole-skate rhythm. Hands need to recover quickly to the front of the skier after the end of the pole push to aid balance during the glide. The body gets relatively straight, angled forward and aligned over the glide ski prior to poling (just like the double pole). We also practiced the V2 without poles to emphasize the importance of the skate push and the upswing of the arms in this stroke.

We finished with the field skate (V2 alternate). This is similar to V2 with polling only on one side. It's the fastest gear for long distances. The rhythm is launch, pole-skate; launch, pole-skate. We also did the field skate without poles to emphasize the skating motion and the importance of the "launch" phase where the arms are swinging up.

Had a great ski with the Advanced group. Skied in a little loop by the downhill and worked on quick feet and good forward position (ankle flexion) going up the steep hill and then the transition to long big pushes on the flat while riding the ski. As the wind died down, the temps seemed just fine and we had fun. Looking forward to groomed trails with plenty of snow next week.

The classic group was very small, comprised of 4 students and 3 instructors. The memorable aspect of the evening was not the cold temperature, but the series of equipment malfunctions. First, we had a first-time use of grip tape. Bad choice of kick-wax, considering the ungroomed, fresh snow. There was no glide at all, plus the solid blob of snow that accumulated underfoot made even static drills worthless. See my note in last week's newsletter for an explanation.

Next, I couldn't get my bindings to accept my over-boot, which I thought would be needed for the cold temps. Rather than waste more time struggling, I took the booties off.

Finally, we had a frozen binding, probably resulting from residual snow and ice from the last ski outing jamming the binding. When all efforts to clear it failed, Todd traded his skis to the student, who was able to ski quite well, considering they weren't the correct size and flex. Ah, the joys of compatible binding systems. Eventually, Todd got the binding cleared and he joined us and traded back.

So for most of the evening it was Jenny and I working with 4 students with a wide range of skills. Not very efficient, I admit. One beginner and one more-advanced, who had come to nearly every session; one beginner, first night on snow; and one skater-crossover, trying a first lesson in classic. After a while reviewing diagonal stride (emphasizing the solid, quick kick) we moved to hill work. Again, the wide range of skills made instruction challenging. Eventually, Jenny took the more advanced out for a wider ski, while the rest of us worked to gain balance and confidence on downhills. The class became quite adept at getting up from falls. And no injuries were incurred, so that was good. Overall, it was a fun evening, and we were well sheltered back in the Glacier Bowl.

For the record, I wore: wool socks; medium weight thermal bottoms, outer "untights", and wind pants; wick-dry camisole, polypro sleeved base layer, turtleneck, fleece sweater, nylon vest, and windjacket; and heavy-weight lobster mitts. Plus my usual ski boots and R&G hat. I did not wear my booties, nor heavy sweater, nor wind-briefs; also did not use hot-packs in mittens or boots. Those I save for really cold days. I did use face-cream (non-water based) and my inhaler, and had dry warm gloves in the car for the ride home.

Words from the editor - Shad Holland

Tuesdays class was a lot better than I expected it to be. I was assuming it would be too cold. But there was little wind, so it ended up being a really good class. Keep in mind, when the temps are in the single digits, or even below 0, wind has everything to do with how well you can keep warm. Now only if I had waxed our (mara's a my) skis to the cold......we had red on from the warm weekend before......:-). Hope to see you all next week!!