Thanksgiving Trip: It's still on. It may snow by mid week. No problem if it doesn't If they aren't open we are not on the hook for anything. if they open up we are obliged to go.

Jan Trip to ABR: This trip is full. If there is more interest I can get more lodging. I'd need to get at least 4 more people to pursue another house. Let me know. We will be skiing at Blue Hills on Thursday, Birke Trail on Friday and ABR and Wolverine on Sat and Sun. You can go for 2, 3 or 4 days.

Clothing: Get your orders into me. Long Sleeve Jersey $55, Short Sleeve $50, Vest $60, Jacket $70. Hats $15. I will be sending in the order by the end of the month.

Fundraiser for Jay Guthrie: Long time Summer R&G club member Jay Guthrie is in a very tough battle with Cancer. Now Bikes, County Cycles, HED and R&G are joining together in a fund raiser to help Jay with his medical bills. To that end we will be having a "Get Together" at Now Bikes in Arden Hills on Thursday Dec 3rd at 7pm. We will be showing the video of Greg Lemond's 1989 TDF victory over Laurent Fignon and will have a "Guest Speaker". Steve Hed will be talking about aerodynamics and what's happening in bicycle racing. The video has special significance as it could be claimed that Greg's victory over Laurent was instrumental in the beginning of the aerodynamic era in bicycle racing. Steve will also talk about what's new at HED and I'm sure have many fascinating stories and will take your questions as well.

We'll have pizza from Davannis, which is right next door to Now, and beverages and some door prizes generously donated by HED, Now, County Cycles and R&G. Tickets will be $20 at the door and get you one ticket in the door prize drawing and free pizza and good times. Extra tickets for the drawings can be purchased as well. If you plan on attending please RSVP so we know how much food to get.

Wax Party: The "Gang Wax" will be this Saturday at 9:30 at Thatcher's place in Withrow. See previous e-mail on how to get there. See real skis being waxed. Get help waxing your own. Get your ski "Base Prepped" Also having a Potluck lunch. Bring a dish to pass. The club will provide beverages and assorted items. Good chance to see how easy waxing can be. We'll show you the simplest ways to get your skis running fast.

Homemade wax benches: will be available at the Wax Party. I have 6 of them. Plans and the mechanical attachment mechanism will also be available to everyone.

Midwest Mountaineering WinterFest: This weekend Fri-Sun. A Winter tradition. Lots of vendors and seminars and sale prices. I'll be there Friday night. Check it out. Info on skinnyski.com.

Again we had a big turnout for the Intro the Skate Dryland. 40-50 people. We had 7 coaches so we double teamed 3-4 groups. Steve T Mike Conley: We took a warm-up hike over to the far south side of Como where there are lots lights. We did the standard review of skate body positions and motions. The we introduced V1. Spent most of the night walking through the V1 slowly. A few pointers to remember were; Plant the Strong Side pole by your ear. You better be leaning forward however. Lead with the Strong Side arm and get the hips and shoulder fully over the Strong Side foot. Transfer the weight fully to the other side (the skate over) and line up on that foot just like on the Strong Side, but the arms/poles followed through behind. Practice those move slowly to get the timing down. Speed them up to memorize them. Introduced several drills to aid in the learning of V1, V2, and Field Skate. We did the West Side Story Drill were we V1 on pavement so the poles make a clicking noise (finger snapping) This allows all students to pole in sync with the clicks. It really works! People timing problems with the V1 disappear. We then added the method for switching sides on the V1 using the same approach. The we moved on to stationary "Air V1" and "Air V2" Were we mimic the timing of these techniques while staying in one spot. Practice in front of a mirror and visualize. I hope to have a video of these drills on the web site soon. Finished off the night with a hike over the to hills by the Pavilion where we did V1 up the hill with a pause on each skate step. The goal is to do the skate motion to each side while mimicking V1 with the arms and "Stick" the landing and hold it for 2-3 seconds and then proceed to the other side. Very good practice for your timing and balance.

Ok, the short dity

The advanced group hiked for a short warm up then hit Mt. Como for some skate body position and kick progressions and plyos. We worked on depth and quickness of kick, then went through some plyo exercises to support the correct motions and strengthen specific muscles needed. Focus – balance, quick kick power and body position (V1).

Ken took a small group of experienced-drylanders out for a more intensive workout, while the rest of us worked together on the basics. Arvid led the class, with Todd, Jenny and myself adding the critique and jokes. Up and down the little slope. Yes, they are drills. Yes, we did them over and over. Yes, we saw great improvement on everyone in the course of the evening, and especially those who also attended last week. Body position was pretty good - leaning out with center of gravity over your leading leg. Generally good bend in the ankle and knee. Arms are still pretty rigid in a lot of us, but we'll work more on that over the next 2 months. Always remember that at this point we are trying to establish the muscle memory that will allow your legs to move on auto-pilot without losing form, as we add in new techniques or ideas.

Dressing for class:
These dryland sessions also give you a chance to acclimate to the colder weather. You may have noticed that we stand around quite a bit. As the season progresses, the groups will split naturally into various levels of skill. When that happens, we'll be able to tailor the session to that more homogenous group. And we'll try to keep you skiing. But be sure to dress for the standing-around part of the evening, because we do some of that each night. You may want a shell jacket to wear early and late, just remember where you left it when we ski off into the night. And dry gloves for the ride home are always nice.

Kick waxing:
Most of you selected waxless skis, what used to be called "fish scales." Compared to the early generations of waxless, the modern "sport" category can provide similar performance as typically waxed waxables. Notice that term- typically waxed. Kick wax forms a chemical bond with the moisture in the snow, allowing it to grip when you kick off with each stride. With waxless, the ridges on the bottom mechanically provide the grip. Kick waxes have different formulations, usually rated by temperature range. Sometimes you'll make the correct choice of wax for the conditions, sometimes you totally miss. Typically, you'll do okay for part of the day's ski, depending on how well your body can compensate. Steve has good articles on the web-site regarding waxing. My take on waxing is a bit different- I'm lazy and spoiled, and would rather spend my time skiing than prepping the bases. That means I always try to find the simplest way of doing things. With waxing, that means using my brain so that my legs don't get so tired.

The missing element in a novice's decision is usually estimating the moisture content of the snow. New, fresh, cold snow is usually dry. So "colder" waxes can be trusted to work fairly well. Wetter snow, like the slush that falls in March or October, needs a wax that handles more moisture. What happens when the snow falls as slush then freezes into ice overnight? Or after an ice-storm, or when groomed excessively? Then you have to analyze, extrapolate and experiment. Pick a wax on the cold side, ski a bit. If not perfect rewax with the next warmer choice, ski a bit. The brain comes in handy here, when you find which combinations work or fail. A notebook helps to document the results of the experiments. The very wet snow (both warmish slush and re-frozen ice) is the reason for klister. Works great, if applied right. Or so I'm told. Never experienced perfect klister, myself. Instead, the use the newest ski wax: PowerGrip or grip-tape. These are chemically different than the traditional tins, but have a better connection with moist snow. The process of grooming trails and setting tracks transforms the snow, by melting it or compressing it. You may have noticed that difference, from in the track to outside the track. The big negative of klister or powergrip/griptape is when you leave the groomed tracks or hit loose snow. Then, the snow crystals or chunks adhere too strongly to the wax, and act like sandpaper.

The last thing to remember is that wax is just one variable in the conglomerate of classic skiing. Ahvo says perfect wax won't win the race for you (your legs and lungs do that) but bad wax can lose the race. Recommendations for the wax of the day must be balanced against the other factors you've noticed during your training sessions. For example, my combination of skis and body strength needs a slightly warmer wax than Steve uses, when we classic together. I rarely let anyone dictate to me which wax should work, unless my own deduction leads to the same answer.

Words from the editor - Shad Holland

Awesome!! Another year of Ride & Glide! Tuesday was my first class this season. To be honest, I wasn't sure I was coming back to Ride & Glide. I moved to Minneapolis (Uptown) and it's no longer close to where live. So I was looking at some other ski clubs. What it came down to was that Ride & Glide is a much better club in my opinion! The other clubs seem too serious and ask for a lot of money. For what Steve charges, and with the high quality of these coaches, you are all getting one heck of a deal! Also, I know the people here at Ride & Glide and like them....just another reason to drive the extra distance. Bottom line......Ride & Glide absolutely ROCKS! Plain and simple!

I decided to move up to Advanced this year. Not sure how that will go, but I might as well push myself. I was in intermediate for 3 years....so it's time.

Tuesday's lesson was tough. We did a bunch of different drills up one of the steepest hills in the park. I was sore, not just legs, but the arms and shoulders too. These coaches make sure you use your whole body. I am looking forward to a weekly butt kicking.......:-).

I am glad to be back and hopefully I can convince many of you to send in articles for this newsletter. Send me pictures, race reports, ski reports, or whatever you want. It will take all of us to make this a great newsletter. I am just a guy with a keyboard. My contact info is at the bottom of the page.

I wish all of you a great ski season!