News from Steve…

Seeley Classic fees go up on the 15th

Taking reservation for the Jan Road Trip. We'll be skiing Blue Hills, Birke, ABR, and Wolverine. Jan 4-7. 2 and 3 day options available.

R&G Clothing:I want to order soon, but currently I've only got enough interest for the Jackets and hats.If you want LS or SS jersey's get your order to me ASAP. The LS jersey makes a great ski top. Would also like to get some more SS for the Summer bike rides if we can find the interest (6 piece min), We'll have lots of hats ($12) See the link on the web site.

Waxing Supplies: Most of my discount waxing supplies are gone. Still have 3 irons extra. Plus 7 people haven't picked up yet. Anyone who ordered an iron please make arrangements to pick it up. ($33, $55 in the stores). Still have Fastwax Red, Blue and Purple. 200gm bars for $5. 80 gms costs $7 in the store. Kick wax, corks, basewax and pastewax too.

Next week: Get those skis ready. I'm sure we'll have a session out at Elm Creek or Wirth Park and at Como. So get them out of storage and waxed up. I hope everyone has their new skis prepped by now. E-mail if you have questions and be sure to read Waxing 101 on the web site. Wax clinics at Finn Sisu on Monday nights.

Member input Let's here from some of the members. Got something to say? Have an announcement? Trip reports, race reports, Ah Ha!! moments others can benefit from. Questions, Interesting articles you have found. We'll put you in print. Send your input to Shad via the e-mail link on the left side of the web site.

Skinnyski.com: If you haven't been there yet you really should check out http://wwwskinnyski.com/ Everything you could possibly want to know about skiing in the Twin Cities and the Midwest. Updated everyday, sometimes several times per day. Check it out..

New from Jyneen...

Christmas ideas:

Stay off the lakes: This warm spell has really softened them up again.

We had 3 advanced skaters and 5 intermediate skaters. We took them over to what was left of the man made snow on the downhill slopes. It actually wasn't too bad. There wasn't much of it and it was all uphill but it was better than dryland and was good to get on snow for the first time. It was also pretty dark to critical evaluations were difficult. In a few weeks the lights should be on an it will be better.

Advanced Skate: We've got some really good skiers this year. A lot of them have joined the club just to find people to ski with. After finding very little to complain about on V1 on the hills we tried some various drills were we'd vary the cadence or the step length or the push off force to teach the ability to use the appropriate application of force to match the terrain. Try doing V1 very slowly up a hill sometime. It forces your timing to be right on or you'll stall out. In fact skiing slowly is good practice. You can't hide bad form behind speed. It will show your weaknesses and tell you what you need to work on. Ski slowly and concentrate on relaxed good form. Everyone was equally good at V2 as well. We didn't have much room to practice it however. The big thing with V2 is to relax especially in the shoulders and arms. I did manage to introduce a new technique for skiing side hills. It's basically the Marathon Skate poling on the downhill side but with no track for the up hill ski. It's hard to describe, but you'll get a lot of practice once we get to snow as it's one of my favorite things to teach.

Dave and I led the dryland skaters, beginning and intermediate. After showing a couple of skate muscle-strengthening exercises that can be done at home or in a cubicle at work (also shown last week), we started with working on how to double pole (DP). After all, skating is basically double poling with glide.

Key poling points are:

• Loose, relaxed shoulders and swing of arms
• On the way up, elbows flop out into relaxed butterfly swim-like position (not strained "chicken wings"), which raises the chest and allows use of more upper body strength (than an elbows-down position does)
• Ab crunch starting down
• Pole down well into the upper legs, getting plenty of ankle and knee flex (hands pass about knee height or slightly higher)
• Let arms follow through
• In return forward arm swing, let the arms help pull torso forward

Question: How far out should our hands go forward? A: To find the strongest arm/hand position, imagine trying to drive the poles down into the ground. Too close and too far away will feel weak. The optimal "how far out" position will naturally vary a little depending on the terrain and ski speed, but elbows are always bent in a relaxed, natural position.

Question: If skiing is repetitive pushing and gliding, and the push off is with the legs, why is poling important? A: The "Push" is a total body effort to create acceleration and glide. Poles are pushed into the snow as we're doing an upper body crunch, all that force going down into upper legs and finally transferring through the knees and flexed ankles to the actual push-off of the foot with the inside edge of the ski. In skating, the upper body with poles optimally contributes up to 60% of the effort, depending on the technique and terrain. That's why learning to double pole well is so important to successful skating.

Next we practiced Double Poling by moving back and forth leg to leg without moving forward. This is very good to practice at home and can be done with any of the techniques, just by adjusting the timing. Helps to add a vocal and make the motions like a dance:

• 3-1, 3-1 (V1)
• Glide-DP-Glide, Glide-DP-Glide (V2-alt/Open Field) - hands follow through
• Glide-DP, Glide-DP (V2) - shorter follow through, less time

With each DP, push-off from flexing ankles (knees follow), holding the move to the other leg until poling hands get to hips. Keep it compact. Instead of reaching or leaping far out with foot, thus leaving the hips behind, let the push primarily carry the torso across, with the foot planting underneath. This sets up an optimally-balanced glide position.

We finished on the hill, applying each of the techniques, working on timing, push-off, poling position and keeping it compact for better balance and stability.

Never doubt the staying power of Elm Creek! The snow was granular on top, and mushy on the uphills, but generally fast in the skating lane. Power grip and klister both worked well in the tracks, which were surprisingly solid.

Even in the aftermath of a high school meet, conditions there were fast and enjoyable last night. It's a shame only one student showed up, although I'm sure he was happy having a coach to himself. Dave was skating, so with a little disappointment, I switched from classic to skating.

We began with a review of double poling, with emphasis on forward lean and falling over the poles. There is often a tendency to pull yourself over your skis with your poles, and this is counter-productive. Also, follow-through with the poles is important. To get the maximum effect from each cycle, you need to push all the way through, past your body, "throwing away" your poles behind you.

Next we graduated to V1. In Dave's case we concentrated on getting the hips over the skis. This allows you to pole straight through, in the direction of travel, rather than ending up on the edges of your skis and slowing down. If you're watching your shadow under the lights as you ski, you'll notice your upper body collapsing over your ski as you pole through if you don't get your hip over your ski.

We followed with an introduction to V2 alternate, or open field. Getting the timing right is sometimes problematic for people. The diference between V2 alternate and V1 is that with V2 alternate, poling comes at the END of the glide phase, rather than at the beginning. You do the poling just before you transfer to your other foot. I describe the rhythm as "pole, glide, glide, pole, glide, glide,...."

As it's early in the season, Dave and I spent much of the evening just skiiing round and round, rather than fine-tuning technique. I find that in general, a little practice with the coach, followed by working on your own before further critiquing works best.

Overall it was a wonderful evening to be on skis, and I'm sorry there weren't more Ride and Gliders there. Hang in there though - Real snow will come!!!!

We had 4 classic skiers out for a review of dryland. All the folks had some skiing experience so we applied their previous experience to the elements of dryland, and worked on imaging the on-snow feel of the drills. Hand position was good, with good weight transfer and hip position. We also worked a bit more on some strength drills, and stretching for flexibility.

Assignment for next week- Even if we don't get snow, this is the time to practice putting on your skis (while you have warm hands and good lighting) and adjusting your pole straps to fit your gloves. It's frustrating when, on the first night of snow, the group has to stand around in the cold while someone has to be shown how these get attached to your boots. So, dress like you're heading out for a workout, put on your boots and gloves, place your skis on the ground (on a nice soft surface that won't scratch the bottoms) and clip into the bindings. Put on your poles and adjust the straps. Then take off your skis and poles. Repeat several times until you can do it easily, and smoothly. Deep snow, slippery tracks and low lighting can really compound the difficulty of those tasks. Do it until you can do it with your eyes closed. If we do get snow before next week, (or you choose to try one of the made-snow areas) get out and try it. Especially if you have never skied before. Just put on your equipment and move around a bit. Someplace safe, where you won't get hurt or embarrassed, but try it long enough to notice where your center of gravity is, and what gravity does to your body position. Remember- you should always feel like you are going to fall forward. If you fall backwards, you need to shift your weight forward, by bending at the ankle and knees.

Missed lessons last week. Sounds like it was a lot of fun. I have been on the snow skiing 2 times now and plan to go again today! Let's hear it for man made snow!!!! It's better than nothing, that's for sure. Besides, I get to bike and ski all in the same season....:-)