CXC Team Vertical Limit Blog » Equipment

Twin Cities Happenings

audreyweber — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 03:50:54 +0000

Well, it’s been a busy week since I drove home from Hayward on Monday. Luckily, it is a pretty low-volume, low-intensity week due to the speed block we completed at camp, so I have some spare time for non-training activities.

I spent the first half of the week preparing for the first event of my trail running series, which took place Wednesday night at Hyland Park in Bloomington. It was the first race I have organized, so I was a little stressed pulling it all together, remembering all the supplies, and micromanaging the volunteers who helped me set up the course and registration (thanks Mom and Dad). But the racers didn’t seem to notice my frenzied condition and a fun and fast time was had by all. Post-race we had some tasty treats and gave away some raffle prizes from Salomon and Hoigaards, including 2 pairs of XT Wings shoes. The fun continues next Wednesday night, as well as on October 21 and 28. For more info visit http://www.SalomonAutumnTrailSeries.blogspot.com

Myself and the race volunteers setting up registration.

The race start. I was pleased with the race turnout, and already have as many people pre-registered for next week.

I had Thursday to get race results up online as well as take my boyfriend out to a theater performance for his birthday.

Friday I was back in action at GearWest in Long Lake for the first of the team’s Super Fit Weekends. Bryan, Yuriy, Igor, myself, Garrott, and Matt were busy testing peoples’ old skis for fit on the 3D pressure sensor mat and fitting new skis. Bryan also gave a wax clinic in the evening. We’ll be at the store Saturday and Sunday testing skis all day, and on Saturday there is a roller ski clinic at 8AM, a Birkie presentation with Matt Liebsch at 4:30 PM, and a training talk by Bryan at 5. Come out and see us!

The scene at the Gear West Super Fit. Garrott fits a high school racer with new skis, while Yuriy and Igor help a master skier to test his old skis and find a compatible new pair on the 3D pressure mat.

Bryan answers questions after his waxing clinic.

Olympic Winter Park

gkuzzy — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 23:12:45 +0000

Four days out from the pre-Olympic World Cup, the CXC boys decided it was time to hone their classic skis and classic technique on the race course. Coach Fish waxed several klister skis while Zach Caldwell of CSS dropped off some freshly ground Salomon “Zero” skis for us to test.

The “Zeros” are special skis manufactured specifically for temperatures at O degrees C, between the klister and hardwax range. The base is a rubber and cork composite that can be roughed with sandpaper to function as a synthetic hairy ski. In the right conditions, these skis are awesome.

Whistler seems to always have conditions ideal for zeros and today was no exception. Our zero skis were kicking better and gliding faster than our best klister boards.

Once we had the skis dialed, we skied up into the hills to spend some time working on classic technique. Bryan had several drills for us to work on before the races. By the end of the ski, the sun had burned away many of the clouds, offering the first good views that we’ve seen of the mountains since we arrived.

Madison (by Kristina Owen)

koskier — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 02:53:29 +0000

In the last college ranking list that Playboy magazine published, they listed University of Wisconsin-Madison as the biggest party school in the nation. There were many reasons why Playboy felt that they had earned this distinction, but their annual Halloween festivities were high on the list.

I mention this because it’s a measure of how tame my life has become. Heather and i are down in Madison for the weekend, which happens to be Halloween weekend, the weekend of biggest party of the year at the biggest party school in the country. And what are we doing? Eh, you know, fitting skis at the local shop (Fontana Sports), doing some clinics, training, hanging out with Yuriy, and going to bed early. We didn’t even bother to bring costumes. I know…seriously lame.

And we’ll be doing it all again tomorrow, so if you’re in the area, be sure to say hi. We’ve got a clinic in the morning at Badger park, and we’ll be at the west branch of Fontana all afternoon.

New toy: a pressure mat for more precise ski fitting. Apparently there’s only two of these out there. One belongs to the Canadian national team, and the other to Salomon USA. It’s seriously cool stuff. If you want to see it in action for yourself, i’d be willing to bet that it’s going to be out in Yellowstone for the Fall Festival expos.

Coach Natalie: “I want you to start with a thin layer of Toko green base, and then we’ll cover with a few layers of Toko blue…”