My now-favorite ski resort Davos in Switzerland (1500m+) is now finally closing all XC trails. There's still 80cm of snow though, 10cm of which fell the past 24h. It's just 1ºC. The winter doesn't seem to be going there just yet. Will they have to shove the snow away to allow summer to make a one-day-fly appearance this year?
For the past 5 months, there has been valley XC'ing in Davos, up till the last day with "good" conditions. 2006/2007 was very different, but I SO want to go live there now...
My name is Jan Gerrit Klok, call me J. I also go by Cloxxki. This blog will mark my progress as I start from zero. A desperately out-of-shape cyclist aiming to become fitter than ever, but in a sport hardly existing my his home country. My country gets on average one or 2 XC-skiable days per winter. Although that's improving quickly. Goal: someday race XC, and not off the back of the field. And new goal: deliver a good Winter Triathlon (coach wanted).
15 April 2008
14 April 2008
A good fetish if one must have one, or a serious problem that requires professional help?
Keep in mind, the fist time I saw a person doing XC skiing was mere minutes before I first got on them myself. My March 2007 trip to Austria, specifically to get some tuition. I didn't own other equipment than boots, as I figured size 13 would be hard to rent at times.
Today, I own many pairs of skis. 1 pair of which, I have used this winter in Switzerland.
One unused pair I have, was the Salomon Equipe 10 Skate. I now got a second pair, as the deal was so good.
I read all the time about the need to have a second pair ready for racing when the wax conditions work out differently than anticipated. And I do plan to race, as clumsy I may be.
So, need help? Or a better way to spend less money than I used to on bikes?
Today, I own many pairs of skis. 1 pair of which, I have used this winter in Switzerland.
One unused pair I have, was the Salomon Equipe 10 Skate. I now got a second pair, as the deal was so good.
I read all the time about the need to have a second pair ready for racing when the wax conditions work out differently than anticipated. And I do plan to race, as clumsy I may be.
So, need help? Or a better way to spend less money than I used to on bikes?
04 April 2008
It's a start, not much more yet
After several weeks of no sports other than easy commutes and errands, I finally felt up for it again.
A sore throat, directly after a week of eating out pretty much every day, checking out houses for rent, kept me from any kind of action. Even my old eating habits started crawling up to me. Like a Tsunami.
My abs (tummy seems to fit the situation better) have already softened back up.
I got in some 150cm alu Rossignol poles. 22.5cm shorter than my snow skating poles.
I bought them they'd fit me for running, or at least be on the tall side. Off of German eBay, brand new. €20 split between poles and shipping, not bad. Decent baskets, just a thicker kind of soft metal tips.
Should be okay off-road and on snow, bad on pavement.
My throat didn't demand my every second of attention anymore, I started noticing beautiful women again this week, and sports ambitions slowly came back to me.
I did not do much, but I did go out and test my running poles. Short bike ride to the local (small) park. No hills, but a 2m tall dijk running across it. Gravel paths mixed with asphalt.
Asphalt socks for running, I knew the first step.
Keep in mind, I never ever did classic technique, anything. The striding thing is new to me. At least I supposed stake-like running was not going to work. Is it?
I knew I had to pole right with the left foot and the other way around. But it was not that easy. A couple timed I did right+right/left+left, which oddly sort of worked as well.
I was amazed by the speed of running steps. Really hard to keep up with!
How do you guys do this? It's really tough on the hands and wrists when gripping the pole non-stop. I tried letting go of the poles, but the recovery just seems WAY to quick to catch the pole back from the air in time to put it down straight again.
The Rossignol poles have the basic no-thrills loops, which may not help, but should also not be this bad.
Are poles impractical for flat land running, just useful for hills? Or is 150cm just too long for me?
The straightline speed I got felt great. OK, it was very dark in the park, but I seemed to shoot through it. My bad shape did require me to take a breather after every couple of dozen seconds of pole running.
Everytime I got back up to speed, I had to really consciously time the poling. After that, it just felt so efficient, and I didn't even get to tire my arms.
I'll really have to bring the poles to the big recreation hill we have 13 miles down the road. 40m and all gravel roads. I could even work up to completing a full 7km MTB course, 178m vertical. My goals sheet though, says I'm going to design a much shorter lap witha similar amount of climbing.
Anyone have skating stability dryland drills to suggest me, with or without poles?
Thanks,
J
-Nearly on the way back to schedule.
A sore throat, directly after a week of eating out pretty much every day, checking out houses for rent, kept me from any kind of action. Even my old eating habits started crawling up to me. Like a Tsunami.
My abs (tummy seems to fit the situation better) have already softened back up.
I got in some 150cm alu Rossignol poles. 22.5cm shorter than my snow skating poles.
I bought them they'd fit me for running, or at least be on the tall side. Off of German eBay, brand new. €20 split between poles and shipping, not bad. Decent baskets, just a thicker kind of soft metal tips.
Should be okay off-road and on snow, bad on pavement.
My throat didn't demand my every second of attention anymore, I started noticing beautiful women again this week, and sports ambitions slowly came back to me.
I did not do much, but I did go out and test my running poles. Short bike ride to the local (small) park. No hills, but a 2m tall dijk running across it. Gravel paths mixed with asphalt.
Asphalt socks for running, I knew the first step.
Keep in mind, I never ever did classic technique, anything. The striding thing is new to me. At least I supposed stake-like running was not going to work. Is it?
I knew I had to pole right with the left foot and the other way around. But it was not that easy. A couple timed I did right+right/left+left, which oddly sort of worked as well.
I was amazed by the speed of running steps. Really hard to keep up with!
How do you guys do this? It's really tough on the hands and wrists when gripping the pole non-stop. I tried letting go of the poles, but the recovery just seems WAY to quick to catch the pole back from the air in time to put it down straight again.
The Rossignol poles have the basic no-thrills loops, which may not help, but should also not be this bad.
Are poles impractical for flat land running, just useful for hills? Or is 150cm just too long for me?
The straightline speed I got felt great. OK, it was very dark in the park, but I seemed to shoot through it. My bad shape did require me to take a breather after every couple of dozen seconds of pole running.
Everytime I got back up to speed, I had to really consciously time the poling. After that, it just felt so efficient, and I didn't even get to tire my arms.
I'll really have to bring the poles to the big recreation hill we have 13 miles down the road. 40m and all gravel roads. I could even work up to completing a full 7km MTB course, 178m vertical. My goals sheet though, says I'm going to design a much shorter lap witha similar amount of climbing.
Anyone have skating stability dryland drills to suggest me, with or without poles?
Thanks,
J
-Nearly on the way back to schedule.
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