Winter is coming…
…and I’m trying to get better at cross country skiing. I’ve been trying to find a great forum for cross country skiing and haven’t found one yet. Looking for something similar to slowtwitch.
I’ve been to skinnyski.com, fasterskier.com, and the google forum “rec.skiing.Nordic”
All those forums seem to be pretty quiet, am I missing any?
Rob
Lots of great technique and waxing videos on youtube.
Other than that, just get out in the woods and and go for it.
Any update on this? Just browsing Google I have found a few sites but many seem to only receive a few posts a week. I’d like to find something with slowtwitch style advice and activity. Nothing around?
Lots of skiers on here, myself…Dev…(nordic skier of course) a whole bunch of others. Were you looking for more advanced advice IE racing or more general advice IE waxing, general technique etc?
….you could start an “official cross country ski thread” and get lots of pretty good info.
Cheers,
Maurice
Good idea, the cross country forums I’ve found are all dead zones.
Any update on this? Just browsing Google I have found a few sites but many seem to only receive a few posts a week. I’d like to find something with slowtwitch style advice and activity. Nothing around?
What do you need to know? I am a cross country skiing coach (a Norwegian one 
I like the idea of an “Official Cross Country Ski Thread.”
At this point I don’t really know what questions I have but I know I have learned a ton from this forum over the past few years. 4-5 years ago I couldn’t tell you what size tube I needed for my road bike vs MTB, now I’m the go to guy for bike advice in my friend group.
I’m at the same n00b stage with Nordic skiing now (tried it twice last year on rentals and loved it so picked up an end of season bargain.) this year I want to learn everything from how and when to wax, to technique, etiquette on the trail, training plans, etc…
Winter is coming…
…and I’m trying to get better at cross country skiing. I’ve been trying to find a great forum for cross country skiing and haven’t found one yet. Rob
They’re probably all out there on the trails with the ultra runners - growing beards and encased in wool according to my downhilling mates.
Seriously, isn’t slowtwitch enough? Life is too short for endless threads on ski wax (and lodge nights far too long when that’s the dominant conversation topic and the wine has run out). Besides, that’s what brother in laws are for - I just hand over my skis at the end of winter and get them back rewaxed ready to go at the start of the next. I ask no questions and ski in blissful ignorance 
I’ve been to skinnyski.com, fasterskier.com, and the google forum “rec.skiing.Nordic”
All those forums seem to be pretty quiet, am I missing any? http://www.xcskiforum.com/
ok … here’s one for you. i’m a roadie, but i skate ski in the winter, (and if i could ski year round i’d quit cycling!) and race a bit. in short races i can usually stay with the leaders by burning all my matches, but in long races my shitty technique leads to me getting dropped hard after the hour mark. i’m burning energy 2:1 compared to the guys who can actually ski well.
what are a few drills that will help me slow down my tempo (in swimming I’d call it my distance per stroke, i don’t know what you call it skiing) and get more glide? i’ve been doing dryland balance drills for the past month, which i think will help. i used to do a lot of no-poles, but actually i think that hurts me, as i get even choppier to keep going without poles.
thanks!
what are a few drills that will help me slow down my tempo (in swimming I’d call it my distance per stroke, i don’t know what you call it skiing) and get more glide? i’ve been doing dryland balance drills for the past month, which i think will help. i used to do a lot of no-poles, but actually i think that hurts me, as i get even choppier to keep going without poles. There is massive archived content on the rec.skiing.nordic usenet group, which can be reached through Google at https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/rec.skiing.nordic. That’s a good place to start for questions.
And/or look for technique videos online. Those posted by clkcalhoun on Youtube are very good.
Also, there is a DVD put out by Jenex with Zach Caldwell that is very good. Focus is roller skiing but the drills are applicable to snow.
Don’t listen to Norwegian coaches, they will throw a tantrum when the Swedes beat them.
.
I’m slowly working on adding the USSA Level 1 x-c coaching credential to my USAT coaching. I think an x-c thread here would be great. Also, I would check out the CXC Academy that Central Cross Country has put online. They have several different levels of annual training plans (also plans for just the winter) and tons of training and technique videos in their library. The offer a 5 day free trial (no credit card needed) to let you check it out at: http://www.cxcacademy.com/
Watch technique videos, get video of yourself and check what you need to fix. I can bet you ski between your skis and are too far back on the tails of your skis. Keep your hips forward, what we called the point of deepest penetration. Stay out over your skis, Tony knows best (Toe, knee, nose all in one line). A flat ski is a fast ski, good technique can hid some fitness issues.
As far as wax goes, all temperature dependent. I like Rex Blue, it pretty well works all winter, except lately it has been pretty dang cold. For kick wax, on man made snow, use one wax warmer than the temperature indicates. Every wax has a temperature range, go look at the waxes and what temps you will be in.
Waxing is an art, you will know if the ski is dry and the wax just disappears. Iron temp varies with the wax, warm weather wax is soft and doesn’t need as much heat to melt. Lay a bead of wax down the ski, run the iron over it, keeping to moving so you don’t burn your skis, and let the wax melt into the base. Set that ski to the side to cool, do the same with the other ski. Scrap from tip to tail, don’t gouge the base. Brush, from tip to tail, start with a brass brush and then use nylon. Brushing is like sanding wood work for staining, they more time you take to make it perfect the better end result.
Don’t glide wax your kick zone
Klister is only in the smallest kick zone, I know a guy that didn’t know anything, ran kilster the full length of the ski for a race, he made it 100 meters
Tempo Tempo Tempo, get your turn over faster
ski like a fighter pilot, always thinking, always looking ahead, prepare for the hill prepare for the flat, when in doubt V2.
Just use this as your default XC-Skiing forum
There are quite a few skiers on here, myself included.
Curious how many Birkie racers are on ST. This season’s Birkie will be #19 for me, but I’ve got friends I train with that are at 30 Birkies. I live just 1.5 hours from “OO” and try to get up on the course as much as I can during winter.
You’re probably on the right track doing balance drills, if you can’t slow down your tempo it’s likely do to balance.Two things you can try:
1/ Do V2 technique as much as possible, it requires the most balance, make sure you have good weight shift (check online videos).
2/ A drill we do at our club is when doing V2, double per twice per leg, instead of once. This will help with weight shift and balance.
Other suggestions, if balance is not the issue, perhaps your stride is just too short, could be from:
The Birkie is my favorite race and this year will be #10 for me. It’s not a local race for me (I live in PA), but I try to get there every few years, just enough to keep my wave placing. I’m planning on being back this year. Right now I’ve been out a few times, classic, which is unusual for this time of year but I live about an hour from Buffalo so it’s been pretty good
probably also looks like he is taking a dump while skiing see many of those out there, butt way back, poles go to vertical with arms outstretched in front of them…
folks likely don’t get over their skiis cuz their balance isn’t so good and they tend to fall over to outside when they get there, so rather than work on it, they do as you state, ski between their skiis or essentially ski bottoms never get to within more than 45deg of being flat.
I don’t personally think “no poles” is an issue, to the contrary, as my daughter demonstrates, poles tend to mess things up for folks trying to figure out their legs. she flies without poles but when they are added in things slow down. she is still too quick to change legs, but that is because she is not yet getting flat which also requires you to bring your feet in under your body(the issue) before changing legs( and I don’t think you can really bring skiis in under your body if you don’t get them flat).
I suck at skiing(weight challenged as well on uphills) ie can only turn well in one direction and hockey stop in only one direction but work on it each winter a little bit. I no longer use poles( carpal/ulna tunnel if I use too much) 90% of the time and that only makes uphills a little slower.
the wrong skiis also do not help(dead bases, not enough spring for your size)
likely some of what I just wrote is wrong. nature of not being good…
this thread makes me want to go to ABR in ironwood mi for t-giving. toying with idea, take kids and pup and do a couple days and take daughter snowboarding on fri when the downhill opens up for season up there. if it is going to be cold again this year, might as well enjoy it.
ok … here’s one for you. i’m a roadie, but i skate ski in the winter, (and if i could ski year round i’d quit cycling!) and race a bit. in short races i can usually stay with the leaders by burning all my matches, but in long races my shitty technique leads to me getting dropped hard after the hour mark. i’m burning energy 2:1 compared to the guys who can actually ski well.
what are a few drills that will help me slow down my tempo (in swimming I’d call it my distance per stroke, i don’t know what you call it skiing) and get more glide? i’ve been doing dryland balance drills for the past month, which i think will help. i used to do a lot of no-poles, but actually i think that hurts me, as i get even choppier to keep going without poles.
thanks!
Cross country skiing is a combination of fitness and technique. I am leaving equipment issues on the side for now.
The most common mistake adult skiers do, especially when they are coming into skate skiing from leg fitness like road cycling is to just push the legs. But as you have found out this will just get you so far.
With skating you can get up to an ok speed just on fitness, that is impossible in classic skiing. The reason is that it is possible to cheat the weight transfer in skate skiing, but if you do that in classic you will not get the grip wax to grip.
All cross country skiing is about transfer weight from one leg to another. The weight should NOT be on both legs, many skiers use the term that the weight is between the legs.
This video of Thomas Alsgaard is a good example. Thomas has a low frequency technique so it is easy to see what he is doing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvZeap1vZaU
You can see that he is moving the weight from one leg to the other, he is not in between.
This video shows you that you do not have to race to do this correct
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7wJ1OGLdOg
And of course we need the slow motion video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2Oh3u5htiI
OK, that is the theory and just looking at videos will not make you any better. Luckily you can do some drills when you ski. First of all try what I call trust your leg/balance drill.
When you are skiing in V2, keep gliding on one ski before you transfer the weight, if you are not able to glide one one ski you are a typical “weight in the middle” skier.
A common problem with cyclist doing skating is timing. Most rodies are just using leg strength the arms are most for show. They are sitting low and hanging beck, instead of getting high and aggressive with the hips.
Just to show that you do not need a slow technique to ski with good technique. Therese Johaug is on the opposite part of the scale than Thomas Alsgaard, but both are doing the fundamentals correctly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7bSKBoZq5Y
If you want a really good tool to explain skiing, I would recommend the Superb Skiing app on android devices/Google Play. http://www.superbskiing.com/
It has a lot of good information and videos both for skating, classic, strength training, rollerskiing, moose huffing etc.
Let me know if you have any other questions