What is "5th gear" like?
 

Pete writes at TeamToday.org that the team hasn't quite found its
"fifth gear" yet but they will.

That fifth gear sounds good. I've almost had the feeling, or maybe even
had it.

For me, 3rd gear is when I'm swinging along and hitting all my kicks
and timing the poling and my core feels strong and stable and my gut is
hanging loose and relaxed, I'm breathing deeply, without tension, my
poling goes with the breathing, never against it, and I can blast and
get in good workouts.

4th gear is when I'm classicking as fast as skaters, and faster than
skaters on the almost-h-bone-steep ups. When I DP I just whip along,
skatefast. I hardly notice my foot stopping as I kick and get plenty of
glide on the ups. The kick is no impedance: it blends in and flies on
by. Poling just pops and is hardly noticeable as well---the arms are
mostly just flying: after follow-thru and back to the front: the work
part pops past so fast I hardly notice it. I'm right at my limit,
working like a train, feeling great.

5th gear is when I can do all that plus push it into the
tear-it-up-territory, plus make it hurt bad, too, can dig deeper than I
thought I could---it feels like pole-breaking, arm-breaking,
ski-breaking, leg-breaking, cross-eyed with a little area of
consciousness I can see out of---all while just flying along---go
faster than I thought I could, and still stay relaxed.

--JP