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Old January 15th 04, 11:26 PM
Griss
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Default Striding mo' betta?

I see so many people who only skate ski nowadays and feel sorry for them (I
did NOT say I look down my nose at them as lesser skiers!). I also know a
lot of decent, serious skiers who have top shelf skating gear but quite a
bit lesser quality, and/or far older striding gear. It's pretty common to
see 10 year old, lower quality striding gear and logs for poles on guys who
have world class skating gear, including the $250 poles and newest boots.

I feel quite strongly that perfecting striding - stuff like full weight
transfer, dynamic body position, fully committed kick/double pole - makes a
huge improvement in skating too. There's NOTHING like tuning in on good
classic technique on excellent gear. It's so relaxing and at the same time
challenging. I skate a lot too (truth be told, probably more hours than
striding), but would give that up before striding!

Why my rant? I just was given a wonderful Christmas gift - top shelf
classical gear (Atomic RC11 skis, Yoko/Toko poles, Salomon carbon boots -
which are waaaay too expensive, but actually fit and felt best, so what the
hey; what's $100 over 100s of hours of fun?). There is no exaggeration that
I probably would have never bought it for myself. I spend as much as I can
afford on my kids' stuff, but generally search for make-do stuff used or on
sale for myself. My old gear was actually OK (except for the log poles).
But now, my gear for my favorite technique is on par with my skating gear
.... and I am just IN LOVE with it! It has caused me to stride much more
than before. I haven't skated in a month.

Something interesting I've really noticed since getting this stuff: I have
never felt self conscious being a semi-hack with top shelf skating gear -
because there's a lot my peers who have the same. But there's far fewer, if
any, peers of mine who have similar top shelf classical gear. Those Carbon
boots really stand out in a crowd and I certainly don't "walk the walk"! I
want to emphasize that anyone/everyone who loves an active sport really
should buy the best gear they can afford, whether or not they're "worthy" -
it's always more fun, imho. This is absolutely NOT to say you can't have
fun, be fit or even race with the other gear, just that, if you can afford
it, the good stuff is a lot of fun.

I would NEVER say "you're not a real skier unless you love striding more
than skating", but I'm sure thinking it.

8-)

Grissy


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