wrote:

I'm just really surprised that anyone making noises about ski
performance wouldn't try out their theories! It all seems like MALARKEY
to me. Total, 100% hogwash without actual on-snow testing.

The implication that Kuzmin did not do on-snow testing is not correct.
The Kuzmin papers describe in detail his on-snow testing as well as his
laboratory examination of ski running surfaces.

Whether we agree with his conclusions or not, his papers certainly
provide sufficient details (his thesis is 70 pages long including cover
and appendices) for someone to try to test his theory. The Kuzmin
thesis "Investigation of the most essential factors influencing ski
glide" is a collection of two Kuzmin papers:

"Contact angle on the running surfaces of cross-country skis"

"Dirt absorption on the ski running surface - Quantification and
influence on the gliding ability"

As part of the second paper, Kuzmin describes glide testing on a
"controll slope", and illustrates the paper with a photo showing a
skier in a tuck position on the control track. He describes the
control slope as 170 M long with the first 70 M steep and the last 100
M less steep such that the skier's velocity was about 10 m/s in the
flat section.

I believe that Kuzmin's work is more in support of what we in the
States would call a Masters degree and is not in support of a Doctorial
level degree. As a Masters thesis, I suspect that his University
advisors were more interested in the quality of the research process
and documentation of his study than the results or findings of his
study. The papers describe his work in enough detail that others could
conduct similar test to see if Kuzmin's results can be replicated
over a wider range of conditions.

Until other researchers prove otherwise, I intend to keep waxing
because it seems to work for me.

Still waxing,
Edgar