*See, for
instance, Dick Taylor's commentaries at fasterskier.com.


Thanks very much--just read the first of his articles and immediately
got that "I'm not alone in the world" feeling. I really like how he
ties the whole new skate business to issues of character--i.e., young
elite skiers who are still able to think independently see through
parts of the B.S. that don't work for them.

At the place I ski, it's just plain sad to see people who aren't even
at the stage of being able to balance properly on one ski, doing
drills with poles on their shoulders, trying not to rotate their upper
bodies at all.

It's scary how half-baked ideas quickly become conventional wisdom
(and as Taylor points out, make it into official teaching manuals)--I
had always thought xc skiers were too independent to get sucked into
stuff like that. But I guess, to be honest, even 10 or 20 years ago,
there was the hot new wax or brush we all had to get...

Jon