What I (think I) learned about kick waxing this weekend

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Hi All-
I guess I'm doing a lot of posts today-- see what happens when I finally get to go skiing?
Anyway, I did a 10K classic race this weekend at Soldier Hollow, and I think I learned something about kick waxing. I just wanted to run it out there and get some feed back before I delude myself further.

The snow at Soldier hollow is a firm base of man-made snow, however, they got about 1/2 inch of fresh snow on top of that overnight before the race. I waxed perfectly for the conditions at 9:00 AM: a _thin_ layer of Toko multi-viola klister, bases cooled, then a layer of Toko dark red hard wax applied over the top (to protect the klister from those pesky snow crystals). And the skis went great. Until the sun came out just before the start at 11:00. That, and I realized that 150 racers doing 4 laps around the course were going to pretty quickly take the snow crystals out of the equation, and make it a pure klister skiing experience.

So, the usual pre-race wax changing panic ensued. I quickly borrowed a tube of Swix universal klister, and put it on for a length of about 8-9" , centered on the binding.

And had NO kick, but a little bit of grab on the glide. On the bright side, I had a great arm workout dragging my sorry butt around the course 4 times.

So here's what I think happened: I applied the klister too far forward. That 8-9" should have been right under my foot, running from heel to toe. I noticed that the only way I could get any kick (off of what seemed to be the ball of my foot), was by extending my arms (and the rest of my body) waaaaay forward (almost a frankenstein walk, if you're looking for a mental picture).

So, lesson #1: Think about the effects of time, temperature, and hundreds of feet on that layer of snow over the ice. Lesson #2: your kick zone is centered under your FOOT, not your BINDING (which is actually a little forward of your toe).

anyone care to comment?

Chris
SLC, UT


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DIVHi All-/DIV
DIVI guess I'm doing a lot of posts today-- see what happens when I finally get to go skiing?/DIV
DIVAnyway, I did a 10K classic race this weekend at Soldier Hollow, and I think I learned something about kick waxing.  I just wanted to run it out there and get some feed back before I delude myself further./DIV
DIV /DIV
DIVThe snow at Soldier hollow is a firm base of man-made snow, however, they got about 1/2 inch of fresh snow on top of that overnight before the race.  I waxed perfectly for the conditions at 9:00 AM:  a _thin_ layer of Toko multi-viola klister, bases cooled, then a layer of Toko dark red hard wax applied over the top (to protect the klister from those pesky snow crystals).  And the skis went great.  Until the sun came out just before the start at 11:00.  That, and I realized that 150 racers doing 4 laps around the course were going to pretty quickly take the snow crystals out of the equation, and make it a pure klister skiing experience./DIV
DIV /DIV
DIVSo, the usual pre-race wax changing panic ensued.  I quickly borrowed a tube of Swix universal klister, and put it on for a length of about 8-9" , centered on the binding./DIV
DIV /DIV
DIVAnd had NO kick, but a little bit of grab on the glide.  On the bright side, I had a great arm workout dragging my sorry butt around the course 4 times./DIV
DIV /DIV
DIVSo here's what I think happened:  I applied the klister too far forward.  That 8-9" should have been right under my foot, running from heel to toe.  I noticed that the only way I could get any kick (off of what seemed to be the ball of my foot), was by extending my arms (and the rest of my body) waaaaay forward (almost a frankenstein walk, if you're looking for a mental picture)./DIV
DIV /DIV
DIVSo, lesson #1:  Think about the effects of time, temperature, and hundreds of feet on that layer of snow over the ice.  Lesson #2:  your kick zone is centered under your FOOT, not your BINDING (which is actually a little forward of your toe)./DIV
DIV /DIV
DIVanyone care to comment?/DIV
DIV /DIV
DIVChris/DIV
DIVSLC, UT/DIVphr SIZE=1
Do you Yahoo!?br
a href="http://pa.yahoo.com/*http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=21260/*http://photos.yahoo.com"New Yahoo! Photos - easier uploading and sharing/a
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