Good XC ski how-to book, media?

Any good thorough xc how-to books out there? Entry thru advanced,
even.

I just checked out of the library:

Cazeneuve
Petersen
Moynier

They're a bit dated but the technique couldn't be.

The main problem is that they seem really BAD.

Bad errors, bad approaches, bad graphics stem to stern.

It looks like Caldwell gave up his franchise years ago. I've checked
out a more recent edition but don't have it yet. I recall his book
being solid.

Some of the vids I've seen seem too advanced tho they supposedly start
out with the basics.

I checked out a bunch of YouTubes. One seems good for beginners, if
incomplete: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3Vue10ItXg. Really, all
the others seem awkward and more incomplete. I'd like to make one
myself!

--JP

For classical skiing you could do worse than Borowski's Ski Faster,
Easier. His skate books are so so. Pretty hard to learn skiing from a
book. Watching videos is much better, if one has a learning style that
cues well off that sort of thing.

Gene

jeff potter wrote:

Any good thorough xc how-to books out there? Entry thru advanced,
even.

I just checked out of the library:

Cazeneuve
Petersen
Moynier

They're a bit dated but the technique couldn't be.

The main problem is that they seem really BAD.

Bad errors, bad approaches, bad graphics stem to stern.

It looks like Caldwell gave up his franchise years ago. I've checked
out a more recent edition but don't have it yet. I recall his book
being solid.

Some of the vids I've seen seem too advanced tho they supposedly start
out with the basics.

I checked out a bunch of YouTubes. One seems good for beginners, if
incomplete: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3Vue10ItXg. Really, all
the others seem awkward and more incomplete. I'd like to make one
myself!

--JP

Lee's books weren't in our huge (statewide) library system. Too bad.

My hunch is that these would be detailed perfection-dynamics books for
racers looking for both fundamentals and to improve their edge and who
aren't intimidated by technical bio-analysis.

Or am I wrong?

Does he do a good beginner's start-out section for the average tourist
who still wants to ski nicely?

As I mentioned, I found some decent high-end info out there but it was
shy on giving what a newbie could comprehend.

I'm waiting for a copy of Caldwell's latest (before he called it a
day) to come in. I wonder how it compares.

I agree that book-larnin' is tough and no replacement for lessons, but
there's a role.

I was shocked at how bad the existing material was. But I haven't
found anything newer than the mid-90's. For beginners.

I'm talking these are books that could not have given someone an idea
of what to do. And they had blatant errors galore. Lots of pics of V1
skating labeled as "this is herringbone." Or a pic of a NNN boot
saying "here's a 3-pin boot." Hilarious stuff.

My hunch is that the overall vibe would be offputting, but maybe I'm
wrong. I hope so! I could see how a mish-mash might still end up with
an alluring enough message to provoke someone to the next level, to
lessons and reality!

Some parts of the books had interesting writing, I note. But overall:
mishmash. Toss-off's. Yet there was some work done on Cazeneuve's
anyway. People working away. Graphic artists diagraming technique in
ways that would be hugely painful to imitate. It's all just not very
coherent. Maybe newer editions are better. But skiing deserved quality
in 1995 as well...

On Feb 5, 9:31*am, wrote:
For classical skiing you could do worse than Borowski's Ski Faster,
Easier. *His skate books are so so. *Pretty hard to learn skiing from a
book. *Watching videos is much better, if one has a learning style that
cues well off that sort of thing.

Gene

jeff potter wrote:
Any good thorough xc how-to books out there? Entry thru advanced,
even.

I just checked out of the library:

Cazeneuve
Petersen
Moynier

They're a bit dated but the technique couldn't be.

The main problem is that they seem really BAD.

Bad errors, bad approaches, bad graphics stem to stern.

It looks like Caldwell gave up his franchise years ago. I've checked
out a more recent edition but don't have it yet. I recall his book
being solid.

Some of the vids I've seen seem too advanced tho they supposedly start
out with the basics.

I checked out a bunch of YouTubes. One seems good for beginners, if
incomplete:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3Vue10ItXg. Really, all
the others seem awkward and more incomplete. I'd like to make one
myself!

--JP

On Thu, 5 Feb 2009 05:37:29 -0800 (PST), jeff potter
wrote:

Any good thorough xc how-to books out there? Entry thru advanced,
even.

I just checked out of the library:

Cazeneuve
Petersen
Moynier

Steve Hindman's book.

Also perhaps Gillette and Dostal.

On Feb 5, 9:23*am, jeff potter wrote:
Lee's books weren't in our huge (statewide) library system. Too bad.

My hunch is that these would be detailed perfection-dynamics books for
racers looking for both fundamentals and to improve their edge and who
aren't intimidated by technical bio-analysis.

Or am I wrong?

Does he do a good beginner's start-out section for the average tourist
who still wants to ski nicely?

As I mentioned, I found some decent high-end info out there but it was
shy on giving what a newbie could comprehend.

I'm waiting for a copy of Caldwell's latest (before he called it a
day) to come in. I wonder how it compares.

I agree that book-larnin' is tough and no replacement for lessons, but
there's a role.

I was shocked at how bad the existing material was. But I haven't
found anything newer than the mid-90's. For beginners.

I'm talking these are books that could not have given someone an idea
of what to do. And they had blatant errors galore. Lots of pics of V1
skating labeled as "this is herringbone." Or a pic of a NNN boot
saying "here's a 3-pin boot." Hilarious stuff.

My hunch is that the overall vibe would be offputting, but maybe I'm
wrong. I hope so! I could see how a mish-mash might still end up with
an alluring enough message to provoke someone to the next level, to
lessons and reality!

Some parts of the books had interesting writing, I note. But overall:
mishmash. Toss-off's. Yet there was some work done on Cazeneuve's
anyway. People working away. Graphic artists diagraming technique in
ways that would be hugely painful to imitate. It's all just not very
coherent. Maybe newer editions are better. But skiing deserved quality
in 1995 as well...

On Feb 5, 9:31*am, wrote:

For classical skiing you could do worse than Borowski's Ski Faster,
Easier. *His skate books are so so. *Pretty hard to learn skiing from a
book. *Watching videos is much better, if one has a learning style that
cues well off that sort of thing.

Gene

jeff potter wrote:
Any good thorough xc how-to books out there? Entry thru advanced,
even.

I just checked out of the library:

Cazeneuve
Petersen
Moynier

They're a bit dated but the technique couldn't be.

The main problem is that they seem really BAD.

Bad errors, bad approaches, bad graphics stem to stern.

It looks like Caldwell gave up his franchise years ago. I've checked
out a more recent edition but don't have it yet. I recall his book
being solid.

Some of the vids I've seen seem too advanced tho they supposedly start
out with the basics.

I checked out a bunch of YouTubes. One seems good for beginners, if
incomplete:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3Vue10ItXg. Really, all
the others seem awkward and more incomplete. I'd like to make one
myself!

--JP

It probably comes down to - who the author to be trustworthy? What
should his/her credentials be? Would translating a book from
Norwegian, Swedish, Suomi, or Russian work? People get Ph Ds in XC
skiing there, that must be worth something.

I have a Russian book on XC ski technique by a "Professor of Sports"
specializing in XC. Extremely dry, but very detailed and compulsive.

On Thu, 5 Feb 2009 18:46:59 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:



It probably comes down to - who the author to be trustworthy? What
should his/her credentials be? Would translating a book from
Norwegian, Swedish, Suomi, or Russian work? People get Ph Ds in XC
skiing there, that must be worth something.

That reminds me of a good book in English by a Norwegian, who I think
wrote all or part of it in that language first:, _Cross County
Skiing_ by Sindre Bergen with Bob O'Connor.

jeff potter wrote:
Some of the vids I've seen seem too advanced tho they supposedly start
out with the basics.

I checked out a bunch of YouTubes. One seems good for beginners, if
incomplete:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3Vue10ItXg. Really, all
the others seem awkward and more incomplete.

This series looks like it would be good for beginners. She has really
crisp technique, and she is a good instructor.

http://community.adn.com/mini_apps/v...D=1754917&GID=

On Feb 6, 8:02*am, Andrew Lee wrote:

This series looks like it would be good for beginners. *She has really
crisp technique, and she is a good instructor.

http://community.adn.com/mini_apps/v...D=1754917&GID=

It has often been said that there's nothing more difficult to teach
than teaching the basics of any skill to beginners, but here IMHO she
does seem to be doing a very good job of putting the really important
points - or the single most important point - across in a way that is
both immediately accessible and that shouldn't be far too easy to get
wrong (without close-up personal coaching) so that learning the
slightly less important points later become unnecessarily difficult.

(The fact that she doesn't appear, how you say, jarring or like a
kindergarten teacher also helps.)


Anders

PS it seems she would easily outski or outrun me as well:
http://www.athleta.net/chi/featured-.../holly-brooks/

(Doesn't say if she's married, though.)

Andrew Lee wrote:
This series looks like it would be good for beginners. She has really
crisp technique, and she is a good instructor.

http://community.adn.com/mini_apps/v...D=1754917&GID=

I like it!

Her classic stride could use a bit more leg extension (she never
straighten her knee at the end of the kick), but she emphasizes all the
right things.

When skating, her V2 is a lot smoother than mine. :-)

Terje

--
- Terje.Mathisen at tmsw.no
"almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"

On Feb 5, 7:37*am, jeff potter wrote:
Any good thorough xc how-to books out there? Entry thru advanced,

I found on-snow lessons to be the best, but they surely depend on the
instructor. If that's not possible or practical, I like Gene found
video to be much more effective than reading. Steve Gaskill and the
old "Team Birkie" group made several solid tapes in the early 1990's
that started with basics , included exercises, and emphasised smooth
balanced technique. I recall one called "Gliding Along." Others
covered V1, V2, etc.
BE