WPS

We've got a great little 50k race in Mancelona, MI that was contested
saturday. You might want to put it on your race calendar in the
future. Very well run. As J Potter might say, it has good ski culture
too.

I met sometime RSN poster Dan Teed - Hi Dan

The weird thing was he was on Ski Trabs, I skied mine, Dan's friend
Debbie Mizikowski rode her Trabs into 2nd place overall female 50k FS,
and 3rd overall Jim Samuels may have also been on his SkiTrabs.
Several Trabs, going well. It's just kinda weird having this boutique
type of ski, if you will, and seeing more of them.

Unfortunately, I stopped paying attention to the weather after we
jumped in the car friday, and I was pretty surprised to have the temps
drop from just below 20F to 10F AFTER the start ! That had not been
the call. It had been supposed to cool off much later in the day.

Ski testing before the race, I selected my warmest pair with FastWax
HFTan (12 to 28F) + Dr D's fluoro powder on top. This was a shade
quicker than Rex Blue, HFGreen & straight HFTan, none of which would
have been wrong. I must say, I wish I had know about the weather.
HFGreen felt equally greasy. With the dropped temps, that would have
been the ticket. I was concerned with slightly rising temps, and I
knew I was at the warm limit already with the HFGreen (5 to 15F) so I
put them back in the bag. Still, I was happy, and my skis were at
their best when we were at high speed, going Flat Out Flying in my
favorite move, the Open Field. I was surprised that the fluoro powder
was still fast in temps that cold. The snow was behaving like cold
snow the whole time. I will be a little more liberal in considering
the crack into the teens. Oh - Janne - great durability - no base
whitening thru 50km's !

It's a very fun race thru a beautiful trail that is groomed once a
year just for this race. Lotsa woods, and a little too much golf
course skiing for my liking but GC's are all over in Michigan now, so
that is life. The GC's are where some of the more intense climbs are.
Longer climbs are in long winding gulches in the trees.

The Whitepine Stampede on saturday was a truly great
event...definately something to put on the race calender for next
year. The course was pretty amazing. It did have some GC parts, but
it also had perfectly groomed portions through dense pine forests,
over wooden bridges that crossed flowing trout streams, and some good
hills from one of the downhill areas.

On top of that, I got to meet some great people. The volunteers at
the race were always on top of things, and really encouraging. Having
a chance to meet and talk to Dell was also great. What Dell didn't
mention in his post is that despite difficult wax conditions, he
finished in the top 30....great job, Dell!

I also got a chance to meet Bob and Lynne Frye from the Cross Country
Ski Headquarters....amazing people, and a terrific set-up in
Roscommon. Everything from the shop to the trails to the gracious
hospitality. I can't wait until next year!

All that and clear roads for 500 miles made it a worthwhile trip.


(Dell Todd) wrote in message om...
We've got a great little 50k race in Mancelona, MI that was contested
saturday. You might want to put it on your race calendar in the
future. Very well run. As J Potter might say, it has good ski culture
too.

I met sometime RSN poster Dan Teed - Hi Dan

The weird thing was he was on Ski Trabs, I skied mine, Dan's friend
Debbie Mizikowski rode her Trabs into 2nd place overall female 50k FS,
and 3rd overall Jim Samuels may have also been on his SkiTrabs.
Several Trabs, going well. It's just kinda weird having this boutique
type of ski, if you will, and seeing more of them.

Unfortunately, I stopped paying attention to the weather after we
jumped in the car friday, and I was pretty surprised to have the temps
drop from just below 20F to 10F AFTER the start ! That had not been
the call. It had been supposed to cool off much later in the day.

Ski testing before the race, I selected my warmest pair with FastWax
HFTan (12 to 28F) + Dr D's fluoro powder on top. This was a shade
quicker than Rex Blue, HFGreen & straight HFTan, none of which would
have been wrong. I must say, I wish I had know about the weather.
HFGreen felt equally greasy. With the dropped temps, that would have
been the ticket. I was concerned with slightly rising temps, and I
knew I was at the warm limit already with the HFGreen (5 to 15F) so I
put them back in the bag. Still, I was happy, and my skis were at
their best when we were at high speed, going Flat Out Flying in my
favorite move, the Open Field. I was surprised that the fluoro powder
was still fast in temps that cold. The snow was behaving like cold
snow the whole time. I will be a little more liberal in considering
the crack into the teens. Oh - Janne - great durability - no base
whitening thru 50km's !

It's a very fun race thru a beautiful trail that is groomed once a
year just for this race. Lotsa woods, and a little too much golf
course skiing for my liking but GC's are all over in Michigan now, so
that is life. The GC's are where some of the more intense climbs are.
Longer climbs are in long winding gulches in the trees.

The Whitepine Stampede on saturday was a truly great
event...definately something to put on the race calender for next
year. The course was pretty amazing. It did have some GC parts, but
it also had perfectly groomed portions through dense pine forests,
over wooden bridges that crossed flowing trout streams, and some good
hills from one of the downhill areas.

On top of that, I got to meet some great people. The volunteers at
the race were always on top of things, and really encouraging. Having
a chance to meet and talk to Dell was also great. What Dell didn't
mention in his post is that despite difficult wax conditions, he
finished in the top 30....great job, Dell!

I also got a chance to meet Bob and Lynne Frye from the Cross Country
Ski Headquarters....amazing people, and a terrific set-up in
Roscommon. Everything from the shop to the trails to the gracious
hospitality. I can't wait until next year!

All that and clear roads for 500 miles made it a worthwhile trip.


(Dell Todd) wrote in message om...
We've got a great little 50k race in Mancelona, MI that was contested
saturday. You might want to put it on your race calendar in the
future. Very well run. As J Potter might say, it has good ski culture
too.

I met sometime RSN poster Dan Teed - Hi Dan

The weird thing was he was on Ski Trabs, I skied mine, Dan's friend
Debbie Mizikowski rode her Trabs into 2nd place overall female 50k FS,
and 3rd overall Jim Samuels may have also been on his SkiTrabs.
Several Trabs, going well. It's just kinda weird having this boutique
type of ski, if you will, and seeing more of them.

Unfortunately, I stopped paying attention to the weather after we
jumped in the car friday, and I was pretty surprised to have the temps
drop from just below 20F to 10F AFTER the start ! That had not been
the call. It had been supposed to cool off much later in the day.

Ski testing before the race, I selected my warmest pair with FastWax
HFTan (12 to 28F) + Dr D's fluoro powder on top. This was a shade
quicker than Rex Blue, HFGreen & straight HFTan, none of which would
have been wrong. I must say, I wish I had know about the weather.
HFGreen felt equally greasy. With the dropped temps, that would have
been the ticket. I was concerned with slightly rising temps, and I
knew I was at the warm limit already with the HFGreen (5 to 15F) so I
put them back in the bag. Still, I was happy, and my skis were at
their best when we were at high speed, going Flat Out Flying in my
favorite move, the Open Field. I was surprised that the fluoro powder
was still fast in temps that cold. The snow was behaving like cold
snow the whole time. I will be a little more liberal in considering
the crack into the teens. Oh - Janne - great durability - no base
whitening thru 50km's !

It's a very fun race thru a beautiful trail that is groomed once a
year just for this race. Lotsa woods, and a little too much golf
course skiing for my liking but GC's are all over in Michigan now, so
that is life. The GC's are where some of the more intense climbs are.
Longer climbs are in long winding gulches in the trees.