herringbone skate: why is it a shame?

I've never seen WC class racers going uphill using herring bone skate,
even up brutal hills, even when (seemingly) bonking. (Allright,
actually, I've seen a Chinese woman doing that in one race, but she
was also doing many funny things a WC racer is not supposed to do).
Personally I've also never used HBS in any race; if I would see
anyone switching to herringbone skate on a hill in front of me, I
would immeadiately try to pass that person, since to me that's is a
sign of bonking. Even when bonking myself I preferred suffering in V1
rather than switching to skate herringbone.

But... As I am getting wimpier, or older, or both, I am starting to
realize that skate herringbone is great when you feel tired, or when
the snow is slow. What's funny, I don't find it to be much slower than
V1, while it seems to require much less effort! Or is my V1 so bad?

Question: why is it considered a shame among racers to herringbone
skate then?

Andrey.

Actually in a recent article in Master Skier magazine, I think I remember
Vordenberg saying that single-poling on each side was a good idea for
surviving a steep hill if you weren't strong enough to handle it with V1
offset skate.

I tried it on a steep hill with deep soft snow a week ago, but it didn't
seem to help, so I went back to V1.
Maybe herringbone skate is better for firm snow?

Andrey asked:
Question: why is it considered a shame
among racers to herringbone skate then?

At the elite level I assume it's not "shame". Just that all the World Cup
racers have awesomely strong abdominal and back muscles. The double-pole
push in V1 offset allows them to use those muscles effectively. The
single-pole pushes in herringbone skate do not.

Ken

I recall seeing (on video) the likes of Gunde Swan, Vladimir Smirnoff, and Bill
Koch herringbone up a wall in Biwabik during their World Cup skate race back in
'86, but I think that was the last time!

jw
milwaukee

There's a guy around here that regularly makes the "open competative" of NY
State's Empire State Games. He regualrly skates with a single stick, even in
areas that aren't real steep. Looks weird. Works for him. I need to practice
it more. Tried it a few days ago behind another skier doing it, and couldn't
get it down.

I seem to remember some women in the WC holding on to single stick - maybe
Canmore Olympics.

Gary Jacobson
Rosendale, NY 6 inches with ice pellets coming down now.

"J999w" wrote in message
...
I recall seeing (on video) the likes of Gunde Swan, Vladimir Smirnoff, and
Bill
Koch herringbone up a wall in Biwabik during their World Cup skate race
back in
'86, but I think that was the last time!

jw
milwaukee

(J999w) wrote in message ...
I recall seeing (on video) the likes of Gunde Swan, Vladimir Smirnoff, and Bill
Koch herringbone up a wall in Biwabik during their World Cup skate race back in
'86, but I think that was the last time!

jw
milwaukee

I think the reason that it isnt used is that it is less efficent than
the V1. I mean they really dont care how it looks, just what goes the
best.
-laxer

I think part of the reason you never see top skiers doing herringbone skate
is that they are SO much fitter than most of us can even imagine.
Herringbone skate is easier for most of us than V1 on steep hills because
our legs are stronger and fitter than our upper bodies; herringbone skate
relies more on leg strength than arm strength, while V1 requires much more
upper body strength. My own sense of why I am not a great racer is that I
don't have nearly the upper body strength of many of those I see fly by me,
especially at the end of races. I remember at the end of Keskinada 50 k
classic a few years ago, being passed by a number of people on the
double-pole instensive parkways near the end, but catching them going up the
final hills, where you actually had to start kicking again. My arms were
utterly toast by about 40k, and if I'd been skating, I would definitely have
resorted to herringbone. WC racers don't have to make such adjustments for
lack of fitness/ strength, and so don't need to herringbone.

Onno Oerlemans


"revyakin" wrote in message
om...
I've never seen WC class racers going uphill using herring bone skate,
even up brutal hills, even when (seemingly) bonking. (Allright,
actually, I've seen a Chinese woman doing that in one race, but she
was also doing many funny things a WC racer is not supposed to do).
Personally I've also never used HBS in any race; if I would see
anyone switching to herringbone skate on a hill in front of me, I
would immeadiately try to pass that person, since to me that's is a
sign of bonking. Even when bonking myself I preferred suffering in V1
rather than switching to skate herringbone.

But... As I am getting wimpier, or older, or both, I am starting to
realize that skate herringbone is great when you feel tired, or when
the snow is slow. What's funny, I don't find it to be much slower than
V1, while it seems to require much less effort! Or is my V1 so bad?

Question: why is it considered a shame among racers to herringbone
skate then?

Andrey.