same wax policy

Then would not allowing ANY wax level the field a bit more?
Does a skier NEED wax to complete a race? Skis are made of the more slippery material of them all, dozens of thousands don't even skis their skis, and glide just fine. Wax may be faster for race distances, but does that make it a necessity?

As a tall and not exactly featherweight fellow, I feel disadvantaged being unable to get skating skis even matching on my own height, where others have skis up to or over 15cm longer than themselves. My skis put greater pressure on the snow. I'd buy bigger skis, but those aren't even made. The way I see is, ski size range now is more like 4 flavors of "Medium", with stiffness variance making them pass for lighter and taller than average skiers. Hopefully less of an issue for juniors, they can just get adult skis.

Wax is not just for speed, it helps keep the bases from becoming
damaged over time. So I would disagree with Jan about having races
without any wax. I think a single wax policy is quite intriguing and
would really level the field when you're looking at elite skiers
trying to qualify for a higher level like the olympics. That way you
know you're taking the best skiers and not just the person who got
lucky on the wax that day (plus, they'll have wax technicians at those
higher levels). In general, though, I think waxing is a fine art that
takes years to gain adequate knowledge about. Most races should
remain "dealer's choice" to allow people to creatively work on ways to
work "with" the snow. That is as much a part of skiing as the
endurance, strength, or technique aspects.

More towards Jan's point about not being able to buy skis that fit: I
think if you looked at a good, large ski shop, they could fit you. We
have places like Boulder Nordic Sport that have hundreds of pairs and
I'd be awfully surprised if they couldn't find a pair that was flexed
right for you. You may not have similar shops in the netherlands, but
I'm sure in some of the scandinavian countries north of you they'd be
able to find something for you.

On Dec 11, 9:31*pm, Jon wrote:


What about the idea that wax is third in importance, behind flex and
structure, for ski speed. *True or propaganda?

Relatively true for classic (where a fortunate choice of grip wax can
in some conditions make it your day even when you don't have the
perfect pair of skis in your quiver) and absolutely true for skating.

In other words, the USBA has made an honorable effort to level the
playing field and to rule out the perhaps most obvious "non-athletic
factor", but some biathletes will still have a "more equal" pair of
ski than others (either because they have more pairs to choose from or
because they, their coaches and/or servicemen are better or luckier at
it).

OTOH if the USBA brought in a container full of factory new skis
(kindly provided by a sponsor) and each biathlete would receiver a
randomly chosen pair out of a number of skis that "should" fit someone
of his size and have the same theoretical flex etc, it would perhaps
be another big step towards creating "the most fair conditions"...


Anders

To be more specific:
How much does one lose per hour WITHOUT any wax, just a general brush-only job, compared to an OK basic wax job any bozo can apply with simple tools?

From my limited experience (having been helped waxing by guys who generally have killer fast race skis) I can hardly tell the difference. Especially on fresh snow, my never-waxed pair performs marvelously.
Does wax really protect P-tex from scratching DURING skiing? I'd love to read data on that.

Does anyone but the wax industry really NEED wax?

Jan Gerrit Klok wrote:
Hi All,

I need to get some snow, NOW. Seems snow depth is pretty variant from
village to village.
I can fly to pretty much any airport, anything Austria, Switzerland,
Italy.
I'll fly to Prague and such if you give me reason to. Oslo...seems
complex to me, and tad pricey. Love to be there though, I'm a guy
alone, 33.

Fly to Oslo, then get on a bus to Rjukan and Rauland Høgfjellshotell:

Conditions are possibly the best of anywhere in Norway, they have 100+
(claim 130 of 150) km of skating tracks set, with 1m of snow cover.

Check via http://visitrauland.com/ (norwegian only, sorry), or email the
tourist office directly:

or one of the personal email addresses on their
contact page:

http://www.visitrauland.com/Kontakt-oss

We are going to stay nearby, in our cabin, for the next two+ weeks. :-)

The only real problems are (a) it takes about 4 hours to get from the
airport to Rauland, and (b) most hotels might be full. :-(

Terje

Munich is too expensive. Night trains pretty much a no-go for me (been
there, done that).
Seefeld in Tirol is ultra easy to get to via Innsbruck airport (deadly
boring geezer region, zero nice girls), but only 14km skating tracks
today :-( On good snow days, it's a great place to be though.

Anyone have tips for easy to reach places with nice skate kms?
Davos is great, 2 hours train from Zurich, but lodging is a bit
pricey.

Bonus points for nice race tracks. Seefeld barely qualifies for that,
the stadium is mostly closed. Ramsau was fun though.

Thanks for your tips!

Greatest regards,

J from Holland (expecting snow somewhere in the country this night, but
betting it will melt away before my workday is over to go and find it)






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