…that is so varied…
In thousands of homes live many, many ski racers. Some are better than others. Some may be better than the rest. And also we have those that don’t care if they are any good at all. Some are good even without caring if they are good, and can be called “irritatingly good.”
Some believe they are better than they are, while many hope to be just as good as their best friend or their biggest idol.
But, common to all that are confirmed to be “born wearing skis” is that it’s hard to take them off again…and it has nothing to do with a goofy binding system.
Those Poor swimmers!
“I ski because there isn’t a sport that can give me more than skiing. It is dynamic, challenging, and extremely social,” insists Tord Asle Gjerdalen.
Gerdalen is of the type that is “maybe better than the rest,” but also a committed fan of all that the cross country sport has to offer.
“Think about the swimmers. They train just like us, around five hours a day. Everything is focused around a championship. But swimming athletes are not that social,” says the racer from Holeværingen, and continues to boast about the Norwegian national sport.
“We have touring races in all the different classes. They are organized almost every weekend over the entire country. And I hope one day it will become like that everywhere. This is a lot of my motivation,” he explains to langrenn.com, and of course adds that being on the national team and competing at the top level is extremely important as well.
A Sport with Depth
He hopes at the same time that he won’t give up totally give up his skis on the day that things really begin to take a dive.
“There are so many ski racers in Norge. Many of them trail by only a few seconds, but struggle taking that last step. You can go like that for 10-15 years before you finally break through, or calm down a little and begin to do longer touring races in stead. There’s talk of a lot of racers that fall into this category. It says a lot about our sport,” explains this saved skier.
“love, love, love it and think about our poles and skis, tonight when we sink into dreams of good glide…”
Time for a tribute to the cross country sport that embraces so many. May our love for it never die.
