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Weather forecast from the National Weather Service:
Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around -9. North wind around 5 mph.
Friday: Sunny, with a high near 33. North wind between 5 and 10 mph.
Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around -2. North wind around 10 mph.
Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 34. North wind around 10 mph, with gusts as high as 15 mph.
Race time temperatures look to follow this curve: 8:00-1F, 9:00-7F, 10:00-13F, 11:00-20F, Noon-25F, 1:00-29F, 2:00-31F
Discussion:
It is important to pay attention to the weather curve above, as the days highs will come long after most people have finished racing. With overnight lows in the negative digits, we are talking about cold snow, but it will be fast. The biggest factor is to harden up your bases with hard underlayers to increase durability. This will be a lot of km’s of abrasion on the skis, the hardest underlayers will be the best.
We tested all of our favorite paraffin waxes this AM, please see the attached sheet for data from that test.
Wax Recommendation
Glide-
Get as many hard underlayers in your skis as possible. The hardest would be SkiGo LF Graphite and Start Graphite. Another choicewould be Toko LF Moly. Make sure to brush these extremely well with a fine steel, bronze, or copper brush. For HF waxes we think the best choices will be Holmenkol Matrix Blue or SkiGo HF Violet, as these won our test today. Swix HF4BD would also be a good choice. Toko HF Blue was just a touch back in our test today but will be in the mix. Pure fluoro’s will probably be needed for durability and speed. We think that the best choices are likely to be SkiGo C105, Holmenkol Cold, Swix FC7, Solda HP05, Holmenkol Mid 08, and Start Green/Toko X-Cold mixed 1:1.
We will be testing topcoats in the AM tomorrow and will have results posted online and our store in Cable by Friday at 11 AM, check in with us there, or reach us locally at 715.798.3200, email birkie@bouldernordic.com
Kick:
Binder is necessary, we like Rode Black binder or Toko Green binder. Iron in, let cool, and then cork lightly. Top with SkiGo HF Blue kick wax, up to six layers and be ready to adjust in the morning.
Test Results-2/25/10
Underlayers
Wax, 1, 2, 3 ,Avg
Holm Matrix Blue, 11.74, 11.55, 11.48, 11.59
SkiGo HF Violet ,11.91, 11.57, 11.32, 11.60
Solda Green, 11.99, 11.65, 11.47, 11.70
Toko HF Blue, 12.17, 11.55, 11.45, 11.72
Holm Matrix Green 11.75 11,76 11.69 11.73
Swix HF6 12.23 11.88 11.81 11.97
Discussion: Testing this morning was very accurate to what the race will be like. The track was cold but very consistent and fast. We cannot stress enough how important it is to have a very hard underlayer underneath everything to increase durability and harden the bases up for this 54km race. We like SkiGo LF or XC Graphite the best as it is very hard but we think Start Graphite would be a good choice as well. The harder the better on the underlayer and multiple coats is a very good idea.
We found that Holmenkol Matrix Blue is testing the best, with SkiGo HF Violet second. Toko HF Blue was our third in the test, because it felt a lot better than the Solda Green outside of the trap and climbing. In fairness, we tested HF6 because it was on the Swix recommendation until this morning, but we think HF4 would be a much better choice. Swix did change their rec this morning to reflect this and we agree wholeheartedly.
We will topcoat test at race time tomorrow morning and get those results out. Things we think will be running well: Swix FC7, SkiGo C105, Holmenkol Mid 08 and Cold, and Solda HP05 and HP06.
Look for us in Cable across from the BP station on the corner of Hwy 63 and M, physical address of 13270 Cable Sunset Road. Reach us by phone at 715.798.3200 or via email at birkie@bouldernordic.com
