Web Team Doings

FasterSkierMarch 5, 2010

One of the great things about my job is that I get to hang out with and correspond with a group of active people who really add spice to life. Here are a few examples of what members of the WebSkis Team have been up to recently.br /br /Pat Lanin br /br /I took an hiatus from the Birke, and did the Korteloppet (a measley 23 km) classic. I did the same event two years ago under similar conditions, and was 6 minutes faster this year. Two years ago I won my age group, this year Marty Hall showed up and gave me a ski lesson, beating me by ten minutes!br /This is the first time that Marty has beaten me. br /br /On the glide I had Violet F15, covered with Power Jet 2, and a top coat of S-20. On the kick I had Swix VG 35 binder, covered with a very thin layer of Rex Power Grip Blue, and 4 layers of Rode Special Blue over. The kick was great, except for some of the South facing slopes in the last 2 km…even then not bad. I think the glide may have been compromised a bit, by a slight over kill on the kick. None the less, I still had great glide, and was out running about 80% of those around me. The temp was +10 F at the start and +21 F at the finish, a bit over an hour and a half later. The track and the snow was pristine. A fantastic day, all in all, Mr. Hall notwithstanding.br /br /Byron Roebr /Wendy and I were up at the Olympics where there was no skiing-OK, not withinbr /2 hours anyways. But we do have some cool stories and images though….br /br /Aaron Tarnowbr /Par for the Course II at Mt Bachelorbr /br /Skied on UF7, F40 Red, PJ1 Skies where a bit slow first lap, I think do to too much structure in base. By second lap skis where very fast on the up hill. I think good overall wax choice, wrong ski choice.br /br /Dave Knoopbr /Another year another Birkie. br / Skis were dang fast, could take a break for water or gels and easily pull my group back in a tuck down the next hill. br / Conditions were cold and blue! Probably about 5f air temp at the start warming to about 20f by the end. br /Hard track, old snow and little humidity. Pretty sure that snow never warmed up. br / br /Wax Used:br /A base layer of black carbon for durability on old abrasive snow. br /Then Solda F15 Blue. A layer of Solda S20 then another layer of Solda S30 to harden the base. br / Put Solda HP05-S30 50/50 on as top layer. br /Grind was a cold fine grind with a little structure in it, i.e. Nordic Ultratune 615b grind. br /Ski’s: an old pair of Rossi’s circa 2006 yet they had plenty of attitude or stiff flex. br / br /Result: 113th overall, 3rd in old guys division. br / br /Post race beer was Beck’s. br /br /Mark Nienstaedtbr / I skied well from start to finish in the Birkie Classic yesterday on good skis. For the third year running, I’ve made it into the top five of the 55-59 age group (187 strong this year) with a fourth place, 99th of 1,429 overall. Very fast conditions. 2:28:39.4 for the winner and 3:07:56.6 for yours truly, a half hour faster than last year. Ironically, the sting of missing an age group trophy by a place was reduced considerably by the fact that the 3rd place spot when to my good friend, training, and travel partner Jim Agre, a serious guy who flew out of the Twin Cities for Sweden hours after his finish headed for the original Vasaloppet. br / My skis were good (you have the technical wax description already) but I’m always ready to learn more. I spoke to some Stevens Point, WI, skate skiers after the race (they saw my SOLDA/Webskis vest) who enthused about having used warm Fluor 100 successfully. I also know a good master skate skier who I race compatibly with who turned in a 2:31 skate race on a SWIX pure warm powdered fluor pair of skis. He had tested both a cold fluor and the warm fluor pair of skis pre-race and picked the warm fluor skis as fastest. This despite that the announcers noted the air temperature was minus 3 degrees as we lined up for our 8 a.m. start (just about as forecast). The snow was a bit squeaky and definitely abrasive. What else have you heard? What accounts for warm fluor success?br / Thanks for your support. I ski a local “Lakeland Loppet” 25km skate at Minocqua, WI, Winterpark next Saturday and then the Great Bear Chase 50km skate on the 13th. And I’m always looking for the edge.br / br /Dan Packman skied in the Masters World Cup races in Sweden and on the Vasa Loppett course.br /Today I endured a new dimension of the nordic ski experience. 90k on the legendary vasa trail with new slow snow. I started wave 4 and passed about 4000 people the first 5k. I got in good small group and we motored along. After 65k someone said in Swedish, fertun, femtun, sixtun – 14, 15, 16, then in english – top 20! The group was down to a few guys the last 10k. I went with a fast move with 7k to go and we hammered hard, yet I had to let it go with 5k to go and paid dearly the last 2 k. Only the 2 guys I just dropped caught me, but man the last k was Painful.br /5:55, good for 16th place. Folks said the best times today were 30-40 mins slower than typical. skis were great, 6 layers of blue hardwax over binder, f40 red glide wax with power jet 2. The long trip home is tomorrow.br /br /Packman on MWCbr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://www.webskis.com/uploaded_images/mwcmedals-falun-2010-750857.JPG”img style=”float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;” src=”http://www.webskis.com/uploaded_images/mwcmedals-falun-2010-750630.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” //abr /Fun relay today. 5k is definitely not my thing but it was a beautiful day.br /-12 C snow, sunny and slightly warmer than past few days. Jan Spurkland (ppp winner a few yrs ago, Jan and I did the Sapporo marathon in 2005) started strong putting us in 2nd after leg 1 behind the Italians. JD (US team director from Bend) pulled 5k worth of mojo out of his ‘I haven’t raced in ages but I ski everyday and can get on it’. I held 3rd, no one around me for 2 mins ahead or behind, so I just cruised it and Dennis from Missoula brought it home with a minute to spare over the German team, so we ended up with bronze. M5 USA team also 3rd. Now it is time to focus on the 45k Friday skate race. Still cold here, below 0 F in the morn, warming slightly the next few days with snowstorm predicted by the weekend.br /br /There you have just a few of the good stuff being done by WebSkis Team members.br /br /Have a good one too,br /br /Bertdiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6589659500745667109-1869993730666340219?l=www.webskis.com%2Fwebskisblog.html’ alt=” //div

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