a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://www.webskis.com/uploaded_images/bert@rest-772197.JPG”img style=”margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;” src=”http://www.webskis.com/uploaded_images/bert@rest-772137.JPG” alt=”” border=”0″ //abr /When I get a call about a race, or am headed to a race in a location other than where I live, Bend, Oregon, I try to gather as much information as I can about the conditions at that race site. I begin with the noaa weather website. I enter the zip code or nearest city and state and get the national forecast for that location. There is also the option of clicking on the map on the site for a point forecast. On the lower right side of the noaa web-page there is a menu of more data. I generally look at two things there, the forecast discussion and the hourly weather graph. The forecast discussion is what the meteorologist writes to explain why he/she has put up the forecast on the location page. It deals with the movement and activity in the atmosphere, the computer models that do or don’t agree and their best guess. Then I look at the hourly weather graph. This shows graphs of temperature, humidity, possibility of precipitation (pop), sky cover, wind speed and direction. it usually goes out 36 hours and has a forecast option for the next two days. This is all good stuff, but not perfect.br /divbr //divdivI also try to get a snow/weather history for the race site. If I can talk to someone on the ground there, so much the better. Some race courses I know and know if the hills are in the sun or the shade. An example of this is McCall, Idaho. The snow there usually skis colder than the measurements read. It has to do with where and how the snow crystals form, the general humidity and other variables that are beyond me. The courses at Lake Placid, NY have really long uphills (Russian Hill) that are north facing and often finish on the biathlon range which is flat and gets a lot of sun when it shines. It is great if a person who knows the snow of a certain area either sends me e-mails (bert@webskis.com) or gives me a call (541-318-8809). I consider race start time and length of race. Then I literally read the information on the wax box, take into consideration all the data above, add in what I know about the snow and the wax and make a recommendation. It is an interesting exercise in combining experience and data. Modern waxes have pretty wide flexibility. If you have a supply of most waxes that run in your region and you take care of your skis by waxing regularly, you are not too likely to have bad skis. /divdivbr //divdivYou can also feel free to give me a call and ask about a certain race. Give me what information you can and we can come up with a plan. Look for my wax recommendations on the Solda Wax blog accessed from the homepage at webskis.com. /divdivbr //divdivHope you all have great skis./divdivbr //divdivBert/divdiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6589659500745667109-5285239763890724258?l=www.webskis.com%2Fwebskisblog.html’//div
