The Brooklyn Customizer:

I do not recommend cross-country skiing.

But, if you are already a nordic-junky freak, then you are past saving. And in that case, dear reader, read on!

If you have only learned to use the classic skiing technique (see above), then I suggest that you stick with this worldview. If, on the other hand, you want to learn skate skiing, or you want to improve your skate skiing, then I suggest that you give up all other snow and ice sports. Skate skiing is a religion and will brook no other gods or goddesses.

What is the difference between classic style and skate style? Simple: as you can see from the images above, you must wear tight-fitting lycra when skate skiing!

[Aside: I fancy that I know a thing or two about another sport in which you must wear tight-fitting, lycra togs: biking. And I have to say that in my not-so-humble opinion, biking, especially road racing, is not as technically difficult as skate skiing.]

Once you have equipped yourself with the absolute minimal gear (Atomic skis, One-Way poles, Swix hat, Sugoi gloves, Sporthill wind briefs, Louis Garneau tights, Rottefella bindings, Hartjes boots, Casco visor, Smartwool undergarments, Sunnto heart rate monitor,  Toko race suit, and Subaru Outback–yes, it is always about the gear), you might consider these 10 essential tips as you progress along this trajectory of 11 stages of expertise:

1. clod

2. toad

3. dork

4. beginner

5. super dork

6. hack

7. intermediate

8. ultra dork

9. freak

10. doper

11. elite

Tip #1. Leave your $300 One Way, Swix, or Excel poles at home for the first ten training sessions. Why? Because you can’t sharpen a pencil if you don’t know where the eraser is!

Tip #2. Try skiing on one ski at the beginning of each training session. This will, among other things, allow me to steal one of your skis. And also, it helps you to balance.

Tip #3. Take up speed skating or hockey: the skating motion is similar (not identical, but it helps). Oh, but I forgot to tell you that you need to take up speed skating or hockey 6 years AGO. Otherwise forget it. For crying out loud, don’t take up hockey right now you idiot!

Tip #4. Quit now.

Tip #5. Start each training session slower than you ever thought possible. Do you have pent up energy? Then try parkour:

Tip #6. When you technique falls to pieces, stop for the day because in one more minute, you are going to crash and break your shoulder. Hey, even good skiers fall:

It’s just like they say about downhill skiing, the last run of the day is the most dangerous. Oh, not because you are tired though. Because you are racing to get into the hot tub.

Tip #7. Brush your thighs with your hands when poling. Keep ‘em close to your body or you will twist your torso. But, of course, you must leave your poles at home for the first season, so ignore #7 until season two.

Tip #8. Don’t forget to breathe. If you focus on technique too hard, you might end up holding your breath. Work on breathing patterns matched to terrain and technique.

Tip #9.

If you feel yourself hunching over, then you are a crab.

If you feel yourself standing straight up, then you are an emu.

If you sit back on your skis, then you are a monkey.

Each of these represents a viable style in skate skiing. In fact, these are the only three positions available. Even the World Cuppers fall into these three categories.

Tip #10. When launching off of a mogul, keep your head turning in the desired directions. This helps with sticking a freakside 720: Lookie:

Pax and Ski Wax

Scraps

My neighbor Jason McCartney is now riding for THE SHACK. That is the pro cycling team sponsored by Radioshack for those not in the pro cycling loop. Perhaps his nickname will change from JMac to Shack-Mac. Or, Mac-Shacker. Anyway, Jason is not really my neighbor, but he does live about ten minutes away in Iowa City, Iowa. Last year he rode for Saxo Bank and I briefly, recently blogged about him here.

But will he become a professional nordic skier? Well, that may be his new direction as soon as he delivers Lance to the podium in the 2010 Tour DAY France. Why do I say this? Because he can’t stop talking about skiing in this article from cyclingnews.com. 

——–

American veteran looking forward to possible 2010 Tour ride

After two seasons at CSC/Saxo Bank, Jason McCartney signed with Team Radio Shack for 2010, reuniting him with the personnel from the former Discovery Channel team which gave him his first European pro ride. His tenure at CSC/Saxo Bank was highlighted by King of the Mountains jerseys at both the Tour of California and Tour of Georgia.

McCartney, known affectionately as ‘JMac’, explained the reason for the changing focus within the Saxo Bank and his subsequent move to RadioShack. “They [Saxo Bank] had a US sponsor at first, now they have a mainly Danish sponsor. They have a lot of great young Danish talents coming up; Matty Breschel, Chris [Anker] Sorenson so their focus has shifted to their homeland.”

When asked about which cog he will be within the Radio Shack machine, it’s clear McCartney’s comfortable with his role is a team player. “They know me, I know them. They know where I fit in and what I am good at,” he said “If I get an opportunity in a stage race, I can take it. But, mainly I am here to kick some ass and help Levi or Lance or whomever in the big stage races.

“I am good at climbing. I can ride on the front all day. I can time trial. I think I am an ‘all arounder’ who is going to fit in perfectly. That’s kind of where I was on Discovery.”

Despite having ridden the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España, McCartney has yet to ride the Tour de France. One of his goals is to ride the Tour in 2010. ” I’ve been on all these big teams. Discovery Channel was arguably one of the best teams in the world and Saxo Bank was one of the best teams in the world so it it always tough to make the Tour team. I think now I have a lot more experience and I am just a lot more confident in myself. For me, that’s a goal,” said McCartney.

What does ‘JMac’ need to do to get a ticket to the Tour? “I need to show consistency. That I am strong. That I am motivated. I think I fit in… With Tour teams or any team it is all about fitting in the right guys with the right spots. Hopefully, I can be one of those guys who fits in and can help out and they see that,” he explained.

Johan Bruyneel is a big reason McCartney returned to his first European pro team. “You can be on the bus and it can be raining out and everyone is like ‘this sucks’ and then he [Bruyneel] comes on and he’s a motivator. He is able to change things around. Every race I ever did where he was the director, it was amazing. Mayeb you weren’t riding so well or whatever – he’ll just say one little thing to you or to the group and it just changes the whole group,” said McCartney.

Off-season training is critical, especially for a ProTour team which needs to be ready in late January for the Tour Down Under. McCartney does a little bit of running, but cross country skiing is his real passion. “I will be skiing every day because I am addicted. I ski two, three, four hours, just what I can do. We have two great places the University [of Iowa] grooms. There is about 15km in town and 20-25km in the country. You can just do loops there all day. It is up and down. Perfect training,” he explained.

Apparently McCartney used cross country ski training to take a podium place in the 2007 Tour of California, so what’s the draw? “It’s just so great for your mind. You are doing something different. It is the same muscles as riding so you aren’t really missing anything,” he said. “It kind of changed me as a rider doing it instead of drinking beers in the winter. Now I am addicted. I go skiing. It’s my new thing. Hopefully it can pay off again this year. I know it will give me a great base.”

At 36, JMac still has a few good years left, but he’s also frank about what lies ahead. “You realise that it is not going to last forever. For me, I would probably like to do this season and two more in Europe and then maybe call it quits or come back and do something in the US.”

——-

Here he is riding next to Lance:

Now, I don’t want to make waves with his new team. I certainly don’t want to ruin his winter training regime by inviting him to the Iowa City Ski Race Smackdown (which were slated to start today and were so sadly cancelled due to poor snow conditions). But if he shows up, I certainly won’t be upset. 

Finally, I want to posit a hypothesis. I wonder if he might have been the man in yellow last year in my Birkie adventure. You decide:

I will leave you all with this nugget of Street Theory: 

“Science derives from a variety of cultural events (such as cross country skiing) and it generally does not necessarily impel or predict such events (such as me winning a cross country ski race). But although scientific theory is necessarily underdetermined, it is as good as we can get (except for Street Theory, which we now know to be superior to scientific theory). It (Street Theory) provides us with the structural conditions of the world’s being and of how we know them (especially how we know ski races and also bike races)” (pp. 156-7).

– from Gerald M. Edelman’s Second Nature: Brain Science and Human Knowledge (Yale UP, 2006). This quotation is from an uncorrected proof that I helped edit. The precision of this quote, especially the parenthetical asides, cannot be verified. Ps. This book is a worthwhile present for those on your Christmas list.

Pax and Ski Wax,

Scraps