[BUMP from 3/3/06.]
Here’s the situation. The mid-Michigan area I live in is full of woodsy trails.
Come winter the dozens of trails in our area get all snowy—so do our frozen rivers, lakes, woods, fields and golf courses of all kinds (some quite hilly and woodsy). So I do what seems obvious: I stop riding my bike as often and instead go XC skiing at these places almost every day all winter. Each week I hit as many places as I can, but the ones near my house are nice enough. Sure, some weeks we don’t have snow—we’re in a middling snowbelt—but mostly anywhere there’s a little snow there’s decent XC ski conditions.
…And “decent XC conditions” means a GREAT TIME is ready to be had!
Of course, where it’s too slushy, everything is miserable, and everyone stays home. But where I live we get 50-100 skiable days and, say, 150 good days or so only an hour or two north.
You’d think the bleakness of our local winters might actually get more people outside than in sunny snow places because we need it more.
On the roads and in the towns it’s often butt-ugly in winter: slushy, gray, overcast, dirty, dirty, dirty.
Out in the woods it’s the cleanest time of year! White white white! Fresh fresh fresh! Air, water, everything.
Winter slows folks down, but it shouldn’t keep them away from where the action is just right and where cold isn’t cold anymore. What’s more is that I notice people saying they can’t afford skis. Well, people who spend $100 at the ballpark shouldn’t complain that a $300 complete XC ski package is too much. It’s time for an attitude adjustment!
Let’s make sure we understand XC…
All-Body Scenic Dyno Action Sport!
Coach Anikin said it best: we like skiing because of GLIDE.
But there’s more to it. Glide gets us in the door. Let’s see how the details sort out…
For instance, it can be helpful to think of XC skiing as being like biking only without the moving parts. And without the danger. In XC you can go anywhere, even on water (ice). Trails are cool but skiing is bigger yet: you can bust off and go right through the woods—especially on crust snow—or cover the fields like a deer.
People around the Midwest should realize that we only have moderate alpine skiing hills. They’re pricey and often hours away. But we have thrifty WORLD CLASS XC ski trails and skiable terrain almost everywhere. The same must hold true for everywhere that has snow and mellow terrain.
Skiing is also great in that you get to love the hills. That’s the amazing thing about XC compared to other skisport: when you do it right you get sweet glide going UP the hills. In fact, I think uphill glide is sweeter than the obviousness of descending. Who cares if it’s a bit slower. The miracle is bigger. When you’re dialed in for climbing, you just float up, like you’re getting more back than you put in. The speed, action and intensity is about the same going downhill in all the glide-or-roll sports, but with XC you’re more exposed. (The exposure for a biker on a fast downhill is more dangerous. But his position is more closed-up in contrast to the open dyno moves a skier makes when taking wild corners on a descent.)
In terms of raw speed, did you know that the Chequemegon mt-bike race is won in about the same pace as the Birkie ski race which is held on basically the same trails? And people always consider lift-served skiing to be fast but one is rarely going faster than 20mph on a bump run: you often go faster on XC descents.
Now, mt-biking has its famous singletrack fever, but XC has it, too. It’s just not covered so much in the media or at official XC resorts. XC actually beats out mt-bike here: to thread a narrow ski course you can pivot on a heel rather than have to guide a whole bike wheelbase. So where do you find tasty XC singletrack? Just hit your the bike singletrack when the snow flies! It’s not likely to be groomed, so ski it in yourself and use touring skis. Groomed ski trails are usually too wide to give the singletrack dyno thrill. But there are a few narrow or at least wild’n’twisty groomed trails out there. You can also easily make your own—just find a way through the snowy woods and ski it in a few times. Instant trail! No environmental impact. Gone with the snow. (Bill Koch recently complained in a ski mag interview that handling skills aren’t pushed as much these days in XC. I agree. Before litigation really sunk in, at about 1983, an expert-level groomed trail could be wild indeed. These trails have been greatly smoothed out since then, taking away the challenge. You have to make your own to get more.)
XC offers a wide range of expressive action. You throw your body forward, down the trail, then reach out and catch yourself, throwing yourself onto the poles, kicking as far forward and back or to the sides as your legs will go—everything on your body is swinging and flinging far and wide. You “pop” your core then let your limbs fly out, relaxed, to the end of their stroke. Yet it’s low impact. Explosiveness without strain: cool!
XC is like dancing. Classic and skating each offer several distinct moves or techniques for any situation. Keeping your momentum flowing best through a course involves seamlessly changing up between all these techniques, sometimes using a different move on each stroke, all in rhythm. In fact, in other languages the skating moves are called “paddle dance” and “double dance.” XC is a big beat!
XC is unique in this all-body expressiveness. Well, slide-seat rowing is similar in terms of exertion but waves don’t offer as much topography. (Rowing does have a bigger swinging rhythm, though.)
A special thing about XC is its “gathering-bursting” style. Rowing has some of this; inlining and running have much less. XC is a continuous leaping. You know the explosive feeling you get from a run-up then bouncing dive off a springboard into water? Or the rhythmic gathering of the butterfly stroke? XC is like both of those at the same time. Each stride is a punchy leap yet it’s smooth. It’s a leap into thin air. Total body toss—if you didn’t catch yourself with your poles, you’d fall splat. XC also has what’s called “hang-time,” a thrown-abandon glide-phase between efforts where you float, fly and relax. In skate I call it the “angel hang.” You throw yourself, pop your move, arms fling back, and one leg pops out to the side and floats there a moment. You’re rocketing along at, say, 15mph on one foot, chin out. Pretty cool.
There are three other neat things that XC helped me discover. Breathing…the effort of no-effort…and working from the core. Bike racing also taught me a lot about them, but XC taught me the most. Why? Because XC racing is so intense that if you’re slightly off in those games your results will be much worse. They might still be good, but you won’t be reaching your potential. And of course there’s a real good chance they won’t be good at all: you’ll blow up far more often and may not even know why. Long distance touring (in any sport) also requires optimizing these traits.
When I finally found my own bike racing style (after years of imitating others) I realized that my power came from my pelvic area. That was weird: it wasn’t the legs. I also realized that to get fuel to that core-area I had to breathe like a bellows—loose, deep and easy. In the action and details of sport it’s easy to forget about breathing—and that often means it tightens and becomes a bit more shallow. Very bad. You may still be going fast but you’re outta whack. XC made this even clearer.
In XC you want to go fast up the hills. To do this and not die you have to be relaxed even as you work like a locomotive. Let your belly sag, let your chest just fall open, no strain—all in, all out. This has to be the most important key to XC success (probably to all life success). Breathing: what could be more important? And what is likely most lost in our modern world? (Hawaiian natives call whites “haole” which means “those who can’t breathe.”) XC aides breathing in an interesting way: after you hit the initial ‘crunch’ portion of a double-pole action, your torso is supported between the two poles—you can let it sag open now, relaxed: breathe. Then get back to work.
The next most important thing is the art of working without working. I skied my fastest 50k ski marathons without trying—getting top 20 results. If I strained I often totally failed and bonked. You can’t “try” for that long. XC teaches you the art of effortless work. It’s important, if you want to ski fast and far, to not use your reserves, to not use your “pedal” (don’t put it to the floor)—don’t strain. You find yourself going and going without going under. It’s a little weird.
To me, core work in XC comes on strongest with the idea that on any part of a trail if you’re trying to optimize speed you can blow up if you’re not doing the most with the least. What I find myself doing is trying to get out of my own way, to just let the skis run. Get the speed rolling, the momentum flowing, then get out of its way, don’t interfere. The more you move the tireder you get. This ends up with you just using your core to get the job done. Hit the power when you’re gathered up. After that just let everything fling out and float. Sometimes to get this working best I end up inventing my own moves. Once you’re out there sometimes it’s best to forget the rules and just do all you can to get out of your own way.
But back to equipment. The “no moving parts” aspect of XC can be a cosmic thing. OK, there’s one moving part, the binding, a minor thing really (iceskates don’t even have that). Also, a ski has a flat bottom yet it glides like a skate with a razor edge. Then there’s wax: in classic you have kickwax which when buffed isn’t hardly visible: yet it GRIPS. And when pushed it GLIDES! Grip and glide, all on one smooth, flat ski. Kinda neat, huh?
Skisport, cycling, ice-skating and inlining all play off glide (or roll), making them cousins. Worldwide, in snowy areas you find lots of crossover between top athletes in these sports. They belong together. Do one, do them all.
All-Body Dyno Scenery!
In the winter, with no leaves on trees, trail vistas are opened WIDE. Summer has a close-in jungle feel. Cool in its own way, of course, but there’s sweat, bugs, prickers, and nettles. Winter offers glide glide glide. And the AIR is so CLEAN! No pollen, no cloggy humidity.
Ski trails are where sports meet. Maybe a quarter of the skiers out there are primarily skiers—most of them do other sports more often. It’s not snowy that much of the year around here, after all. The ski trails are the one place where bikers meet canoers—runners and triathletes show up, too. Hikers and bike tourists probably might comprise the skiers who have the most fun—they’re out with bread, cheese and winesacks and look for interesting trails and sights and who cares about the workout.
In winter the hillier golf courses offer a treat that you can’t get in summer. They really come on strong when it gets crusty—what fun it is to bomb their tidy rolling hills. (Stay off the greens and there’s no harm. I’ve never been hassled on them.)
XC has another fresh angle: frozen waterways. A couple weeks a year around here the snow and ice are just right for skiing the woodsy lakes and open cattail swamps. Sometimes I can even add in our twisty rivers. It’s a wide-open blast.
Then comes another joy: crust skiing! Springtime brings sunny melts and refreezes, for skiing or skating anywhere in the woods, dodging trees, flying over the lakes, leaping the fields, having a blast. It’s total liberation from the limits of trails. It’s a time of sunshine, suntans, wineskins, picnics—shorts and shortsleeves even.
Now, alpine, telemark and snowboarding are fine—but you need more snow and more terrain. Probably only 10% of snowcountry is truly hilly enough for downhill action. With XC all you need is a couple inches of snow, toss in a little hill and you’re set for fun. Of course, grooming for XC can get as sweet as any snowsport, but it’s optional. And chair-lifts don’t even apply. XC is a “wherever you are” sport rather than a resort sport. Even at resorts XC is tons cheaper and has far less enviro-impact. Now, XC is thought of as hard work. Well, you work just as hard doing alpine dyno-style. And compared to lift-resorts XC trails go places.
Then there’s the hang-out factor. There are no helmets and not that many sunglasses or fancy outfits. There are lots more snacks and more wineskins. The winter woods are a quiet, intimate setting to hang out in with your pals. I’ve heard road bikers say that they see their road-pals more often on the ski trail and in the ski-trail parking lots in winter than they see each other out on the road in the summer. Trails bring folks together.
It’s known that woods and mt-bike trails are shady cool in summer. It’s less well known that woods are warm in winter. No need to expose yourself to the artic blasts. Hide out in the dyno woods.
All-Body Dyno Technical!
If you still have a cost nag, c’mon, my $300 set-up has lasted me 15 years. I keep adding more skis, though. I got no-wax skis for when it’s too slushy for my waxables. I have skaters, too. Heck, I have big ole cheap wood snowshoes for the WAY deep stuff (that float is SO cool). I’m totally covered. It’s still cheap compared to other sports—and, remember, skis last, last, last!
It may be that due to the heavy marketing of race-style ski stuff that some versatility has been lost or that people think that only groomed areas are good enough, even if they need to drive hours to get to them. This ends up hurting the ski scene. Groomed skiing is great, but so is every other kind. All it takes is a ski that’s a bit wider than a groomed-track ski and you can get great glide anywhere. As long as there’s snow, XC offers a way to go that works GREAT.
Even when the snow is gone you can still get most of the fun on rollerskis. It’s still all-body action. With faster wheels you can even go places.
And lore? You want lore? Skiing is full of it. It’s all about great adventures and wacky mishaps and trails-tried, but it’s also about everyday technique and waxing. It’s endless if you want it to be.
Maybe some folks shy from XC because it seems like figure skating: too tricky. Well, a couple lessons from pros or buddies and you’re in like Flynn. After you start you can improve for the next 10 years straight if you like.
Ski with better skiers and imitate them. Try to get more glide with less effort. How to get max kick with the least raising and lowering of body mass? Feel the sweet spot, just flow up that hill. Kick off the heel, complete the poling, extend that glide. Oh yeah! Initiate that doublepole with a pop. Fall on those poles. Swing that foot forward. It’s a world of a half dozen techniques that combine with infinite variety.
XC isn’t a town-to-town or destination thing so much. It’s a motion jones, thanks to the harmony you can achieve via the techniques. Scenery and trails are important, but it doesn’t take much of them to keep a skier happy. That’s coz the action itself is so sweet. I’ve been doing it for decades and still enjoy the float, hang, glide, and getting the most out of the rhythm—and I mostly ski on a few miles of trail near my house.
As regards wx, one can enjoy slapping on whatever wax works and have fun. Or one can test waxes, base-rilling and brushing and find combinations that are lightning fast. Wax em up in 10 minutes and away you go—you might already know which wax will give you rocketships. If you try them out and think you can do still better and have time, you can be back on the trail in short order. Waxes smell good when ironing and once you get a feel for your trails and snow you’ll never feel a fresh snowfall come down again the same way: Oooh, it’s a Swix Purple day. It’s going to be Rex Blue all the way tomorrow, for sure! Oh man, it’s getting cold—but not too—Extra Blue will rule! Hooo, it’s cold—better get the Start Green out.
All-Body Dyno Skills!
Sport skiing with pals is a lot like riding in a bike pack. If you ski close together you get a draft. The faster you go, the more important the draft is. When you’re in a race, or at race-pace, this means tight clusters of dueling skiers. Those looking to win are jostling for position, waiting to make their moves. The climbers attack the hills. The handlers wait for the twisty downhills to jump out and take off. Sprinters mooch until the last few meters.
Then there’s the workout. XC makes every part of you strong, flexible and longlasting. You get a huge range of motion workout but most of the work comes from your core. A skier moves around so dyno on the trail that when accidents happen even in other parts of their lives, they’re less apt to get hurt. It’s also well known that in XC you work your V02Max to the max. After a winter of skiing, you can bust into a huge Spring of any other sport.
I like how the Europeans ski. It’s like how they ride bikes. They ride elbow to elbow, bumping around without a thought, leaning on each other to tell stories. When skiing they bunch together so they can chat—you’re tip to tail or if ski-skating your skis are meshed in with theirs, with your tips gliding up between their tails and your pole plants close to theirs. Yet they’re relaxed. That’s the secret. Relax, have fun, ski together, why not. Younger skiers of this style clown around and do tricks willynilly as they ski. I’ve seen them do a forward roll off a bank into deep snow or kick together a little jump on a downhill and go up and down a few times jumping and catching yards of air, landing in their best telemark. Then they continue on their way.
As a sidenote, it might be that classic boosts fitness more than skating. Top ski racers train more than half classic even if they’re skate specialists. Skating has a longer power-phase and slower tempo. Classic somehow lets you get more sharp power-pop into each stroke. Because the skate stroke is long it can’t be as sharp—a hard shove can make a ski wash out. So don’t forget classic if you really want a hone. Especially at high altitude.
And did you know that basically classic and skating are the same? All the same angles and weight transfer skills are involved. Body position is the same, even equipment is starting to become more alike. So if you learn one, you got em both. Heck, a dyno-ready body position does the trick for most snowsport—maybe for all sport, huh?
Then there’s ski racing. Every weekend in snowcountry there’s a Sat and a Sun XC ski race near you. They’re like winter festivals. People are cheery, colors are bright, snow is white. People are at least as friendly as at summer events. The cold might help bring out neighborliness. Or try a midweek time trial held by a local club for free. XC races come in every flavor and distance. The sprint is popular—a short out’n’back blast often held in a public venue with spectators. Other events range from 10km to 50km, with several distances usually offered at each event. Skating and classic tend to alternate on weekend days. Pursuits pop up now and the—you classic a loop then switch over to skating. Occasional citizen biathlons let you try skiing and shooting.
No matter what the race, you can let it all hang out, all-body style. Let the snot and slobber flow. Go way past the redline. See them stars when you hit the top of hills. You’ll recover. (OK, don’t go under—just go hard.) You can rest on downhills. When I was in shape I’d try to pole so hard that I’d pull my arms outta their sockets. Break everything. (I used to think “break the bike” on my bike, too.) At the same time, when you’re flying it can seem effortless. You’re enjoying the trail, watching the race unfold and who knows what that darn body is doing down there.
People often specialize, but all-rounderism is important. Skiers who do it all are hitting a sweet spot. I like the Skimeister concept. They’re into it in Europe and occasionally over here. It means two things (to me anyway). There’s keeping track of a racer’s results across a variety of disciplines over a season. Then there’s the all-in-one event, a race that challenges skiers every which way. There’s been the Skiathlom where you ski up a hill then shred down it through gates and over a couple jumps. Then there’s the Derby, where you do a huge downhill run, go through a gates section, do a couple jumps then ski a sizeable XC trail. The Adventure Racing side of XC offers plenty of action, too. XC lets you do it all!
Summer might be your usual race season and winter your quiet time, but, c’mon, don’t let it get totally quiet. Spice it up! You might be burned out on dirt, pavement and cars, but the white woods will give you the revival you need.
Trail-maintenance and rollerskiing are great ways to spark up your ski spirit and fitness every fall. For skiers when it starts getting chilly they don’t get bummed. Geese flying south gets the blood revved for someone who’s skied the winter before. You know what’s in store!
Remember that homemade singletrack trails can be basically “leave no trace.” All it takes is a little vision, foresight, imagination as you cruise the terrain to see where a trail wants to be. Then either just ski it in, or do a little pruning and dead limb tossing (conforming to local regs as best you can). You can usually do this almost at strolling speed to get enough clear space to ski with good flow. XC can be quick to make happen. Come Spring melt it’s like no one was ever there. (The sky’s the limit if you come to love trailbuilding and grooming. It can be turned into a career!)
So, for an all-body workout and the rewards of satisfying technique, XC is what you want! And in mellow terrain as long as there’s a bit of snow on the ground, XC delivers!
