Watch out! It’s the end of the season and I’m starting to come around!
I’m feeling good form coming on!
And I have to go to a dinner party this Saturday instead of the one big hilly 30k classic ski race I do every year. Sigh…
Ooooh, lemme at em!
How can I tell I’m coming around? Because my skiing is getting oh-so-tasty. Despite the crazy bad snow conditions. I’m out there in 36F, having a great time. Getting kick even! And glide!
But here’s really why. It’s a specific thing: I’m start to kick it into big tasty overdrive on the uphills. I tend to enjoy the uphills the most, but when I’m on form they hit exactly on. I kick just right, off the outside of the ball of the foot, and am totally relaxed every other moment of the action. And just GLIDE up that hill. If you don’t tense up and if you hit it precisely you get max payback, which is GLIDE. Even on steep ups.
But there are other specifics. I’m becoming centered on the uphills. Literally. I look right up the middle of them and just fly up. That kicking off the outside of the ball of the foot tends to give a centered feel, too. My kicking and poling no longer happen off to each side, instead they “pop” around a center axis…which is gliding, floating, UP.
Yet that’s not all. A tasty poling vibe is kicking in. Not so much with the doublepole or even kick doublepole. My trails haven’t had enough room for those, really. And I haven’t actually gotten out THAT much lately to really get that power-flying thing going (and the snow has been slow). But I’m getting compact and WHIPPY in the single-stick action. I’m whipping thru with the recovering elbow, keeping my hand close-in, and I feel it helping my glide. And as I glide faster I feel my posture becoming more upright. We’re just flying now.
I get the weight back on the skis a bit and they just shoot away.
