Fuel

Admittedly, I am well behind the times on this post as Jack has been writing articles about food as fuel for some time. You can check a couple of those out here (you'll have to scroll a bit) - What am I eating and Proper Nutrition. At any rate, I came across this video a few days ago and found it interesting. It's a bit old school, but I'm kind of into that.



Fundamentally, it appears to be exactly the same thing that Jack has been advocating for some time. In other words, the food that you put in your body makes you what you are. Inferior food leads to an inferior body and inferior performance.



Consider the following ideas:

Breakfast

• Fresh fruit
• Eggs
• Whole wheat toast
• Skim milk
• Jack might also add an avocado or berries

Lunch

• Raw vegetable salad; lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, celery, peppers, mushrooms, cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini
• Meat or fish or low calorie cottage cheese
• Jack would use hemp oil as dressing on the salad

Supper

• Raw vegetable salad, as above
• Two or more crispy cooked vegetables
• Meat or chicken
• Fresh fruit and yogurt

Dessert 

• You wish

2010 Nationals - Canmore

With the completion of National Championships in Canmore on Saturday, the season is officially over for me. Here are a few images from the week.

Testing for the team sprint. When the weather is nice, there are some serious upsides to this job!

Main street, Canmore - groomed for skate and classic skiing.

On our way to get cappos at Communitea. Hands down the best cappo in Canmore. We ran matching Holbrooks, no big deal.

Now we burn powder wearing the famous toque, hood, mask combo. Some would say infamous...

Sometimes you have to make repairs on the fly. Eric has never claimed to be an electrician.

Now we fuel up. Only high octane for these performance engines.

There were no races on Thursday or Friday, so obviously I drove back to Edmonton on Wednesday night to work the next day. The roads were sketchy.

Brainstorming ideas for a powder test.

Stopping in Red Deer for a break. My car only got dirtier from here. Again, terrible roads.

Overall, I feel like we made some really excellent skis this week. Our performances for the women's sprint on Sunday afternoon and the long distance 50km on the final day really stand out.

We also made some really terrible skis, particularly for the classic sprint. When the tracks are glazed, keep that klister thin.

In terms of wax we ran on Ski*Go paraffins for the entire week - primarily HF green for the morning events and HF orange for the afternoon. For powders, Swix FC710, Vauhti Zerofox, Vauhti Goldfox, and Holmekol Mid all made appearances. Swix K22 klister was consistently the best kickwax, as long as it was applied properly.

Big ups to Jack for killing it in the 50km and to the team of Jack/Will for killing it in the team sprint!

At this point, it is back to real life to get down to the business of accounting. Game on.

The Life Cycle of Skis

Making fast skis for our athletes on the World Cup is hard work. Luckily, we do good work and lots of it. I thought it would be interesting to provide a glimpse into the life cycle of a pair of World Cup skis.

Picking skis makes me tired.

June - Most race skis are selected directly from the factory in Europe. The race room is a magical place, filled with amazing skis as far as the eye can ski. World cup skis are produced by a different group of workers using special layups and materials. This results in skis with a more lively feel and incredible speed. The skis are selected entirely by hand, which is a slow, expensive process. An incredible amount of time is spent assessing camber action, dampening characteristics, bridge length and position, etc. to find those special pairs (Caldwellsport).

The Fischer race room (Zach Caldwell's photo).

Early fall - Once the skis arrive in North America they are always stone ground to impart a structure particular to the characteristics of that pair. At the same time, older skis may also be ground to flatten the base and remove burned and damaged base material. The best grinders conduct non-stop research and development to stay ahead of the competition and invent new grinds. Immediately following grinding the bases are very soft and delicate. To saturate the bases with wax the skis are placed in a heat box at a low temperature (50C) for 6-12 hours using a very specific paraffin. Next, the skis are scraped and a harder paraffin wax is applied followed by the heat box at 60C for approximately one hour. This treatment will saturate the base and then harden it to a level where it can be race-waxed with high-temperature fluoros and cold waxes.  (BNS)

Wintersteiger grinding machines.

Late fall - For classic skis, the wax pocket is fully analyzed and marked. It is important that the technicians know not only how many layers to put on each ski, but where those layers should be positioned (caldwellsport).

Winter - At this point, the skis are ready to rock! Most athletes travel with twenty or so pairs of skis, each of which have been tuned to a specific set of conditions. This means that certain skis will get used a lot, while others might spend most of their life in the bag. When the skis are not in use, they are always covered in travel wax (usually Swix LF6, Star LA6, or Sold Performance Red). On race day, the skis will be prepared with paraffin base layers, paraffin race layers, pure flouro powders, topcoats, and hand structure. Immediately following the race the bases are cleaned with solvent (grip zones) or fluoro cleaner (glide zones) and covered in travel wax. In other words, World Cup skis are always waxed when they are not in use.

Now we wax.

Spring - Once the season is over the technicians help the athletes evaluate their skis and look to identify holes in the fleet. Orders are placed with the ski companies in terms of quantities, and the whole process begins again. All the skis are double checked to ensure that they are clean and wax is applied as necessary for storage over the summer.

As spotted at the Fischer factory in Austria. These will not be slow skis

Early in my career as a wax technician someone told me, "Accepting dorkiness is the first step to embracing dorkiness. Without embracing dorkiness you can't make fast skis." I've been accused of being a pretty big dork from time to time. Maybe, in this context, that's not the worst thing.

Dorkiness = fast skis. Boom.

Canadian Natinonals - Glide Wax

Canadian Nationals begin on March 12 (my birthday!) with the skate team sprint. I have already received questions about glide waxing for Canmore, so here are a few early tips.

1. Base Layers
No matter what the air temperature is in Canmore, the snow is always aggressive. The snowpack tends to stay cold and it is very important to harden the bases sufficiently. My favourite choices are Swix LF4 or Solda S30.

2. Paraffin
In general, Canmore requires paraffins that are colder than you might initially think. Swix LF4, Solda S30, Ski*Go Violet, and Solda F31 Violet, and Holmenkol Matrix Blue consistently test well. 

Additionally, during the 2010 and 2008 World Cups in Canmore, I picked up some recipes for paraffin mixes that are tuned specifically to the Nordic Centre Conditions. While I am not at liberty to reveal the ingredients, these recipes are the real thing and have been used with great success by the Canadian, American, Finn, and Swedish teams. I have prepared a limited batch of these mixes, which are available at Fast Trax. Given the relatively stable forecast (TWN - 14 day outlook) and standard expectations for Nordic Centre snow, mixes 1, 2, and 4 should be particularly interesting. 

World Cup mixes.

Please note that you will need to test these mixes, just as you would with any paraffin solution.

4. Powder
There are a variety of powders to consider for Nationals. Good choices to test will likely include Swix FC7, Swix FC78, Swix FC7/FC10 mixed 50/50, Solda HP04, Solda HP05, Holmenkol Cold, Holmenkol Mid, Vauhti Goldfox, Briko 10.1, and Ski*Go C44/7. 

5. Topcoats
As always with topcoats, it is best to test on the day of the race. In general, look to relatively cold solutions.

6. Hand Structure
A medium v-structure from any of the tools almost always improves feeling at the Nordic Centre. However, my hands down favourite modification is the Holmenkol Cross tool with one roller removed. These tools are hard to come by, but Fast Trax has ONE left.


Given my affiliation with the Alberta World Cup Academy, I won't be posting any additional details with respect to waxes for Nationals. However, if you have additional questions, don't hesitate to contact Jack at Fast Trax.

See you in Canmore!

Sunday Throwdown

So this email came out last night:
-----------
Team time trial. 6 to 8km skate swc 10am. Meet swc 930am.  Pick course. Ski course. Individual start every 1min. Two loop course. Warm down. Depart 11am. Starbucks 11:30am. Shop 12pm.

Be there. Boom
-----------

Projected temperature at 10AM: -18C (hour by hour chart)

This will be my second race of the year. What the heck... I'm in.

A Tale of Two Birkies

As promised, here is the rest of the update from the previous post.

Upon arriving home from Sweden, it was back to work for a few days and then straight into Birkie Week here in Edmonton. If you are not familiar with the Birkie legend (and associated Birkie fever) you can check out some additional info here - legend info; fever info.

The Canadian Birkie
Conditions for the Canadian Birkie were ideal with warm air temperatures and rocket fast, glazed tracks. Klister was the order of the day and our solution was as follows:

Base - Swix LF4 (huge ups to Will and Tyla for laying down nearly all of the base work)

Race paraffin - Solda F31 Violet (despite the warm temperatures, this was killing everything else as a result of the ultra transformed snow)

Powder - Swix FC78

Top Coat - Ski*Go C44 solid (hand corked)

Structure - Holmenkol cross tool (both drums in)


Kickwax binder - Guru green klister, ultra thin

Kickwax - Guru Extreme klister / Rode Fast Violet klister, mixed 50/50


Ultimately, if Fast Trax didn't make your race skis, they weren't as fast as they could have been. I have quantifiable evidence that this is the case. Fact.

The American Birkie

Earlier this week I headed to Hayward, WI to do ski service at the American Birkie. Guys, I hate to say it, but their version of the race destroys ours. Smoother organization, a killer expo that the ski companies actually attend, live coverage of the race as it unfolds on the radio, and ten times (literally) as many participants.

Conditions for this Birkie were very different than the Canadian edition. Temperatures were in the -20 range with a fine layer of new snow.


Base - Ski*Go LF graphite

Race paraffin - Holemnkol Matrix Black/Blue

Powder - Holmenkol mid/mid 02, mixed 70/30

Top Coat - Ski*Go C105 solid (hand corked)


Kickwax binder - Guru green klister, ultra thin

Once again, I'm confident that the skis were ridiculous. Actually, based on the number of beers people bought as at the after party, I'd say there is no possible way they weren't fantastic. Overall, a great trip. 

One of the coolest things about the American Birkie is the fact that it finishes on the main street of Hayward. Yup, they groom right into town - so cool. Also, the crowds are out of control and line the entire street (both sides) four people deep. Such huge support for the Birkie here.

Our accommodations for the weekend - not a military hostel!

Nope, not a military hostel at all.

Wrap-up
Finally you are all up to speed as to what has gone on. From here I head back on the road with the AWCA to take in the Sharkfest Alberta Cups (Canmore), Canadian Nationals (Canmore), and the US Super Tour finals (Sun Valley, ID).

Patrick, Madeleine, and Jack - Team Fast Trax at the Olympics. This is what all the work is for.

The Rest of Sweden and two Birkies

A lot has happened since we left off. At that point, I had just arrived in Sweden after having powered through some travel difficulties. Let's pick it up there...

The Rest of Sweden
All of the best parts of the Sweden trip happened after my last post. The race service was a lot of fun and we had some excellent results.

By the time we started driving to Sundsvall, I had been up for a long time and was pretty tired. I guess sleep came pretty quickly in the car.

Robin Bryntesson and Fredrik Bystrom skied fast in the team sprint (see below).

 

The arrival in Sweden was a whirlwind. After finally getting my bag, Erik and I drove for two hours to Sundsvall where the races were held (that was Tuesday, I think). The next day was the team sprint and being that we hadn't done any testing or set up the wax cabin, we were on site early. Luckily, the race was in the afternoon so we had time to get organized, test, and make race skis. That was a really great night as our two athletes, Robin Bryntesson and Fredrik Bystrom, won the race. As a prize, they brought us princess cake, which is a typical Swedish dessert. We didn't have knives, so we cut it with a scraper. This cake is amazing - you should Google it and be impressed.

Because of his excellent results, and some time of odd bet, Robin's teammates made him race in a wig. Apparently last year Britta had to race with her wind briefs outside of her race suit. Awesome.

 

This picture is from the women's pursuit race on the following day (click to zoom in). These are the leaders of the race with Anna Haag (202), Charlotte Kalla (201), and Britta Norgren-Johansson (204) - all Swedish Olympians in 2010. This was not a soft field. Britta was one of my athletes for the week and she went on to be named to the Swedish World Championships team and is racing in Oslo this week.

We stayed in this sort of odd military hostel for the week. It's been a while since I've slept in a dorm room, especially at a race! However, we were the only ones in the place and the kitchen facilities were excellent (see later picture).

This is where we slept.

 

We didn't go hungry. This was lunch.

Despite my caption above, everyone was worried that I was going hungry. This is my third helping of eggs and potatoes and the crew wouldn't have it any other way. Ski racing is terrible for my shape.

The cool thing about being at Swedish nationals is that the whole event is exactly like a World Cup. All of the same athletes are there and the manufacturers all have a massive presence.

2011-2012 Salomon skate skis as spotted outside the Salomon wax cabin. Very cool

This is where we worked for the week. Just enough space for three technicians and four athletes.

We tested some wax from time to time. Actually, we tested a lot of wax, all of the time. Here is the download from my heart rate monitor - Garmin Connect. Click on the "player" link on the top-right and you will see what I mean.

Swix test powders. Most of the powders we tested are not available for retail purchase.

Fluro products.

Jack's Pack - AT work (in Sweden).

The weekend races were broadcast live on national television.

There were TV cables all over the place. For an interesting read on the logistics of broadcasting a ski race, check out this article - 19 Miles of Cable.

People didn't just watch the races on TV. I couldn't believe the size of the crowds lining the trails. Admission to get into the races was about $15 CAD per day.

The crowd streaming towards the stadium.

Sweden has a massive truck that travels to the races to support the national team. Super cool.

This is what the inside of the truck looks like. It wasn't clear to me that taking a photo was allowed, so this is a promotional shot from Craft.

Fast Trax in Sweden. No big deal.

And again...

Race service is hard work. You do get to wear these sweet pants, though.

 

The final night in Sundsvall. The prospect of more princess cake (and a shower) woke me right up. Boom.

Nearly done packing the wax cabin at the end. Sweet trip.

There were no travel mishaps on the way home. Also, the Stockholm airport has hardwood floors - fact.

Trans Atlantic flights with Air Canada now feature mood lighting that changes colour. The purple version is illustrated here to mediocre effect.

The flight home. See that empty seat beside me? It stayed that way the entire time. Optimal for best sleeping.

Are you still with me? This turned out to be a big post, so I decided to move the Birkie discussion into the next instalment. You should check it out.