Blog | Mansfield Nordic Club

Directions + Tips to register for BKL Winter Programs

By Liz Hollenbach on 29 September, 2024 in BKL Race Blog, BKL Training Schedule

Registration opens October 1st at 9am.

Before you get started on registration here is some information and tips that will hopefully make everything go smoothly.

It is easiest to register on a computer and not a phone.

The Process (all the reg links below will be live once registration opens)

Step 1: Go here to sign up for your annual MNC Membership. This membership is required before signing up for programs. You will receive an automated email shortly after registering for your membership. This email includes your unique membership number. If you don’t see it at first check your junk mail box.

Step 2: Go here to check out the program options and confirm your child’s group name.

Step 3: Go here to sign up for programs. You will need to enter your unique MNC Membership number at the top of this page to register for programs.

But before you start…

Registration tip for great communication: Most of our communications come through the MNC Website and weekly E blast. The E blast goes to the email address that was used on the membership signup and the programs signup. If you want both parents or guardians to receive the E blast, then use one email address to sign up for the MNC Membership and the second email address to sign up for Programs.

Scholarship Info: If you are considering applying for a MNC Scholarship we encourage you to fill out that form as soon as possible and before signing up for programs. Hold off on registering for programs until you hear back about your Scholarship request. Scholarships Info

Multiple Child Discount: MNC offers a multiple child discount. This discount applies after the first full price 2- day or 3-day enrollment. Additional children enrolled in the Winter 2 day & 3 day programs from the same family receive a $50 discount. This discount does not apply to additional children enrolled in our Penguins 1-Day program. All of the discount codes are listed within the registration form.

The registration form will ask you about your plans while your child is at ski practice. This is a list of the Parent Options while your child skis:

MNC Masters Programs: This program includes Range Access and group coaching for adults during BKL practice times. More Info
Range Access Program: This pass gives you access to ski at the range on Tuesdays and Thursdays during BKL Practice. Sign Up Here
Penguin Parents: Parent’s of Penguin skiers are required to ski with their child at practice on Tuesdays and no other pass required.
Coach: If you have ski experience and are interested in coaching or being a substitute coach please reach out. bkl@mansfieldnordic.org
Don’t ski: Just drop your child off.

If you have any questions please feel free to reach out.

We can’t wait for winter!

Liz

bkl@mansfieldnordic.org

FreeFall Fun in BTV

By Adam Terko on 24 September, 2024 in BKL Jackrabbits, BKL Race Blog, Junior Blog, Masters Blog

MNC and NENSA held the first edition (or at least “new version”) of the FreeFall on Sunday. This was billed Burlington’s Rollerski Festival and we hope that with a successful and fun proof-of-concept this year we can grow things in years to come!

The hub was an awesome location: the back parking lot of the Burton factory store in the south end of the city. The trees were turning bright colors, the sun was out, and a fast and flowy course was laid for some sprint racing.

The course looped around two separate lots, with a few slaloms and lots of curves and high speed. As close to an F1 street track as you can get for rollerskiing! After a qualifying round, skiers raced in heats of three. Because we used a court-style format, everyone got to race three rounds: win your heat and move up, finish in the middle and retain your bracket position, finish 3rd and jump down to the next heat.

Fall rollerskiing at its finest

While there may have only been 15 competitors, those were some speedy and capable skiers! The day ended with awards from MNC, NENSA and Skirack, some pizza and cookies, and good vibes.

But a festival isn’t just for racing! Not long after the competition portion ended, the games and toys were brought out! Lots of young rollerskiers got to try their skills and learn about the sport with NENSA’s Swenor fleet, and the parking lot was taken-over in a totally different way.

While the kids were skiing around, playing games, getting facepaint, and enjoying the company of a rollerskiing cow (thanks Hanna!) the Masters group ski also took off for a trip down the bike path. The sun was still shining, and the path was abuzz with bikers and runners all enjoying the cool recreation opportunity Burlington offers.

This event wasn’t as large as we’d hoped it would be this year, but the seed has been planted. Thanks so much to our volunteers, NENSA, Skirack, Burton, and Burlington itself for a really fun time!

FreeFall Event Photos: BKL/Masters

FreeFall Event Photos: Sprint Race

FreeFall Sprint Results

Caldwell Sport stonegrinding ’24

By Adam Terko on 16 September, 2024 in Junior Blog, Masters Blog

September is well underway, and it’s time for the annual ski grinding action!

MNC delivers skis to Caldwell Sport in Putney for stonegrinding.

What is stonegrinding? Put simply, stonegrinding removes an incredibly thin top layer of your ski base while also applying a new pattern. This is all done with an incredibly-expensive, finely-tuned machine using special stones, depths, speeds, and pressures. If it sounds complicated, that’s because it is! But you only need to know the outcome, which is that a freshly stoneground ski will:

-Be much much easier to wax because the base will be flat and even. This means it will be faster

-Hold wax better due to this even distribution of material and opened “pores” that were previously damaged by heat from irons or corks

-Repel moisture better with a new pattern and structure

Most skiers only assume that stonegrinding “gets the scratches out” and while this is true for very minor dings and blemishes, stonegrinding won’t necessarily make a base look perfectly new. And more often than not, it isn’t the scratches that are slowing your ski down: it’s all those passes with an iron, all that dirt that you can’t see in the base, and all the uneven rises and falls at a minuscule level from repeated use and abuse.

With the transition to non-fluoro racing, flat bases and fast bases have never been more critical.

Here is a simple rule:

If your skis have not been stoneground and you have raced on them for two years in a row, they should probably get ground before this season. Even if they do not have scratches, they are likely to have thermal damage and wear. This is ESPECIALLY true for race skis, which have likely seen a lot of action from hot irons and roto-implements used in racing.

Our coaches have some detailed knowledge of Junior skis from the past race season, so if you are a Junior and are interested to know if you’d benefit from some stonegrinding please reach out. Masters, don’t hesitate to reach out either!

So, how does this all work?

1) Fill out the form below to indicate # of pairs, grind options, and personal info by SEPTEMBER 30th

2) Deliver skis to Adam any time before SEPTEMBER 30th (reach out to coordinate a drop-off), or stop by the MNCC on Wednesday evenings between 5 and 8pm to drop-off at our headquarters!

3) Adam will drive skis down to Caldwell Sport, and pick them up when done (usually before Thanksgiving)

4) Individuals will be billed by the club and can submit payment via all our usual means (online form, or check made out to MNC)

5) Stonegrind cost includes rate for grinding, plus transport of skis to/from Putney and the involved labor/admin steps. Individual grinds from Caldwell Sport are $100/pair, but with a batch of skis from our club there should be a discount. The more skis we bring, the bigger the discount!

Skis will be returned to owners upon receiving payment

Need some suggestions for grinds? Zach helped lay out his best options for various numbers of skis and I have utilized that info on the form. If you only have one skate or classic pair, for example, chose the “Universal” option. Most of us, if we have a 2nd pair of either skate or classic, are utilizing a specific “warm” pair which is also an option to select.

MNC Caldwell Grind Order ’24

Looking for used skis, or looking to part with skis or gear? Mark your calendars for the MNC Ski and Gear Swap on October 12 (dropoff) and 13th (swap)

A typical MNC batch lined-up for loading and delivery in Adam’s garage!

Rollathon ’24

By Adam Terko on 16 September, 2024 in Junior Blog

Training for skiing can sometimes be complicated…heart rate zones, anaerobic thresholds, progressive overload, super-compensation…there’s a lot of research you can do.

But sometimes training for skiing can be simple. For example, it doesn’t hurt to ski a lot if you want to become a better skier.

That’s what we do at the end of most summers, for at least 4 years now, with the Rollathon. This “event” started in 2021 to cap off a summer of training. Actually, it began in the spring of 2021 at Craftsbury with an on-snow version that finished-off a Covid-stricken year of isolated racing and training.

The premise is really simple…we park in Ferrisburgh and set up the tent with lots of snacks and chairs. There’s a 20km loop from that spot, on pretty gentle terrain. You can ski a lap or two, and come back to the tent for a break or fuel. Or, you can take a shortcut that divides the bigger loop in half. It’s really the perfect spot!

We’ve tried to emphasize that just because 100 kilometers was the original goal way back when, this doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone HAS to ski that far. Hence the name “Rollathon” as opposed to the distance being in the title. There are a lot of distances under 60+ miles that are still quite lengthy for anyone to ski!

This year, the event also took place a bit later in the season. We have done this in the past with the MNC University group and before some of our college-bound athletes leave, but this year we skied a bit further into the school year. I had envisioned this making for cooler weather, but I was wrong! With no clouds and temps warming fast, we all set out together at 9AM for what would be, for some, an affair that went until the sun was setting.

Juniors rolling out, while some MNC Masters get ready to begin their ski in the background!

With fall sports underway, the group size was definitely smaller than past iterations of this ski. But several had competed in running races and soccer games just the day before, and were more than eager to click into skis for a different type of endeavor.

It was also really nice to see a lot of the team together in one place, reinforcing some of the aspects that last week’s blog post put into the conversation. Turns out when you put a lot of people in one place and challenge them to do something difficult, all sorts of great things happen. Conversations pop up between skiers who don’t connect typically. Skiers match the technique (for many kilometers) of skiers they usually only get to ski for seconds at a time with on a rollerski track.

In the end some skiers headed home around lunch, while others stayed longer and took a few more balanced breaks while still rolling through the kilometers. As I referenced in a follow-up email, this ski is not necessarily all about the physical challenge…it takes a special willpower to finish a 20km loop, know how far you’ve done, take a metaphorical (or literal) gulp, and decide to push off and head out for another lap. That kind of thing is important in life sometimes, and skiers seem uniquely up to the challenge more often than not.

Masters Conquer Monroe

By MNC Masters on 16 September, 2024 in Masters Blog

(from Pascal Cheng) This past Sunday, September 15, more than a dozen MNC masters got together to run/hike the Monroe Skyline from Appalachian Gap to Lincoln Gap. This beautiful and challenging 11-mile section of the Long Trail takes you over the tops of Lincoln Peak, Mount Ellen, General Stark Mountain and Mount Abraham. The weather could not have been better with bright sunshine, little wind, and cooler temperatures over 3000 feet. We all were in awe of the spectacular views looking eastward and westward from many different vantage points along the ridge line. And it was a bonus to see bands of fall colors starting to appear in different areas. Along the way, we crossed the summits for several different sections of the Sugarbush Mountain Resort ski area and took advantage of these spots to refuel and rest our legs.

It was great to have such a big group of Masters participate in this hike. Although we broke off into smaller groups along the way going at different paces, we still managed to reconvene at different points and finish together at Lincoln Gap. Many thanks to Katie Hill for organizing all the logistics for this which included coordinating multiple cars and drivers in two different locations. Hopefully, there will be a few more opportunities for fall trail runs/hikes so stay tuned to postings in Slack.

Here are some photos of the outing, courtesy of Ellie Bouffard and Katie Hill: