Archive | Masters Blog

Bogburn 2020

By Adam Terko on 12 January, 2020 in Junior Blog, Masters Blog

Another great edition of the Bogburn. For the past few years we’ve been treated to one of two conditions: sweltering heat or frigid cold. Last year was all cold powder and green hardwax, while this time it was klister through and through.

This is a legendary race. The course is a treat, with narrow singletrack through gentle hills with a few wild corners every now and then. It rewards efficient skiing and can sometimes penalize those not willing to slow the tempo down and keep it smooth. When it’s slushy, it becomes even more of a race for “scrappy” skiers who can pick good lines, stride without perfect tracks, and manage speed without the firmest snow to double pole in.

We had 11 racers in the open category, which for the club featured a great mix of age groups from Juniors to coaches. We all piled into the club van together and arrived with just enough time to test about 6 different klister options, settle on the right chemical cocktail, and get everyone to the start line ready to rock.

The winning solution was Rode KM3, with a little bit of Rex Brown mixed into the middle third of the kick zone. For those wanting a bit more we added Toko Red and life was good.

Busy scene as the women line up for the start (photo by Ellie)

Using klister sometimes strikes fear into the hearts of racers, particularly masters skiers. When it’s done right, klister skiing can actually be some of the BEST skiing there is…solid kick, speedy glide, and endless adjustability to the wax job through mixing, adding, and removing components. Some backed-out when they saw the forecast, but next time I would challenge EVERYONE to give it a go even if you see klister on the menu.

With a t-shirt on and the racers all in a good mood, it was one of those races where partway through my second lap I said to myself “man, this is a lot of fun”. That wasn’t on a downhill or even at the one trail section with a beautiful scenic view. This was climbing up a hill with plenty of vertical to go, and I was realizing for the Nth time just how cool this race is. How many times have you thought to yourself how much fun you’re having in the middle of a ski race? I know I never did that enough when I was racing in high school and college, but I’ve thankfully come to appreciate it more and more.

Take a risk, slap on some klister, or just check-in with the coaches and we would be happy to slap on some klister for you…and we will see you at the next race!

Bogburn 2020 Results

THE RACE FOR THE CLUB CUP IS TIGHT and our club is within striking distance. Never before have we held this close to the top of the leaderboard, with only a few key points separating us from the lead. Remember, everyone that races scores points for the Club Cup, regardless of your ability level or speed. The Club Cup is most often won by participation number, NOT by hardcore racers. The best opportunity to close the gap is the Geschmossel ski race on Monday, 1/20.

Geschmossel MNC Trip Info (also on website events and Katie Hill’s Race Roster form)

We will have a TEAM VAN for Masters looking to race this event…just jump in the van and focus on your race. Coach Adam will drive the van (seats 15 including driver) down to Bretton Woods. MNC will provide wax and waxing help though if you have your own wax you are encouraged to utilize it.

Depart: 7:30AM

Arrive: 9:45AM

Tent set-up, bib pickup, wax testing, etc

Race begins: 11:00AM

Awards: 1:00PM

Ride back: 1:30PM, with stop for libations at the delicious Bethlehem Village Store

Club Cup Comp: NWVE, MNC, DXC

Emily, our top racer in 5th overall for women, receiving her coveted Bogburn hat!

Masters Mini-Camp 12/28

By Kort Longenbach on 23 December, 2019 in Masters Blog, Uncategorized

We are excited to announce our first mini-camp of the season taking place Saturday, December 28th at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center. This is a wonderful opportunity to establish an early-season technique baseline and to identify areas of focus for the coming season. This event is open to all Masters registered in either of our Winter programs. Hope you can make it!

Please RSVP to see can get a feel for how many people will be attending.

Mini-Camp RSVP

Morning Classic Session 9:30AM (waxed & on snow)

0815 – 09:15 Waxing Help/warmup on own

09:30 Start with one large group for warmup and some very basic pointers then divide into three groups for 30 minute rotating sessions starting at 10:00.

Group 1- Classic Striding – 2 Coaches one with Video/IPAD on Teaching Hill
Group 2 – Double Poling – 1 to 2 Coaches on Upper field or Lemons Haunt
Group 3 – Cornering and Downhills and Transitions – 1-2 Coaches on Dennis’ and Moss

Rotate Groups every 30 Minutes

11:30 – 12:30 Inside for Video Review and lunch

Afternoon Skate Session 1:00PM

Group 1- Agility Drills and DP – 1-2 Coaches Lower Field
Group 2 – V1 and V2 1 to 2 Coaches – Teaching Hill, one coach with IPAD to video
Group 3 – Cornering and Downhills and Transitions – 1-2 Coaches on Dennis’ and Moss

Rotate as we did in the morning with Video Review at 2:30. Finish by 3:00 plus or minus a bit.

Adam’s Wax Tips: Craftsbury Openers

By Adam Terko on 10 December, 2019 in Junior Blog, Masters Blog

A wet and manmade snow weekend! Bring your raincoat!

Note: NO FLUOROS are allowed for this weekend. This includes LF and HF waxes. CH/”Non-Fluoro” only!

Glide wax for Sat and Sun: Start with a blue wax like Toko NF/Base Performance Blue or Swix CH5 or CH6 to harden the base against dirt. Scrape and brush, and then apply your favorite yellow non-fluoro. This can either be a traditional (iron/scrape/brush) or liquid method.

Kick wax for Sun: This is going to be a fun one. Plan on a klister/hardwax combination if you are using wax. A great plan is to arrive with a klister binder on your skis (this can be done easily with Swix or Toko spray base klister). FOR MASTERS SKIERS this could be a great race to use skin skis or waxless fischscale racing skis.

GLIDE WAX VISUAL

A Long Day on Snow

By Adam Terko on 8 December, 2019 in BKL Race Blog, Junior Blog, Masters Blog

On a weekend, Craftsbury is the hub of Eastern skiing where you’ll find clubs from all over, tourists exploring what Vermont has to offer, and hardcore racers getting in their season tuneups. Thanks to the scope and layout, all of these ski groups can find what they need, and on Saturday MNC was a big group that had many different representatives on snow for different reasons.

Early in the morning, all three of our programs (BKL, Juniors, and Masters) were out in force. Practically filling up the entire lower field, our teams gathered to prepare for their workout and training; Juniors and BKL on classic skis, Masters on the skate boards.

Masters group!

Also sharing the wax room with us upon arrival was the UVM team, who was out to fire off a classic timetrial. UVM assistant coach Perry and UVM senior Lizzie had both worked with our groups a fair amount over the summer, and with alums like Bill, Greg, and Conor all skiing for the Cats it feels like a group we can have a great casual interaction with. They’re all super-fast, but they’re all just skiers like we are!

The Juniors had a tough workout on the menu, with 20 straight minutes of 30/30s (30 seconds hard, 30 seconds easy). This is a workout we’ve built up to for a while, and perfect for dialing-in the final tuneups of technique, tempo, and power before the racing season starts. Everyone looked GREAT!

Junior squad on a cooldown lap

The bonus was having the UVM team use a similar section of trail for their timetrial. There was a good amount of overlap, and after the intervals we even sought out some of the Cats late in their race to follow them on the trail and match their skiing.

But the morning workouts were just the start of the day. It was also “Demo Day” and so a host of tents were positioned in the upper field (including our supporters and friends at Skirack) to let skiers try out equipment. Many MNC members headed over there after the morning session to try out some stuff, whether for a new purchase of just for fun.

At lunchtime, we had what I believe was one of our biggest coach gatherings ever! It’s great to get everyone on the same page, both in terms of technique and training but also philosophy. Our group of Junior, Masters, and BKL coaches all spend some time working on various drills, games and challenges before taking a lunch break to watch video and hash out the logistics of MNC. Thanks to everyone that came out to learn!

A gathering of some of our great coaches!

Even later in the day, MNC faces kept popping up either in the lodge or on the trails. Coach Sara was diligently helping folks try new equipment at the Skirack tent, while others switched to a different technique after their lunch break. Coach Rick and I got to even take a lap of our own, a rarity on days like this when there is so much going on! One of the last to leave was Carly, who was taking advantage of the demo day to help figure out just what she was looking for in a new pair of classic skis. I had left just as the sun was rising, and it turns out I was leaving Craftsbury as the sun was beginning to dip down low. I caught this quick photo of Carly showing that alpenglow lighting that so often blankets the Northeast Kingdom in the winter months.

And then…it was back home before getting ready for another great week of skiing!

This coming weekend (the 14th and 15th) we have the Craftsbury Openers coming up! These are great events for any age and ability, including a BKL Race on Sunday! Some of the first Club Cup points are on the line for the season, so come and race for MNC and get the season underway!

You can find registration info on SkiReg

Toko Wax: The VERY basic guide

By Adam Terko on 19 November, 2019 in BKL Jackrabbits, BKL Race Blog, Junior Blog, Masters Blog

If you are new to Nordic skiing, the lineup of waxes from a company like Toko can be daunting. That being said, Toko is actually one of the easiest systems to get to know! Most all waxes, grip and glide, are based on a 3-color system of Blue, Red, and Yellow. Using this as a guide, I put together a short video displaying some of the most useful products and “what you really need”. I will list those products, with informational links, below the video. At the very bottom I will also link a great series of videos from Toko displaying specific waxing techniques.

Note: to purchase Toko products at a great discount, visit the MNC Apparel Page below to download the Toko Order form. Email your completed order forms to Toko Representative Dave Boucher (davidnboucher@comcast.net)

MNC Apparel and Wax Orders

Irons

The most important tool here is an iron, which is NOT your typical clothes iron. Please only use a ski-specific iron for all waxes.

The Toko T8 iron is a great deal but you can find even less expensive options at Skirack and Amazon.

Wintersteiger iron via Amazon

Swix North waxing iron via Skirack

Tuning Tools

After melting in and ironing wax, you will need to scrape and brush the wax. This requires 3 tools: a groove scraper, a plexi scraper, and a brush.

Things can get complicated with a multi-brush procedure, large oval brushes, and rotary brushes. The simplest way to think of it: the larger the brush, the quicker the job. But the smallest brush will be cost-effective and work just as well for 99% of skiers! If you purchase just one brush, a metal brush is recommended.

First, use the groove pin to clean the wax from the center groove of the ski:

Toko Groove Pin

Next, use the plexi scraper in a pushing motion (with two thumbs on either edge of the groove) to scrape the bulk of the wax off, tip-to-tail direction:

Toko Plexi Scraper

Finally, use your brush to finish getting the finer wax particles out. Mark an arrow on your brush, and only use it in that direction. With metal brushes, move tip-to-tail direction only.

Toko Combi Copper/Nylon Brush

Glide Wax

For the simplest wax purchase, I recommend sticking to only Base Performance/NF BLue and Base Performance/NF Red. These waxes will cover most conditions. You can also make life even easier by supplementing with a liquid glide was such as Express Wax. Once per week (say, on a Sunday) apply your hot wax with an iron and scrape/brush. Then, for the rest of the week, just run on a little Express Wax before each ski. At the end of the week, re-wax with the traditional iron method.

Grip Wax

Made easy again by Toko! For regular grip waxes, purchase a Base Green, a Blue, a Red, and a Yellow.

For klister (transformed and icy snow), grab one can of Base Klister Spray and one can of Universal Klister Spray.

You will also need a cork to apply grip wax.

How do I do all of this waxing stuff?

Toko has a handy resource of videos on their website, and at MNC we are working to also create similar content. Here are some recommended basics videos:

Ironing-in your glide wax and using the iron

Scraping your glide wax

Putting on kick wax

Using spray klisters