Hi all,
It’s time for the Craftsbury Marathon! This is a busy weekend with Supertour sprint racing on Friday, the classic marathon on Saturday, and a skate race on Sunday. MNC will be represented at all of these races!
Before we get onto some waxing: the MNC trailer will be on-site and located in the lower lot. This is a large black trailer with an MNC logo on the side (and an MNC feather flag out front). Feel free to stop by for some wax help!
Note that we could easily get overwhelmed with kick, glide, and structure prep if everyone lines up just before the start…at classic races with the Juniors, we usually suggest arriving 90 minutes before the start. Skiers check-in, and let coaches know what they need.
Often, we have taken care of paraffin layers beforehand, and only do top layers (sprays, wool, structure, etc) on race day. Please be aware that we won’t be able to apply ironed/scraped/brushed glide layers (like Toko Red, for example) on Saturday morning. Hopefully, this tip will help with that!
We will be able to help with kickwax/klister, but this may necessitate your skis being in the trailer for a period of time for prep. Our goal would be for everyone getting wax help to drop off their skis 70-90 minutes before the start, and plan to warm up on a pair of “training” or “rock” or “warmup” skis if you can.
Then, 45 minutes before the start, pick up your race skis and take them out for a “test” up a few hills. Then just let us know what you think: we can add kick, remove kick, or alter kick based on feedback.
CLASSIC (SATURDAY) WAX PREP TIP
Currently (Thurs AM) the forecast calls for a mix of rain and snow on Friday, with a high of 36 and up to 1.9 inches accumulation possible. Craftsbury’s superior grooming team should have no trouble making the best tracks possible, but with a low of 32 on Friday night and a high of 34 on Saturday, there will be a lot of moisture. With skier traffic, if things do not turn fully “slushy” they are likely to be at least “glazed” or “greasy.”
It is rare for me to commit to a yellow/warm paraffin, but the combination of new snow (often bringing moisture) and heavy traffic means I would suggest a yellow paraffin layer such as Toko Yellow, Rode R50, or Swix 10.
HOWEVER (and this is important), durability and dirt management are critical in longer races. I would suggest applying 2 layers of a colder wax such as Toko Blue, Swix 6, or Rode R20, scraping and brushing between layers, before applying your yellow final paraffin layer.
One of the most important elements for glide will absolutely be structure. We have a wide array of tools for this, and even if you don’t need help with glide wax or kick, don’t be shy about stopping by to have our winning structure pattern applied to your skis!
Topcoats for these warmer conditions, with the possibility of not-fully-transformed-snow, can be tricky. A safe bet would be Rode RL Warm liquid, or a warmer wool block such as Star Next Warm.
For kick, we are recommending a klister binder. At this point depending on how the snow falls and gets groomed, it may not be a full klister day, and could be a mix such as klister covered with hardwax, or a sticky mix of two. In any case, a klister binder should be a good starting point. Please go THIN, THIN, THIN with your klister binder! You’d be surprised how little klister you can utilize for this.
We’ll be starting our test with “dry condition” klisters like Start Wide and Swix KX40S, and Rode Rossa Special. We can also test covering with hardwax if icing is an issue. From there, we’d likely move on to wet klisters such as Rode Rossa, Guru Red, and Swix Nero 44.
This could also be a very appropriate day for zero/rub or skin skis. MNC has a “fleet” of zeros and will prep these accordingly; if you’d like to give a pair a try, just ask!
SKATE (SUNDAY) WAX PREP TIP
While Saturday is tough enough to predict a few days out, it’s even more challenging to plan for Sunday seeing as we haven’t seen the effects of Friday’s precipitation + Saturday’s grooming + Saturday’s traffic and skier impact.
The weather does look consistent temp-wise between Sat/Sun, and it’s likely that topcoat winners on Saturday will be a good starting point for Sunday. The same goes for hand structure.
I’d recommend the same paraffin tip as above (2 cold layers, followed by a yellow final layer). While we won’t have the same level of support on Sunday (several wax maestros will be on site and able to utilize the trailer and all components, these folks are also racing in the event themselves!) it’s likely we can help with structure and a simple application topcoat such as a spray!
