Navigation

You are here: Home › Masters Blog

Archive | Masters Blog

Craftsbury Marathon Wax Rec

By on 30 January, 2019 in Masters Blog, Uncategorized

If this wax recommendation looks similar to the Bogburn earlier this year…that’s because conditions will be very similar! Temps will be cold overnight (below zero), and combined with new snow this week that means harder glidewax and green and blue kickwaxes.

Glide Wax

It is important, in cold snow, to have “hardened” bases. Putting a few layers of green or blue glide wax in your skis (as opposed to just one) will make the base noticeably more shiny and harder, which keeps it faster when the snow crystals are new and sharp.

-Begin by “hardening” your glide zones with 2 layers of CH4, CH5, Toko NF Blue, or your favorite colder glide wax. Scrape and brush between layers.

-Final layer is a blue glide wax of your choice: Toko NF/LF/HF Blue, Swix CH/LF/HF 5 or 6, Holmenkol Racing Mix Cold, etc

-Scrape off and brush VERY thoroughly! If you have a nylon or horsehair brush, polish back and forth until the bases have a nice shine

Kick Wax

A binder will be important for this race. To watch a video on how to best apply a hardwax binder, see the embedded clips on the bottom of this page.

One of the best and easiest binders to use is Toko Base Green. Toko Base Green is unavailable in the US this year, so if you are looking for other options you can try other green kickwaxes such as Swix V30. At Skirack you will also find a Start brand hardwax binder for sale!

-Begin by roughening up your (cleaned) kick zone, and ironing in a THIN base binder

-Feel free to check-in with MNC coaches on race day, but to start with kick a good bet is three or four thin layers of Toko Blue, Swix VR40, or other blue hardwax, covered with one or two layers of Toko X-Cold, Swix V30, or other green hardwax.

Race/Wax Report – White Mtn Marathon

By on 28 January, 2019 in Masters Blog, Uncategorized
Four MNC skiers competed in the event which was shortened from 30 km to about 24 km due to areas of the course that were flooded out during the heavy rains earlier in the week.
 
Snow conditions were generally frozen granular with no significant powder to effect waxing decisions.  The course generally setup quite hard with some sections getting “sugary” after getting skied in.  The final downhill was …well quite fast and somewhat challenging but fine.
  • Overnight temps were in the single digits and at 7AM on race day it was still around 5 F but warmed to near 20F during the race.
 
  • Liam and I experimented with kick wax the afternoon before the race although temps were near 30F so no decisions could be made other than a klister binder would be needed.
 
  • We tried using the TOKO recommendation of green klister ironed in, cooled, then ironing TOKO green hard wax on one ski and straight klister on another ski.  While both worked the klister hardwax combo was better. On race morning we again tried this combo along with Oslo Blue and Vhauti violet klister.  Generally we liked the TOKO mix the best but it was still not quite good enough.  We then added some blue (swix k30) klister over the TOKO combo and it felt very good. We found that as long as a stiff, klister type ski was being used a fairly liberal amount of K30 over the initial TOKO mix offered good kick and and glide.
 
  • I also tried a Rode Super Weiss cover over the klister but found it really didn’t improve (or hurt) the kick and glide.  The snow was extremely abrasive but our kick held fine for the entire race and there was still enough left for a cool down ski. 
 
We used this on skis for me, Liam. Karen and Sean.  While I’m sure other combos would have worked we had limited time to test and were generally pleased with the grip.
 
In terms of the race – Liam had an epic battle with Tyler Mangan and Neal Graves and eventually finished 11th over all and 3rd in his class.  Kris Freeman crushed everyone easily.  Sean Scanlon snapped a pole about 400 M into the race and was able to circle back to his car for another pole and spent the rest of the race chasing down skiers.  Karen was all smiles and had a solid race finishing 3rd in the Women’s M5 division. I struggled in the beginning a bit (not enough of a warm-up) but eventually recovered and settled into a comfortable pace finishing 28th and 3rd M6. NWVE won the mens club championship again and the Stowe Nordic women easily won the women’s division.
Link to photos from Jamie Doucett from CSU:

Masters MiniCamp #2

By on 21 January, 2019 in Masters Blog

It was a chilly day on Saturday, but not the type of weather we haven’t seen a lot of recently! While part of the MNC Masters group was out racing hard at the Silver Fox Trot citizen’s race, another group convened at Craftsbury for our 2nd mini-camp of the season. Coaches Liam, Rick, and Sara put together a day involving a course preview of the Craftsbury Marathon as well as an afternoon session for video review and technique feedback.

Here are some photos from Coach Liam. Thanks to everyone that came out on a cold day to enjoy the snow!

Jim working on striding and looking smooth

Getting to check out the Craftsbury Marathon course

Coach Sara capturing some video

Bogburn Wax Recommendation

By on 10 January, 2019 in BKL Race Blog, Junior Blog, Masters Blog

It is looking like excellent classic conditions for this year’s Bogburn! Temps will be cold overnight, and combined with new snow this week that means harder glidewax and green and blue kickwaxes.

Glide Wax

It is important, in cold snow, to have “hardened” bases. Putting a few layers of green or blue glide wax in your skis (as opposed to just one) will make the base noticeably more shiny and harder, which keeps it faster when the snow crystals are new and sharp.

-Begin by “hardening” your glide zones with 2 layers of CH4, CH5, Toko NF Blue, or your favorite colder glide wax. Scrape and brush between layers.

-Final layer is a blue glide wax of your choice: Toko NF/LF/HF Blue, Swix CH/LF/HF 5 or 6, Holmenkol Racing Mix Cold, etc

-Scrape off and brush VERY thoroughly! If you have a nylon or horsehair brush, polish back and forth until the bases have a nice shine

Kick Wax

A binder will be important for this race. To watch a video on how to best apply a hardwax binder, see the embedded clips on the bottom of this page.

One of the best and easiest binders to use is Toko Base Green. However, for a cold race such as the Bogburn and colder kickwax (for example Swix V30) can be used as an ironed-on binder.

-Begin by roughening up your (cleaned) kick zone, and ironing in a THIN green base binder

-Feel free to check-in with Adam on race day, but to start with for kick a good bet it one or two thin layers of Toko Blue, Swix V40, or other blue hardwax, covered with one or two layers of Toko X-Cold, Swix V30, or other green hardwax.

MNC Masters Racing 18-19

By on 11 December, 2018 in Masters Blog, Uncategorized

One of the goals of our Masters program is to promote and develop a broad based and vibrant MNC Masters racing community. So whether you are looking to race for the first time or an experienced racer looking for other like minded skiers, MNC plans to offers several options to engage in racing for all abilities.


Masters Racing Group – Join this group to find out the latest information on upcoming races and to meet up with other MNC racers.  Each week our Masters Racing lead Karen Alence will send out a list of upcoming races and it is a great way to get first hand information on events, arrange car pools, share wax support info etc.. A quick list of upcoming events can be found here  with more details for each event on our MNC calendar.  To join the list, please email Karen at kalence@comcast.net.

Custom Training Plans – Plans are available for those athletes looking to focus on improving ski fitness and to meet specific race goals.  So if you have a specific goal and want some structure to your training,  these plans are for you. Plans cost $25. To register, sign up here

Craftsbury Marathon Preview – On January 19th join our Coaches for our second Mini-camp of the season.  This Classic Only session on the intended Marathon loop is a great way to familiarize yourself with the course and learn helpful techniques for race day success.

Masters Focus Race Support – Each season the club encourages all Masters to try at least one of the events below.  To help,  MNC Coaches will be on hand to provide classic wax supplies and testing in order to get you ready on race day. Support for all three events costs $35. To register, sign up here.

Craftsbury Marathon Doubleheader*
Feb 2 – 50k & 33k Classic / Feb 3 – 33k & 16k Skate.
This classic New England event with a new addition this year of second day skate races.

Mansfield Nordic Club Skiathlon*
Feb 10 – 6k Classic/6k Freestyle Skiathlon.
Skiers switch from classic to freestyle skis mid-race.

MNC New England Relay Championships*
Mar 10 – 4 person x 5K relay race.
Teams of four skiers (2 FS & 2 CL) pair up for this fun end of season event and great for all levels of skiers.
Build your own team or MNC will build one for you.

*Zak & Club Cup points scoring applies.

NENSA Club Cup & Zak Cup Racing. At designated races throughout the season, Masters skiers can earn points for their club or individually in these season long competitions.  Winning clubs and skiers are recognized by NENSA, so when registering please designate Mansfield Nordic Club to support our club.

Club Cup points are given to all NENSA members competing in a sanctioned Club Cup event with 10pts for first, 9 for second, and so on. However, after 10th place every skier for a club still gains 1 point, so the more competitors a club has in a race, the more points they will get!

Zak Cup points are determined by the top 15 finishers within each age group in a sanctioned Zak Cup events (see listing here). Racers also need to have completed a minimum number of races within each season for these points to count: participation is rewarded!   NENSA Membership at the time of the race is required for Zak Cup Scoring.   

To read more details on how the Zak and Club Cups work, check out the NENSA pages by clicking HERE.

 

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial