35 years of Cross Country Skiing

To better understand our love of x-c skiing I will take you on the journey we have taken in this sport. We bought our first pair of CROSS COUNTRY SKIS in the 1970's. Down hill skiing was too expensive for newlyweds so we "crossed" over to cross country. We bought the current touring skis which were made out of wood. You had to prepare the bottom of them for skiing by painting on a pine tar base with a paint brush and then blow torch it to heat it into the wood and then wipe it dry.Then when well cooled, you could apply your wax of the day sold by color and temperature. In other words you could use a range from red,purple, blue,green and white waxes depending on the temperatures( red for warm days, white for cold and everything in between). On really warm days you had to use something called "Klister" which came in a toothpaste like tube and was stickier than heck!! Thus began our second sport- WAXING...hehe Then came the journey to performance skis, ski racing, marathons, instructing and then back to fitness touring that we do at present . We learned to do "Nordic"/"Classic "skiing ,as well as "Racing" technique, and "Skating/Freestyle" technique- all three of these techniques gives cross country skiing a very different feel! Thus spans our skiing for over 35 years of x-c skiing from age 22 to 57!!!

After skiing about 5 years we decided we wanted to invest in more "High Performance" x-c skis but, before we did we wanted to take a class to improve our skills. So we signed up for a
"ski clinic" weekend in Three Lakes, Wisconsin. Well in three short days they had us doing a completely different level of sport including fun things like playing soccer on skis without the use of poles on a local lake, night skiing with candles lighting our trail and lots of instruction. We quickly learned the secret of what a slightly forward body angle, poles positioned to push off behind you (vs just steady you) and complete commitment to weight shifting from one ski to another pushing forward with your knees( instead of keeping your weight over both skis and pushing along at a slow pace) gave you an amazing feel of GLIDE that made it feel more like ice skating vs walking on long skis.

We then purchased our first pair of performance skis made of fiberglass ,so lightweight and shaped to edge your turns and downhills as needed and lightweight racing and skating boots. We began logging the number of KM/miles we skied each winter to try to reach for at least 300 a winter. We were hooked!! We bought books on ski conditioning and nutrition. We started lifting weights to build up our triceps muscles crucial for your thrusting forward with your arms, and building thigh muscles( I have never had tiny thighs anyway with my love of biking). We did something called "hill running" which is running up grassy slopes in summer with ski poles to build up your muscles for skiing. We also bought "ROLLER SKIS" ( not rolller blades) which were made out of wood or metal and had one small wheel on the front and two ratcheted wheels on the back and were about four feet long. You use your ski boot to attach to the ski binding anchored to the center., You use these to roll down parkway paths or roads using your ski ,poles (with special hard tips to endure the hard road surface) to simulate the actual feel of x-c skiing in summer and fall months to stay in shape for winter skiing. We also purchased roller blades in later years.Yes we were REALLY serious about improving our skiing making it a year round hobby.

Then came our introduction to x-c ski Racing and Marathons. We knew to build up to citizen races of 10-20 or 30 km we would have to put in alot of pre training ski miles like preparing for a running marathon. So began our logging of all the miles we skied to reach a minimum of the 250 miles each winter before marathons as well as indoor and off season strength training working outs. We started skiing in races and along the way I actually won a 6km race held at a "Winterfest" by a local TV station in Milwaukee and came in second in a 15 km race on a trail just outside the Milwaukee area( we lived in Milwaukee at the time).That was a thrill- I have my trophy and medal to prove it...hehe!

Some friends we met thru skiing then asked us if we wanted to try to ski the 55km/35 miles "Birkebeiner" Ski Marathon(held in Telemark, Wisconsin every February)? What...ohhhhhhhhhhhhh my! It is the longest xc ski race held in the USA every year. This is a marathon for Olympic and citizen racers as well. It is a "mass start" race where everyone lines up at the same time and simply are released in waves to crash there way along the trail.It starts by climbing UP a downhill ski area , then continue to ski down the back side to descend to a winding trail of hills and flats though woodlands and even over lakes for a full 35 miles! All the elite Olympic racers go first on the pristine trails to attempt posting racing speeds. Then the 100's of citizen racers to follow... some racing but many skiing just to experience this international race and to merely finish the course! Our goal was to simply finish it!! We skied this three years I am proud to say, finishing each time with our best time being 5 hours( no medals here as the real citizen racers finish with times under 3hrs)!! For us it was skiing for personal accomplishment and great personal excitement to be part of such a grand event. The last year I skied this was in 1984, a year after giving birth to our first born in 1983! It was amazing to ski with Swedish grandmothers in their 60's and in great shape and hearing people speaking all different languages, being all different ages and being in many different physical conditions. It was a combination of citizen racers who were in really good shape( racing), ok shape( like us)and clearly "crazies" who had icicles hanging from their inappropriate sweat suits and suffering from hypothermia along the trail while being taken away by first aid personnel. One year someone fell right in front of David in the first big downhill of the race and he had to do snowball somersault over him that resulted in him cutting his nose with the bottom sharp tip of his pole. He skied the rest of the race with some blood running down his cheek and when he crossed the finish line first aid personnel took him away to tend to his cut. When he took off his skis to carry them to the first aid tent the tip of his right ski bent over- he had actually broken the tip of his ski in that fall in the first few miles of the race and managed to finish the rest of the 30 miles of the race with only his bottom layer holding on his ski tip! It was neat how Dave had the best energy for the first half of the marathon pacing me along the trail and then I seemed to ski past"the wall" to pace him for the second half( sometimes even singing Joni Michell songs along the way).When you ski that many milesand hours it begins to feel less like a race and more like a lovely long day in the woods.

After my girls were born I decided to get my professional PSIA certification for Teaching x-c skiing. I taught for a local ski store doing one day ski clinics and developing ski training classes for three local park districts. These courses included as many as 10 classes with both outdoor technique instruction and indoor classes on ski conditioning exercises, purchasing equipment( as many rented skis for the classes from local ski stores), ski waxing, dressing appropriately and where to ski. I taught people from ages 12 yrs to 70. My greatest joy was teaching seniors who were so very eager to learn a sport and start to enjoy the long winter. It is a sport you can do at so many levels from ski walking( its what i call it- for those who simply want to keep their balance and get out in the fresh air for a half hour ), to nice touring pace to race pace... so available to alot of different people at different physical fitness levels. I finally had to quit teaching in Illinois in the 90's as the snow was not sufficient to complete classes. I guess i could have gone to one day workshops/clinics but it was just too hard to predict when we would have snow a month in advance when park district class brochures were published.

Now we are back to a fun, fitness level of skiing 45min to 2 hrs a day at a nice aerobic pace and stop to rest as needed. We now have "no wax" skis for warmer weather and "waxable" skis for colder weather as well as "skating" skis for some variety.We hot wax all of them however to give them the best performance. Dave dislocated his shoulder ski skating two years ago so we have gone back to our original "nordic touring" using the groomed double track. (Good trails are tracked with one double tracked touring lane and one flat skating lane, giving you the option of using either types of skis and technique.) We have accumulated quite a few pairs of skis ourselves and some older versions from my family members who no longer use them( my parents took up skiing in their 60's with the newer fiberglass waxless skis) .We purchased skis for my girls at age 3 &5, so we even have tiny skis and boots for little ones. So we have a nice variety of skis to share with others who visit us in Michigan. Sometimes my mild asthma does not cooperate and my pace slows or i have to breathe through a fleece collar but for the most part we ski daily or as often as possible when there is a tracked trail or on the local snow covered lake nearby. Hence we are retiring in 5 yrs to upper Michigan with an annual snowfall of 200 inches and 100's of miles tracked ski and snowmobile trails ripe for use from Nov 1- April 1(and great hiking trails in summer and fall)! The Olympic trials even take place in Michigan some years. For us it is the best of consistent midwest snow conditions to keep us outside, active and healthy- good goals for retirement I think.

Cross Country skiing still remains one of my favorite things to do and God willing, depending on my health, I hope to continue to do it well into my 60's and maybe even into my 70's!!( We just met two older Finnish gentlemen in Michigan coming off our favorite trail who were in their late 60's and in great shape and another older gentleman who said he skis the trail every day in winter!!). It is a little bit of "heaven on earth" for Dave and me and a great place to play with family!!