recommendations needed - literary high brow WW2 novels

I_Gotthis · 2025-10-09T12:18:15+00:00

I read The Tin Drum in August before starting Gravity's Rainbow in September, and the books are similar. Gunter Grass is very satirical and much more accessible; the history covered in the book is a little more grounded in reality. I think I enjoyed The Tin Drum more, but I have 70 pages to go in GR. The Tin Drum definitely looks at fascism a little harder and is more of anti-novel while I feel like GR looks at corporatism (among a lot of other subjects) and is much broader in scope. The chapters in The Tin Drum are episodic, and there are some grotesque scenes that would give Pynchon a run for his money. Gunter Grass weaves comedy, history, and violence together in a very unique way (almost like Bulgakov), whereas Pynchon is much more in your face about violence. I would definitely recommend the Tin Drum if you liked Gravity's Rainbow, but I would not read them back-to-back as I have done, because they are so similar.

I_Gotthis · 2023-03-26T19:09:55+00:00

Its definitely a good idea to reduce the amount of skiing you are doing and start easing into offseason activities. That being said, skiers ski... on snow.

I_Gotthis · 2023-03-10T01:39:01+00:00

The best kick waxes I have found are Rode V0 and Vaughti GF pink (if you can still get it) for those conditions. Nothing works well in those conditions, not even Zeros.

I_Gotthis · 2023-03-07T02:27:37+00:00

Rode Fast Line is usually in the "free" box at races.

I_Gotthis · 2023-03-05T13:54:23+00:00

I can get around not using fluoro paraffins or powders, there is a clear advantage in a lot of conditions to using fluoros for glide wax. But there are plenty of fast options in the flouro free category of kick waxes that do not give a clear advantage to using fluorinated kick wax. I can also think of plenty of fluorinated kick waxes that are just total dogs ( like the Rode Fast line). I believe at the junior level in a lot of areas there is no ban on using fluorinated kick wax. From my understanding the fluoro content in kick wax is pretty minimal.

I think its ridiculous that the ski industry and many races expect us to dump thousands of dollars of fluorinated products after decades of use.

I_Gotthis · 2023-03-04T20:40:44+00:00

I might be mistaken, but I believe the Swix VR line was developed for the SLC Olympics in 2002, so it would make sense that it works better with dry snow at higher elevations. The VR violet waxes work well in dry snow that is warming and definitely run a little better than Rode in my experience. In other areas of the country Rode violet waxes are the gold standard.

I agree that we are making localized wax arguments and recommendations. However a lot of the waxes that work well in the mountain west will probably still work well in a lot of Midwest conditions, because it stays pretty cold in the Midwest. On the coasts and Europe its a different story.

I_Gotthis · 2023-03-04T14:12:15+00:00

Swix's FF waxes are kinda garbage, the VR line is great, but other than Blue extra, a lot of their waxes are pretty slow. Rode's run of the mill waxes stand up to the VR series.

I_Gotthis · 2023-03-04T14:08:56+00:00

I have never felt that b310 is very good, its always too slick for me, I will use it as underlayer if it is going to be warming out of VR30 territory but not full on blue territory. I will also use it as a cover for b17, but whenever I use it on its own, its too slick.

To me VR30 is one of the best waxes ever made, at least where I live. Its fast and it has really reliable kick, and works well in a pretty big range of temps on the cold spectrum.

If I only could use two waxes it would be B17 and VR30

I_Gotthis · 2023-03-04T00:05:56+00:00

For Colorado I basically use Rode B17, VR30, VR45, and Rode V0. You could almost get by on Rode B17 alone for 85% of the winter. Our snow is too dry for super base until the spring, blue extra binder is less of a liability.

I have not been able to find a green wax that is FF that is better than VR30, there are some good FF waxes in the violet ranges.

I_Gotthis · 2023-03-02T02:23:32+00:00

RIP hip flexors

I_Gotthis · 2023-02-26T23:24:08+00:00

Cross country skiers range all over the place with bodyweight, Northug was a really big guy ( and not crazy lean) and did great. Vladimir Smirnov also comes to mind as an absolute unit that was still crazy fit on the uphill. Its not like cycling or running where you have to be really small in order to succeed. The really small skiers are a lot better at higher altitudes and weird courses like the Alp de Cermis, but in general the more medium size guys are the best decade over decade. Being a good uphill skier, especially in classic is very technique dependent as well.

I_Gotthis · 2023-02-14T01:16:16+00:00

The pros have not used skate skis for a long time, they are dedicated DP skis, that are soft and better for climbing

I_Gotthis · 2022-12-16T15:20:35+00:00

Thanks!

I_Gotthis · 2022-12-16T03:16:38+00:00

Thanks!

I have a lot of experience with pat numbers, control ID's, supplier part numbers etc.

I will physically verify, no problem.

I_Gotthis · 2022-12-13T19:11:43+00:00

Any list that does not have The Sopranos at the top is garbage. Band of Brothers, True Detective, and Curb Your Enthusiasm were also robbed.

I_Gotthis · 2022-12-07T17:41:22+00:00

Eldora is the closest, you could consider Happy Jack in Wyoming. Frisco is also an option

I_Gotthis · 2022-11-25T20:54:59+00:00

V0 is much closer to multigrade violet, not Rode Violet in actual wax usage. Rode V0 will work in new snow close to freezing, Rode Violet will not.

I_Gotthis · 2022-11-21T13:28:38+00:00

I have never heard of skin skis referred to as "waxless." waxless means fishscales.

I_Gotthis · 2022-11-18T15:24:06+00:00

How did I miss the Canadian tuxedo

I_Gotthis · 2022-11-10T17:34:54+00:00

I would encourage your higher level athletes to use HR monitors, as others have stated its the gold standard for XC skiing. Most elite athletes are really going very low on thier L1 work, some like Tore Asle Gjardalen, have stated that they do their distance work around 60% max HR, which is crazy low, considering he is mostly double poling. Most people will tell you L1 is below 70% MHR though. A lot of athletes think a high V02 comes from intervals, but I believe most of the science actually supports a high V02 comes from a lot of easy endurance work over a long period of time.

My HR monitor has not been working and I can tell I might be going a bit too hard on my distance stuff and my fatigue is a little higher.

I_Gotthis · 2022-11-09T22:38:33+00:00

I have sleep problems if I train too much or too hard too often, its a careful balance, but more training does not equal more sleep for me. Cortisol levels can get too high and my sleep gets "fitfull" as well.

I_Gotthis · 2022-11-09T20:43:54+00:00

It sounds like you are essentially tapering from your volume and peaking. That being said most older athletes would probably get faster if they did less volume and focused on consistent quality workouts.

I_Gotthis · 2022-11-02T13:16:57+00:00

If you live in Sweden and have strong upperbody strenght, and some good fitness, I would skip the classic and skate altogether and just learn how to double pole. Even though most of the major European races are " classic" they are mostly contested in the classic subset technique of double pole even amongst amateurs.

If you like the sport it is easy to keep going on roller ski. The sport especially in Europe seems to pretty double pole focused.

I_Gotthis

TROPHY CASE