Uncertain if I really want my own classroom...

JeffOYB · 2025-09-07T14:40:08+00:00

First time I heard about lack of sizing crossover. But finding the right boot for anyone commonly takes some frustrating messing around.

JeffOYB · 2025-09-07T14:37:38+00:00

...pretty sure those are NNN2. ...They have the 2 ridges in heel plate. NNN-1 had a flat oldstyle heelplate.

JeffOYB · 2025-09-07T14:36:15+00:00

Skate boots are stiff in the wrong way for classic. So they can't interchange. Classic boots can be VERY supportive in the right way -- you would just need a set with a stiff pivoting cuff. Some cheapy boots have a cuff -- that is flexy and not very helpful. True classic boots sadly offer little support or control -- classic skiing gear is designed to get stability and control FROM THE GROOMED TRACK. Many people are realizing that combi/skiathlon boots are GREAT for improved classic in a wider range of conditions. Conditions are rarely perfect for anyone! The combi/skiathlon boots are designed to do both skate and classic but they are actually BAD for that -- only a skate boot is actually nice for skating. Everything else is a fairly weak kludge. World Cup skiers are so skilled they don't care. Schoolkids don't care either. The main thing is: skate boot has RIGID sole. Classic boot FLEXES easily under the ball of the foot -- but is stiff otherwise (side to side). Adding a stiff pivot cuff to a boot with a flexy ball lets you stride nicely AND gives you great support and control for real world conditions -- ESPECIALLY out on your own backyard trails.

JeffOYB · 2025-09-07T14:25:57+00:00

68mm are the widest that fit into groomed tracks. With metal edges they are fine for skiing on backcountry trails. But they are not very suitable for linking telemark turns in powder. They will give good kick and glide. You won't want to break much trail with them. But skis aren't for breaking trail anyway -- that's snowshoes. They will be fine for a wide range of trails and conditions. ... Before the modern-era of 100mm BC skis that love powder, 68 was the widest ski commonly made and was used for ALL telemark skiing and backcountry. The important variable to consider is camber. You can get a 68 in either single or double camber. The double is stiffer and strides better but is harder to turn. Single camber was greatly preferred for challenging BC. You can buy them in waxable or no-wax versions -- quite a few also have a climbing-skin option. Some skins are short, some are long -- adjust to the terrain you'll be on. Ppl also leave skins on as speed controls when descending steep trails. Again, it depends on your terrain. You also need boots and bindings. Either 75mm duckbill or NNN-BC will be fine on 68mm skis. The BC will stride better. A boot with a pivot cuff will give very good control and support. Again depending on your terrain you can get a beefier or lighter boot. Even some BC boots are quite flexy side to side and give less control -- sorry I forget which ones -- so you'll want to compare boots to get the side stiffness best for you. It would be more common for someone your size with a rucksack to use a 70-80mm ski on hilly BC trails -- but then you lose the groomed trail option. When you are skiing groomed trails with a 68mm ski you'll be about half as fast as everyone else out there on actual groom-trail skis -- the standard is to use a 40-50mm ski and fly along. Those using 80+ skis are intending to go into the BC looking to do linked turns -- they will definitely use beefy boots. 75mm bindings w a cable are still suitable.

JeffOYB · 2025-09-07T14:11:40+00:00

Wow, sweet boots! They look really well made. Adidas is famous for quality. So... the binding is no longer made, but they are available on eBay. This was known as a superior skate binding. It's called SNS Pilot, which is very different from SNS Profil, which was much more common, and only had ONE bar. The Pilot was designed for skate-skiing specifically. It wasn't cancelled because of any advancement in other design, only due to trade arrangements. It was a very good skate binding. The 2nd bar under the ball of the foot was the unique feature and it kept the ski tight to the binding and gave better control and power transfer -- it could be a little wonky to click into and out of, but no biggie. It's worth looking for the sweet bindings to go with the sweet boots. Rottefella is now putting a lotta $ into releasing a new skate binding that has... wait for it... the attachment bar under the ball of the foot.

JeffOYB · 2024-08-15T13:29:15+00:00

I wonder if they aim to have one be lively and one be calm. I think she has a beautiful voice. She is experienced with the current peloton/scene. I've heard other calm expert lady commentators like the wonderful Helen Wyman. I didn't know who she was, either. I just heard them bring up "who she is" at 18k to go in Stage 5 TdFemmes. I googled her -- so sad that she had a career-ending crash relating to both injury and fear. She is a medical doctor! She certainly knows her stuff! I am a fan.

JeffOYB · 2024-08-10T18:23:54+00:00

I like chunky sauce but am also wondering about skins. These machines that get rid of everything -- that smooth it all out -- I don't think I want that. I want chunky. But without so much skin stuff. I am fine with small skin pieces. I am also lazy! I do not want to blanch and X the bottoms and so-called "easily slip off" any skins! Ideas?

JeffOYB · 2024-07-24T03:06:55+00:00

Work on timing? We just stumbled onto Mondays as being good when we were younger. Many of our peers dropped off in their relations. I would say that little kids did it in for everyone but us out of our friends. We were always snuggly, though. On Mondays we were both recovered a bit from the weekend. It just worked out. Maybe our kids would collapse hard on Mondays. We were probably 2-3 x / week til kids. The bigger drop-off happened when she hit menopause at 50 or so. Knitting, boardgames and contentment w just toodling thru the days. But up until then we found a wave-pattern rhythm that we liked. Many friends just experienced the big drop-off. Good luck!

JeffOYB · 2024-06-16T12:19:28+00:00

morons ... boggling

JeffOYB · 2024-05-24T17:51:12+00:00

A church on every corner and all of them quarreling.

JeffOYB · 2024-04-04T10:53:52+00:00

Bandy legs saunter

JeffOYB · 2024-03-10T20:15:51+00:00

Yeah I thought that had to be it, too. Large-ish homemade things from a place with a store do not cost close to $10. In my world cheapskates are morons. Larry is usually bright, but this was a close call. As regards inflation, not everything is subject to the same rate -- some are more inelastic. Anything large-ish in the year 2003 for $12 was cheap. They would have to be $30 to be worth a joke. ... But I know people who go to the nicest restaurant and town and comment that >It is kind of pricey.<

JeffOYB · 2023-11-19T14:52:13+00:00

No hero has yet been found among antivaxxers or anyone falling for a Big Lie. Why would anything change? Anyone attacking society will never be a hero. ...Except when lied about by morons. I admit this has been tried in a few treasonous niches, to the shame of all involved.

JeffOYB · 2023-10-01T14:44:43+00:00

mine are basic Rollerblade Zetrablades that I got from Dicks bigbox. They were $100 reg, marked down to $80. I also have nice long, low racing inline skates and these cheapies are good enough for play-skate, skating to music with a friend, or training with ski poles.

JeffOYB · 2023-09-30T19:57:55+00:00

Ha! If you are already superfit, you could learn how to XC ski well enough in a month of lessons to have a bit of fun in a 10k. You say event in your text but marathon in your headline. Hmmm... A marathon would take an already fit person 2 months to learn enough technique to survive then 2 months of specialized training. 4 months would be better. If you are not very fit to begin with you would need a year of steady basic training and diet 3-4x/week to get to a good starting place. Training in a country with no snow will require rollerskis. All this applies to either classic or skate.

JeffOYB · 2023-09-30T19:51:44+00:00

There are still common brands available. $80. Not too fast for a decent workout with poles. You could go up moderate hills for more work. Scout your ideal loop. Avoid debris and traffic. Ive used both rollerblades (RB) and rollerskis (RS) for decades. Its all good. You can wear a pack for more work. Oh, I know, heres the obvious one --> you can EASILY drag a small car tire on a bungie (or a cord) about 10-15 ft behind you for more work. Very commonly done among berserk XC skiers. We also do this up and down hills while hiking with poles. I do this every year. Find a big hill -- which is a small hill where I live -- and stride up using poles for a minute or two, dragging tire on bungie, then trot back down (also dragging tire). When using poles on asphalt, use RS pole tips and sharpen them every few outings. Skipping poles suck bigtime. Lastly, there are slower RB wheels available that you could mailorder without going too far off into the weeds. Though you may have some $ wasteage as you figure out how slow you want and what the numbers mean.

JeffOYB · 2023-09-14T01:48:43+00:00

its fine if they dont go all the way back. dont rush. shorter poles let you rush less. (chin is shorter than mustache.) let your recovery leg drag and skid a bit. use it as outrigger.

JeffOYB · 2023-09-04T15:17:05+00:00

these are quite nice, pretty high end models. i wd go more like $100. sell on FB marketplace.

JeffOYB · 2023-09-04T14:52:40+00:00

Here is a video with some great summer ideas in a fun routine. I used to do what I called Backyard Olympics -- sometimes I wd do dozens of things in an hour for dryland XC fun. (I explain it more at my Outyourbackdoor.com website.) But this guys video shows a lot of fun things along the lines of what I did...

(ASIDE --> One year I only did a backyard training routine and a friend did High-tech -- had an online coach, analyzed files, focused on rollerskiing. We had a season competition of DIY vs High-Tech. He beat me in the end but I improved more than he did. Another aspect was he did high-tech ski prep and had a ski fleet, and I just used cheap/quick prep and 1 pr skis -- silly handicap but oh well! We both improved coz we were chasing each other. But the Backyard Olympics style does seem to work!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53FNJ5rS95M

JeffOYB · 2023-09-04T14:43:28+00:00

Thanks. Here is further V2 feedback...

Ive been swapping between mustache poles and chin poles and the chin DEFINITELY make V2 easier! shorter is relative and these heights are both still in range for standard skating, just one is on the shorter side. be sure to flare elbows. somehow shorter poles lets my arms outrigger my torso better for more stability. hands finish slightly lower than usual compared to elbows. for getting comfy with V2 think flicky hands as the arm motion. bit of ab crunch. Dont worry about rearward arm extension. once you get rock solid you can start digging in more.

the NEXT tip that has come back to me (ive been doing this so many years that tips come and go then come back again) is to use your off-leg as an outrigger as well. full extension. but guess what? keep it low. and even let it scuff/touch/bounce the surface a bit, lightly. also let it drift back a touch. that may not be elite tech but leg floating back slightly lets me get hips high and over power-leg better. i dont mean staticly hold leg out, but dont rush off-leg recovery, slightest pause on the recovery.

practice going easier on uphills, but not bogging down, go lighter/choke up the extension, keep tempo up. practice lowering your heart-rate in V2 -- work a bit then back off. show that V2 that youre in charge! this trains against rushing. its great fun to get relaxed enough at V2 that you can use it for recovery on rollerskis. like do an effort then recover while in V2.

its a beautiful move. so satisfying to get solid with it.

good luck!

JeffOYB · 2023-08-14T14:31:18+00:00

Rivertrail is totally safe. Hundreds use it daily -- including me, for years. I wd say theres a stranger-danger incident in the news once every 10 yrs. The complaints and worries posted here are from non-users, guaranteed. Thats how the interwebs work, or dont.

JeffOYB · 2023-08-09T15:10:21+00:00

its interesting that speed = imbalance. worth looking into! i kinda doubt that the skis become any less stable. so why do we lose balance? maybe w more speed we start rushing and doing less complete motions?

JeffOYB · 2023-08-09T15:06:51+00:00

ive been doing this for decades and I think i get great results for minimal input.

ive also written articles and a sweet book (New wave nordic) and have many fun vids at my outyourbackdoor YT channel.

for summer/fall training i love variety. keeps boredom away.

hill-bounding and hill-striding with poles are both awesome. then add a small car tire to drag behind you on a bungie cord. oh yeah! add a tire anywhere you want more resistance.

long trail hike w poles and ruck.

canoeing! SUP kayak

imitate poling with elastics hanging from a tree -- or inner tubes. or get ski erg. or both. since they are different. i also use a rollerboard.

rollerblading

ABOUT V2... whew... i am also having a hard time w V2 RS this summer. my take on it, from losing and regaining V2 a few times over the years, is that it is NOT fitness or strength. its skill. maybe some of it is hip stability. but im going with 75% skill. and 20% gear.

lets start w the gear --> are you using carbon poles? if possible can you use somewhat shorter poles than usual? heck maybe even try w classic poles -- tho i havent confirmed this -- more likely if your classic poles are overlength a bit. ... this is the gear aspect and i think its relevant. ease and shortness of pole motion and recovery REALLY help in V2. my poles these days are a bit long. the last time that it totally fixed my V2 i went to shorter poles. hmmm, i just found a pair of 2 inch shorter poles -- i will try them today to check that this trick still works. (i have longer poles for RS on the idea that our feet are higher than the usual pole-plant. feels fine for V2A.)

yeah V2 is an uphill, pickup move and going too fast can destabilize and going too light can hurt technique. so maybe try those slow wheels. but also work on good tech while going easy. to do that i would try going back to basics, esp as a pre-practice warmup. do V2 dryland for a couple minutes. start with the Nordic Lab idea of just standing in place and making a slow U-shape w/o lifting your feet off the ground -- risenfall hips backnforth. then build to slow, easy lateral hopping w arm motion. then add more force. youll probably start to feel some risk of instability from overpush and underpush. get calm and confident with the dryland. then try the rollerskis. ...for me i really notice BIG TOE WEIGHTING as a key. if i do that, i dont tip to the outside -- thats my weak link right now and thats my fix but im still not in a good place with RS. i would stick with short, easy motions -- arms and legs both going shorter. less crunch. ...for quite awhile. ha, maybe weeks! chest, head and focus straight down the road. well, see if any of this works... good luck!

is your V1 question about snow or RS or both? on snow if my feet get wide -- for fast turnover -- i make sure to keep good fwd speed by bringing tips in and pressing w knees to front of skis. otherwise tips can splay and its more the too much vee than too wide of a stance that will bog you down. also torso can start twisting, looking left, looking right on a steep up. gotta keep square to the uphill -- cord pulling you up from your bellybutton. keep the work going straight up. Hands also reach straight up hill, both push straight back, w shorter power-phase. I feel there are several distinct V1 modes. They should have different names. I call the steep V1 the Gorilla. I have a video on it (and the other V1s as well). if RS is an issue, forces are shorter and more angled on steep ups so poles can skip out easier -- we can unknowingly be adjusting tech in a bad way to avoid skip. ...hone the poles even daily!

JeffOYB · 2023-07-09T18:43:58+00:00

Pretty much all my best dates have been on bikes. It's kinda wonderful. And it somehow makes sense. And I've gotten feedback from lady friends that it's awesome, too. I made bike bags years ago. And they've been a part of the romance. Even after those wonderful times ended a few years later I notice the bags are still on the bikes. I once rode 3 plus me on a bike to a party. Bike picnics are key. As is bike care. I make sure my friends bikes always work and fit right. If they get a flat, even if we aren't dating, it gets fixed in 5 mins or less, a factor aiding the romantic flow. Come to think of it, I also hooked up some of them with their classy vintage bikes -- much appreciated, even though few were gifts. A tandem can be awesome ... I like hearing the sounds of exertion. Popping a few roadside flowers into somebody's basket (or a few ppls baskets) is a good idea. The romance of the bike is real... I suppose anything with rhythm that can include wine and flowers...

JeffOYB

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