THE PERFECT SPORT

Why is this title? I challenge you to find me a sport that is a total body workout, free of injuries, done in most beautiful settings, can be done from 3 years of age to 93 and beyond, not  expensive and can be done on any level of fitness. Enter cross country skiing.

X-c skiing was and is very big in Russia where I grew up.  Downhill skiing of course was much cooler despite the total lack of ski lifts and …downhill skis.  I mean there was one single chair lift somewhere in Kazakhstan, 6 hours flight from Moscow during my time.  I walked up the hills for the most of my Russian downhill life (good workout).  In my high school there were only three people who had downhill skis, including me.  But everyone had x-c skis.  I started racing at school when I was 11-12.  It was truly national thing, second only to drinking (like Finland).

Fast forward to Bretton Woods  NH where my wife and I are spending our winter weekends for the last 15 years after totally dropping downhill and going back to x-c skiing. 

So, skating or  classical?  I have both skis and use both.  Here is my 2 cents after doing classical all my life and skating since it was invented.

Unless you are serious about x-c ski racing, stick with classical.  Anyone can do classical on any level:  kids, parents and grandparents.  I am OK at both, not great, but better than many.  I was passed by classical skiers while skating and passed skaters while on classical skis.

On average my heart rate is 10 bpm higher on skate skis than on classical.  Skating is like riding big ring and fixed gear all the time, classical is like having ten-speed, well maybe five.   You better be fit for skating.  Another key factor is technique.  Skating was very difficult to learn for me, considering I do not live near good ski area and the snow days are limited.  And when skating uphill, technique and fitness must  really come together well or you stop.

Equipment is another issue.  Classical equipment will not work for skating.  If you plan to skate, be prepare to drop a big pile of money. Oh, I forgot about the major draw back of skating skis: ski waxes.  Expensive, time consuming, know-how required.  If skate skis do not glide, you go home.  

For classical you can get waxless skis and have a good time.  Not very fast, but good. And if you get waxable classical, you will be flying.  Easier waxing too.

I am lucky to be able to do both, but prefer classical.  It allows me to spend more time on the snow at the intensity I choose.  Hence better for my endurance training and fat burning.

Now get out there on whatever skis you want, it is  fantastic !

TOWN LINE

Why "Town Line" you may ask.  I do not exactly know.  Half-serious cyclists know what I am talking about.  It is what you go for when you see it in all out effort and then, whether you win or not, you can share a laugh about that after the ride.  Or be laughed at.  It is kind of not too serious, but achievement, especially when you have no others in this tough sport.  This is me, not too serious, but...

In my bike racing years I spent a lot of time attending (no better word) road races.  In a road race you have a chance of placing if you are good climber or/and good time trialist.  Took me many years to realize that I am neither.  However I noticed that during sprint workouts with really strong guys I had no problem staying on their wheels during the all out sprint for the line.

So I started racing criteriums and flat circuit races.  Now I was in the game. Now it was a race, not just survival.  Even finished on the money a few times, including a podium place once.  Sprints are very good overall training. LeMond once said that if you have only one day a week to train it has to be sprint workout. Sprints provide quick workout in all aspects of bike fitness, except endurance. However to practice sprinting I needed competition and the finish line.   I started going for town lines on the club rides where there was always plenty of competitive guys who wanted to be first.  Even if nobody was going for it except me, I had my all out effort and recovery. It may look pretty silly, but adds some fun since in many cases people do not remember where town lines are and I end up winning them.

I guess town lines became many things for me: real all out effort on the bike that is otherwise hard to produce,  some fun during  club rides and laughs at the end.

My most hilarious town line win was many years ago when I rode with Tyler Hamilton, just the two of us. I jumped for the obscure town line from about 17 mph with 50 feet to go and got it.  When Tyler asked me what exactly was I doing I explained to him that now I can brag for the rest of my life that I beat Tyler Hamilton in the town line sprint.  He laughed and we kept riding. Later in his e-mail to the club from the Tour de France Tyler mentioned that he is way ahead of me in the town line competition, French town lines that is.

Tyler rode with our club for many years in his off season training.  I never missed a chance to do a few extra miles with him, one of the top professionals in the world at the time and just a very nice simple guy.

INSPIRATION

I resisted blogging for a long time, but finally succumbed to madness. There are things to say even if  no one is listening.  Fast Eddy's excellent blog "Flandria Cafe" inspired me to share my modest life in this great sport of cycling.  I first met Eddy when he worked in NE Bikes, the unofficial base of CCB where we used to come to tell lies and get abused by the owner.  Come to think of it, cycling, skiing and photography are my really lifelong passions, with other hobbies/fun things like windsurfing and scuba diving sandwiched in between.  As long as I remember myself I was on the bike and my first camera Lubitel (Amateur)was given to me at the age of about 10.  Apparently it still exists. The trouble was at that time my mother had no money for film.

Growing up in the 50s in Russia, owning a bike was just like owning a helicopter in US today. Very few had their own bike. The bike was just way too expensive for my mother to buy. So I borrowed bikes from the lucky owners.

When my mother finally saved enough to buy that fat tire, cowhorn handlebar 35 pound bike, she was just as happy as I was. Little did she know what kind of trouble she got herself into.  From then on she was constantly worried about her son riding 40-60 km rides with no way of knowing if he is still alive while sharing narrow Russian roads with trucks and buses.

Cycling and photography came together eventually, when I scaled my cycling down and started taking pictures of other people racing bikes.