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Thursday, December 13, 2007

You should not ski on antiques...

... they might be worth something.

So as you know (or don't know) last winter I acquired a really old pair of cross country skis.

These are seriously the boots.

No, this is not a joke. I am not kidding, I repeat, not kidding. It feels like the sole is made of concrete and the minute the leather gets wet, look out! Now before I go any further, I have to say that I was given these skis last year for free. Can't argue with that. I had really wanted to try xc skiing and see if I liked it and there is no better way than for free. I used them everytime it snowed last year and have gone out once this year.

I love to ski, but they are just not working for me. I am hoping to get a new pair but I have no idea what to get. (Blink, I am looking for your help/advice on this one.)

The details you should know...
I live in Nebraska where we get some snow. There are no mountains (obviously) or XC ski trails but it is definitely hilly. I also live basically across the street from a golf course and could definitely ski there.

I need some advice, y'all. Someone on Triscoop mentioned that if the snow was hard pack, skate style would be awesome on a golf course but I don't even know what actual hard pack snow looks like. Yikes, how ignorant can one be? :) I also don't know what size or anything like that. I think that Canfield's in Omaha might be able to help with some of that. I don't know of any place else that sells the stuff in town. Someone else on Triscoop told me to go to our local ski shop and I laughed out loud. Somebody forgot to mention to that friend that this is lame-ass Nebraska (but I am not bitter). You have to create fun here. So, we xc ski where we can. We trail run and mtb on the same three trails over and over and we take trips. =0)

Back on track.

So, I am not an "advanced" XC skier. I have one season under my belt with antique skis, that have to be waxed, skiing along on the side streets on suburban Nebraska. What would you all suggest? I desperately am calling on the blog world to give suggestions. Thanks you guys!

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I don't know what to tell you because that is what my XC boots look like. No lie, I got them for Christmas my sophomore year in HS.... The skis are gone, I donated them to the Boy Scouts when they needed some for their Winter Sled Race.
I miss it though, thinking about getting some of my own again. If you get a good suggestion, be sure to post it for all us wannabes....

bryan said...

Snow ... uh ... no idea. But they should have all of the equipment you need a Scheels, probably upstairs. They have snowshoes, so I'd assume they have XC skis, too.

Oly said...

I bought mine at Canfields quite a few years ago. If your looking for a used pair I would try play it again sports,or craigs list. New I'd go with Scheels, Canfields and don't laugh but we do actualy have a ski shop, or used too. It's called Bahnsens, or maybe not just looked them up in the phone book and didn't see em listed, but they usd to sell snow and water skis, kind of highend shop. If they are still in biz they are at 72nd and L.

If it were me I'd get a pair at play it again just because of the price and the limited use you may get out of them. It's just a matter of whether they have your size. I don't think ski style matters as much as make sure the boots are comfortable. If the boots don't fit well you will be uncomfortable and won't want to ski much.

Good luck, and when you get a pair lets hit the trail.

Taco ski up the Wabash sound fun?

Oly said...

Btw kt I'm a bit disapointed in your playing the sistah card on my last blog post. What up with that?

:) !

Danielle in Iowa in Ireland said...

After my first season of renting skis, I went with a pair of waxless classic skis. The major bonus is not having to wax them, which means you can pop on out and ski whenever and not have to wax depending on the temperature (there different waxes for different temps). I am pretty sure there is no such thing as waxless skate skis.

Classic versus skate is somewhat of a style preference. I assume your old skis were classic skis - I personally have hesitated on the skate skis because you can't rent them anywhere to see if you like skating better than classic (or enough to spend the money on skate skis to supplement classic skis).

Another benefit of classic over skate is that you can make new tracks when you need to (as long as there is snow). Skating requires either hard pack or groomed trails. Golf courses will often get wind swept enough with a layer of ice such that skating is easier than classic. But I have also found that usually someone has made classic tracks across golf courses as well.

That being said, skating is a much faster and so a lot of people think it is more fun. It also uses muscles more like rollerblading, where as classic uses more running muscles I think, so it depends if you want to cross-train with completely different muscles :-)

Lastly, the city of Ames has groomed cross country ski trails (that a lot of people don't know about). You might call the Omaha Parks and Rec department to see if they have trails.

Wow, that was a long opinionated piece :-)

Tri-Dummy said...

those look like Forrest Gump shoes...those to straighten out your feet?