I skied the Marine OBrien race Sunday January 30. The forecast during the week started with a prediction of 5*f or colder at the start. Temps on the drive over at 8:30 am were about 15*f.
Kick wax recommendation all week (Toko) was white (9-19 range) over base green binder. I had that on with a couple layers of Blue sandwiched in. Testing in the track gave me fabulous glide and no kick. I asked someone in Toko team gear for advice and he claimed to be putting Rode on-- skiers lie about wax.
I tested Blue and finally settled on violet which degraded my glide a bit, but I had good kick.
This episode is about how to set yourself up so your wax won't suck on race day.
1- Pay attention to the forecast and how it is trending.
2- Prep your skis early, but save your final wax comitment until late.
Assuming you have one pair of skis--
3- Think about the weather trend, and what is the worst thing that can happen. In the loppet in years past it has been both much colder than expected and much warmer and wetter than expected.
4- For glide wax- it is usually better to be waxed for colder than forecast. You can always work in some structure on race morning. The cheapest temporary way is with the $3 plastic scrapers sold by Toko or swix that have a serated plastic edge. You can put grooves for a day in the ski that will come out with one or two wax/iron cycles.
5- Kick wax can be trickier. My Sunday white, blue, violet challenge was simple to solve. The skis as waxed would have been good down to 0*f, maybe colder. One reason I use Toko is because "too-soft" wax doesn't ice up and has a fair amount of durability. One or two cover layers of mint or turquoise would have set me up for the race. With warmer temps--
a- I got to the race 90 minutes before the start. That got me a good parking spot, a short line at the indoor toilet, a short line at the registration table, and the time to ski out to a good testing uphill to make my wax trials.
6- For much warmer temps, rain, wet sloppy snow, icy tracks with fresh fluffy snow, and ice turning to slush--all waxing nightmares-
a- know your core wax brand. For example- with Toko I have two binder choices, base green or klister. There are reasons to use each as a binder, but mainly I know that I can leave home with either as my binder and still have a chance to adapt with minimal fuss at race start.
b- get there early and bring what you need- a good scraper, cork, rilling tool, the waxes you may need. If bringing klister I bring it in a ziplock that I can keep inside clothing- to keep it warm without having it leak onto clothing or skin- unless of course you have missed your bikini wax this week. For smaller races you can bring a wax bench and maybe a propane torch and hand (non-electric) iron, but for a race like the Loppet, Mora or the Birkie where you will be bussed to the start and from the finish, you need a more compact kit.
7- The biggest thing- get there early. The days you are most likely to need extra time to adjust your wax are the days that the weather is dragging out the bus system, parking, etc.
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