NORWEGIAN ROLLER SKI TEST<\/strong><\/h2>\nON\u00a011 JUNE 2013.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In a major roller ski test in Norway, V2 was rated higher than Marwe, Swenor, Alpina & Fischer.<\/p>\n
The highest rating you could get was 6 points. The V2XL98RM received 6 points, and the V2XLC930 received 5 points.<\/p>\n
The V2 Brake also received high marks from the Norwegian ski testers.<\/p>\n
<\/h2>\nKIKKAN RANDALL<\/h2>\n
ON\u00a025 MARCH 2013.<\/p>\n
Kikkan Randall has been unbelievable this season. Both my wife Anita and I are very upset that she is not getting the general media recognition that she should in the United States. The New York Times, the Boston Globe and all major newspapers should be praising her, but we rarely see anything but a small notice of her accomplishments in the New York Times or Boston Globe.<\/p>\n
Many more people in Scandinavia and Europe know whom Kikkan Randall is than in United States. Winning the World Cup Sprint title and finishing 3rd overall on the World cup is simply fantastic and is a first for any American woman. She deserves a lot more major media attention for her accomplishments, not just headlines in Nordic ski magazines and Nordic websites that less than 0.3% of the American population read.<\/p>\n
If I spent a day outside the major Supermarkets here in Milford, NH asking the people that entered the store if they know who the skier Kikkan Randall is, bet the number who have ever heard of Kikkan would be so low it would be shocking. Unless I happened to meet parents of local High School XC skiers it might be that no one would know who Randall is. But, if I asked who Lindsey Vonn is, many people would know. We need to provide more exposure for great American Nordic skiers.<\/p>\n
<\/h1>\nCHANGED TRAINING PROGRAM<\/h2>\n
ON\u00a025 MARCH 2013.<\/p>\n
Marcus Hellner had a very disappointing season. After winning two Olympic Gold in 2010 and Gold at the 2011 World Championships Marcus was very flat this year finishing just 8th overall on the World Cup Circuit.<\/p>\n
Today he stated that the changes he made in his training program were detrimental. He said he would go back to his old training program, but also train more with other skiers, not just alone like he has been doing most of his career. He said that when training alone all the time it\u2019s harder push yourself as there is no one next to you to force you. Let\u2019s see what happens at the 2014 Olympics.<\/p>\n
<\/h1>\nSKI FORM WOW!<\/h2>\n
ON\u00a018 MARCH 2013.<\/p>\n
Ari Niemi is ski tuning at the Cross Country Nationals in Squamish at the Olympic Winter Park. He had recently received the new ski form that we sent to a ski shop in Vancouver for him to pick up. Last night I received the following e-mail from him.<\/p>\n
Subject: Ski Form WOW!<\/p>\n
Hey Len-\u00a0 Just wanted to say that the ski form is great. Have two shops that will order already.<\/p>\n
VASALOPPET<\/h2>\n
ON\u00a017 MARCH 2013.<\/p>\n
The Swedish Vasaloppet is getting more popular every year. With all the new variations on top of the main event, over 66,000 participated in the races this year.<\/p>\n
The main race, which is the first Sunday of March every year, is limited to 15,800 racers. This year all 15,800 spots were filled in 10 minutes. That\u2019s the power of computers. In my first Vasaloppet my starting bib was number 10,226. After doing quite well in the race, the next time I had a much lower starting number.<\/p>\n
DUTCH<\/h2>\n
ON\u00a017 MARCH 2013.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Since my wife and I both speak Swedish, it\u2019s obvious that we also read Norwegian and Danish since they are very similar languages. In college and High School I also studied Spanish and German, but today my German is mediocre and my Spanish terrible.<\/p>\n
Yesterday afternoon wanted to do some research on a new metallic alloy and the best article on the material I was exploring was from a student at a Dutch University that was presenting his doctorial thesis. Thought the 157page article would be in English, but many portions were not, they were in Dutch. Found out that with my knowledge of Swedish and German I had no problem reading the Dutch portion. I was so excited I shouted to my wife Anita to come and look at the scientific report. She had no problem reading the report and she was as surprised as I at being able to read Dutch so easily.<\/p>\n
My wife Anita was a language major in school. Seven years of Latin and God knows how many years she studied English, French, German and Spanish. After school she also lived in Spain for a while and then moved to California where we met. Her language skills have helped us many times.<\/p>\n
Shortly after we met, we decided to take a day trip to Mexico. We drove to Baja, got lost and I tried to speak to a Mexican. Think he understood my Spanish, but I had trouble understanding him. Anita spoke to him in Castilian Spanish. The man was very impressed with her \u201creal\u201d Spanish and she understood him and we were soon on our way.<\/p>\n
Three years after we were married we attended a Formula 1 race in Milan Italy and were getting ready to fly to Geneva after the race. There was an Airport strike at Milan and in order to get to Geneva we had to rent a car. I had a job interview in London and our Airline tickets to London were from Geneva and it was imperative that we make the flight. We ended up renting a little 500cc Fiat. By the time we got to the St. Gotthardpass it was in the middle of the night and we damn near froze to death, as the heater did not work. In northern Italy many people speak German. We needed guidance to where to go, but I had trouble understanding the German dialect. My wife took over as she spoke German much better than I. We made it to Geneva and for my job interview in London.<\/p>\n
About fifteen years ago we drove down to Provence in France from the town of Ramsau in Austria where we had been skiing on the Dachstein glacier. My college roommate, Bruce Brinkema, had been brushing up on his High School and College French for months before this trip. We had made reservations at a restaurant, but when he phoned the taxi firm Bruce had trouble understanding the taxi driver. He handed the phone to my wife and all was well.<\/p>\n
<\/h2>\nTHERESE DOES A JOHAN OLSSON<\/h2>\n
ON\u00a017 MARCH 2013<\/p>\n
In today\u2019s 30 K mass start race Therese led from start to finish. At one point she was 1\u2019 30\u201d ahead of the chasing pack. She is an unbelievable skier and won by over 50 seconds. Elizabeth Stephen had a great race and finished 9th<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
MASS START RACES<\/p>\n
ON\u00a017 MARCH 2013.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Read a lot of Scandinavian ski blogs yesterday and many, including blogs from World Cup ski racers, are getting tired of mass start races. The rumors are that next year Holmenkollen will again be an individual start race.<\/p>\n
With Legov winning yesterday he now leads the overall World Cup. With just two races left, the Sprint in Stockholm and the Distance races in Falun, Legov might beat both Cologna and Petter for the overall World Cup. But both Petter and Cologna are good sprinters and could do really well in Stockholm.<\/p>\n
SNOW BASKETS<\/h2>\n
ON\u00a010 MARCH 2013.<\/p>\n
Last Friday we tested the new mold that will be producing the roller ski ferrules with damping and a new snow basket. Our old basket sucked in certain snow conditions, but this basket will be good.<\/p>\n
Yesterday I tested the baskets in very mushy snow conditions. Spent one hour packing the track then skied for another half hour. The temperature hit +10C yesterday. \u00a0The baskets worked very well in the soft snow conditions. Last night it was cold, \u2013 4C, and the short track was boilerplate this morning. Tried the new baskets early this morning and they were excellent in the hard track conditions. Later today the temperature is supposed to be about +8C and will test the baskets again.<\/p>\n
The roller ski ferrules with damping look good. The toolmaker made one minor mistake that can be corrected in about an hour and next week we will run some parts for damping testing. Originally planned on having production parts by early June, but now it looks like we can have production roller ski ferrules with damping by the end of April. Many people have already contacted us, as it seem a lot of people have had problems with tendonitis from roller skiing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
WOLF PACKS<\/h2>\n
ON\u00a010 MARCH 2013.<\/p>\n
Never before could figure out why so many Norwegians, Swedes and Finns are so much against increasing the wolf and bear population in Scandinavia, but today I read some articles that gave me better insight to why they feel this way.<\/p>\n
There are large factions for increasing the wolf and bear population in Scandinavia and large factions that also want to eliminate all wolf and brown bear. One of the biggest problems with wolves and brown bear in Scandinavia is that the large reindeer herds that the Sami people make a living from are often attacked by wolf packs and brown bear. When wolves are in the area of reindeer they are now moved to another location or sometimes shot. The cost of moving the wolves is beyond belief. In the last two years one female wolf has cost the Swedish government $600,000.00. Every time they move her away from reindeer areas she travels to an area where she is not wanted.<\/p>\n
Where I grew up in Sweden the town had a very large pit where we used to ski for fun that was called Varg Gropen, which means the Wolf Pit. The farmers dug this gigantic pit in the 1800\u2019s to trap wolf. Bait was put out and when the wolfs reached the middle of the pit there was some kind of mechanism that opened the trap doors and the wolves fell into the pit and were shot. A hundred years later the walls of the large pit were no longer vertical. The walls had eroded and it was like a very large skateboard pipe. It was really fun skiing down into the pit and getting enough speed so you could make it to the top on the other side. When I arrived in Sweden there were no wolves or brown bears. But now there are plenty of brown bear and quite a few wolfs. Not all are happy with the return of the animals.<\/p>\n
Today a Swedish magazine published some newspaper articles from the 1800\u2019s that discussed the tremendous problems they had with such a large wolf and brown bear population. There were many tragedies with wolfs killing children and brown bear destroying farmers live stock, but the story that really touched me was from the town of Saerna in the provence of Dalarna from the mid 1800\u2019s. This town is about 60 miles from where I grew up and is not very far from the Norwegian border.<\/p>\n
A woman who wanted to bathe her baby asked her six year old daughter to go out to the barn to get some more wood for the stove to heat the water. The woman lit an old fashioned wooden torch and gave it to her daughter and she went outside. A few seconds later she heard screams from her daughter and the snarling sounds of wolves. She immediately ran outside, but the wolfs had already dragged her daughter into the woods. When it was light next morning a small town search party with guns went after the wolf pack, but they never were able to locate them. The wolfves had moved fast and were far away. The only thing that was found from the girl was a part of her clothes, one hand and the torch. The wolf\u2019s must have been extremely hungry. An eight year old met a similar tragedy in another town nearby. In the town of Malugn in Dalarna, children in the 1850\u2019s could not play outside in the winter because of the wolf packs.<\/p>\n
The Swedish government decided to destroy all wolf and bear in the country and they eradicated all wolves and bears in Sweden. By the time I arrived from America to Sweden there was not a single bear or a wolf within a hundred miles of the village where I lived.<\/p>\n
But times have changed. Now there is a very large brown bear population in Sweden and quite a lot of wolfs. Have an Aunt in Sweden who is very sharp and now in her 90\u2019s. She loves to go into the woods and pick lingonberries and mushrooms, but she told me some six years ago it is now dangerous. When she grew up there were no dangerous animals in the forest. She is not afraid of wolves, just the brown bears. Here in New Hampshire we have a lot of bears, including some that travel on our property regularly, but they are harmless black bears, not large humpback brown bears that are cousins to Alaskan Grizzlies.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
CATCHING THE CHEATERS<\/h2>\n
ON\u00a008 MARCH 2013.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
One of my favorite website news magazines is \u201cNY Teknik\u201d which means New Technology. It summarizes new technology better than any site I know. Yesterday they reported on a new method for blood testing. In the mid 90\u2019s there were only two forms of EPO, today there are 80 variants of EPO, erytropoetin. By taking EPO you can increase oxygen uptake by as much as 20%.<\/p>\n
Mats Garle, former head of the doping laboratory Maiia Diagnostics in Uppsala Sweden, has developed a new method of testing for hemoglobin. The new method was first used at the 2012 summer Olympics. It used to take a long time to obtain reliable hemoglobin values, with the new method it takes 40 minutes to obtain very accurate results. This method was used at the European Indoor Track Championships last week and supposedly will be used at the Winter Olympics 2014. Let\u2019s hope this method helps in catching the Cheaters.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
DOPING DURING THE ’90’S<\/h2>\n
ON\u00a003 MARCH 2013.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Swedish Television on \u201cUppdrag Granskning\u201d just had a 58-minute report called bloodrace. It was about the severe XC hemoglobin doping problems in the 90\u2019s. I was personally aware of the doping problems in the 90\u2019s. Attended the World Championships in Falun \u201893, Thunder Bay \u201895 and Ramsau \u201899. A lot of the information that I am writing came from the show, but some came from World Cup skiers that I will not name.<\/p>\n
According to the data gathered the highest hemoglobin values recorded, were at the Thunder Bay World Championships. For most men XC ski racers normal values are between 13.5 and 16. A few individuals genetically are at 17.0. According to the TV report the values from Thunder Bay were as high as 19.8. The only way these values could be achieved was by blood doping. While at Thunder Bay I was informed by a member of the Swedish Team that they did not have a chance to medal as they knew that numerous skiers from other countries were so doped that they were unbeatable. The rumors were rampant that the Italian Team had unbelievably high hemoglobin values and according to the TV report one Italian woman had values of 17.3.<\/p>\n
Some skiers I will not name visited Italy just before the Thunder Bay \u201995, Championships. The rumors were that Italy was the place to go for EPO. Anders Soedergren said that when he was first starting to ski on the World Cup doping was common and many skiers on the Swedish Team talked about quitting XC racing.<\/p>\n
Testing has been imposed and conditions are now a bit better, but doping is still there. Of the 15 skiers that have been caught doping since 2009, 12 are from Russia. And the head of Russian XC, Jelena Vaelbe, was caught doping as well as coach Jurij Tjarkovskij. He was not supposed to coach anymore, but his title was changed from coach to something else and he is now in Val Di Fiemme with Jelena Vaelbe. The FIS fined the Russian Ski Association $185,000 and said the fines would be increased if the Russian Federation did not put a stop to doping.<\/p>\n
The accusations in the TV report involve Norway where supposedly some skiers had extraordinary high hemoglobin values both in the 90\u2019s and at the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics.<\/p>\n
When the data was presented to a Norwegian doctor on the FIS committee, there was an awful lot of foot dancing by the Norwegian doctor. The TV show has some remarkable data and some of \u00a0the most cherished heroes in XC ski racing don\u2019t look clean. http:\/\/www.svtplay.se\/uppdrag-granskning<\/p>\n
VAL DI FIEMME<\/h2>\n
ON\u00a003 MARCH 2013.<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s 50 K win for Johan was indeed something different. We know from numerous studies that skiing in a pack, or skiing behind someone, saves an enormous amount of energy. When the study at Lavalle University in Quebec was performed I received a copy of the study because the data from the skiers was recorded from both skiing on snow and on roller skis.<\/p>\n
On the flat, pulse rates were reduced from 4 to 9 beats per minute. The real surprise in the study was that even skiing up hill being behind someone reduced the hart rate by 2 to 3 beats a minute. Knowing this I thought Johan was crazy to go out and ski by him self at the speed he did. I figured the pack would hunt him down and he would soon be skiing with the rest of the pack and Northug would be waiting for another sprint finish. Most mass start races drive me crazy as everybody skis together waiting for a final sprint. From the commentaries in Scandinavian Newspapers this was considered one the greatest 50K races ever. Both Hellner and Northug said this was the most majestic 50 K win they had ever seen. Johan skied by himself for over half the race.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
ROLLER SKI FERRULE WITH SNOW LIKE FEEL<\/h2>\n
ON\u00a021 FEBRUARY 2013.<\/p>\n
V2 has a worldwide reputation for good roller ski ferrules. But, the problem with carbide hitting asphalt is the sudden jolt that has given many skiers elbow and shoulder tendinitis. When you ski on snow there is damping by the\u00a0compaction of the snow.<\/p>\n
Over the past 25 years a few companies introduced roller ski ferrules with damping, but they were so unreliable these ferrules are no longer sold. A number of years ago a Russian coach asked us to design a ferrule with damping so roller skiing would more closely simulate skiing on snow. It was not a high priority project, but we dabbled with many prototype designs. Most were too heavy and many were unreliable, but two years ago we developed a unit that was promising. It provides about 12 mm of damping before the carbide tip engages the tarmac and it is lighter than a racing pole snow basket.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The biggest advantage of this design is that if the damping feature should prematurely fail you can still roller ski because the damping is independent of the reliable V2 roller ski ferrule. Sixteen months ago we ordered a mold to be manufactured to produce the main body unit, but just before the mold was completed a multimillion-dollar fire destroyed the mold shop and our tooling. The production portion of the plant was saved, but the whole development area was destroyed. This high technology manufacturing plant is located just five miles from us. It took the company nine months to rebuild the development area and install new equipment. After the development area was completed they began to tool a new mold and it is almost finished. The damping is variable, but not adjustable, so we will be asking a few elite skiers and coaches to give us feed back on the amount of damping to best simulate snow skiing. The new ferrule is more expensive than a standard non-dampened ferrule. But since V2 ferrules are already very price competitive a few dollars more for more snow like feel and a potential reduction in tendinitis should be worth it. The new ferrules should be at your local Dealer by mid June.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A HAPPY GUNDE SVAN<\/h2>\n
ON\u00a027 JANUARY 2013.<\/p>\n
In today\u2019s World Junior Championship Girls relay it was all between Russia and Sweden. Here are some comments from the winning skiers:<\/p>\n
First leg:<\/strong>\u00a0Julia Svan, Gunde\u2019s daughter: \u201cThe Russian took off immediately. Didn\u2019t panic but worried that she would pull away. Managed to stay on her back and about half way into the first leg we were alone about twenty seconds ahead of the third place team.\u201d<\/p>\nSecond leg:<\/strong>\u00a0Commentary by Sofia Henriksson: \u201cStarted a second behind the Russian and she immediately tried to shake me. I let her gain a few meters until I felt some rhythm in my skiing. Then I stayed a few meters behind her for the whole distance. There was no let up, it was full speed all the way but I did not loose ground.\u201d<\/p>\nThird leg:<\/strong>\u00a0Jonna Sundling: \u201cIt was pretty easy in the beginning, but in the long uphill the Russian tried to shake me. Felt strong and tried to pass her, but she came right back and we skied together to the changeover.\u201d<\/p>\nFourth leg:<\/strong>\u00a0Gold sprint WJC medalist Stina Nilsson had the last leg: \u201cFigured the Russian would go out fast to try and break me. Had read her dossier and knew she was a very good skier. Instead of trying to pull away the Russian wanted a sprint finish. Managed to start my sprint at the right time and won by 2 seconds.\u201d<\/p>\nBoys World Championship Relay:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0The boys had a closer race today, but after looking at individual result during the week it was pretty obvious that Russia had the best chance and they won with Norway second and Sweden third.<\/p>\nSwedish National Championships:<\/strong>\u00a0Today in the 10K and 15K Skate Johan Olsson and Kalla dominated. They had both been sick and did not compete during the week. Today Johan Olsson beat Marcus Hellner by 50 seconds in what is Hellner\u2019s favorite, 15K skate.\u00a0\u00a0He is starting to peak at the right time as Val Di Fiemme is only three weeks away.<\/p>\nLA CLUSAZ<\/h3>\n
ON\u00a020 JANUARY 2013.<\/p>\n
Very interesting relay day at La Clusaz. In the women\u2019s event Norway had all the big guns in Team 1, while Sweden missed both Charlotte Kalla and Sophia Bleckur. In the first leg Sweden\u2019s Ida Ingemarsdotter had a terrible leg and Sweden was next to last. But in the second leg Emma Wike\u2019n had the fastest leg and moved from eight to fourth place. She was actually over five seconds faster than Therese Johaug.<\/p>\n
With Marit skiing the last leg and with all the top Norwegians healthy it was obvious that Norway would be the winner. My prediction for the World Championships women\u2019s relay next month is: Norway, Sweden and Finland.<\/p>\n
The top four in today\u2019s men\u2019s relay will undoubtedly be the top four at the World Championships. If Rothe had not jumped in front of Hellner as he was ready to go by him it would have been Sweden Norway instead of Norway Sweden today.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
A Nation in decline\u00a0 1\/17\/13<\/strong><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/strong>Those who have read my news column in the past know that I am a nut for studying data and statistics. Having worked in high tech all my life you become accustomed to putting numbers to everything. Over the last two weeks two studies were released and they are very troublesome as they indicate that in comparison to other wealthy countries the United States is a nation in decline.<\/p>\nStark Findings on Health:<\/strong>\u00a0The first study evaluated the health and life span of people in the seventeen wealthiest countries. In this massive study (378 pages) they discovered that American men die younger than in any other country and the health and life span of men under 50 was the worst of any of the seventeen countries. The study has been reported in every major news media. (For more information simply Google Dr. Steven Woolf, Institute of Medicine and the national Research Council)<\/p>\nHow happy are we?<\/strong>\u00a0The second study was just reported by Forbes magazine. The Legatum Institute Prosperity Index began a number of years ago and United States had always been ranked in the top ten but this year slipped to number 12. Countries are analyzed on 89 indicators and include education, government, per capita GDP, freedom of expression, health care and a feeling of being safe and secure. The three top countries were Norway, Denmark and Sweden. (For more information Google Legatum)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
November 20, 2011<\/strong><\/p>\nComments on the First World Cup Race this season: Saturday.\u00a0<\/strong>Johan Olsson continues to surprise. Figured maybe his win last weekend was a bit of a fluke, but yesterday he showed that he is a fantastic skater not just a classic skier. Watched the races on Norwegian TV and Thomas Alsgaard was one of commentators. Thomas said Johan’s technique was flawless in the 15K. When he talked to Olsson he asked him what had changed. Johan said he was now more relaxed and the 10-week rehab after his neck injury had made him stronger. Just five weeks ago the pain was so severe he almost decided to end his ski career. Petter said he could not believe that Johan beat him by 31 seconds.<\/p>\nAlex Harvey had an outstanding race finishing 5th and Calle Halfvarsson had the best race of his life finishing 4th. I took the total time of the top three finishers from the major ski countries and here are the results. 1 Sweden, 2 Norway, 3 Switzerland, 4 Italy, 5 Russia, 6 Finland, 7 Canada, 8 Germany, 9 France and 10 USA. Germany used to be a real XC power, but not enough new talent seems to be coming along. Don’t know what happened to the US team.<\/p>\n
The Norwegian women were so dominant in the 10 K that it was obvious the relay on Sunday would be Norway, Norway.<\/p>\n
Sundays Relays:\u00a0<\/strong>Total dominance by Norway. Interesting relay by the women with 26 seconds between #1 and #2. The men’s relay was crap with no one making a break. The last leg was almost 2 minutes slower than the 3rd leg. At one point I thought they were going to stop, and they almost did, letting a team that was 30 seconds back catch up and join the pack. Eight teams within 5.9 seconds is ridiculous.<\/p>\nNovember 12, 2011<\/strong><\/p>\nBruksvallarna. First major X-C race for the new season:\u00a0<\/strong>Over 170 skiers from Norway, Canada, France,Russia, Poland and Sweden entered todays 15K individual start freestyle in very good weather conditions. Air -1C, snow -3C and sunshine. The big surprise today was 2nd place finisher Johan Olsson. Johan developed a nerve disc problem in his neck and has only been able to do rehab training for the last 10 weeks. No roller skiing, only rehab.\u00a0<\/strong>The bronze medalist from the Vancouver Olympics is a classic specialist. He said this was his best skate race ever. Because of his injury and lack of regular training he went out slowly. He said he really felt good and after being in 9th place at 3.5 K he moved into 3rd place by 7.5 K and finished 2nd just 6 seconds behind Manificat and 12 seconds ahead of Northug.<\/p>\nThe sports writers expected the battle to be between Northug and Hellner. At 11K Northug was 3rd with Hellner in 4th. Hellner broke his pole and ended up 9th. The Canadians did well, with Harvey in 10th, Valjas 18 and Kershaw 28th. Great to see the season start again.<\/p>\n
February 21, 2010<\/strong><\/p>\nThomas Alsgaard comments on Norwegian Radio:\u00a0<\/strong>According to Thomas those who win the last race on the World Cup before the World Championships, don’t win at the championships. If that’s true, Bjoergen, Richardsson, Emil and Kikkan don’t have a chance. Frankly I think this is Norwegian propaganda. It should be an interesting World Championships, just hope the weather is reasonably good so it does not just turn into a ski tuning race.<\/p>\nBoth the men’s and women’s relay should be very interesting with Norway and Sweden having potentially very strong teams. My gut feel is that Sweden has a chance at beating Norway again in the men’s race. But it’s the World Championships and anything can happen. Harvey was simply fantastic in yesterday’s Sprint Race upsetting the great Petter and Kikkan is on a roll.<\/p>\n
October 16, 2010<\/strong><\/p>\nSpecial Roller skis:\u00a0<\/strong>We get a lot of requests for roller skis for people who are quite heavy. We have made special reinforced shafts for people who weighed as much as 127 KG (280 lb). When people are over 105 KG (230 lb) we usually recommend three-wheel retro classic skis. One good skier, he is a Telemark ski instructor, is just very big and heavy. He weighs 260 pounds (118 KG) and loves to roller ski. He uses the three-wheel Aero Retro Classic skis, but the two standard rear Aero 125 mm wheels are inadequate, so we mounted 150 mm rear wheels. He is a New Hampshire local guy and he has been skiing on this combination for many years without any problems.<\/p>\nThis week Robin received a call from a dealer who wanted to know if we could make a special pair of roller skis for a person who weighed 172 KG. (380 pounds) Apparently this person wanted to lose weight and must have read somewhere that X-C skiing, like roller skiing, burns more calories than just about any other activity. What I would recommend to someone very obese is to do Nordic ski pole walking. Use fairly tall ski poles and find some hilly terrain and walk at a brisk pace. Much safer than roller skiing and you burn a lot of calories. I use a heart monitor and when I climb Pack Monadnock with 150 cm ski poles (I am 181 cm tall) my pulse is often much higher than when I am roller skiing. When using shorter poles the effect is not the same. With poles you engage more muscle mass and burn more calories. When in Europe I see people Nordic walking all the time, but in the US it never really caught on.<\/p>\n
2006 Olympic Gold & Silver Medalist likes her new XL98RM roller skis:\u00a0<\/strong>Erik Johnson just received an email from Tom Zidek, who is the husband of Anna Carin Olofsson, the Swedish biathlete who captured Gold and Silver in the 2006 Olympics. Tom and his Canadian biathlon team mates recently received two XL98RM roller skis, one for ACO and the other for testing by the Canadian biathlon team. Tom wrote that the Canadian biathletes and ACO really liked the new roller ski. The XL98R with the 2010 composite shaft and the new six spoke aluminum rim wheels is, according to many experts, the lightest and most snow like feeling roller ski on the market. ACO (Anna Carin Olofsson), after becoming a mother, is back training for another competitive season. Many female athletes have had outstanding performances after child birth, and I have a strong feeling that ACO will do very well this coming season.<\/p>\nOctober 13, 2010<\/strong><\/p>\nPresident Jimmy Carter orders Roller Skis:\u00a0<\/strong>Former US President Jimmy Carter ordered a pair of Nordixc 125RC from one of our dealers. Apparently, Mr. Carter has been trying out all kinds of different exercise equipment. Sales of Nordixc has been brisk and we had none in stock. We could build more, but we were waiting for a custom-made component which is produced on a laser cutting machine. Called our supplier and told them former President Carter was anxiously waiting for his roller skis. The supplier said: ” Give us two hours and you can drive up and pick up enough parts for another ten pair.” Shortly after noon I headed for the supplier and the skis were shipped by UPS that afternoon. We hope Mr. Carter carefully studies the Zach Caldwell instructional DVD before he goes roller skiing.<\/p>\nFrom a Norwegian Olympian:\u00a0<\/strong>” The new composite ski is very good. (XL98RM) I have no more V2 roller ski ferrules. Very much people like them. They find them better than the other brands. Is it possible to order 200 ferrules in 10 mm? ”\u00a0From Canada:<\/strong>\u00a0” My name is Nansen, I am Richard’s son. I received the roller skis (XL98RM) and they are by far the best roller skis I have ever used.” (The son of famous explorer and X-C skier Richard Weber)<\/p>\nOctober 11, 2010<\/strong><\/p>\nVideo of Aero 150 Tire Changing Station:<\/strong>\u00a0Bill Danielson had called Erik at Jenex West asking if Erik could mount new tubes and tires on the Aero 150 wheels. When Bill and his daughter Tally came down from Loveland last week to visit Erik, Bill had his camera and was kind enough to video the procedure. The tire station makes changing tubes and tires very easy and it’s very fast. Bill wanted a tire changing station for himself, so Erik spent a little more time than usual explaining how to do it. Normally, Erik and I can remove the old tube and tire and mount a new set in less than 5 minutes.<\/p>\nSten Fjeldheim praises new XL Composite skis:\u00a0<\/strong>Last week Sten called Erik at Jenex West to order some more XL98R composite skis. Sten has been testing the skate and classic composite skis for about two months. Sten told Erik the XL98R were the most snow like roller skis he had ever used, and he said the XL900 composite classic was the most stable ski he had tried. If these comments came from someone without serious credentials it would not be worth mentioning. However, Sten is one of the most respected coaches in United States and we are honored by his praise for the new skis.<\/p>\nStability of XL900 composite ski:\u00a0<\/strong>The reason the XL900 composite ski is more stable than the aluminum version is a lower center of gravity. The composite shaft has a modulus, or stiffness, 3.4 X that of aluminum. This means we can make the shaft thinner. Although the aluminum XL900 and the Composite use the same wheel forks the top surface of the composite ski is 18% closer to the axle, or center, of the wheel. Eighteen percent is a big number and that’s why Sten felt the ski was very stable.<\/p>\nJuly 17, 2010<\/strong><\/p>\nWarmest January to end of June in Recorded History:\u00a0<\/strong>In 1880 scientists for the first time began recording average global temperatures. 2010 is, from January to the end of June, the warmest ever recorded with an average temperature for both land and ocean of 14.2C. The oceans have been unusually warm because of a strong El Nino in the Pacific. Things are starting to change and the rest of 2010 should not be quite as warm. The warming trend continues and even the strongest doubters of global warming are now changing their minds. Unless CO2 is reduced the earth will continue to get warmer.<\/p>\nJuly 6, 2010<\/strong><\/p>\nNorway, Russia and Germany buying a lot of V2 Roller Skis:\u00a0<\/strong>This year we have seen a substantial increase in orders from these countries. As in all other countries the most popular items are the V2 Aero XL with Brakes and Speed Reducers. Actually, all models are selling and, according to our Distributor in Norway, the customers who purchased the classic slow 910’s are very pleased as are those who purchased the XL98’s.<\/p>\nFrom our Russian Distributor we usually receive two orders per season, one in the Spring and one in late Summer. This year Andrey has already placed 3 orders. Sven Albert, who is the Distributor in Germany, just received his first order for the season last week as we were too back ordered to ship it sooner.<\/p>\n
Lyme Disease:\u00a0<\/strong>As noted on June 21, found out that John Bauer had Lyme disease. Two weeks ago, after a hike in Waterville Valley, my wife discovered an embedded tick behind my knee where it was impossible for me to see it no matter how I contorted myself. Anita removed the tick with tweezers and disinfected the area. As with most tick or insect bites the area around the bite was red, but the redness usually disappears after 48 hours. My tick bite stayed red and after four or five days the red area became larger. A few days later my shoulders ached without doing anything unusual. As the red area around the bite increased in size decided to see a doctor. Turned out I had Lyme disease. I am now on my fifth day on doxycycline, the recommended antibiotic for Lyme disease. This antibiotic is kind of miserable with several side effects. I am supposed to take the medication for another nine days.<\/p>\nFerry Grill calls:<\/strong>\u00a0Ferry, who was Gunde Svan’s technician and is our Distributor in Austria, phoned with some questions on roller skis. Ferry is leaving for Sweden with his family on July 22 to visit Gunde. He and Gunde are very close friends. Ferry is one of the very few non-Swedes I know who speaks Swedish without any accent at all and he always speaks Swedish when he calls. If he had left for Sweden one week later, I could have met him there as we are leaving for Sweden on August 4.<\/p>\nJune 28, 2010<\/strong><\/p>\nWhere we used to roller ski:\u00a0<\/strong>Sunday afternoon decided to go for a hike. Instead of taking Rt.101, the main road to the mountains, decided to drive the old side roads we used to roller ski some 25 years ago. We were nuts. No helmets, no Speed Reducers or brakes. What I did\u00a0not<\/strong>\u00a0remember was how steep some of these roads were. I took a route we used to ski that started in Wilton Center, then went to Temple, then towards Peterborough and back.<\/p>\nOne day Paul Daly, the former coach at St. Lawrence, went roller skiing with us on one of the roads I drove on Sunday. I had managed to snow plow to a stop half way down the hill when Paul came down and seemed to be completely out of control. He was going too fast to snow plow and I told him to stick out his pole so I could grab it and slow him down. Skied next to him, and somehow we both managed to stay on our skis and slow down. This was before Hillborough County, NH became a suburb of Boston. Today the traffic on the roads we used to ski is ridiculous and the roads are in terrible shape. One road had so many deep pot holes I would not want to ski it on 150 Aero’s and we used to ski there on 70 mm wheels. Erik, our son who runs Jenex West, asked where he could go roller skiing when he comes back next month. Told him all the old places we used to ski when he was in High School are now too dangerous. About the only safe place is the bike path in Hollis, while 25 years ago we could ski almost anywhere. A dramatic population increase in the last 25 years is not necessarily a good thing.<\/p>\n
June 23, 2010<\/strong><\/p>\nFound another Leo Meiersdorff painting:\u00a0<\/strong>If you have read the June 21, “Found an old friend” you will know that the young artist we knew became a world celebrity. While searching the house last night for Leo’s paintings of jazz musicians my wife Anita said: “That small painting of the red house next to the bathroom downstairs is by Leo.” This tiny water color of a Victorian house in LA is in a place where I almost never see it. Ran downstairs to take a look. Sure enough, the signature was Leo v. Meiersdorff. Leo told me he never really liked his noble family. According to him his father was a Nazi and Leo was definitely not. We spent many nights, drinking too much, and discussing the second world war and the Nazi era. Leo said he came from a very wealthy family and all he had to do was to go back to Germany and he would be a multi-millionaire. He refused to go back and told me he would make it on his own. He surely did. Our house is kind of crazy with many nooks and crannies where things can be hidden. Will just keep looking, those jazz musicians must be somewhere. Miss you Leo.<\/p>\nJune 21, 2010<\/strong><\/p>\nJohn Bauer:\u00a0<\/strong>A few weeks ago, John called me to let me know that he had Lyme disease. John had not been feeling normal for quite a long time, but not until now did they discover that his problem was Lyme disease. This stuff can be nasty. Many years ago, a young engineer, who worked for me, started getting pains in his knees and just plain felt crappy. He had Lyme disease for over 6 months before they discovered what ailed him. But, today it’s very surprising that John was not tested for this disease earlier. Here in NH it’s very common.<\/p>\nJohn called again last Friday as he had just received the new composite XLC910 roller skis and he had some questions regarding the mounting of the ski bindings. John has the skis for test purposes, another test pair, along with an XL98RM, has been shipped to Andreas Forneman, a former Olympian in Sweden and sometime next week Sten Fjeldheim at NMU should receive his XLC930 and XL98RM. I have also done some skiing on the XLC910, but at my age I do not consider myself a ski tester. I must admit they do feel very smooth.<\/p>\n
Found an old friend on the web last night:<\/strong>\u00a0Many years ago, met a great guy at a jazz club in West Hollywood. His name was Leopold Von Meiersdorff. We became good friends and met often. He made the best German potato salad I have ever tasted. He gave the recipe to my wife Anita and last night she made the potato salad. Started thinking about Leo and wondered what happened to him. He gave us many water color paintings of jazz musicians and one with sailboats in Santa Monica. Now I have only one of his paintings, which is hanging in the staircase to the Living room. Have lost contact with many good friends from California including Paul Liederman, a class mate at Dartmouth. I was best man at his wedding, but we have not seen each other for forty years. Anyway, decided to google my friend Leo Meiersdorff . I was extremely sorry to see that he had died so young and his bio blew me away. When I knew Leo, he was a starving young artist who loved Jazz. When I read Leo’s biography I started thinking about all the friends we had in California. Had a great job working for ITT when I received a job offer to work in Boston. It was a three-year contract with lots of perks. Almost impossible to turn down. After the three years Anita and I expected to return to California, but that never happened. We left California some 40 years ago. Anita thought New England looked much more like Sweden and we started X-C skiing again, while in California we only did Alpine. That’s life.<\/p>\nMay 24, 2010<\/strong><\/p>\nHiking Pack Monadnock Mountain:\u00a0<\/strong>Have not been getting enough exercise so decided to hike Pack yesterday with ski poles. It’s a short but very steep hike, 2.3 km, 1.4 miles and 275 meters or 900 feet of vertical. Near the summit on the way up I met a guy running down, and on the way down I met him running up. He was running at a fairly good pace and I asked him if this was his second run up the mountain. Turned out this was his fourth run up the mountain. He ran a total of 18.4 kilometers with 1100 meters of vertical. It’s so steep, 23% grade in one spot, that it’s very hard to run down. He was built like a typical runner, weighed probably 135 pounds (61 Kg) and must have been training for the Mt. Washington road race. On the paved road there were also several bikers training for the Mt. Washington bike race. Good to see so many people out there.<\/p>\nFirst Production Batch of XL98 six spoke wheels have arrived:\u00a0<\/strong>The wheels are lighter and more durable than the previous split rim wheels.<\/p>\nMay 20, 2010<\/strong><\/p>\nIn some parts of the World a very cold winter, but don’t be fooled:\u00a0<\/strong>Because parts of North America, Europe and Russia had a very cold winter the news media made it sound as if there was no global warming. With record snow in Washington and southern US the media had a field day. Those who have a problem seeing beyond their nose would reach the conclusion that because it was unusually cold where they were located, there is no global warming. Wrong— wrong— wrong. The NOOA weather institution shows that the earths land and sea temperature in March and April was 0.76 C above the average since 1900. Even January – April set record high temperatures, being 0.69 above the average from 1970 to 2000. NASA’s satellite measurements showed the same results. But here is the real problem. Temperatures in Northern Canada and Greenland were 5C above normal. That’s 9 degrees Fahrenheit, just incredible. At this rate Greenland will soon be green.<\/p>\nRumors about Lance Armstrong doping have been around for years:<\/strong>\u00a0Now Floyd Landis admits that he has been doping for most of his career. Landis said Armstrong’s coach, Johan Bryneel, introduced him to doping. According to an interview with ESPN Landis said he and Armstrong had many discussions about EPO and blood doping and Armstrong had blood stored in a refrigerator. When Lance was away, Landis said that Armstrong asked him to check the temperature of the refrigerator to make sure the blood was OK. Me thinks something is rotten in bicycle land.<\/p>\nMarch 23, 2010<\/strong><\/p>\nScary, but nothing to do with skiing:\u00a0<\/strong>There is an old saying, “As General Motors goes, so goes the Nation.” This is probably as true today as in the past. The National Debt of United States in the year 2000 was just over 5 trillion dollars. In the year 2000, GM’s total equity was a\u00a0positive<\/strong>\u00a030.175 billion. By the end of 2008 the United States Debt had almost doubled and stood at 9.6 trillion dollars and General Motors equity was a\u00a0negative<\/strong>\u00a086 billion. GM was bankrupt, just like the US.<\/p>\nBrief history of our National Debt. In 1835 President Andrew Jackson balanced the budget and the National Debt was paid in full. This has never happened since. In the roaring 20’s the United States had ten years of budget surpluses, but still had a National Debt. In the 1970’s and 80’s we had 20 years of budget deficits. In the late 90’s we had four years of budget surpluses which temporarily slowed the growth of the National Debt. In the last nine years we have almost doubled the National Debt.<\/p>\n
March 22, 2010<\/strong><\/p>\nThe World Cup is over and time to start training for the next season:\u00a0<\/strong>Although Marit Bjoergen had an incredible season, Justyna Kowalczyk was totally dominant. # 1 Overall, # 1 in Distance and #1 in Sprint with a total of 2064 points. Marit had 1320 points finishing second Overall, 2nd in Sprint and 2nd in Distance. Andrew Newell finished a very good 4th in Sprint and 19th overall and Kikan Randall a very respectable 18th in Sprint. It’s just too bad that Kris Freeman was not able to finish the season like he started.<\/p>\nUnbelievably busy:<\/strong>\u00a0We have never had so many roller ski orders this early in the season. Our suppliers were caught flat footed and have had to work overtime to try and catch up. Personally, I have worked every weekend, except one, since Christmas. Dealers across North America are all indicating an unusual interest in X-C.<\/p>\nMarch 15, 2010<\/strong><\/p>\nJust two World Cup Races left this season:<\/strong>\u00a0Holmenkollen and Drammen, Norway had so many spectators at the ski races last week it looked like a NASCAR crowd. (Except these spectators were not demented.) If Andrew Newell does well in Stockholm this week, he could end up in third or second place on the World Sprint Cup. Right now, Andrew is just 2 points behind Petter Northug and just 17 points behind Alexey Petukhov of Russia. Emil Joensson has already won the World Sprint Cup as he is over 140 points ahead. Not only is Andrew presently 4th in the Sprint, he is 16th in the overall World Cup. Let’s have a few cheers for Andrew!!!<\/p>\nWith a very good 50K and Sprint race last week, Marcus Hellner moved from 4th to 3rd place in the overall World Cup. The last World Cup in Falun is murderous with three days of racing. It’s a mini Tour de Ski. A lot of points to be gained so the present standings in the World Cup could change. Northhug is already the overall winner and Justyna Kowalczyk is so far ahead of everyone she has already won the overall, the sprint and the distance World Cup. What a skier and, I believe, the first from Poland to medal in the Winter Olympics.<\/p>\n
March 14, 2010<\/strong><\/p>\nThree of four Gold on STAR Wax:<\/strong>\u00a0Yesterday was the pursuit at the Swedish National Junior Championships. The new HF red with spray on XFW was the best glide wax combination all day. In the morning the air temperature was -6C with 73% humidity and this wax combination continued to dominate even as the air temperature got warmer. For kick a thin layer of K1 + a 50 \/ 50 combination of K3 and K2 was the winning formula. The three skiers who took Gold were Carl Quicklund in Boys 18, Stina Nilsson in Girls 18 and Lisa Larsen in Girls 19\/20. Larsen is a very gifted skier who has already competed in World Cup races. Many think she will be another Kalla and Haag.<\/p>\nMarch 13, 2010<\/strong><\/p>\nGunde Svan with STAR wax Team:\u00a0<\/strong>Gunde came over to Andreas Forneman and told him that the V2-Jenex web site said that Andreas had waxed his daughter\u2019s skis the day before. The Swedish Junior Championships are being held in Hudiksvall and the STAR Team has been dominant. The Fischer serviceman was calling Andreas college, former World champion Thomas Eriksson, asking him: “What the hell are you guy’s skiing on??” This was after the STAR Team finished 1, 2 and 3 in the girls 20 age group.<\/p>\nHere is the weather and the wax for the classic race: +6C and cloudy with a mix of fine and coarse snow. Glide wax was STAR nanoceramic yellow, with FW powder + Dice yellow. The skis were rilled with the V2- 2mm Linear riller. Kick wax was K1 base superthin and ironed in. K4 and K3 were mixed 50 \/ 50. Andreas said they had “kickass skis” much better glide and better kick than those who used other brands. Gold Silver and Bronze ain’t bad.<\/p>\n
March 10, 2010<\/strong><\/p>\nSTAR Dominates:\u00a0<\/strong>This week the Junior National Championships were held in Sweden. Those who used\u00a0STAR<\/strong>\u00a0won\u00a07 of 12<\/strong>\u00a0medals. Gunde Svan’s daughter, Julia Svan, used\u00a0STAR<\/strong>\u00a0and had very fast skis. We hear it from all over STAR<\/strong>\u00a0is kicking butt.<\/p>\nMarch 3, 2010<\/strong><\/p>\n