it isn't often that the broad concepts of "Righteous Anger" and "Cross-Country Skiing" are linked together. and yet here we see a pair of 1st generation rossi skating cobra's that indicate otherwise.
things were not always as rosy for skaters as they are now. at one time skate skiiers were seen as ravaging Huns, terrorizing the pristine sport of xc-skiing, completely missing the beauty and ethos of the activity - completely miscast, misunderstood. or maybe not.
we did indeed trash diagonal stride ski trails ( but only if necessary ). and, not many wool knickers being worn by the early skaters, it is true. and very few fake wine skin things being passed around. there is even a folk-song they still play on WOJB up at the birkie, " What Are You Skating the Birkie For ? "
i came into skiing as a regular thing only after skating came along - i was like " well now yer focking talking !! ", and i pretty much never looked back. to me skating made skiing the winter version of mtn biking. and of course it went on to become completely mainstream, and then in a full-cycle kinda thing people nowadays are flocking back to striding. but not me. not so long as i still have my skateboarding-stickered skate-skiis to remind me of the punk rock days.
as a funny aside - didja know the guy who popularized skating didn't actually skate ?? bill koch did not bring the V1 or V2 or any modern skate technique to start the revolution. he did the Marathon Skate technique, which hardly anybody even knows anymore. to Marathon Skate you place one ski in a striding track, and then push out to the side with the other ski. it is like a V1 kinda, but the weak-side ski never leaves the ground/track - you just push it along in the track with the other ski and poles. that's what started it all, but when's the last time you saw it done ?? i was bumping around on wikipedia the other day, even tho it ( marathon skate ) started the entire skating thing, it isn't even listed as a skate technique. goddangit people - history !!
it's almost back to double digits - i'm going skiing.
4 comments:
Ahthough not an XC skier, I remember setting up many a pair of those Rossi's with Salomon bindings 20 or so years ago. It's one of those memories I've selected to be lost to alcohol consumption, but seems to keep holding it's own in the fight. I'm gonna keep trying though.
JT was doing the Marathon Skate technique the other day. I nicknamed it the on legged interval. Jerry fell over laughing because he thought I said the, "middle leg interval".
Going to race Iola with us this Sunday?
no XC ski racin for me. i somehow managed to shake that affliction - i am still not sure how, so i don't wish to risk a relapse. it's a crazy-hell sick sport, tho - 30 dollars worth of fluoro wax that may or may not be of benefit, weather that is trying to kill you just for getting out of your car . . . . . you go. :)
I have one of those skis if you ever break one. I think it's 195
I was just doing a little M skate last night.
I did not know who did it but I knew that was how skating started.
Let me know if you come down here maybe we can ski Parkside.
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