REMEMBERING IGOR 

A TRIBUTE TO A LEGEND. 

From CXC

This has been a very hard week for most of us, and people and friends from around the country.

The global nordic skiing community and especially here at CXC, have suffered a loss that is rather impossible to process; our coach, our mentor,our ally, our friend Igor Badamshin passed away suddenly last week at only 47 years old. Each one of us is deeply saddened in our own way.

It is really impossible to try and make sense of it, because it makes no sense. What we all know is that in his 47-year life span, he lead an extraordinary life, from his own racing career to the countless acts of caring, hard work, enthusiasm and most of all his time, to help make the sport grow, but also how to have fun doing it. His love of people and the sport  knew no bounds. I first met him when he arrived to coach at Gunstock in New Hampshire, and he was loved there. Young people were immediately drawn to him, and already the countless internet tributes to Igor from his athletes and friends has given just a small glimpse of what he had achieved, and the grace and style that he achieved it in.

He was a person of amazing energy and I never failed to be amazed by the power of his hard work, who could build anything, or simply move mountains.

Igor started with CXC as a high performance advisor in 2007,  and then started to coach with CXC Junior Development Program in 2008, was CXC Team Coach in 2012-2013 and until last Friday was leading the program as a CXC Head Coach.

"I have known Igor for many years and he is always ready to help, to share joy and sorrow. He is a very good man and a good friend. I speak in the present tense because I still can not believe that he is no longer with us. It is a huge loss for me personally and great sorrow for his entire family. Anytime he struggled with difficulties and setbacks, he would always smile and was not discouraged.  So I knew him and try not to forget."  said Andrey Kirilov, a teammate from the Bronze Medal relay at the World Championships in Falun, Sweden back in 1993.

A memorial/gathering is scheduled for Saturday, February 8th from 8pm-10pm at the Cable Community Center, Cable, WI.

We are collecting photos of Igor for a slide show and photos can be e-mailed to info@cxcskiing.org

"Igor was the best friend, colleague, mentor and just an amazing person. He was an integral part of everything we did at CXC. He was the one I would call first for an advise or opinion. It's hard to imagine that he is not with us any more. Just before the tragic moment he called and we talked about plans for the next year, dates for the camps, programs for middle school and high schools skiers, and many other things. To remember Igor, and his passion to coaching junior skiers and athletic excellence we would like to establish a fund in his name to provide scholarship programs for assisting talented junior athletes in Central Region to compete at the U18 Championships and Junior World Ski Championships, " reflected his long time friend, CXC Executive Director Yuriy Gusev.

The many things that made Igor so special are irreplaceable, but his love and enthusiasm for skiing and people will continue to reverberate and live on in all who he touched. That is but one of his lasting legacies.

Donations towards Igor Badamshin Fund can be mailed to CXC Skiing, P.O. Box 930442, Verona, WI 53593 with "IB Fund" on the memo line.

In all of our collective grief, the fact we must remember was that Igor lived, boy did he live...and we are all the richer for it.

Igor's Sports Career: http://sportufo.ru/persony/61-persony-b/648-badamshin-igorj-gajniaxmetovich.html

When does New become Old.? 

Old snow:

How many classical skiers does it take to make fresh snow, "old".

(There is a joke in there somewhere)

Thank you for your consideration of this question.

KH 

This is a tough question

It depends mostly on the temp, and water concentration and humidity. In cold, dry, low humidity conditions  it can be hundreds if not thousands of skiers and many days. In warm wet high humidity conditions it can be 10 skiers or 10 hours.. New snow is sharp, old snow is dull. Also every time the snow is groomed it gets "older" and rounder. New snow is sharp and can penetrate wax. Old "transformed" snow is rounder and is less likely to penetrate Kick wax. So there is not one answer. Sorry I could not be more exact

Andy at SkiPost

Ice snow wax durability.

So I have been thinking about what is the best wax to use for training when one is skiing on icy conditions.  Because the ice is so abrasive it wears off wax so quickly.  Perhaps a hardener over the wax of the day??

For course snow you should use Start BM waxes.

Made specifically for coarse and dirty snow.

startskiwax.com/en/skiwaxes/gliders/black-magic-gliders/

The dry lubricant moly mixture ads durability.

Andy 

Bunion issues for case study.

Dear SkiPost,

I am a foot and ankle surgeon. I have done over 50 fusions on the big toe joint for treatment of advanced osteoarthritis with a lot of success in runners,hikers,alpine skiers,tennis players.... But not on the avid classic style skier.  I am interested to know if you can direct me to a resource/person/podiatrist/foot and ankle surgeon  who has the experience and can address my question?  

email insights to   

Dr Yvonne Weber weber@boulderfootandankle.com

By Andy Liebner, 25JAN2014

For anyone who may read this, know these thoughts I've documented here have taken some time to drive out of me. It has taken stepping away from the very sport that my entire live was based from to come full circle about what it takes to compete with the right mentality again.

When I go out for a run, I don't think the same as when I go out for a ski. In the early days (High School) we'd run for +1 hour straight over rolling terrain and at a consistent pace, we'd do the same during the ski season. Somewhere between in this last decade I've forgotten that.

I realize now, years later, that near the final years of my skiing career, I was shying away from the daily pain of training, the weekend pain of racing. Maybe it was the inner resistance and tiredness. Maybe the routine had become boring and simply going fast on skis through the woods on groomed trails wasn't exciting anymore.

Before I really hit the wall and developed a heart condition 6 months after a heat stroke in 2004, I had no problem training as I felt and more often than not, I would end up skiing quite hard. Same goes for running and during those early years I made the largest development leaps. I remember competing during those years and really pushing the limits much harder than I did (on a consistent basis) later. Yes, I grew smarter about pacing, but I look back over it all now and see where I threw in the towel one thread at a time.

When I had that eager edge and drive to push and fly over the trail, I saw the same look in many of my (unbeatable to me) competitors and I strived hard always improve with every workout. Those who were on their way out, I did not notice their phase-out look although attitudes were obvious.

Nothing makes this more obvious than when uniforms are put on and you step up to that start line; committing to at least one more race experience adding one more result to the ski resume. In the early days I wasn't afraid of feeling the lactic acid and I was even to the point of convincing myself that I would not be affected by it. I would always push way too hard early into each race and build so much lactate the rest of the course seemed way harder as my body tried desperately to keep a homeostatic balance. Through experience and education, I learned how to better control it and the mentality change from runner (something always moving) to cross-country skier (move-pause-move-pause). 

I left NMU in 2011 after my best skiing year ever. Why? For multiple reasons: #1 - I wasn't mentally excited to do the long hard hours of training nor excited about competing with a 'Go hard, give it your all 100%' attitude. #2 - I was strongly pulled to develop some of my ideas and start a business, and that is where my excitement went. #3 - The issue with one member of the men's team turned me off from wanting to be on the team another year. #4 - I wasn't really enjoying the weekly success like I would have if I were a lot younger. Doing well in a race did not make me feel any different. When you wake up in a hotel room and your roommate reminds you there is a race that day and of the style and you don't have any nervousness, that needs to be considered. I felt this way 3 years ago.

Somewhere between the high spirit of High School sports and professional ski racing, college skiing exists with its own energy and space in each of our lives. Mine, scattered, but focused with each choice I've made, I realize I've attended NMU when it's been more convenient for me over you Sten Fjeldheim, but I very much appreciate your trust, openness and relationship.

Now, after taking the break, releasing my book, developing my ideas, starting and running my company, coaching a professional athlete to the Olympics I see the fun and enjoyment within the sport. Going FAST! Through all the conservative trainings, and holding back in races to keep lactic acid under control, I now see where I became bored and lost in this sport.

Currently I'm in Seefeld, Austria and I love going fast on my skis. I can't wait to recover so I can go out and fly around on the trails whizzing by the other skiers out here. The night skiing is amazing and with nearly 100 rec skiers out on the trails during any given time between 8am and 8pm its not lonely out there.

I may not be as strong or as fit as I once was, but I do know that my competitive mentality is getting stronger all the time. I would like to believe there are others out there who have had similar experiences, which end their career short of their dreams. And the message from me to those individuals: Find what it is that makes you smile when you think of skiing, find what it is that gives you butterflies in your stomach when you prepare your gear as you know the time is getting nearer to ski again!

Enjoy the sport of Cross-Country Skiing FOREVER!

Elbow Pain

I also noticed that when executing a V-1 on my left side, my left arm was not doing its share of the work and I was pushing more strongly with my right arm which is mechanically awkward.  By consciously poling harder with my left arm when finishing my V-1 on my left side and softening my right poling arm,  all of the pain in my right elbow has since disappeared during my last few long skis.  Perhaps this quick tip might help Bob and other skiers with similar problems?

Happy skiing,

A McD

Scraping Outside

Hello Good people at Start Wax

I Wax my skis in the basement and then let them cool down inside.  In an effort to keep some of the waxing mess out of the house,  I have been taking them out side to do the scraping and brushing?  Sometimes --its really cold in MN.  Today its -16 F.  Will Scraping a cold ski hurt the ski or the wax job?

Thanks Ed 

Your method is good, 

It is best to wax in the warmest room possible and let them cool down slowly in the warm room. It is better to scrape in a warm room. But you can also scrape them outside as long as you let them cool down slowly inside and then go outside and scrape immediately, so the wax is the least chippable. After we get done waxing and scraping inside we often put the skis outside and then scrape and brush the again to remove the excess surface wax. If you were to let them cool down outside the base would close up and squeeze too much of the newly waxed wax out before it had bonded to the base. Hope this helps.

Andy at Start

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39^th Annual Swix Boulder Mountain Tour Course Update

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