@Johnny Do XCD knights no longer accept flexors to the list of accepted kit? Maybe you could see flexors as part of a balance between forces… Think of yin and yang. Good technique, skis and fitting boots are the yin, and the softness of yin is also what I aim at, when skiing. On the other hand, bindings, flexors and cables are the yang. The way I see it, the balance of a skiing "universe" (experience) will explode, if you have zero opposing forces to the yin. So, you just have to accept some yang into the equation IMO. Stiffening elements of a boot are actually extra yang, too, because they create unnecessary "hard" forces.
Skier forces somewhat easily bend both stiff boot soles and red flexors. Question is, which one of the two gives in and how much? If a flexor is much softer than a boot sole, only it tends to give in. When only the flexor gives in, the boot pivots. I do not feel much resistance there with black flexors, do you? When a flexor and a boot give in with more similar forces, it is easier to bend the boot sole, too.
@fisheater wrote following in the cable mechanics thread yesterday. What I claim is similar to his #1. I have also tested that this works with nnn-bc flexors, at least in my case (and, at least on a carpet).
Maybe I need the stiffer flexors only due to my personal limitations. First, I have so stiff balls of feet, that a physiotherapist told I should stretch them regularly. So stretching balls of feet became part of my ankle fracture rehabilitation program back then. On the other hand, my XCD telemark practice is limited to ~15 sessions so I just may need some training wheels still.fisheater wrote: ↑Wed Jan 25, 2023 7:34 pmJohn, a cable can aid performance in 3 ways.
1) The cable assists in breaking the bellows. This assists the skier in getting the ball of the foot flat on the ski.
[…]
3) An active spring transfers the energy expended lifting the heel to the front of the ski.
I do not believe you are going to see a lot of benefit #3 from a leather boot. I believe the boot will fold before you see significant benefit.
But, what I am trying to achieve with the flexors, is to expand my XCD time frames from powder to less optimal conditions, ie. hard surfaces. If I go to the fjells in the spring time, my Gammes will fly there. On the other hand, fjell top slopes will be at least packed by wind, if not frozen. It would be nice to ski some mellow fjells up and down there, too, but turning on hard snow is a challenge for me. Also in Southern Finland, we have lots of refrozen snow. For example, now and more during spring months.
It would be nice to try softer boots, too, but I think they would work for me in softer snow. Maybe there needs to be a balance between snow hardness and gear stiffness, too?