Fast technical singletrack ski?

[Manney]

This is a quest.

I have a favorite local mtbike trail, the Poto, here in mid-Michigan, that I just love to ski. If I kick back it's just bliss when we have a 4" base with 4" fresh on top like we do now. It smooths out the rootiness, softens the babyheads. It's rougher on a bike than on skis. Nice.

My problem is sometimes I like to go fast. Then I get going TOO fast on the really tricky downhills. So I make aggressive control moves to keep speed down and keep me from launching into trees. These control moves nuked my legs the last fast lap I did!

It's an 18 mile 3 hour lap when you're on a record pace. 4 hrs is joy. 3 hrs is testing everything at its limit. My hip stabilizers both blew out just from the downhill control move stresses! Then I couldn't hardly ski anymore! Kinda unpleasant tho I kept up a fast pace. Lost a lotta uphill punch too.

I used crazy Superlight waxers, 210's. I'm 6 ft. Last year I tried it w race skis but they were too tippy. 46 or 48 is better, whatever the Supers are.

The day before I did a fun scout tour using Fischer Touring Lights -- 58mm skis built to race specs. They handled the downhills fine but my speed was half that of the fast day on the Superlights.

I'm wondering... If I used a ski that let me relax on the twisty, droppy downhills my hips would last longer. I'd then have umph to put into the rest of the uphills. Maybe the net result wd be a faster lap even tho flat glide suffered. Maybe slow is fast! Ideally then something like an Evo Quest at 63mm and 195? But I want a waxer! And heck what about a bit of metal edge. So then... the OT Evo 65? Or about how about the Alpina 68? Get one of these in XL to help keep the nasty fishscales from dragging so much?

What if I went from NNN to NNN-BC?

Is high performance technical singletrack a thing? How to get there?

I do keep kinda screwing up my fast lap attempts on this trail. Least I haven't gotten hurt. I wear a helmet and hip pad shorts. If I cd get my scene dialed in maybe a 2:30 lap wd be possible...

I think it's cute that I'm trying to set a record lap there at age 60 that I'd truly like to see a "real skier" improve upon. But I want it to push em. I mean, let's see if any youngster can do better. They might be surprised. It's fun having an old fart be the fastest on this famous trail. Every ski racer hammers it on their bikes. Nobody dares to ski it except for a few who really love to ski. Someday this might change. I want to leave em a time to chew on.

Going down a cold trail here, but the speed/pace things you mentioned resonated…

Used to do a lot of ski shopping… looking for that perfect one. No two skis the same between sessions… that kind of stuff. It got in the way of a lot of things tbh. Every switch would initially reduce performance, but it would come back after a focused season. Riding a sawtooth, year in year out.

Then stopped the searching and focused on getting to know my gear. Some of it involved learning where to push and where to conserve with a particular ski… hills, slopes, flats, powder, tracked, warm, cold etc. Some of it involved the ski itself… technique, weighting, extending glide, edging etc. stopped deluding myself that an AT ski skis like an XCd, or an XCd skis like an AT… or suffering 10 miles of one type of terrain in order to feel good on 1 mile of a different type of terrain.

The flow became less forced… working with the ski + terrain, not trying to overcome either. Speed improved. Turns improved. Now starting to feel connected to a smaller number of skis. Skis that were more in the middle of local snow and slope conditions.

Fewer magical days? Maybe. Fewer crap days? Definitely. Lots of successful days? Tons.

[Montana St Alum]

This is a quest.


I think it's cute that I'm trying to set a record lap there at age 60 that I'd truly like to see a "real skier" improve upon. But I want it to push em. I mean, let's see if any youngster can do better. They might be surprised. It's fun having an old fart be the fastest on this famous trail.

My wife started mountain biking at 58. Back before COVID (at which point, she was 67), we were climbing up Pinecone in the Wasatch which tops out at about 9800'. She set the pace and we slowly crept up on a young guy (maybe 35) from back east, so not used to the elevation. She ended up getting to the top before him. It wasn't that she was really trying to, but her pace was great that day.

She was pretty stoked!

[Manney]

35 is old enough that, if you haven’t stayed in shape, gravity can be challenging. See this in some buddies… phenomenal natural athletes back in the day all gone now due to too much sofa/sodas.

The middle life challenge seems to start in the early 30s. The wheezing only kicks in in the 40s or 50s when some ppl go really down hill.

The 60, 70 YOs kicking ass are those who didn’t take 20 years off sport (like from 30-50),.. and those guys and gals do kick ass because they’re work hardened, conditioned. Recovery slower? Yep. But their performance “on the day” can be impressive because they ski with they’re fit AND ski with their heads. A little altitude conditioning doesn’t hurt either

Rare breed tho… you can tell them from the herd because they don’t brag, are open to ideas, and acknowledge the vitality of youth (because they still retain a smidge). So it’s probably as much a head space thing that has kept them going… sport being as much a mental as a physical game. When those two things align, age isn’t always the determing factor.

[Montana St Alum]

The 60, 70 YOs kicking ass are those who didn’t take 20 years off sport (like from 30-50),.. and those guys and gals do kick ass because they’re work hardened, conditioned.

IDK, women are pretty amazing. She took 25 years off from what we'd normally call exercise to have and raise 3 children. Now, had she not gone through that, she'd be a more formidable athlete today, but she always pushes about as close to 100% as anyone can. That's all you can hope for - your best.

[Manney]

Lifting kids all day counts as resistance training… anyone wrestling a five year old in/out of a grocery cart knows this. Three kids? Golds Gym Executive level. Sun up to sun down.

Women also listen, learn better than men. More apt to take a ski lesson. So even if they restart later in life, they focus on formal skills development. Catching up to 25 lost years is a different issue tho. Man or woman, there’s no making up for that kind of lost time.

My point was less about the 100%ers than what had to happen to put a 35 YO guy in trailing position against anyone 25+ years his senior. It’s easy to figure out how the 60-something got into a dominant position… more to do with the situation the 35 YO now finds themself in.

[Montana St Alum]

more to do with the situation the 35 YO now finds themself in.

Yeah, they're working and raising kids. It takes a lot of time!

[Manney]

Too right! In that boat myself. Easy to stay off the beer, nachos… and get on the bike instead of taking the truck everywhere in the summer. Or say no to wings and beer with the boys after the kids go down in order to be fresh enough to log a few ski miles the next morning.