I am going to try to put a better effort into releasing my wax notes into the wild after our JNQ race service. When we go to support these races my main focus is on supporting those without other team support. I am always handing out whatever information I can to help other athletes and teams and there is no better way to spread than by posting my results on our blog for all to read. Enjoy!
December 10th – Skate Sprint
There was a really good man-made snow base on the trails at the Spirit Mountain Nordic Center. There was mixed precipitation all day long transitioning from snow to sleet to drizzle. When the day was finished, there was probably 1.5-2” of new snow/slush on the ground. Below are my test results:
- Rode RL Med Liquid
- Swix TS7 Spray
- Rex G21G Liquid
- Star Med Liquid
- Rode RXL Med
My initial results had Swix TS7 and Rex G21G in the top spot both feeling very good. Climbing felt great on both waxes, but I couldn’t feel a significant difference between the two. Star Med was ok, and really the only wax I wasn’t happy with was the Rode RXL Med. After my first round of testing I got word that the Rode RL line was performing well so I decided to throw it into the test for my own knowledge. I was curious as to where it would stack up against the waxes we tested, and specifically the new RXL line. When I put it on the snow, the Swix TS7 and Rex G21G still had a slight advantage at slower speeds climbing, but once the skis got pointed downhill you could definitely feel a significant advantage on the Rode RL Liquid. The sprint course in Duluth heavily favors skis that have good top end gliding speed so we decided on the RL Med as our wax of the day.
We did a little bit of structure testing as well, but not as much as I would have liked. We are currently waiting on a new set of test skis so I could only throw 2 structures out on the snow. I tested the Red Creek +15/-5 which I have had lots of success with on newer, wet snow and also the Red Creek Coarse which is great on wet/manmade snow. The Coarse rose to the top in our tests. Later in the day when the precipitation transitioned to more drizzle, we added the Red Creek 1mm structure to the back half of the skis to help deal with suction.
December 11th – Classic Individual
Sundays race brought some uncertainty in the morning. With the 1-2” of new snow the previous day and temperatures basically at 32 degrees meant we could show up to a wide variety of conditions on the course. The grooming mixed the new snow with the man-made snow really well and we were basically on just wet/granular snow. I was stretched for time waxing and made a guess on binder the night before. I like Vauhti SuperBase when the conditions are varied. When we arrived to the venue it was a bit more aggressive than I originally anticipated so I added one thin layer of Rex Liquid Base Klister on top of the SuperBase to help increase durability. We started off with 4 different options to test:
- Rex N11
- Rex Gold Klister + Vauhti GT Pink
- Star Beta M26
- Swix VP65
Our first test produced some promising results. I really liked N11 on its own and was tempted to just go with that option. Pretty decent kick and glide in sub par conditions. The combination of Rex Gold and GT Pink was nearly roller ski kick, but it was a little on the draggy side. Star Beta M26 was better kick than N11, but not as fast. Swix VP65 wasn’t in the mix for us at all and we eliminated it early on.
I wanted to see if I could improve the speed of the Gold Klister cover by rolling the klister on with a Swix wax machine instead of by hand. Using a wax machine to roll on klister will make it much easier to reproduce, and also allows the klister to go on very thinly and smoothly with very minimal work. As soon as this ski touched the snow I knew we had a winner. Pretty much perfect kick and unbelievable glide. We also added Rex Grip Powder to cover the wax to further reduce the risk of icing. With the combination of GT Pink and Grip Powder we had basically no issues with icing through the races. We went on this pretty much all day long. If athletes need a small bump, we added Rex N11 and if they needed a big bump we added Star M26.
