Cross-country skiing

Does anyone know if there’s a spot around here where I can actually rent some decent cross-country skiing gear?

I suppose I am digging this topic out of the archives... I have found myself becoming quite fascinated by cross-country skiing lately, yet I am entirely at a loss as to where one even begins. I would dearly love to give it a try this coming winter, so I am hoping someone might be kind enough to answer a few of my inquiries.

Initially, I was thinking of paying for perhaps an hour or two of lessons, perhaps somewhere like Vail. Would that suffice, given that I have some experience with roller skiing, ice skating, and alpine skiing? And is Vail a sensible choice for those very first steps?

For that inaugural outing, I intend to rent skis, boots, and poles—purely to get a feel for the equipment before I commit to purchasing my own kit.

However, the primary question, for which I have failed to find a definitive answer, is this: what should one wear? I am unsure if it is absolutely essential to purchase specialized pants and jackets immediately, or if I might manage with gear I already possess for other sports. To provide some context, I am an avid runner, hiker, and alpine skier, so my closet contains warm leggings, hiking trousers, thermal base layers, technical shirts, buffs, ski gloves, a ski suit, fleeces, a hiking jacket, a softshell, and a lightweight windbreaker for running... Furthermore, my husband is a cyclist, so he has a jacket that seems quite suitable to me (with a windstopper front and a thinner back) along with cycling gloves. Surely, some combination of these items might suffice? 🙂

I honestly thought this was a place where people actually talked about the races—you know, like, people who actually watch the damn things😁
Look, I’m not trying to trash the sport or anything. In fact, I’m actually thinking about giving it a shot myself this winter since I've never been skiing before. It’s just... watching it? It's kind of a snooze fest, isn't it?

Maybe try hitting up some local clubs out in the Rockies for some advice

quietbison86 said:I honestly thought this was supposed to be a place where we actually talk about the races! I mean, is there anyone here who actually watches the damn thing? 😁

Looks like I’m finally making the switch this year! I'm slowly phasing out football and swapping it for as many winter sports as I can get my hands on. I did end up missing the big snowboarding competition, though—total bummer! 😁

Man, today's sprint was absolutely wild—definitely wasn't your typical snooze-fest. There was some seriously interesting stuff going down out there on the course!

Alright, this is a total classic and it’s freaking awesome. I am officially back in the fold—I've become a huge fan all over again after being away from this for more than 20 years.

Michelle Fisher said:...

Just look up the Mount Rainier, Seattle ski club on Facebook and give them a shout.

For someone who actually understands how the World Cup works...

Here’s how yesterday’s sprint wrapped up (3.1 miles)...

1. Diggins 12:40.3
2. Weng 12:45.1
3. Bjoergen 12:56.1
4. Jacobsen 12:56.7
5. Oestberg 12:57.5
6. Parmakoski 13:07.2

But get this—today's starting list for the pursuit is looking like this...

1. Weng
2. Oestberg +0:20
3. Diggins +0:21
4. Bjoergen +0.26
5. Parmakoski +0:38
6. Jacobsen +0:43

I honestly thought it worked like biathlon, but clearly, I was dead wrong. Is there some other factor they're calculating that I'm missing here?

neonjackal2 said:Is there anything else we should be looking at?

Yeah, you look at the total time for the Nordic Opening, which means every race leading up to this one. That’s why Weng has a time of forty-something minutes instead of the twelve or so it takes to win a 5km. Today, Sundby crossed the finish line first in the pursuit, so he's actually the overall winner of the Nordic Opening. Heikkinen, who came in third, gets zero FIS points because he has the best combined time from the sprint and the pursuit.

Thanks! That's actually pretty interesting.

Man, this Tour de Ski is absolutely killing it. And Ustiugov? The guy is a straight-up machine, 3 for 3 so far.

Ustiugov! I mean, seriously? Nobody has ever pulled off three wins in a row (or maybe it was three straight, I can't quite remember) at the Tour de Ski, and here comes Ustiugov just snatching his fifth consecutive victory by a measly 0.4 seconds!!

Tomorrow we've got 9.3 milesclassic
And then day before yesterday 9 5.6 milespursuit freestyle

Such a great sport! Winter is hands down the best season.

/edit

The part about three in a row is up above. Sundby actually crushed it last year by taking four races.

And that’s another runner-up spot today for that incredible Russ guy. Sundby managed to pull away just a few clicks before the finish line, cruising into first place without even needing to break a sweat in a sprint. He finished 2.2 seconds behind Ustiugov, who had to dig deep in a sprint to fend off an attack from Heikkinen.

Honestly, watching this Tour de Ski Ustiugov run is nothing short of fascinating. We're looking at (most likely) six wins and one second-place finish. This is basically the athletic feat of the year.

What an absolute beast of a climb in this final stage of the Tour de Ski. Just some insane 1.2 miles sections toward the end—first a 24% grade, then hitting 28% right up until you're basically crossing the finish line. Poor Stina Nilsson, she stood absolutely no chance against Weng.

If Sundby is actually a significantly better climber than Ustiugov, does he have a shot at pulling this off? He's sitting at 1:10 behind...

Krešimir Crnković absolutely crushed it during the qualifiers for 6.2 miles at the World Nordic Ski Championships. We're talking nearly a full minute ahead of the guy in second place!

Look, I know nobody stays at the top forever, but man, seeing a performance like that? It’s something else.

I'm pretty sure I caught him competing in biathlon once too—at a legit World Cup event, not some minor local circuit.

Mad respect to him for actually finishing 🙏 😁

I don't really follow this stuff, but today that Norwegian athlete Marit Bjørgen snagged her 15th gold at the World Championships, officially taking the top spot on the all-time leaderboard. She's finally ahead of the Russian, Yelena Vyalbe, who's sitting at 14 golds right now.

I haven't really paid much attention to sports in maybe twenty years or so, but man, this is a great sport. Today’s men's skiathlon (9.3 miles Classic/9.3 miles Freestyle) was top-tier—though I totally missed the women's race because I completely botched the time zone math and messed up the local time. It would have been an absolutely epic finish if Sundby hadn't gone and snapped his pole on that final, short climb. Instead, Ustiugov takes the gold.

Oh, awesome, looks like they're running a replay of the women's race on ESPN.

Man, what a total disaster at the end of that race. Iversen from Norway completely blew it, taking himself and the Finn down with him. Both of them wiped out, leaving the door wide open for Russia and Italy to charge right past and snatch the gold and silver.

neonjackal2 said:Man, what a way to end the race. Iversen from Norway really messed things up for both himself and the Finn. They both wiped out, allowing Russia and Italy to sweep right past them to grab the gold and silver.

It’s pretty obvious this thread has been quiet for a while.😁
Everyone was busy following the TDS, though it hasn't been particularly thrilling since Bolshunov is basically just playing around with a weak field. The Norwegians aren't even in the mix for reasons we all know—they're too busy competing in every other winter sport under the sun.
The women's side is actually much more interesting, even if the Swedish women underperformed after skipping everything leading up to the TDS. Diggins is on track to win the TDS and rake in a massive amount of points; honestly, it wouldn't surprise me at all if we end up with our first American overall SK winner by the end of the season.