Last Sunday, after realizing I forgot my lock and my bike shoes, I decided to not leave my bike in Soda Springs so I could ski up the last climb from Kingvale (what a great climb that is) and instead I parked at the Kingvale exit. I skied down to Cisco Grove; the head wind let me “schuss” the downhills to Rainbow lodge and from Loch Leven trail head. At my turnaround in Cisco Grove, it began snowing in earnest. Roller skiing in a snow storm was a first for me. The snow didn’t stick on the road but it was definitely wet; and I didn’t detect any decriment in traction on the roller skis, which dispelled my lingering fears that these skinny wheels would not be as good on wet pavement as the old Proski wide wheels. In fact, these might even be better. However, I did not test them on the road striping. I’d guess that is begging to slip and go down. By the end of that outting it also was clear that riding my bike down the hill from Soda Springs to pick up the van would have been brutally cold, so it all turned out for the best after all.
After reading Ian’s post (Far West Seniors blog, 8/21/09), I was even more relieved and pleased that I went with Pursuit rollskis instead of the Proskis I had been lusting after. And I thought the wheels on my old (very very old) Proskis were challenging to change. Sounds like the new ones provide a challenging endurance training session at no extra charge.
I sprung for the 6002s, $20 more than the 6004s and 30 gms less. I went with the 2/2 wheel setup and am very pleased. Even the downhill to Rainbow lodge felt fairly reasonable and I’m impressed with how well they snowplow turn, they actually feel like they carve - at first the turnability startled me but I’m sure I’ll get used to it and love it. I had considered going with a 2/3 (1 is fast, 3 is “ultra slow”) but wanted to make sure I would have a better chance of keeping up with others, or at least not being even farther behind. Clayton (rollerskishop.com) was very helpful and tolerant of my numerous questions.
The skinny wheels felt alarmingly tippy at first (I do like the old wide Proski wheels) but they quickly felt OK. It is harder to not be on the “inside edges” - I really have to pay attention to keeping the ski flat. I did notice a slight susceptibility for the ski to squirt out to the side at the end of a skate pushoff but that seems OK if you concentrate on keeping solid pressure on the ski and not lighten up at the end of the stroke thus losing pressure and adequate grip to prevent side slip. One event almost took me down and I hopefully have learned to avoid that.
I might tape some fenders on for wet weather skiing but, as you know, that’s not a big concern around here.
After decades of accumulating spare parts for all sorts of “gear” (we’re talking spacers, crush washers, inserts, teeny o-rings, not to mention those *&%$*$! torsion springs that keep breaking on my microwave), it is only fitting that just a few days ago I got my new ProSki Roadline Tech classic rollerskis. Yes, the exact same rollerskis lovingly mentioned in Ian Case’s senior blog post yesterday (have a look at Ian’s blog entry to fully understand the irony here). I decided my combi V2s were just too goofy with the the outrigger wheels for classic rollerskiing, hence the ProSkis. I’m looking forward to trying them out, hopefully tomorrow. But when it comes time to change the wheels a few years down the road, it’s good to know I know someone with the skills necessary to do the job!