We experienced the coldest weather of the season over the weekend as temps dropped to -25 at night and warmed to -10 during the day in areas of the Anchorage Bowl. Fearing the snow on the ski trails would be slow and sticky I decided to try a pair of nordic skates as an alternative to skiing this weekend. Nordic skates are simply straight blades attached to a boot using ski bindings, making it easy to switch from skis to skates. I skied from the house down to the Lagoon, stepped off the skis and onto the nordic skates. After a few laps on the freshly hot-mopped big loop I soon got the hang of it and could feel the similarities between skiing and skating. The nordic skates are less forgiving than nordic skis and provided instant feedback (skidding) when I didn't transfer my weight smoothly from a glide to a kick. Though not as fast as a traditional speed skate, I really enjoyed the way the nordic skates felt like freestyle nordic skiing. And like barefoot running, the nordic skates provide self coaching - it only feels right when using the correct form.
1 comment:
My brother got a couple of pairs of those back in the early 1990s and the bindings were for snow boots. They used them for rough ice in Scandinavia. We put nordic bindings on them and used to rip about on the lakes in Maine. Then when 'clap' skates were 'invented' people thought that was what we had on our feet. We call them long blades. With poles I used to be able to skate all the way around the outer edge of Lake Mendota in WI in an hour and 10 minutes. Patrick
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