THE LAST WORD

Nervous? Yea me too. I cannot for the life of me understand why. One would think by now I would be over this. The good news is that the temps are predicted to moderate so it may not be so cold and that means faster. The wax companies are putting up their recommendations [ see www.skinnyski.com ] but the key I think will be brushing and polishing. Get those bases smooth. Right now (Wed. 1:00pm) I am looking at Swix LF/HF 6 over the LF 4 that I put on yesterday. Brush super well [horsehair last if possible]. For Toko folks LF Blue, same on brushing but just horsehair. I am tempted to do a pair in just plain old REX BLUE. Perfect for that 10-20 degree range.

MOST IMPORTANT: Its the person on top the ski that matters most. The best wax is a flat ski and a long stride.

By 12 ks everyone is so tired that they forget what the hubbub was about anyway. Ski relaxed and smooth. Just another day at Lakewood.

The conditions look really good and there sounds like a lot of people coming.

I talked with Jim Johnson at Telemark just now and he said they had inch on Monday night and almost 2 inches last night but over a very hard base. Hard is good. They are grooming so snow should be good, possibly great, although an ice storm would warm me up.

Enjoy the buzz up there. Have fun, look around and ski your best race. Take it out easy and finish with a flourish. Its not how you lookits how you look on Main Street.

See you at the finish.

ME