Nordic Column Rehash

I missed the Atomic Sprints up at Great Glen that took place at the beginning of December, instead I spent the day riding my bike. But while I was riding I began to realize that my mind was ready to switch gears (no pun intended) and begin to glide on snow.

As I was thinking of all of this I realized that my hands and feet were pretty much numb and for that matter my face had begun to hurt from the cold. I chalked it up to being such a tough guy and for riding when the temperatures were –0 degrees Fahrenheit. The only issue was that when I got home I looked at the temperature and it was 26 degrees! If I had been out skiing that would have seemed like a fairly warm day, I might have even been skiing without a hat and defiantly with my lightweight gloves. Instead I had been out with a heavy wind block hat, mittens and so many layers that I could hardly move. So what is the reason for being able to ski and stay so warm but riding a bike is so darn cold.

My first guess was that I was just cruising at such a high rate of speed on my bike. That thought was quickly set aside when I realized that I was riding at a very slow speed, a speed that was not that much faster then when I was skiing. So what was it? This had me baffled. So I threw on some beater cross country skis and left on my cycling gear and went for a quick cruise of the soccer field behind my house, as it had about an inch of snow- plenty for my little test. Within 20 strides I was hot, by 30 I was sweating, and by the time I hit the end of the field to begin skiing home I was unzipping layers. Interesting.

I thought it must be the fact that you use your upper body so much more in cross country skiing and the fact that both your lower and upper body are working just ramps up the engine that much more. So I tried to ski without moving my arms. I wish someone had seen this as it must have looked pretty funny- I’m guessing what a penguin would look like if it tried to cross-country ski. Aside from the fact that I had a hard time staying upright when I didn’t move my arms the experiment didn’t yield much new information. What I did realize is that my entire body was active in stabilizing me as I slid down the trail. Muscles all over were helping me keep my balance and set me up for my next stride. Unlike on my bike where I don’t need much help other then the wheels spinning to keep me balanced, on skis it is a constant and impressive effort.

Why do I point this out? Well it is good to know that cross-country skiing can keep you warm in the winter (of course oil prices have finally dropped so we may be able to actually turn the heat on this winter after all), but it is also good to know that while it is keeping you warm it is burning calories and potentially fat. Knowing that this is the time of year when most of us maybe eat a bit more then we should, and that we then make promises to ourselves based on the turning of the calendar- it is good to have a secret weapon in you back pocket. So this holiday season when you step on the scale and realize that you see a number that you’ve never been asked to count up to tell yourself that you now need to go get in a good ski (as if you needed any more reasons to want to get out on the trails!)

Now that you are all fired up to ski and can see even greater benefits to skiing, here are a couple of events that are coming up in the region. Be sure to also check in with your favorite touring center website to find out any new events that are coming up in the near future.


Originally printed in The Mountain Ear 12/18/2008