Working with the rhode hard wax line the last two days... Yesterday we saw new snow groomed that morning with temps around 10' and tried Blue multigrade. It had solid kick and glide, but I felt there may have been better waxes in the Alumni race. Like maybe Tylers rex.
Today was warmer around 28' on new snow groomed the night before. I used multigrade on one ski and super blue on the other. The super blue ski ran very well with ok but raceable kick, while the multigrade was slower, but had bombproof kick.
Monday, December 31, 2012
Monday, December 24, 2012
Swix KR50 VS Rex Universal
Craftsbury
Temp- 28' upon arrival, 24' upon departure
Snow condition- Manmade and natural transformed snow, with a light dusting of new snow gently mixed in with the high number of skiers
The rex universal was my pick after 2 kilometers of testing, it slightly outkicked the KR 50 and both ski's seemed to glide freely. I opted to give it a trial run on the BFA teams ski's. For a potion of the workout, the wax worked great. Good enough to climb the big hill between the fields for the best skiers. This was short lived though, on any ski's that had not been sanded (none of them had a base layer) the wax came off. My skies held better than the teams, and I was able to ski the day on both, but after an HR or more of skiing, the swix was more durable and was outkicking the rex. As temps dropped through the day neither ski performed as well as when I started. In the future Rex universal has to be applied with a base layer for any ski over 5k.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
12/20 wax test
Craftsbury
Temp- 32-34'f
Snow type" Transformed, Glazed track, tilled granular skate surface
Test 1: Swix KR 50 and Rex Gold. The waxes both seemed to be useless on the uphill glazed track sections. Outside the tracks they would provide decent kick. I did not notice much difference between the two. I was a little disappointed in the Rex gold, The wax was designed for man made snow with a glazed track in this temp range.
Test 2: Swix KR 50 with KR 60 mixed in, against Toko orange and Multi range mixed. These two both performed better and had some kick in the glazed track, fair kick in the none glazed track and could climb all but the steepest hills outside the track. This was good enough for an interval, and ok for todays course, but if we were to race on a course with more sustained climbing i would have been very concerned
Test 3: Toko orange and Rex OV. Both waxes kicked much better, and with a little shorter kick zone could glide against test 2 still on Perrys ski's.
Test 4: This was a test for the team. We applied toko orange on all the skis, and added some Approx %30 of either toko Multirange or Swix KR50. Most liked the combo early in the workout, but later lost kick. This was due to trapped ice in the wax. Conditions were so fast in the tracks, ice on ice was still fast, but ice on ice does not kick.
Conclusion. We made a good call for a short race, but in anything 5k or longer, we might have really struggled to find something. Maybe this is were the Rex gold would come into play. The sacrifice for something perfect would have led to a poor choice late in the race. I talked to Zak Caldwell who had tested a wax with Noah Hoffman from a company Perry had heard of decades ago, They have developed something new that was working and had beat all there other tests. I'll be doing more research on that wax for sure.
Temp- 32-34'f
Snow type" Transformed, Glazed track, tilled granular skate surface
Test 1: Swix KR 50 and Rex Gold. The waxes both seemed to be useless on the uphill glazed track sections. Outside the tracks they would provide decent kick. I did not notice much difference between the two. I was a little disappointed in the Rex gold, The wax was designed for man made snow with a glazed track in this temp range.
Test 2: Swix KR 50 with KR 60 mixed in, against Toko orange and Multi range mixed. These two both performed better and had some kick in the glazed track, fair kick in the none glazed track and could climb all but the steepest hills outside the track. This was good enough for an interval, and ok for todays course, but if we were to race on a course with more sustained climbing i would have been very concerned
Test 3: Toko orange and Rex OV. Both waxes kicked much better, and with a little shorter kick zone could glide against test 2 still on Perrys ski's.
Test 4: This was a test for the team. We applied toko orange on all the skis, and added some Approx %30 of either toko Multirange or Swix KR50. Most liked the combo early in the workout, but later lost kick. This was due to trapped ice in the wax. Conditions were so fast in the tracks, ice on ice was still fast, but ice on ice does not kick.
Conclusion. We made a good call for a short race, but in anything 5k or longer, we might have really struggled to find something. Maybe this is were the Rex gold would come into play. The sacrifice for something perfect would have led to a poor choice late in the race. I talked to Zak Caldwell who had tested a wax with Noah Hoffman from a company Perry had heard of decades ago, They have developed something new that was working and had beat all there other tests. I'll be doing more research on that wax for sure.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Kick wax test 12-17
Craftsbury
Temp-Just below freezing
Snow condition- Mostly new fallen the night before, tracks were well packed but slightlty soft and glazing in spots.
I tested Guru red and Rhode topline 0-2, Perry skied on 0-2 and Rhode Multigrade to start but after one lap swiched to swix VR 60. He found the multigrade did have better kick. I found Both my ski's worked well, the 0-2 slipped some but it was a race wax choice for me. The Guru worked well but was a tad slower. When comparing my skis to perry's he had maybe slightly better kick could glide with me on the long flats and downhills, but his skies would slow down considerably on the transition from climb to flat. This made the 0-2 a clear race day choice for all but the most novice skier. A VR60 covered with 0-2 might have performed well. This was perrys first day on classic ski's, my second.
Temp-Just below freezing
Snow condition- Mostly new fallen the night before, tracks were well packed but slightlty soft and glazing in spots.
I tested Guru red and Rhode topline 0-2, Perry skied on 0-2 and Rhode Multigrade to start but after one lap swiched to swix VR 60. He found the multigrade did have better kick. I found Both my ski's worked well, the 0-2 slipped some but it was a race wax choice for me. The Guru worked well but was a tad slower. When comparing my skis to perry's he had maybe slightly better kick could glide with me on the long flats and downhills, but his skies would slow down considerably on the transition from climb to flat. This made the 0-2 a clear race day choice for all but the most novice skier. A VR60 covered with 0-2 might have performed well. This was perrys first day on classic ski's, my second.
Monday, December 17, 2012
12-16
Glide observations for Craftsbury eastern cup
Temp- approx 28'
Snow type- Mostly manmade with a half in of new snow falling throughout the day.
Damian used Homenkol HF red, dripped in some Swix HF 8 BD and top coated with Swix turbo
I used Homenkol HF Black/Red and top coated with Toko Red
Damian had a nice feel and he said he could run up on most guys. Jessica put down a nice race as well, likely on the same wax. A great race with an earlier start. My ski's had a static feel, they woud run with most but had no advantage.
Conclusion: The Swix Turbo might be a better option on this surface. Or The Bolducs confidence was high enough to make the ski's go fast
Temp- approx 28'
Snow type- Mostly manmade with a half in of new snow falling throughout the day.
Damian used Homenkol HF red, dripped in some Swix HF 8 BD and top coated with Swix turbo
I used Homenkol HF Black/Red and top coated with Toko Red
Damian had a nice feel and he said he could run up on most guys. Jessica put down a nice race as well, likely on the same wax. A great race with an earlier start. My ski's had a static feel, they woud run with most but had no advantage.
Conclusion: The Swix Turbo might be a better option on this surface. Or The Bolducs confidence was high enough to make the ski's go fast
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Rex OV Klister, Craftsbury 12-2
Air temp: low 40's
Snow Condition: A Manmade loop with 2-3 inches of new snow from earlier in the week that was lightly tilled in. The tracks appeared to be mostly man made granular snow, the tracks generallly remained firm despite the warm airtemp, A few spots softened and some of the tracks had a firm wet icy glaze.
Test length per trial: 4-5 k
Point of the test: I wanted to test Rex OV against all other waxes today. It has a good reputation and the label on the box said for course wet snow 0'-10' C, perfect for today
Test 1: OV vs Swix KR 70
In this test both waxes kicked well, and glided well on the longer downhills and flats, The 70 did not transition well and had a very sluggish feel after a climb going into a downhill. The 70 was a poor choice and a good education on snow temp vs air temp as the snow was likely too cold for this wax
Test 2: OV vs Rex Universal
For the fist 2k of this test I found these two waxes to be identical, until jumping out of the tracks on a colder downhill section of the course. Outside the tracks on the looser colder snow the universal seemed slower
Test 3: OV vs Rex Gold
Rex gold was the best gliding wax of the day. It could be kicked, but required more effort than the OV
Test 4: OV vs Toko spray on orange
The waxes seemed to have equal kick and glide, by feel I could not tell a differnce, however during this trial I developed some lower back pain, enough that I thought I might have been done for the day, But to my suprise it went away in the next test. That made me question the effort I was putting into making this wax work. Possibly a thicker application from a tube would have given me more confidence. This wax has performed well for our team and other high school teams in the past so it will remain a race day wax to test for sure.
Test 5: OV vs Swix KR 60
Like I said in test 4, my back pain went away in this test, the 60 had the
best feel of the day, I felt like I could have skied another 20k, however I felt it might have been a touch slower than the OV.
Race day Pick:
Long technical course and semi fit racers : Swix KR 60
For the fit racer on most courses: Rex OV
For a sprint: Rex OV mixed with Rex gold ( an educated guess )
Snow Condition: A Manmade loop with 2-3 inches of new snow from earlier in the week that was lightly tilled in. The tracks appeared to be mostly man made granular snow, the tracks generallly remained firm despite the warm airtemp, A few spots softened and some of the tracks had a firm wet icy glaze.
Test length per trial: 4-5 k
Point of the test: I wanted to test Rex OV against all other waxes today. It has a good reputation and the label on the box said for course wet snow 0'-10' C, perfect for today
Test 1: OV vs Swix KR 70
In this test both waxes kicked well, and glided well on the longer downhills and flats, The 70 did not transition well and had a very sluggish feel after a climb going into a downhill. The 70 was a poor choice and a good education on snow temp vs air temp as the snow was likely too cold for this wax
Test 2: OV vs Rex Universal
For the fist 2k of this test I found these two waxes to be identical, until jumping out of the tracks on a colder downhill section of the course. Outside the tracks on the looser colder snow the universal seemed slower
Test 3: OV vs Rex Gold
Rex gold was the best gliding wax of the day. It could be kicked, but required more effort than the OV
Test 4: OV vs Toko spray on orange
The waxes seemed to have equal kick and glide, by feel I could not tell a differnce, however during this trial I developed some lower back pain, enough that I thought I might have been done for the day, But to my suprise it went away in the next test. That made me question the effort I was putting into making this wax work. Possibly a thicker application from a tube would have given me more confidence. This wax has performed well for our team and other high school teams in the past so it will remain a race day wax to test for sure.
Test 5: OV vs Swix KR 60
Like I said in test 4, my back pain went away in this test, the 60 had the
best feel of the day, I felt like I could have skied another 20k, however I felt it might have been a touch slower than the OV.
Race day Pick:
Long technical course and semi fit racers : Swix KR 60
For the fit racer on most courses: Rex OV
For a sprint: Rex OV mixed with Rex gold ( an educated guess )
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Welcome
Welcome to my Secret wax Blog, Which since its online isn't really a secret. Considering each wax is labeled I guess anyone reading this has to trust me more than a wax company, so they can take a chance. On the right are my go to waxes, the ones that tend to give me a predictable result since I have used and tested most of these hundreds of times. I am however testing new waxes all the time. This season I am testing a line of Rex klisters and Rhode Hard waxes, as well as a a few others I have stashed away in my test box. I hope to record all my tests here for your referance as well as mine.
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