Masters GSs this coming week!

[bbbradley]

Heading to Berkshire East for 2 GS races this Friday assuming no cancellations (Which after the recently announced cancellation of the Hochebirge... ) to give it a go in the wickets.

I'll be rocking the 30m skis, for good or for bad as the next option is 14m skis. I will bring the 14m just in case the course setter decides to go crazy tight on the set, but really hoping to see what I can do on real GS skis for the first time in ages. I was talking to a friend from my college racing days, he has an old pair of race stock K2s (Derbys, risers, etc...) that he measured for me - ~75m sidecut. If I could make skis like that work in a GS, how could the 30m skis of today be any worse. Right?

 

[bbbradley]

Ton of fun yesterday learning how to make 30m skis turn when the course setter says I should turn vs on my agenda.

There were 2 races, the 1st one was far more amenable to a 30m ski. Considering I've raced 2 GSs in ~25 years, and this was my first races on them, not too disappointed with the results. The 2nd set was 4.5 seconds slower than the 1st, and by the 2nd run more than a few people had transitioned to SL skis.

Loads of fun, would have liked to ski faster, but that is *always* the case.

 

[Doug Briggs]

Nice skiing, BB. You were really getting after it.

 

[bbbradley]

Thanks! It was a great day out there. Bring on the Wachusett event.

Nice skiing, BB. You were really getting after it.

 

[ScotsSkier]

Good skiing. However I am a little bit surprised that anyone would ski it on slalom skis. Assuming it was a USSA masters race the setting distances are 23 minimum and 30 maximum. Did the setter put a ton of swing on it to get the distance?

 

[bbbradley]

Good skiing. However I am a little bit surprised that anyone would ski it on slalom skis. Assuming it was a USSA masters race the setting distances are 23 minimum and 30 maximum. Did the setter put a ton of swing on it to get the distance?

48.00 --> 52.43 for the fastest run on the AM set vs the PM set. Visually, it did look like much more swing across the pitch and the time differential supports that. As much as the additional sidecut would have been nice for the swing, the cross ruts from the AM set made for a bumpy ride. The additional stability of the GS ski was welcome for a hack like me.

Other than the 1st 2 turns (that are dictated but how the start is located relative to the race hill and the AM set) the rest of the swing was noticeable but nothing I'd call outrageous.

 

[Burton]

Bill, nice job old man!! See you for the throw down at WaWa. Looks like I’m going to have make some laps on the straight skis to keep up.

 

[bbbradley]

Bill, nice job old man!! See you for the throw down at WaWa. Looks like I’m going to have make some laps on the straight skis to keep up.

Hoping for some other chances to race 'em this year. If not, next year I hope to get out to at least a half dozen Masters races.