Now in Oivanki ready for RR1 again

The last few days have been testing equipment. I discovered that I am quite hard on equipment and this was obvious when I had new bindings on the Skintecs - they now have racing bindings and it just goes to show the difference between touring bindings and racing bindings. The touring bindings grip the middle section of the NNN bar at the toe of the boot. The racing bindings grip the bar at either end. Thus, this is a batter grip, and it doesn't allow the lateral wear leading to the play that I ahd experienced. But as always, there is a downside - racing bindings will only lock down if all traces of snow and ice are removed - this makes them more time consuming putting skis back on after crossing a road, but this is something that you don't do when racing!

This was a real eye opener and I changed the bindings on my other skis as well. I finally switched to the new skins for the Skintec skis - I had been saving them for the RR rather than use them in training. They are supposed to last about 2,000 km, but mine are pretty worn at 1,000 km. I did discover that worn skins are better for skating, and even though they look badly worn, they still have a decent grip.

So now I am here; equipment all tested, a better build up training than normal - instead of a frantic 3-4 days, I have done 245km over 8 days, with today being almost a rest day - just a quick 11km this morning.

It turns out that the two Australians I met at Nordseter bus stop a couple of years ago liked the idea and have come along this year, and they told some other people. The RR generally gets spread around by word of mouth - someone hears about it from someone else, and so it goes on.

The conditions are good; the temperature not so great - it was +1C yesterday evening, although -1C this morning, later rising to 0C. With no wind, and the drier air here, it was quite pleasant outside in just a long sleeved shirt.

The forecast is generally for just below 0C and as I look outside now, it is gently snowing. In the UK, the kids would be going crazy over the thought of snow.

So I now look forward to the start and see if the improvements I have made work out.