Train Your Balance Like a Boss

Train Your Balance Like a Boss

Gear News, Newsfeed
The body balance is, likely, the most important single factor in cross country skiing – unless you happen to be a dedicated double-poler, in which case read no further. For those of us, however, who practice either old good diagonal classic stride or skating, a balance training is a must. Naturally, there are dozens of devices and gadgets designed to aid – starting with simplest of all, a plastic bottle filled with water, all the way to fancy professional machines for $$$$$. The Austrian company MFT has turned the balance training into a form of computer gaming. The MFT Challenge Disc 2.0 connects to you phone or tablet via Bluetooth – et voila, instead of counting seconds, you now actively swing your lower limbs achieving corresponding gaming action on your…
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Elbow pain from poling? StaffanSTAVEN to the rescue

Elbow pain from poling? StaffanSTAVEN to the rescue

Gear News, Newsfeed
Low impact on our knees and feet is one of the benefits of the cross country skiing that we appreciate the most. There is one caveat though – from time to time, at least some of us develop a pain in the elbow due to the overuse of sticks, causing tendinitis, a minor inflammation. Once upon a time the doctor's verdict was simple: give it a rest and avoid training for a while. Now, all that is coming to an end thanks to a Swedish innovation, the StaffanSTAVEN shock dampers. StaffanSTAVEN (or "Staffan's poles") is the brainchild, of Staffan Larsson, the winner of the 1999 Vasaloppet, and Gunnar Winroth, an orthopedic surgeon. Together, they figured out that inserting a specially calibrated spiral spring encased in a carbon-fibre tube into a pole handle would provide a very…
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Rollerski with LED Lights

Rollerski with LED Lights

Gear News, Newsfeed
Ever had the feeling that your gear is functional and cool, but misses that sleek, modern touch? An Italian manufacturer, Ski Skett, knows how to help. This coming season, the good people from  Sandrigo, Vicenza are bringing to the market a rollerski model featuring "LED lights integrated into the fork". As you would expect, the new rollers are for the classic style – imagine the light beams going wild, were you to integrate the lights into the skating ones! The model is named "Marcialonga", and, apart from the slightly geeky looking LEDs, features rubber wheels, waterproof bearings, a leg brake and a frame made of "aeronautical alloy" - which, presumably, stands for what most people call "aluminium". Ski Skett promotes “Marcialonga” as a model for longer runs. The unspoken message of the product is that "nothing prepares you for the rigors of the Cascata climb…
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