Last weekend, Pierre-Olivier and myself headed north of Montreal to St.-Jerome to take on Quebec’s speedy sprinters in the Quebec sprint championships. It was a great event, with two full days of sprinting, and despite adverse weather conditions, organizers managed to put on a great show. The course was excellent- windy and twisty, with a few legitimate place to pass and a good finish sprint.
On Saturday, P-O finished 10th and I managed a 6th place finish. On Sunday, P-O managed to move up one spot to grab 9th, and I snuck out a win!! It’s a great feeling to win a race, and it doesn’t happen all that often. Winning a sprint race is a particular kind of challenge, as you have to get through all the rounds successfully before completely re-focussing for the final. It’s quite a mental game. I broke a pole in one of the qualifying rounds, but I had P-O to help me with some strategic skiing to help me get through to the next round. Thanks P-O!!
There is no way I would have won without wicked-fast Karhu skis and Vauhti wax that never misses. I could not believe how fast my skis were on Sunday, and that is particularly important for any sprint race, as it gives you the confidence to be able to relax a bit and save some energy.
We used all of the following Vauhti waxes, as the weather changed so much. They were all super-speedy at the correct time:
Glide: Vauhti blue, IR Spektra Blue, IR Spektra Pink, IR Spektra Green, Silverfox block, Zerofox block, Goldfox block, Foxgel Wet, Foxgel Medium, and Foxgel Minus.
Grip: Vauhti Teho Green binder, Vauhti Fluor Orange.
The wax I ended up winning the final on was, for glide, IR Spektra Blue, covered with Goldfox block, with a final cover of Foxgel Medium. The grip was very very very thin Teho Green binder, with two very thin layers of Vauhti Fluor Orange, covered with Foxgel Medium – but the grip didn’t really matter because I only used it for the two strides at the start line!
Until next time, happy trails!
"Jessica Spring - Illustration + Design"