Cycling & Skiing.

In my progression away from the couch-oriented lifestyle, I initially jumped onto downhill skis, added a triathlon bike, then a mountain bike, and finally skate skis.

I've always drawn parallels between downhill skiing & mountain biking, and XC skiing and road biking. It seems intuitive:

Downhill and mountain biking are both "off road", require some amount of fearlessness, and involve flying through the air, sometimes at high speed. In both cases, little bit of finesse can compensate for a great amount of cardiovascular fitness. (you ought to see some of the guys in speedsuits at my downhill league--spandex nightmares)

XC skiing and Road cycling require smooth, maintained "trails",and emphasis is often placed on your ability to go uphill and your cardiovascular engine. We often talk about skate skiing's "gears" and their similarity to a those on my Cervelo.

But I've changed my mind.

I think XC skiing and Mountain biking are more analogous. Aside from the fact that the tatoo'ed crowd from what I can tell doesn't mix into the Nordic crowd:

Technique is paramount in either discipline--in mountain biking, this translates to more instances of flying over obstacles rather than into them, and carving singletrack curves at higher speeds. On skis, our coaches place highest priority on trying to find the best way to drill proper V1 & V2 technique into our neuromuscular motors. A perfectly timed V1 will take you much farther than an elite cardiovascular machine without co-ordination. (as evidenced by a hilarious foray at Elm Creek with an ultramarathoner friend of mine skate skiing for her first time)

Well developed balance is also way more important than cardiovascular fitness on XC skis. The more balance you have on skis, the more glide you achieve(efficiency), and the harder you can push yourself without kissing the trail. I started this ski season with one revelation: my balance sucks. Since then, the lion's share of my training has been spent skating sans poles and other balance drills. And despite many, many spectacular trips, slips and gaffs ending in a mouthful of groomed snow, I have my greatly improved V2 to show for it. A lack of balance on a mountain bike translates to more braking when you should be deep in singletrack nirvana, and the ol' "hike-a-bike" when confronting rock gardens. In downhill skiing, both feet are always on the ground....How simple!

Road biking doesn't have anything to do with downhill skiing aside from the higher speed, and the fact that road bikes perform offroad as well as my downhill skis work going up challenge hill at French Park.

In the end, all of this activity has developed into a personal motto--whether it's skiing, cycling, or life in general:

"If you're not falling, you're not trying hard enough."