Seeley Classic

22k and 42k

Writeup – Bill Pierce

Event Description – The Seeley Classic is a classic only race held on the Birkie Trail out of the “OO” Trail Head.  The shorter distance event is an out and back heading South from the Trail Head on the Skate Trail.  The longer marathon distance heads North on the Classic Trail to the Fire Tower Food Station and then U turns back to “OO” on the Skate Trail.  It then joins and follows the course of the shorter event.  As far as terrain, it’s the Birkie Trail.  Start,up, down, up, down, etc( repeat about 100 times)… finish.

Event Groooming:  The final grooming will take place after dark on Friday.  If it is not snowing it will be done before midnight and have 10 hours of time to set.  If it is snowing(which it now appears to be the case), grooming will start at 3AM and be complete by 7AM with 3 hours of set time.  The tracks will be predominantly firm new snow with little or no abrasive old snow or ice.  The track set will not be super hard, as the temps are only going to get to the high single digits Friday night.  The course should be perfect for a classic race!

Weather – The forecast is calling for new snow Friday night and temps around10-15F at race time.

 Hayward, Wisconsin (54843)

Test Based/Forecast Based Recommendation:

The testing was done on Thursday the 13^th at 11AM.  The snow temp was 11F and air temp was 13-16F.  Light snow was falling and there was about 1” of new accumulation.  These conditions were right at race time for Saturday and exactly what is forecast for Saturday’s weather.

Testing Discussion:

8 different race parrafins were tested with a distance test in a prepared track using wax torpedos. (BNS World Wide Headquarters and BNS East have no experience using the wax torpedos. Bill Pierce has used the wax torpedos extensively and in his experience wax torpedos testing provides accurate guidance.)

4 different kick waxes and combinations were tested using matched classic test skis and feel testing for kick and drag.  4 different powders were tested using matched skate test skis and these were feel tested for speed and climbing.

RESULTS OF TEST:

Kick

1.Holmenkol Blue (Best kick, least drag)

2. Guru Blue (Similar to 1, just a slight more drag)

3. Swix VR40 (Good kick, just a little too draggy)

4. Rode Blue (Draggy)

Note:  Most Blue waxes kicked just fine.  If a wax choice is too slick, then any of the draggy waxes applied under the toe box will help to enhance the kick.  Start short and lengthen and thicken, before going warmer.  The test skis had a layer of Toko Green Binder heated into the ski and 3 layers of test wax corked in.  In ski prep for the event sand your kick zones and apply two layers of Toko Green Binder  with heat before applying the final layers of kick.  I recommend 3-5 layers of race kick wax depending on the event length.

Race Glide

1. Holmenkol Matrix Blue
2. SkiGo P16
3. SkiGo HF Violet
4.  
5. Holmenkol Black/Blue
6. SkiGo HF Blue
7.  
8. Solda F31 Violet

Note: Numbers 1 and 2 were about 10-15% better in distance glide while the rest were fairly tightly grouped back that amount.

Race Flouro Powders

1. SkiGo C105
2. SkiGo C22
3. Star FC powder
4. Maplus Medium (block)

Note: The powders were feel tested and more will be tested Friday with optimizers tested on Saturday morning.

Recommendation

We recommend the following:

Base Layer: SkiGo LF Graphite

Race Paraffin: Holmenkol Matrix Blue

Fluoro Powder: Will further test on Friday.  Right now SkiGo C105

Top Coat:  Will test on Saturday morning

BNS will have a table set up by the grooming building adjacent to the warming building and will be testing top coats and kick wax at the race venue Saturday morning. Come by to get our latest test results and recommendations.