Scott D Posted January 3, 2006 Report Share Posted January 3, 2006 Do you remember that series on BBC1, "Superstars". Famous when I were a lad for Brian Jacks doing 100 chinups in a minute. One of the things I noticed in the last series was the Scottish skier Allan Baxter soaring away on the mountain bike stage, ripping the legs off the other athletes. Skiing / skating / cycling are well known complimentary activities. Hermann Maier (downhill skiier) was a few seconds outside the time of the pros when he was first rider off in PR stunts in the prologues of 2003 and 2005 TDFs. A brief websearch picked out T-mobile pros André Korff and Andreas Klöden as people who use x-country as part of their training regime. So what are the cheap destinations to try this activity? Bulgaria and Latvia remain cheap. Flights to these destinations can be found for as cheap as £80 (Riga, Latvia from Glasgow), or an average of £220. Latvia will continue to be good value until 2008 when local currency (the Lat) will be replaced by the euro, and inflation kicks in. In this posting I'll talk about Latvia. Latvia skiing www.baili.lv This is one of the best areas in Latvia for downhill and cross country skiing from dec-march. 1.5 hours north east of Riga, you can travel by bus here for £4. Accomodation is £10 a night in a ski style chalet en-suite. Food about £2 a meal. NB. temperatures can go as low as -30, but on average -5 to -12. Downhill 24hr ski, boots, poles hire £10 24hr v-warm Downhill clothes hire £2 6hr lift pass £6 Ski lanes (green = beginners, blue = medium, black = hard average length 0.5 miles or 1.5 minutes skiing then back on lift) Typical hours of use (floodlit, 10am-11pm) Snowboard area and jumps X-country First day ski,boots, poles hire (24 hr) £7 Every next day £3.50 Typical hours (winter daylight) 9am-4pm 7 miles of terrain, graded difficulty, through forests Instructors for any activity £6 per hour. Typical cost for 1 week all in with £200 flight = £320 Benefits Unlimited training potential due to floodlit downhill Cycling clothes (assos roubaix range) sufficient for x-country Opportunity to try new activities cheaply. eg. X-country in morning and downhill or snowboard in evening. Cultural experience Cheap fags and booze (60p a packet cigs, £3 for 1L vodka) Best looking women in europe (poll: GQ magazine) Competition Canary island cycling (cost £350 per week + food) Organised cycle tours (Sporting tours, Stephen Roche etc. approx £400 per week) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott D Posted January 3, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2006 Forgot to say. The nearest town to this site is Valmeira. And accomodation is £6 a night, not £10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Hickey Posted January 3, 2006 Report Share Posted January 3, 2006 Scott A couple of years ago we spent the first week in January near Aviemore - it was bitterly cold, so cold in fact that Loch Morlich had frozen over! There had been a big dump of snow just before we arrived and the temp stayed below -10 for all of the week we were there. I did some downhill skiing with the kids at the Lecht but tried some cross country on my own on the last day. All of the mountain bike tracks around Loch Morlich had a great covering of snow so i picked up some kit at the hire shop at the camp site - asked for some tips - and headed off having been told to just have a go but watch going down hill - it's not the same as down hill skiing At the end of the day I had a fantastic 2 hours around the tracks near the Loch. The place was virtually deserted and it was one of those rare Scottish WInter days - freezing cold but clear blue skies and stunning views. I started off wearing all my downhill kit (base layer, t-shirt, ski-top, ski jacket, under-gloves, thermal mittens, woolen hat) but overheated after about 200 yards and was soon down to thermal vest with the sleaves rolled up. It was a fantastic work out - much much harder than any downhill I've done - and when you get into a rhythm you can get a good speed going - even up hill. A word of warning about going downhill though I though I would just try what I do on downhill skis on a hill, ie bend the knees and lean forward. Of course when you do this on cross country skis your heel lifts off and you fall flat on your face At least there was no-one around to witness it. The last section was a steep downhill bit - I walked that bit. Next time I meet Celine out with the Bunch I must ask her for some tips on how to do the downhill bit. Cheers SH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete bennell Posted January 3, 2006 Report Share Posted January 3, 2006 Guys, If you want the benefit of the workout, but without all the hassle of falling over etc. I have a Nordic track Excer skier, that i would be quite happy to set up in the Club rooms - of course provision of beautiful women, cheap booze and fags (cigarettes that is) are not included! Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Abraham Posted August 4, 2006 Report Share Posted August 4, 2006 Most physically taxing sport I'm led to believe. Possibly interested as I have about 2 stone to lose if I ever want to come out in a Sunday bunch again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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