You want to become a great cross country ski athlete? You need to pick up your roller skiing.

No one will argue that cross country skiing is a very technical sport. It takes years of practice before one can understand and properly execute the subtleties of cross country ski techniques, especially if one’s goal is to go fast. “Years of practice” is a wide spread saying and belief (and is actually true…) but do we really understand what that means? To start with, most average club skiers in Canada (some more blessed with their immediate environment than others) won’t ski on snow for much more than 3 months per year (typically end of December to end of March). OK, that’s a start but it’s not exactly a “year” of practicing a skill… So over time, is that good enough to acquire sharp technical skills requiring years of practice? The truth: not even close.