Rando Racers I need gear advice

Brandon Keen is my alter ego rando race name.

In that case, you might look for Rickster on the weekends on the Hyak XC trails. He's pretty easy to spot, the only guy in the NW with Pierre Gignoux carbon boots and Trab race skis. He's current on all the race trends, and may even have some used stuff he'd sell.

BTW, Kevin says you're an animal and have no business racing only one lap!

I thought I couldn't enter the race category until I got a cool spandex onesie, and took up semi-pro bike racing in the off season. Who is this Rickster? Is he the Ski trab rep I have heard about? Do you know how to contact him?

Brandon, check your PM's

I'm not sure I'm sold on the coll-tex skins if you want to use the skins for something other than just racing. I have BD skins and found I slip less than people using the coll-tex skins. BD skins don't have as much glide, but I feel they are better in crusty conditions (think early morning spring-time frozen corn).

I'm also sold on the nordic poles. BD skins and nordic poles will allow you to skin some pretty steep icy slopes.

I was unimpressed by the Scarpa shims that Russ mentioned because I thought they were too heavy and not thick enough to really shim the boot. So I made my own by cannibalizing a pair of ski crampons. I cut off the crampon blades with a hacksaw and bolted on a plug under the ball of my foot. They work quite well. I haven't bothered using these during rando rallies however. You're typically doing sweeping turns during a race and I don't find the shims necessary then.

Based on Lowell's experience I tried a little experiment today. My GF and I went up to Hyak for a late afternoon lap, so I decided to leave the shims out to see how it felt.  For the up's it was fine having to shim out (they do tend to get some snow build up underneath), but since I was on the middle heel post it really made no difference at all.

Skiing down was another story. I like to do lots of quick turns and the skis just didn't want to respond. Like Lowell said, I could do big sweeping turns okay, but as soon as I tried to initiate quick turns it was like stepping on the gas pedal and nothing was there. So I stopped and put the shims back in - instantly, just like normal. What was happening was without the support of the shim, when I pressured with my inside edge to initiate the turn, the bellows of the F1's were just absorbing the energy as they bent. With the shim in, the pressure went right to the ski edge and they turned as designed.

I don't think I would have the confidence to ski them in a race without the shim, but I can see where it would work for a better skier.

Skiing down was another story. I like to do lots of quick turns and the skis just didn't want to respond.

Yeah, that's what I've found too.

When I'm ascending with the shims out, I hardly notice the bellows. But when I'm descending, if I make short radius turns (that's my preferred style as well), I can feel the bellows flex every time I drive forward into the boot. It's like the forward flex is really soft. I can ski a boot like that, but not very aggressively. So I definitely like having shims in for normal downhill skiing. The boots feel normal with shims in.

During weeknight conditioning sessions (and the one rally I've done in these boots) I've left the shims out for efficiency. I find that making long sweeping turns with tired legs, I don't drive the boots very much and I don't mind having the shims out. YMMV.