There’s a review on the Skadi Nordic BootBuddy for NNN up on the website for a Nordic Skiing Magazine in the Czech Republic on bezky.net.
Google translate doesn’t handle Czech as well as it handles some other articles but the author, Petr Jakl, does touch on a point that was one of the reasons behind the initial creation of the BootBuddy but has since been ignored. And that is the potential for the BootBuddy to make the difference between missing a race start and being calm, prepared, and focused when your starting clock ticks down to zero.
All Skadi Nordic products are items that we saw a need for from a professional ski racing standpoint. One of the concerns ski racing is transitioning from the start pen where you almost always have to finish your warm-up running and stretching on foot to stepping into your skis as close to your start time as possible. Digging snow out of your boots before the start can add a substantial number of seconds to your pre-start routine and worse, it’s an uncertain number of seconds. Typically the less time spent on your skis before the start of the race, the better. This is due to the wax characteristics on your skis and the often dirty nature of the snow in the start pen. Most people step into their skis early in case they have trouble with getting the snow out or, worse, there’s a piece of gravel or something stuck underneath the binding bar.
Using the BootBuddy while warming up for your race gives you a confidence in your time needs for each step pre-start. You can leave your skis off until just before your start because you know that the bars on your boot soles will be free from snow and debris when you remove your BootBuddies, allowing you to immediately step into your skis.
Thanks to Petr for writing a review & we hope that soon we can bring more Skadi Nordic products to the Czech market… especially after several fabulous skiing excursions we’ve had to the Czech Republic and the opportunity to ski on their extensive touring network of trails as well as their challenging race courses.
