Over 6000 km on Elpex rollerskis in 68 days!

Is it possible? Yes!

Brothers Michael (Mike, 24 years, 6’4”, 215 lbs) and Tim (22 years, 6’6”, 190 lbs) Ross rollerskied from Edmonton AB to St. John’s NF, ca. 6245 km.  They started May 31^st 2002 and arrived in St. John’s on August 6^th. They used Elpex Off Road on rougher roads and Elpex Race model with special fast racing bearings and wheels or synthetic red F1 wheels on smooth fast road sections.

Tale

This was the utmost test for Elpex rollerskis and an extreme physical endurance test for Mike and Tim. During the painful long days Mike and Tim were supported by hundreds of people along the way, like Al Maddox in Thunder Bay (“who fed us some of the biggest steaks we’ve ever seen” Mike said), Ulf Kleppe and Martin Nighbor, who organized other rollerskiing athletes “to ski into city with us”.

It took however more than good equipment and fitness to do this trip. Mike and Tim had a good reason and motivation to make this hard and long rollerski journey. They skied to increase awareness of the importance of organ donations and to thank a donor, who saved their little sister’s life.

This is from Mike’s memo to us in November 17, 2002:

“This memo will provide an analysis of two Elpex products in your rollerski line that my brother Tim and I used this summer to complete our cross Canada Journey. These products are the Elpex Race and the Elpex Off Road. This report is then based on our use of three pairs, Race and two pairs of Off Road rollerskis. It is clear that these Elpex products are built to last. Short of a few scratches on the base of the frames, both types of rollerskis still look and perform like they did when we excitedly unwrapped them.

I would like to initially state that both my brother and I were more than pleased with how incredibly well these Roller Skis withstood all the diverse conditions such as climatic changes, different body types, as well as varying road conditions from one province to the next.

Most of this report will merely reaffirm your current feelings as stated on the web that:

 …”Elpex rollerskis are classics, with incredible quality. They have a broad range of rollerskis for all types of skiers – old and young, amateurs and professionals, and both on and off-road. They have a high quality of service and good availability of spare parts. And their never ceasing product development guarantees cutting-edge international rollerskis.”

For this trip, we each only needed one pair of Race and one pair of Off Road rollerskis. Seppo sent us a spare pair of each kind but we didn’t need to use them once because our initial pair held out so well.  The only reason we ended up using a third Race pair and a third Off Road pair was because we were able to get more wear out of the wheels if we switched skis after 30 min. instead of having to rotate the wheels. We feel that this durability in a ca. 6000 km trip is testament enough providing that you have an awesome product.

Practicing what you preach

…Since products these days are becoming more similar, what can make one company stand out over another, and thus drastically improving their market share, is the level of service they are able to provide to their customers. Those individuals the company has in place (such as Seppo) who go above and beyond the call of duty to assure that service is met…., make company goals of high service levels easy to achieve…”

Mike and Time Ross

The ideas and suggestions received from Mike and Tim have now been taken into consideration in the product development of new wheels and parts.

Roller ski report:                                                              November 22nd 2004

ELPEX F1 PRO - With new wheels.

Summary:

I started using the roller skis in July.  I normally ski around 100km a week this time of the season, increasing mileage from September until the beginning of November. I trained around 3000km total on the ELPEX F1 PRO’s and I was really satisfied with the results.  

On dry and warm pavement, the control of the skis and the durability of the wheels were outstanding.  At first I was a little bit scared that the wheels would not last long, but in the end it was another story; the wheels lasted much longer than I expected.

On wet and warm pavement the wheels reacted really well, and they “stuck” to the pavement – the one thing that we don’t get with the red synthetic wheels, really good speed but little grip on wet pavement. The speed for this condition was perfect.  Normally we have a feeling with the normal rubber wheels that the water is absorbed by the wheels. For the wet and cold pavement the results stay the same; good grip and same speed as wet and warm conditions.

The last condition I tested was on dry and cold pavement here in Val Cartier. We have, during November, some really cold conditions and sometimes there are places where we have some spots of ice on the road.  It’s quite surprising when you use synthetic wheels in those conditions because you can hit the ground much faster than you think…but with the new synthetic wheels, although still slippery, they are less so than other wheels.  You have a chance to control the situation because the wheels are softer than the other wheels, like the synthetic ones.

The things we liked the most about the skis?  The speed is much better than the older rubber wheels and of course they last much longer. I think I’ll be able to train around 5000km total with these wheels, maybe more. Another technical aspect I like is the frame.  The new shape brings you a bit closer to the ground and with this technology you have more stability than the normal flat frame.

In conclusion, the ELPEX F1 PRO is the best product for athletes who look for perfect speed, stability and quality training. I send a special thanks to Canadian Wintersports Corp. and SEPPO for giving me the opportunity to try the ELPEX F1 PRO.

Regards,

Erick Gosselin (Canadian Biathlon team wax technician)

Spring 2005

The new Elpex F1 roller ski has been significantly improved and it is a rollerski we enjoy skiing on. The new wheel/ construction of the hub offer 3 times the wear-life of its predecessor and is much smoother to ski on. With the glide a little faster than the older version, we feel this is an enhancement to our training.

Thanks, Seppo, for continuing to supply us with quality equipment.

Sincerely,

Mike Cavaliere

Assistant Coach, National Cross Country Ski Team