About XC Oregon...

XC Oregon is one of America's most successful elite development programs for young adult athletes. Focusing on athletes between 18-35 years of age, XC Oregon provides that critical "missing link" in endurance sport between junior/collegiate support systems and national teams. Based in Bend, XC Oregon is a non-profit organization (501c3 status pending). For the fifth consecutive year, XC Oregon proudly wears exclusively SportHill clothing as our official team sportswear sponsor.

If you are going to be applying kick wax to your skis, try and keep your skis and wax at the outside air temperature. This will help prevent "icing" during the first few minutes out on snow.

The first few weeks on snow (or everytime out if you hardly ever ski), make sure to concentrate on keeping the tempo down...especially at high altitudes. We all tend to pick up the pace in order to avoid having to balance on skis. Slower is not only easier on your body, but it also helps you develop your technique skills more quickly!

Before snow falls, try practicing dryland foot drills at a local park. Grass-covered hills are perfect for both classic and skate drills. You can find many ideas on what to practice by visiting xcskiworld.com website.

A big key to fun on XC skis is having the strength to make consistently smooth motions over a long period of time. Introducing a moderate amount of endurance strength exercises in the fall and winter months can make a world of difference! Typical body resistance exercises are a great start (dips, pushups, side situps, pullups, etc) but also high rep/low load weig

When skating, make sure to keep your torso and head as quiet as possible even while shifting weight from ski to ski. Also make sure to have a clean, lateral weight transfer especially on your V-1 or off-set climbing motions.