shoulder twist in skating? Swenson versus Alsgard versus

I think the main thing you are pointing out here, Ken, is that if we
think it's useful to have discussions of skate technique, we should
always be as clear as possible whether it's V1/offset that's
being discussed, or the other stuff---V2/1-skate and V2alt/2-skate,
which are presumably very similar with respect to body position
questions.

Best, Peter

Yes, there's real differences between the skating technique modes used in
different terrain and snow conditions -- not just in details of pole timing,
but in the fundamental motivation and optimization strategy.

Some American writers and coaches want to say that all of skating is driven
by the same simple principles, so there's no need to talk much about
possible larger differences between V1 offset versus V2 versus Open Field
Skate versus No-Pole-Skate. That doesn't fit with a careful look at the
World Cup videos.

The physics and biomechanics of advanced ski skating are really complicated
(legs+arms+abs+back+side-muscles, slow-fast snow,
flat-moderate-steep-hills) -- at least as complicated as Classic technique.
Not like running or bicycling technique.

Simplification is good for beginners and intermediates, but at the advanced
level all simple theories are half-wrong and more-than-half-misleading.

Ken