This year I thought it would be fun to try cross-country skiing. I’ve done a reasonable amount of alpine skiing and being the speed and adrenaline junkie that I am, it kinda sorta floats my boat that way. As far as serious exercise is concerned, though, it falls just a wee bit short. Don’t get me wrong: 10 hours of ice-glazed black diamond trails will hammer your quads, but it’s more like weight lifting than cycling or running.
Enter then, the world of XC skiing where skiers are fit, and ski shops are, well, dumb.
I’d just managed to find myself a great deal on XC skis, bindings and boots and had them delivered, so it was time to head off to the friendly local ski shop to have the nice shiny new Salomon pilot bindings installed on my new Atomic Pro Skate Combis. I delivered said skis to ski shop and was told they’d be ready on Monday (that would be yesterday). The nice ski shop owner told me they’d be ready on Monday evening.
Monday arrived and your dashing hero found himself at the ski shop to collect said skis. The conversation went something like this:
me: “Umm, those aren’t the bindings I gave you.”
idiot ski shop employee: “What do you mean?”
me: “I gave you Salomon Pilot bindings. Those are used Atomic bindings. You put the wrong bindings on my skis.”
idiot ski shop employee: “Seriously?”
me: “Seriously. You need to change them.”
idiot ski shop employee: “Uhh, where are your bindings?”
me: “I gave them to someone who worked here. You probably have them downstairs.”
idiot ski shop employee: “Wait here. Let me go check.”
Time passes, I stare at various items in the store. Kerry sits waiting in the car, putting dividers into her new 3-ring binder. Nothing gets better. Ski shop flunky reappears.
ski shop flunky: “We’re going to install your bindings now. Sorry about that.”
me: “Ok, thanks. How long will it take?”
ski shop flunky: “About 10 to 15 minutes.”
About 20 minutes go by. Kerry finishes filing her dividers in her binder. I admire my black North Face jacket in some nearby mirror. I age just a little.
ski shop flunky: “Here you go, that’ll be $35.”
me (taking a good, long, hard look at the skis): “You’ve gotta be kidding me. The bindings aren’t in the same place, and one of the screws is still loose.”
ski shop flunky: “What?”
me: “Take a look. The one binding is about 2 inches lower on the ski than the other binding. You’ve fit 2 pairs of bindings on the skis and now one of the bindings is in the wrong place. I think you owe me a new set of skis.”
My new pair of skis should be here in about 1 1/2 weeks. I can’t imagine the carnage that will ensue if they screw this up.
December 9th, 2008 | 
