Cross Country Ski Excuses: My Top Picks 2023

Ok this week’s blog is dedicated to all the best excuses I’ve heard (or used?..) in my ski career thus far. I figure with many spring races coming up, everyone could use some backup excuses just in case the day doesn’t go as planned. I’ve found with excuses, the more the better.

The Classics: these excuses make sure everyone knows it was harder for you to ski than it should have been. Very hard to prove if you are making these up, therefore very effective.

• I had no kick

• I had no glide

• I haven’t trained all year

• I am sick

• I was just sick

• I think I might be about to get sick

• I was underdressed

• I was overdressed

• I chose the wrong skis for the conditions

• I didn’t get any sleep last night, no seriously not one minute

• I am better at sea level

• I am better at altitude

• I signed up too late for the Birkie, otherwise I would have been in a much higher wave

The “Real” Excuses: These are hard core excuses that you can share with confidence!!! Only problem is that they are hard to pull off if they aren’t true.

• My ski broke

• My binding broke

• I broke a pole

• I broke 2 poles

• I broke 3 poles (not ideal, people might start to wonder if you are the problem)

• A lot of people fell right in front of me, here look at this video (need a video for this one)

• This was my first time on skis ever

The Questionable Excuses: Don’t get me wrong they still do the trick, just maybe not as strong as some others.

• Someone in front of me was skiing slow

• I fell

• I skied off the trail and it took (insert any amount of time) to get back up

• The conditions were wrong for my style of skiing

• There were not enough hills on the course

• There were too many hills on the course

• I stopped trying halfway through

• I was just going easy out there

• I missed my start

• If the race had been 50 meters longer it would have been a different story

• If I would have known how short the race would be I would have gone harder

• I took zero feeds in the Birkie

I really hope some of these can come in handy, I know they will for me!

Happy Tuesday,

-Renae