As I've posted the last two times, this Saturday is the first cross race. MSG stepped it up for the first two races of the season and are offering a pretty good payout for several categories. Hopefully this will bring in some competition.
Right now I'm feeling really antsy about the first cross race this fall. Coming from road the legs feel good, but cross is a lot different with adding technical skills and a whole different mentality of pacing during the race. Road you try to do as little work as possible until a decisive moment...were with cross its balls out from the beginning and then try to hold what gaps you created while closing down the ones that were created on you. One really good thing about cross is the atmosphere. Save the few "pure" roadies that come out with bad attitudes, everyone is pretty nice.
Which brings me to a blog I read the other day about a cross race. It was a blog listed on GamJams, and the person went through the race detail by detail. On the first lap of the race, the person had already lost the front group, and another person wanted to pass on her left, announced it, and then blocked the move. I can see doing this towards the end of a race or if you are fighting for a top 5 even, but on the first lap when you still have 40+ minutes to go. One of two things is going to happen. (1) That person thinks they're going to bridge and they blow up or (2) that person thinks they're going to bridge, and they do and most likely win. No need to be a jack that early on. (as a side note, the person that wanted by bridged and won the race)
Post-race results this weekend.
Be safe, and good luck if you're racing this weekend!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
More Cross, Happiness, and more
Cross is growing ever closer. In fact a number of people have already started racing. My first race wont be until next weekend. 8 days away. I can't wait. I've got my position dialed in on the bike, my tire pressures figured to a T, and I've been working on muscular endurance like a mad man. Plus Brian M. got me hooked up with a skinsuit too...not that its really going to help my performance.
Cross weaknesses. There are a couple things I think I'm going to be behind on at the start of the season. One will be dismounts/remounts. With my arm being hurt, I just haven't practiced like I should've. The other will be sprint efforts. In an attempt to build a little more core, I've stopped any VO2 workouts for four weeks. My pacing should be good, but starts, small hills, and finishes aren't going to be a strong point.
Since my last post I've decided some North Carolina cross is in order. Their CX3 fields were 30+ sometimes last year. Not that they are harder than MSG, but with a bigger field usually comes a larger group of faster riders. Then the competition level goes up a notch.
While driving to work yesterday at 5:30am I saw several people out running through town. This was very unusual and it made me happy. I was kind of worried it made me happy, but really I'm a huge fan of people bettering their fitness. I come from a family that encourages gravy and biscuits for breakfast, something with gravy for lunch, and then something else with even more gravy for supper. Nascar, hunting, football, and big trucks are the main staples of culture, and under no circumstance is exercising "cool". So to see people out and actually exercising gives me hope that this area might fall to a healthier culture in time.
Yesterday my batteries in my PowerTap hub went dead. Right in the middle of my workout. I hadn't thought I had become that dependent on the PT, but when it went out I felt naked. I climbed off the bike and tried and tried to get it reconnected with the head unit. I had to convince myself I wasn't going to die and that I could finish my ride on "feel". As soon as the ride was over, I grabbed a shower and headed straight to Walmart for batteries. Problem fixed. I just can't believe how it made me feel when it went out. I don't even look at it much during a race, but during training I crutch on it heavily. After about 5 min of it being out, I was ok again. Maybe it was the thought it not being the battery and the $$ I would have to dish out if it was the hub.
MSG #1 October 3rd. First cross race of the season.
Cross weaknesses. There are a couple things I think I'm going to be behind on at the start of the season. One will be dismounts/remounts. With my arm being hurt, I just haven't practiced like I should've. The other will be sprint efforts. In an attempt to build a little more core, I've stopped any VO2 workouts for four weeks. My pacing should be good, but starts, small hills, and finishes aren't going to be a strong point.
Since my last post I've decided some North Carolina cross is in order. Their CX3 fields were 30+ sometimes last year. Not that they are harder than MSG, but with a bigger field usually comes a larger group of faster riders. Then the competition level goes up a notch.
While driving to work yesterday at 5:30am I saw several people out running through town. This was very unusual and it made me happy. I was kind of worried it made me happy, but really I'm a huge fan of people bettering their fitness. I come from a family that encourages gravy and biscuits for breakfast, something with gravy for lunch, and then something else with even more gravy for supper. Nascar, hunting, football, and big trucks are the main staples of culture, and under no circumstance is exercising "cool". So to see people out and actually exercising gives me hope that this area might fall to a healthier culture in time.
Yesterday my batteries in my PowerTap hub went dead. Right in the middle of my workout. I hadn't thought I had become that dependent on the PT, but when it went out I felt naked. I climbed off the bike and tried and tried to get it reconnected with the head unit. I had to convince myself I wasn't going to die and that I could finish my ride on "feel". As soon as the ride was over, I grabbed a shower and headed straight to Walmart for batteries. Problem fixed. I just can't believe how it made me feel when it went out. I don't even look at it much during a race, but during training I crutch on it heavily. After about 5 min of it being out, I was ok again. Maybe it was the thought it not being the battery and the $$ I would have to dish out if it was the hub.
MSG #1 October 3rd. First cross race of the season.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Cyclocross Rant
Today is the official start of fall, and with fall comes cyclocross. I'm not sure what happened last year, but I had a big urge to have another go at cross (this is after trying it 2 years earlier and hating it). I fell in love. Road racing doesn't make me as excited, and mountain bike racing (save short track...which is like cross) doesn't make me as excited. So this post is completely dedicated to cross.
First with some disappointing news. My Grifo tubular tires. Here I was all excited about running sub-30psi pressures, and it doesn't look that is going to happen. I'm up to 32/34psi front/rear (and still experiencing a little tire roll in the rear, which means I might go up 1-2psi more). This is still pretty low, but I expected more. At 80kg I shouldn't expect a lot more though. Maybe I'll get to do a nasty muddy race and run them below 30psi at least once this year.
My Williams Cyclocross wheelset has really impressed me. No they're not the lightest wheelset out there, but for the money I don't think it would be possible to beat them. The hubs are as smooth as any wheelset I've ever handled. They also accelerate great, which I feel is very important in CX racing. On top of all that, they look great too.
CX training. Right now I'm just hammering out tempo, sweetspot, and threshold work. 2x20's and 3x20's, each once per week, are getting the legs ready. I've done a set of practice starts and some dismount/remount practice. Hopefully the first race will go pretty well. I hope to start adding in some VO2 intervals in the form of 6x2's or 3's after 4 weeks of core training.
Upgrading to CX2. I'm not sure if this is a good goal for this year. I'm only expecting to do about 6 cross races, and if the MSG fields aren't any bigger than last year I don't know that upgrading can happen. With those size of fields, points only go to the top 3, with 3rd getting only 1 point. If we get lucky, the field size at the MSG events will be 15+ deep in the CX3 cat. Even if it's small I hope to see a strong field.
More to come...
First with some disappointing news. My Grifo tubular tires. Here I was all excited about running sub-30psi pressures, and it doesn't look that is going to happen. I'm up to 32/34psi front/rear (and still experiencing a little tire roll in the rear, which means I might go up 1-2psi more). This is still pretty low, but I expected more. At 80kg I shouldn't expect a lot more though. Maybe I'll get to do a nasty muddy race and run them below 30psi at least once this year.
My Williams Cyclocross wheelset has really impressed me. No they're not the lightest wheelset out there, but for the money I don't think it would be possible to beat them. The hubs are as smooth as any wheelset I've ever handled. They also accelerate great, which I feel is very important in CX racing. On top of all that, they look great too.
CX training. Right now I'm just hammering out tempo, sweetspot, and threshold work. 2x20's and 3x20's, each once per week, are getting the legs ready. I've done a set of practice starts and some dismount/remount practice. Hopefully the first race will go pretty well. I hope to start adding in some VO2 intervals in the form of 6x2's or 3's after 4 weeks of core training.
Upgrading to CX2. I'm not sure if this is a good goal for this year. I'm only expecting to do about 6 cross races, and if the MSG fields aren't any bigger than last year I don't know that upgrading can happen. With those size of fields, points only go to the top 3, with 3rd getting only 1 point. If we get lucky, the field size at the MSG events will be 15+ deep in the CX3 cat. Even if it's small I hope to see a strong field.
More to come...
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Blog Post Numbers Down
Is it just me or has everyone put their blogs up for the winter? I'll agree it's getting tougher to find anything to be "post worthy". I'll give it a go though.
Sponsorship
I've went up and down about staying with Rogues Racing for another year. We had a down year this year with guys getting hurt, not really that many new members, a race that didn't happen (sore topic), and just not feeling very "teamish". All these issues have been addressed in meetings and we're hoping to really give things a change for the 2010 year, so I'm hanging in there.
Since I'm 2 hours away from the main core of the team, there's not really a lot I can do with the exception of a few things. One of those things is sponsorship. I'm going to try to get as many good deals as possible from as many companies as possible. I've already talked to a few, and have several more to go. I hope to finish up the sponsorship campaign by the end of October. I'll just be honest, its looking good right now.
The one sponsor I hope we're able to keep is EastCoasters bike shop. They've been great to work with us since we started the team 3 years ago.
Kit prices are coming down this year too. That was a big upset this past year.
Cyclocross
October 3 will be the first cross race of the season. Its part of the MSG series.
Training is going well. Right now I'm mostly working on Muscular Endurance. After about 4 weeks of that I'll jump back into some VO2 max efforts.
That's it. Maybe I'll have more in the weeks to come.
Take care!!
Sponsorship
I've went up and down about staying with Rogues Racing for another year. We had a down year this year with guys getting hurt, not really that many new members, a race that didn't happen (sore topic), and just not feeling very "teamish". All these issues have been addressed in meetings and we're hoping to really give things a change for the 2010 year, so I'm hanging in there.
Since I'm 2 hours away from the main core of the team, there's not really a lot I can do with the exception of a few things. One of those things is sponsorship. I'm going to try to get as many good deals as possible from as many companies as possible. I've already talked to a few, and have several more to go. I hope to finish up the sponsorship campaign by the end of October. I'll just be honest, its looking good right now.
The one sponsor I hope we're able to keep is EastCoasters bike shop. They've been great to work with us since we started the team 3 years ago.
Kit prices are coming down this year too. That was a big upset this past year.
Cyclocross
October 3 will be the first cross race of the season. Its part of the MSG series.
Training is going well. Right now I'm mostly working on Muscular Endurance. After about 4 weeks of that I'll jump back into some VO2 max efforts.
That's it. Maybe I'll have more in the weeks to come.
Take care!!
Friday, September 11, 2009
Upgrade
I was setting here reading my posts from the past, and man I've gotten depressed here lately and maybe even a little boring. No one really cares about my workout plan. I either ride fast or I don't. I can't say there wont be anymore bore about that, but here is to a change of pace.
Good news to report. I got my Cat3 upgrade. Since I aimed at "bigger races" and almost had my 20 points, I was rewarded with the upgrade. What am I calling a bigger race? Well for cat 4's, even cat3's for that matter, I'm considering 50+ riders a large field, which equals a bigger race... I think.
Now what? Ride faster. Simple as that. You didn't expect me to go into the scientific art of training physically, mentally, spiritually...ok you get the point.
Good news to report. I got my Cat3 upgrade. Since I aimed at "bigger races" and almost had my 20 points, I was rewarded with the upgrade. What am I calling a bigger race? Well for cat 4's, even cat3's for that matter, I'm considering 50+ riders a large field, which equals a bigger race... I think.
Now what? Ride faster. Simple as that. You didn't expect me to go into the scientific art of training physically, mentally, spiritually...ok you get the point.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
New Game Plan
Well it looks as though my elbow is going to have me off the road for a bit longer. The doctor told me "at least two weeks". Well I got out yesterday and road the cross bike through the yard, hit a rock with the front wheel which caused me to shift all my weight to that arm, and it hurt worse than it did when I wrecked. I still can't pull up on the bars, as one would for sprinting for example, so I'm going to back off road for this season and aim at cross.
I've been hammering out time above my FTP trying to keep steady fitness, and I'm ready for a bit of a break. Since my arm is out of commission, I'm going to drop back and start doing some foundation work again in an attempt to have a small peak during cross. I'll aim for mid December, towards the end of cross.
Here's a few things I'll be working on:
Time in L3- (75-90% of FTP)
Allan/Coggan call this the "meat and potatoes" of training. Being from the country I like meat and potatoes, and I also like L3 work. You start out easy and by the end you have what I call a starved type of hurt, and not the ouch kind you would get with above FTP intervals. I would say 1-3 hours a week in this area.
Time in sweet spot - (89-95% of FTP)
Allan/Coggan say 6 to 8 sweet spot workouts should be done before real threshold work begins. These are probably my favorite workouts. After just a few of these workouts I can feel a difference in my legs. I'll do this workout in the form of 2x20min sets. Probably 1-2 sets a week.
Time in L4 (threshold) - (95-105% of FTP)
Not much to say here. Threshold is threshold. I call it Functional Threshold Power. In my case on the trainer (note this is a different power than what I see on the road) that's about 305-310watts @ 100%FTP. After some sweet spot training I'll start creeping the amount per workout in this week up until I can stay at it for an hour. Once I start I'll aim for 30 min and add 5 min per week until I get to an hour. 1-2 sets of these per week after sweet spot training is complete. I may even attempt this L4 area in the form of 2x20's. For example in a week's time I may do a 1x45min at L4, and a set of 2x20's at L4.
Here's a sample non-race week:
Mon-off
Tuesday-2x20min @95%
Wed- off
Thurs-1-2hr in L3
Fri-Off
Sat-2x20min @95%
Sun-2-3 hr in L3 (keep this one around 75%FTP)
This will probably be what I do for the next few weeks. I'll start adding L4 in and take one set of 2x20's out around the first of October. Again this is just for a small peak in December. I will put more time in these areas this winter before next road/mtn season.
Still no word back on the Cat3 upgrade. Bill Collins said I'd know by the end of the week. I'm still saying a 50/50 shot at this. If I don't get it, I hope to knock out the final few points the first part of next season. Maybe he'll feel sorry for me and overlook 3 missing points since I tried to hit bigger races this year. We'll see.
Hopefully this post was at least interesting. Thanks for reading!
I've been hammering out time above my FTP trying to keep steady fitness, and I'm ready for a bit of a break. Since my arm is out of commission, I'm going to drop back and start doing some foundation work again in an attempt to have a small peak during cross. I'll aim for mid December, towards the end of cross.
Here's a few things I'll be working on:
Time in L3- (75-90% of FTP)
Allan/Coggan call this the "meat and potatoes" of training. Being from the country I like meat and potatoes, and I also like L3 work. You start out easy and by the end you have what I call a starved type of hurt, and not the ouch kind you would get with above FTP intervals. I would say 1-3 hours a week in this area.
Time in sweet spot - (89-95% of FTP)
Allan/Coggan say 6 to 8 sweet spot workouts should be done before real threshold work begins. These are probably my favorite workouts. After just a few of these workouts I can feel a difference in my legs. I'll do this workout in the form of 2x20min sets. Probably 1-2 sets a week.
Time in L4 (threshold) - (95-105% of FTP)
Not much to say here. Threshold is threshold. I call it Functional Threshold Power. In my case on the trainer (note this is a different power than what I see on the road) that's about 305-310watts @ 100%FTP. After some sweet spot training I'll start creeping the amount per workout in this week up until I can stay at it for an hour. Once I start I'll aim for 30 min and add 5 min per week until I get to an hour. 1-2 sets of these per week after sweet spot training is complete. I may even attempt this L4 area in the form of 2x20's. For example in a week's time I may do a 1x45min at L4, and a set of 2x20's at L4.
Here's a sample non-race week:
Mon-off
Tuesday-2x20min @95%
Wed- off
Thurs-1-2hr in L3
Fri-Off
Sat-2x20min @95%
Sun-2-3 hr in L3 (keep this one around 75%FTP)
This will probably be what I do for the next few weeks. I'll start adding L4 in and take one set of 2x20's out around the first of October. Again this is just for a small peak in December. I will put more time in these areas this winter before next road/mtn season.
Still no word back on the Cat3 upgrade. Bill Collins said I'd know by the end of the week. I'm still saying a 50/50 shot at this. If I don't get it, I hope to knock out the final few points the first part of next season. Maybe he'll feel sorry for me and overlook 3 missing points since I tried to hit bigger races this year. We'll see.
Hopefully this post was at least interesting. Thanks for reading!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Getting Better
Well its been a little over a week since the wreck in SC, and I'm feeling a lot better. I can almost put full weight on my arm again, and hopefully by Friday it'll be good enough so that I can race Saturday. I thought I was getting tired of traveling every weekend to race, but I missed it this weekend.
With my arm being beat up a bit, its had me on the trainer last week and will again this week, and I have a small confession to make...I really like the trainer, in fact love might be a better word to use. Sure its boring looking at a wall (a mirror or tv sometimes too) for an hour or two while you pedal yourself into the ground, but its so smooth and consistent.
To get to a climb that I could do intervals on outside takes about an hour(one way) to get to from mine and Ashley's apartment. So I've been trying to do intervals over a rolling course, and I wont lie its just not working for me. Especially for any kind of threshold efforts. If I had more time during the week to get to a climb, I would prefer that, but for now the trainer is working.
I still haven't heard back about my upgrade. I think I'm wishful thinking that I'll get it before I get the final points I need, but why not try? Assuming the arm feels good friday I'll give it another go for the final points this weekend.
Tim C. sent out an email with some nice links to some Cross on youTube. They made the blood start flowing for cross. The new Griffo's are screaming to be tried out.
I'm still contemplating a return to the mountain bike scene next year. If I get my Cat3 upgrade I might take some time off from road and see if I can tear up some dirt next year.
Thanks for reading! Take care.
With my arm being beat up a bit, its had me on the trainer last week and will again this week, and I have a small confession to make...I really like the trainer, in fact love might be a better word to use. Sure its boring looking at a wall (a mirror or tv sometimes too) for an hour or two while you pedal yourself into the ground, but its so smooth and consistent.
To get to a climb that I could do intervals on outside takes about an hour(one way) to get to from mine and Ashley's apartment. So I've been trying to do intervals over a rolling course, and I wont lie its just not working for me. Especially for any kind of threshold efforts. If I had more time during the week to get to a climb, I would prefer that, but for now the trainer is working.
I still haven't heard back about my upgrade. I think I'm wishful thinking that I'll get it before I get the final points I need, but why not try? Assuming the arm feels good friday I'll give it another go for the final points this weekend.
Tim C. sent out an email with some nice links to some Cross on youTube. They made the blood start flowing for cross. The new Griffo's are screaming to be tried out.
I'm still contemplating a return to the mountain bike scene next year. If I get my Cat3 upgrade I might take some time off from road and see if I can tear up some dirt next year.
Thanks for reading! Take care.
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