Final Preparations and Indoor Training

It’s almost time! Cyclocross National Championships are one week from tomorrow. All the work is done now it’s just maintaining things and getting opened up to race. Luckily I’m off work all week so it give me plenty of time to get the training in and get everything else done and ready for the trip. Packing and prepping for a week long trip for Cross is tough. It’s way tougher when you have 3 racers going! Tuesday I got all the bikes ready, 6 total. New shift cables, brake bleed/overhauls, headsets, chains, etc… I always second guess it because the A bike will literally be ridden less than an hour. 20 minutes for both kids. I always think “surely they’ll be fine for 20 more minutes”. Then I picture a great result being ruined by something I could’ve easily had taken care of. It’s a lot of work keeping all these bikes going but it’s necessary after all that goes into getting to nationals. Yesterday I took the kids to see my chiropractor at Livewell Family Chiropractic. This was their first time but the crew there made it an enjoyable experience for both of them. 

So everything is set and it’s just waiting until we #getinthevan Sunday on start the trip. Really hoping for a smooth drive up. I know there’s a lot of snow in places but we are giving ourselves some extra time just in case roads are bad. I keep having people tell me and/or reading about people trying to hype how bad it could be on race day. “Tons of snow, it’s going to be so muddy, it’s going to be so cold, it’s going to be frozen”, these types of things. Not one of those scenarios bothers me a bit. When you commit to a full season prepping for a race in Connecticut, in January, you should assume it’s going to be bad and be prepared. Whatever type of course is waiting on me next Friday, I’m going to hit it full gas knowing I’ve put it the time and worked on the skills to be able to handle it. Yea, it’s going to be cold, really cold, but it’s only for 45 min! Starts will be key with bad conditions, but luckily I’m front row call up in both of my races, and both kids are also front row. 

I’ve been training the last 2-3 weeks almost all indoors. I’ve started riding rollers and it’s really made indoor training much more bearable for me. The ones I’m using are Cycleops w/resistance so I’m able to do any workout I need on them without spinning them out. I’ve done some 400+ watt intervals on them and had gears to spare, so there’s plenty of resistance.

Two reasons I’ve stuck to indoors, first I don’t really like the cold. I can deal with it when I have to, but I prefer it to be warm. The main reason is the quality of the workout. When it’s in the 30’s or below I feel the quality of specific training suffers. At least for me it does. Being this close to my A race, making sure all the specific workouts are being done as needed is important so I just keep it in a controlled environment. Using the rollers, your body is much more engaged as you have to balance the bike and pedal smoothly to avoid falling off of them. It’s a much more realistic feel for me and the time goes a little faster. That’s all for now, everyone be safe if you’re out for New Years this weekend. I’ll be updating as I can on the trip. 

Highlander CX and Heckling Gone Wrong

Ok well that’s a wrap on what I call the “regular season” of Cyclocross. Last race of 2016 and last race that’s isn’t the National Championship. Next time we toe the line it’s for all the marble! Saturday was the perfect day down in Waco. No really, it was 74 deg! I loved every second, really appreciated and soaked it in knowing I wouldn’t feel that kind of weather for a long time. I got the win with teammates Jake and Paul going 2-3. It was awesome to sweep the podium with those two. 

Day 2, much different! Extreme cold with wind chills in the single digits. It was obvious the Texans didn’t want a SPCX runaway again today. There was some slightly excessive elbow throwing early in the first lap. Not that I have a problem with rubbing elbows, but it seemed a little extra aggressive. Fortunately we are good at that type of racing when needed :-). Rode a slightly more tactical race early on before making a move on the third lap. Jake came across and we had a good duel. He was fighting hard as always and kept charging until the end. I got the win again but everything seemed much harder on Sunday.

Heckling. Some of its funny, some of it’s not, but rarely is it as far over the line and as classless as the things being said this weekend. For starters most of you know of a social media stir regarding a post about my son, Ryan last week. I didn’t have a huge issue with the name calling post. Some people came forward that did, and I figured every said what they needed, and it was over. I was wrong. Certain people felt the need to make signs and continue to heckle my 10 yr old son in person this weekend. Luckily for everyone, myself included, I didn’t personally witness it. I walked away and it was addressed by someone else. Sunday it continued anyway, so at this point I knew any confrontation was pointless as these guys just got off on the fact that they were offending people. The things that that I was told that they said to my 14 yr old daughter, were as far over the line as it gets. Again, luckily I didn’t hear it personally or things would have gotten ugly. They weren’t just targeting my kids either just to be clear. I can take whatever assholes like this want to dish out, most adults should be able to. We are adults. Kids should not be heckled. At least at the level these guys were going to. I don’t know the fix to this or if there is one, but it sure needs to be addressed somehow. 

Ruts N Guts and Masters Worlds

The end is near. As much as I love cross, this part of the season is tough. Training is the most difficult with the lack of daylight and the bitter cold. Motivation is harder because everyone around has pulled the plug for the most part. The only ones still training and focused on cross are those committed to the National Championships in January. So it becomes pretty lonely until the race weekends arrive. 

Last weekend was Ruts N Guts in Broken Arrow, OK. I’ve raced this event since it was just a bigger local race and to see Tanner and crew grow it all the way to a UCI C1 event is amazing! They’ve done a top notch job with the event that rivals any other big event we travel to. My weekend was no good. A few small issues with nutrition and bike fits all added up to cause major issues for me both days. Oh well, like I told my wife before the weekend, I would rather have a bad weekend (results wise) and see this event be a huge success, which I think it was. Tanner never stopped working to make sure the course was as it should be all weekend. 

Moving on, Masters CX Worlds. We had talked about a trip to Belgium next December for the Masters World Championships, but I didn’t put much thought to it. After seeing guys we race with do well, Matt Shriver taking a win and Mark Savery getting a second place, the talks got much more serious Sunday morning. Those guys inspired us and now we are going to make a real push to make this trip happen. Here’s the issue, UCI points. All season Jake and I have been racing Elite races and chasing UCI points. You are not allowed to compete in Masters Worlds if you have even 1 UCI point. So luckily for me there is only one race left where this is even a possibility. Funny the focus shifts instantly from trying to just get one point, to making sure you DON’T get one! That wasn’t an issue for me at Ruts haha! Resolution Cross is this weekend, then Highlander Cross and that’s a wrap until January 6.