First CX ride

After the usual Saturday morning Bike Lane ride, I decided to perform “The Swap” and make my bike CX ready and to take it out for a spin in a local field. 

Once the Sunday chores were done, Daughter of Dad was napping and Wife of Dad was going through old clothes to donate I took Son of Dad with me to one of the neighborhood pools that has an adjacent open field and playground. The plan was to have Son of Dad play on the playground, while Dad shook out the cobwebs and rode the field’s perimeter trying to remember riding CX. 

The verdict: I’m very glad I did it. 

As expected for late August in Virginia it was hot an very humid, so it didn’t take long to be drenched in sweat. With the help of Son of Dad, we found a rather long branch that I used as a makeshift CX barrier and used it to practice my dismounts, lifting the bike over the barrier, and remounting the bike. Once complete, I would then ride in a big oval (with a short off camber section) and do it again. Rinse, lather, repeat. Each “lap” as it were took about 30 seconds to complete. 

It was on my second lap that I remembered just how taxing riding your bike on grass versus riding on the road can be. It brought back memories of my two CX races last year, and I had brief moments of panic as my heart rate and breathing shot through the roof. However after the first 5 minutes of riding I settled into a groove and concentrated on getting over the barrier, and keeping steady on my bike. Son of Dad even tried doing a lap with me, but didn’t get too far because the grass was “too deep”.
I had a bit of odd luck when the back side of the “course”, I hit a bump just right and my ass hit the seat hard. The seat post collar gave way and my seat post sank into the frame. I’d never done something like that before so I was a bit surprised when I stopped to assess the damage. Right away I though I had broken either the seat or seat post and had visions of my CX season being finished before it even started. 

Fortunately only the collar had slid off the seat tube and some quick work with an allen wrench put things back in order. (Last night I inspected both the collar and seat tube and found no visible cracks, however I’m now a bit nervous for the next time and will have to keep an eye on it.)  

I rode in circles for another 40 minutes and called it quits when I saw Son of Dad sitting on the playground visibly bored. It was time to go home, take a shower and sit in the AC for the rest of the day. 

All in all, it was good first ride and as I said, I’m glad I did the ride. I’m going to try and do this each week so that when my first race comes my body will be ready for the rigors of CX. 

My first race is only 4 weeks away.

Where have I been

“Out of my brain on the 5:15...”

For the last three months, I’ve been trying to get my body into some semblance of shape for the upcoming CX season. I’ve tried to do a mix of off the bike exercises using the Cyclo-Core exercises, rides on the trainer, and the weekly Bike Lane group rides.

Since I last wrote, I think my fitness has improved to the point where I’m in better shape than I was last year. Now that the first race is 4 weeks away, I need to now work on short hard effort intervals, running sprints, and CX exercises like lifting the bike, mounting the bike, hopping a barrier, etc.

For the last group of training, I’ll be putting my CX tires on the bike this weekend and riding to a local open field to shake out the cobwebs and practice my moves.

I have to say training thus far has been tedious at times. Getting up at 5 am and hitting the trainer or going for a run in the dark is not ideal. As my wife can attest, I’m definitely a morning person, but there are days when I’d rather roll over and continue drooling into my pillow.

That said, I’m definitely seeing the payoffs. In the most recent Bike Lane shop ride I felt pretty strong and led the pack through a few sections. I tried to keep the pace as high as I could without blowing up, though I never looked at my computer to see how fast we were going. Since I started these rides in 2009 my average speed has increased from 14-15 mph to 16-17 mph. Not great for sure, but I feel very happy with that increase. I just need to translate that to the CX course.

Since I committed to riding the races this year, I was hoping to get a real CX bike to replace the one I currently use. However, in March we purchased a new car which jacked up our Virginia property tax bill to a fairly uncomfortable amount for our finances, so a new bike went out the window this year.  So I’ll doing the same thing I did last year: the night before each race I replace my road tires with my Maxxis Locust Cx tires, swap out the Speedplay pedals for a Performance brand Shimano SPD knock-offs and putting my feet into my old pair of Specialized MTB shoes that I’ve had since 2000. What ever you want to call it, retro, old school, or just plain cheap, it’ll have to work another year.