“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.
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.
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