Friday, November 30, 2007

The End is Near...

I just realized yesterday that the end of the cross season.....and the entire 2007 racing season is just over two weeks away.....with just 4 or 5 race starts left for me in that time. Cross season is so short it seems to just fly by. My form seems to be continuing to improve, so we will see what happens at the last few big races.
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This weekend I head the Ultrafit Annual Meeting in Arizona. Unfortunately this will cause me to miss the racing here at home, but maybe it will add a little freshness to the legs for the last two weekends.
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The trip will be a quick, no nonsense affair. I travel all day today, will be at the meeting all day tomorrow, then travel home all day sunday, so no time to enjoy the southwest weather...I hope to come home with new knowledge and maybe some new business ideas.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

CX Bikes 07


I hope everyone has had a great Thanksgiving. With just a few race weekends left in the season, I thought I would list the gear I have been using for the 2007 CX campaign. Basically I have been using stock Cannondale CX 4 s with a few modifications to suit my needs.
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The stock bikes are awesome and I have 2 x 52 cm bikes to race this season. I had a cannondale cx bike I loved back in 1999-2001....but these new rides are so much more advanced than the one I rode back then. The drive trains are sram rival (shifters, derailleurs), and the fork is Easton's carbon cross. The stock brakes are TRP carbon and are really nice. The black bike has cannondale's carbon si cranks (172.5mm) and comes stock with a control tech bar.
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Ok, now for my mods: The bikes came speced with 170 cranks. I was able to get 172.5 si for the one bike, but put in an adapter sleeve and good old dura ace cranks on the other. The rings are 46 x 36 and 46 x 38 (dura ace). I use 12-26 or 12-27 on the back. One of the bikes came with a really wide bar, so I put on a deda 42 c to c. the Other has the stock Control Tech which I love. The Control Tech is 44cm outside to outside, so it is just slightly bigger than the deda and feels really nice. It also has a shallow drop and I find myself riding in the drops more because of that. The stems are 120mm, one cannondale the other deda. I put Thomson posts and WTB saddles on both rigs. After breaking a carbon seat post on the last lap at nationals last year I like the solid aluminum post now. Pedals are Crank Brother's candy, but you will notice I have eggbeaters on one bike in the picture. I am trying them for the first time and really like them.
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The red bike has top mount brake levers that I call my "Iron Cross" levers. They are necessary for the IC race and for technical trail riding.....but for regular cross racing I find they really just get in the way. I would have taken them off after Iron Cross...but I am too lazy :)
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Now the fun part: wheels and tires. The team was slated to get HED wheels, but they are lost in transit or something and I haven't seen them yet....so I am using the old cane creek carbon wheels circa 1999. I bought these 2 sets of wheels when I was on the Cane Creek road team years ago. These are not the new lightweight carbon wheels of today...but the solid old (read "heavier") wheels of yesteryear. For cross they are great. In fact, I rode at least one of these wheels to my win in the 35+ road national championship in 2001.....and I rode both sets at my two 2nd place finishes at cross nats in 2002 & 2003. Needless to say I have an affinity for these particular wheels. My new favorite tires are Dugast Rhinos. I went out on a limb and bought the big 34mm tires at the beginning of the year....thinking they would be great for bad weather. Of course we have not had one bad weather race yet this season! ...but that may change soon. These tires rock. Even though I give up a little with increased rolling resistance on pavement or smooth, hard surfaces, I gain all that back by having a tire that soaks up more bumps and grabs the corners much better than any tire I have used before....and for me...who is not exactly the best at cornering.....this gives me more confidence to get through the turns faster....which leads to less energy expended in the long run. The other set of wheels was supposed to be my "fast course" set. I couldn't spend the $$ for a 2nd set of new tires, so I have a 2 year old Challenge Griffo 32 on the back and an old Dugast 34 with a michelin mud tread on the front.
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I think that is about it. These bikes are fantastic and I love them. They are light and fast with a great geometry. I will do another post about cx bike fit and positioning in relation to road or MTB in the near future.
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I owe a huge thanks to the Landrover / Cannondale team and in particular Mark Hekman and Charles Stanley for getting it together for me....along with Paceline Bikes and all the other team sponsors. Thanks Guys !!!

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

uci points!


Last weekend we had our "home town" uci races in nearby Flat Rock. It turned out to be a really fun yet tough racing weekend and it sure was nice to have the racing come to us instead of having to travel.
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On Friday evening we got to check out the course. We had raced at the Flat Rock middle school venue in the past, but this year the switch of the uci races from Jackson Park to Flat Rock had me a bit skeptical about the course quality. One look on Friday and all my doubts were put to rest. Tim Hopkin and his crew put together an awesome course.....one much different than what we usually see here in NC. For the most part our courses tend to be on the technical side...but this one was wide open and fast. Plenty of turns, a set of barriers, a steep ride-up, and a nice sand pit with a 90 degree turn....yet the course would lend itself to group riding rather than the usual one or two riders suffering alone for most of the race....and this is just what occurred on both days.
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Saturday:
I actually had a good start! The legs were good and I had more snap than usual. I was able to make the large lead group on the first lap and hang on. Eventually there were attacks that went and a front group of about 6 formed, but I wasn't concerned with that. I just wanted to hold my ground in the 5 rider group I was in riding for 7th through 11th place. This group stayed together until the last third of the last lap when one rider gunned it at the top of the ride up. I stayed 2nd wheel of the remaining 4 riders going into the sand pit. I dove into the sand just behind the rider ahead planning to ride the first half then dismount and run the second half ...when the guy ahead drifted into my line, stalled and came to a stop. Of course I was already starting my dismount at this moment and ran right into him.....but I was able to get myself and my bike clear, remount a few steps ahead of the rest of the group and cruise to the finish for 8th place and a few coveted uci points.
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Sunday: Not quite as good as saturday. I had a lack lustre start mostly from not being aggressive enough and missed the big front group...leaving me chasing all day. Eventually I was in a group of 3, chasing a group of 4. The group ahead was riding for 8th and we were riding for 11th. I was giving it everything I had and we just could not make contact, even though we got within 5 seconds at one point. I ended up an exhausted and a little frustrated 12th place. I didn't ride poorly, I just didn't have quite the snap and power I had saturday. Following the race I got my extra upper body workout by helping load metal fencing from the course onto a truck.
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Cara had a similar weekend with a great 3rd place ride saturday and a little tougher go of it sunday for 5th place.
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Special thanks to Tim Hopkin and the volunteer crew for putting on a great racing weekend. I certainly know how tough it is to pull off a big event like this and cheers to all who helped make it a great success.
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a2

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

I'm Baaaaack.....and it's about time




OK, so I started this blog with the good intentions of allowing people to keep up with my training and racing as well as to provide an outlet for general training and racing observations as they relate to me and the athletes I work with. My lack of posting really is about time, or lack of it. However I am renewing my commitment to getting this thing back on track....so here it goes.

It is about time that I had a decent cyclocross race weekend. Not that things have been going poorly...just that I finally feel like my fitness is coming around and the racing sensations are getting good. This is usually how my cx season goes:.....start strong.....have a bit of a dip in form...then steadily build through november to have a strong last few race weekends ending with nats in mid december. I am consistent with that pattern again this year...and it is not a bad thing....just that it gets a bit rough while I am waiting to feel good again after the long, long, long road season.

This past weekend I was finally able to win a couple of races (MSG p/1/2 and single speed) and was 2nd at the Southern Pines NC series race sunday. The lack of a couple fast guys showing up helped the results.....but it was the feeling of really being able to push myself ...and the body responding well ...that I feel good about. To top off the good weekend I now find myself leading the MSG series in TN and am currently 3rd in the NC series. I am not so sure I can hold either of those spots, but as long as the form keeps improving through nats I will be happy.

Ok, so that's it for now.....stay tuned because I have lots of great topic ideas for the blog.....and I promise to make the time to get them posted.....

a2