These tend to be difficult but fun as well since I do them on a hill and get to go up and down 16 times. I try to maintain around 425-450 watts average for each but it gets harder as the intervals stack up. These are 45 second intervals and are supposed to be "hard" or "very hard". They are not hard at first but the last 4 are very hard.



But, they have gotten easier and last year I was only able to push around 400watts for the same repetitions. I think the SS MTB stuff has had a lot to do with it, building leg strength.

I also did some 30 second all out intervals last week (4 of them) and it was the first time I puked in my mouth a little. I was warned that could happen. I had a 650-750 watt average for these which is not great but the best I can do.

My sprint wattage was down a bit last week but I was able to average around 850w for 15 seconds and max out around 1200w for 1 sec. Still, not too great but the best I can do.

The good thing is that I have seen an upward progression over the last 3 years and since I do these at the same place each year, it is a good comparison.

GCX 5: Blairsville

Blairsville is a new venue in the GA mountains which was mostly deep soggy grass and climbing. It was the kind of course that was relentless without much recovery. There was a nice run-up, a small sand pit, and many climbs. The finish line was also uphill and even the downhill sections were up hill.

On pre-ride I did not like the course because I was having a hard time with rhythm and gearing. I found a few spots where I had to remember to pre-set my gearing and to not be afraid to drop down into the 39 ring here and there.

The race went well and I was out in front from the start and was able to extend a lead over the 45 minutes to finish first. Shey Linder really came on strong in the last 2 laps and took 2nd with Daryl Sawyer 3rd.

It was very cold (28 with wind chill) and the tops of the mountains had frost making the turning leaves look very unique. I was hoping that there would be more mud because it rained the night before but the course drained really well.

I flatted out a Challenge Griffo and tried to use Stan's sealant and so far it is holding well.

My request for the series is that they do podiums 20 minutes after the race ends. Everywhere else in the US they do this. Dedicate one person to ushering the riders to a tent or something after the race, get the protest period finished, take pictures and award prizes. Waiting until 12:45pm is too long. Maybe its just me...(probably).

Nice!!!

GACX 4: Rome

This was a new venue, right in the heart of town, held at a park that consisted of a levee and flood plain. The course was mostly flat with a few trips up the levee which I had to climb in the 39x27. Since I was recovering from an injured hamstring, I was lucky that there was only 1 short running section since I could ride everything else.

The grass was pretty thick but short and it initially sapped your speed. But after the pre-ride and folks on the course it was packed down pretty good and flowed well.

I was not able to "open up" yesterday and get my legs ready because of daddy duty and I felt it today, lacking the needed acceleration and punch. I led the race after about 2 laps and was on the front until the last 100 meters. My plan was to shed riders if possible in the numerous turns and punch it right before the levee climb, but i found that my punch was not that great today and by the last 2 laps I knew I was not going to ride Daryl off my wheel. I also knew we would battle for position up the last climb and that would probably dictate who got a shot at the line. Otherwise I felt really good and would have probably ridden better if I would have prepared yesterday.

Coming into the finish Daryl was in front of me and led out (which in cross usually means you win). The grass on the right to pass him was very bumpy and my chain was skipping everywhere and I was not able to bring it home. I guess he beat me by about 1/2 a bike length. He rode a smart race and I did not, except for I knew I was not, but wanted the effort to be hard enough to shed riders.

Walter rode the course then decided it was too risky for him and said he was going home. Ironically, in the same place where Daryl said someone would crash, Daryl crashed yelling something like "I'm the one!".

The best was hearing Europe's "The Final Countdown" going up the run up. Horrible cheese that made me laugh through the effort.

Consulting with shaman, miracle workers, healers, magic 8 ball, and gypsies.

Hope springs eternal.

Any kind of sport includes injuries. I have never participated in a sport that has injured me more than cross. I played soccer for 25 years without serious injury and regular cycling not so much either. I guess it is the running my 42 year old legs don't like. This time it is a pesky hamstring injury I had back in 2004 that has cropped up again.

I look doubtful for Rome this weekend and hopefully I can resume racing in 2 weeks. With my goals being nationals I would rather skip races now than then.

Have I mentioned my admiration for Nys?


H.M.A.T?

International Horse Park Cyclocross

I have always loved racing cross at the GIHP. The courses are somewhat wide open and my main disadvantage, pavement, is non-existent there. This year the promoters (Sorella Cycling) decided to celebrate Halloween by adding in a taped off spiderweb maze into the course. This consisted of a clockwise series of turns to the middle of the web and back out again going counter-clockwise. It was strange at first but after awhile I really liked it.

The course had 3 dismount sections with two of those being barriers and the other a forced uphill dismount over a log. The other difficult place was a rideable steep hill that got progressively harder each lap. I thought the uphill grass section after the hill was very hard too.

There were actually call-ups in the race with the first 8 riders being called to the front row. Besides Gloucester (which had 18 call-ups!) it has been awhile since I was at least second row. But, I lined up behind the series leader so at least I had that going for me. I had to whip Daryl after the start to go faster and once we were into the web I suppose there was a big group. The hill caused some seperation and by lap 2 we were 4 or 5 as a group.

I then broke my seat. I thought it was the seatpost and told the others I was probably done, but after the dimount section, since I did not get a seatpost in my rear, I figures I would ride it until it broke. It turns out my seat brok on the rail with the rear rail firmly in the seatpost. So, I decided to try and go for a win. On the penultimate lap I accellerated out of the web into a long grassy section and had a slight gap. I tried to build on this but Daryl sawyer and Brady Rodgers were right with me. On the last lap I put in 2 more attacks and was able to get a 20 second gap or so. I was able to hold onto this for the win. Daryl and Brady sprinted for second with Daryl crossig first. I was surprised that Brady did so well after spending the night/morning partying at Cleve Blackwell's bachelor party. But, he was there the whole time threatening as usual.

Since I got 9th in the first race and then skipped the second, I am no threat for the title. I just want to keep getting stronger for nationals. But with 6 straight weeks of races it is going to be hard not to get toasted. I have a nice plan in place by someone I trust so I think I'll be OK.

Next up is Rome, GA and the nasty dam section.

(ALL photos by Trish Albert/Southeasterncycling.com and eventually paid for by ME)

SS Cyclocross On The Cheap

It seems to me that the easiest way to quickly add the SS CX race is to just simply lock out the rear derailleur to the cog you want. Shey Linder has a nice video on how to do this and all it takes on a Shimano rear derailleur is an additional shift cable that you can cut and re-use each week. In the video an additional barrel adjuster is needed because of the derailleur choice--that is not needed for a road Shimano derailleur.

The basic idea is to take the front and rear cables off the bike and center the chain over the cassette cog you want to use. Then re string the new shift cable through the barrel adjuster so that the cable stop hits the end of the adjuster and the free cable end goes through the lock nut. Now you can tighten it up and use the barrel adjuster to get your chain line correct. It takes (in theory) about 5 minutes. If you really want to get it set up specifically, you can dedicate a wheel with your cog and use spacers to mimic the cassette position.

In terms of gearing, I am going to only use the rings on my bike (46/39) and try to get a good combination with those. From what I have read, I think a 39x17 is a good one to experiment with. That is a 2.3:1 ratio and my next best choice would be a 46x21 (2.2:1 ratio). But, the advantage to using the 39 ring is that you can use the 46 as a chain deflector along with the plastic chain keeper on the inside.

Of course it will all depend on the course, but the advantage to using this system is...

1. You have a nice selection of gears and you don't have to spend a lot of money.
2. It is quick.
3. You are using your regular cross bike so you are comfortable on it.

Drawbacks...

1. You are using a full cassette (weight). But, no more weight than a normal CX bike.
2. You have to re-string your cables each week to get back to geared. But, if you mark them with a sharpie, it should take just a few minutes.

These past two weeks have been about recovering from Gloucester and then building up some training stress. It has been hard with the day getting shorter but I did a long 3 hour ride last Sunday which helped and have managed to get in my intervals as well. Tuesday I did 6 sprints and then 45 minutes of tempo. Yesterday was cross practice which was basically 30 minutes around VO2 max and today was 45 minutes of threshold. Tomorrow I'll do 45 minutes more tempo, Saturday I will "open up" with 5 minutes threshold, 2x2 minutes VO2 max and 3 sprints. Sunday we will do a 45 minute race simulation but I will try to get in 2 hours of riding including that.

My CTL is pretty good right now but down about 11 tss/d since the single-speed championships. I am planning to try the single-speed CX division next race as well as the masters. I think I'll either go with a 39x17 or a 46x19 for the gearing. Ideally I'd like to space out a rear wheel for that race so all I have to do is lock out the rear derallieur and go. For now I guess I'll just keep the cassette all together.

I ordered 2 new Challenge Grifos and hope to have them glued by Conyers. I am really enjoying gluing tires and getting them to run right. I was scared to do it for awhile but now it seems easier.

Here are soome late pictures from Gloucester...

Gloucester 2008

First off, big thanks to my HUP United teammates who treated me like an elite racer on my trip. They were wonderful hosts and my experience in the races were overshadowed by their generosity.

Gloucester is a big stage and even though the weather was unseasonally warm (60's/70's during the day) and the course was fast and dry, the racing was intense. My experience began on a good footing Friday when Delta did not charge me for my bike and then put me into first class. Pierre Vanden Borre picked me up at the airport and we hung out in his studio in the South end(?) neighborhood of Boston as I rebuilt my bike.

The next day after a pastry stop, we headed up to Glooucester. The town is very scenic and beautiful, projecting out into Gloucester bay, full of sail boats and the occasional bouy call. The venue was right on the water and the parking lot was packed. The course started at the bottom of a paved hill and then went into a primarily grassy course with segments of crushed gravel, sand and the 2 barrier run-up. The sand pit gave me fits as I watched others ride it. They began roto-tilling it between races.

Our race staged at 1pm and we had over 100 racers. there were about 18 call-ups which sucked because it meant I would start even further back. Yasushi and Pierre told me about a hole that opens up on the right going up the hill that takes a little longer to get to but puts you in a great position once the road ends. At the gun I must have made up 15 spots here alone. There were a lot of knuckleheads on the first lap. Once you left the pavement it was dirt and this caused a lot of dust which caused the knuckleheads going to fast to crash. I think there were 3 crashes in the first 3rd of the course but I stayed out of the way. As the laps went on I felt very good and began picking folks off. My goal was the top 20 and I tried to hammer it up that paved hill every lap. I was outsprinted ot the line by another guy but was happy with 18th. I think everyone was actually given a placing because one rider was DQ'd for unsportsmanlike sprinting.

We hung around and watched the PRO race and it was impressive. Jesse Anthony was racing on a broken wrist and it did not seem to stop him much. Tim Johnson and Ryan Trebon eventually got separation and then Trebon lowered the boom to win the race.

I stayed with Yashsuhi and his girlfriend Meg in Cambridge right near the Harvard campus and square. It is a wonderful area and they were great hosts. I ventured out to Harvard Square to look around and eat and it reminded me of Georgetown in DC. The next day he dropped me off at Scott Rosenthal's place in Jamacia Plain. He and his wife Hillary had a very nice 1900's house and we stashed the stuff and went up to the race.

Race two had an additional obstacle which was a new run-up mowed into a hill directly up from the harbor. It was steep and loose dirt but nothing out of the ordinary from our races in the SE. During the race I employed the same tactics to move up but it seemed that after getting to 16th the fitness of the riders were better so i swapped back and forth with a few racers until the last lap. Near the beer garden on a dirt hill I dropped my chain and lost around 10 seconds. Four racers passed me and I was able to catch up to 3 of them on the hill to the finish. The sprint was a 18 second duration and they had better finishing speed than me. Taking 21st was not too bad though and with all of the call-ups I was pretty happy.

The next day Scott and I took an easy conversational ride through Jamacia Plain, Brookline, New ton and over near Boston College. We stopped for pastry and coffee on the way back and then I had to break down the bike and head home.

What a great trip and I was first class on the way home too. If I can somehow swing it, I would love to go back next year. It was also great to meet 20 or so teammates at the race and they were all very nice guys.

Now I have a 2 week hiatus until Conyers and I am pumped for that.

Gloucester Course Description

From the race bible...

This is one of the biggest, oldest CX races in the country by far and one that if you had a wish list it should be on it.

Besides the 125 field limit, here is the course description and picture...
The course is approximately 3k in length with a goal of 7 minute lap times. Some areas of the course will change from Saturday to Sunday.

The course is the classic Gloucester course. Going in a clockwise direction when viewed from the air, the Start/Finish is on pavement slightly uphill for approximately 300 meters, turns into hard packed dirt and goes in a northerly direction. Continuing north, the course turns slightly right onto hard-packed dirt and grass. After a windy grass section, the course turns on to the Lucy B Davis Pathway.

This is straight hard packed dirt and runs south along the coast.After a grass section with several turns and a slight downhill, the course's sole barriers sit in the middle of an 'S' turn. The approach to the barriers is such that bunny hopping is difficult. Directly after the hurdles, riders first encounter the equipment pit. After the pit, a sharp right turn brings riders into the grassy outfield of the ball park which is slightly off-camber. A ride slightly uphill onto rough grass then swoops down into the picnic table area and then turns right onto a pathway and then a fast dirt road descent to a loop on the grassy southern part of the park.

Riders then encounter the sand pit where they traverse its full length, make a 180 turn back into the sandpit. after a short loop on grass, riders are lucky enough to encounter the sand pit a third and finaltime. Finally, riders encounter off-camber rough grass, a chicane, and a ride down the first base line where they are dumped back onto the main road for the finish.

4 Crashes and 1 Flat

This has not been my week. Hit by a car on Friday, rolled a tubular in warm up today and then in the race crashed 4 times in corners and then rolled the other tubular and eventually it flatted. I suppose I finished last.

On the bright side, all the crashes were on grass and I felt pretty strong in the race. I also was in 2nd or 3rd position on every crash and managed to battle back each time except the last. I had caught Brady Rogers who was in 2nd, only to have my last crash and then the flat.

Hopefully I can glue up my new tires before leaving Friday!

Opening Up

The day before a race is the best time to get your legs ready for the following day's race. Just giving the legs a taste is all that is needed. I like to do a 1 hour workout with a 15 warm up and 15 cool down, 2 sprints at 15 seconds, 1 block of 5 minutes at threshold power, and 2x2(3) minute VO2 max efforts. This opens up all the systems and is just enough to leave the legs feeling fresh.

Last year and this year I am training through all the GA cross races to get to nationals. I have found that how you feel on your opening up day is not indicative to how you will do the next day. I have had some pretty terrible feeling opening up days, only to do well in the race.

I do my opening up on Peachtree Road (gasp) between Dresden and Ashford Dunwoody. It is a long straight section and I can do the 2 and 5 minute intervals there no problem. My sprints are done on N. Peachtree just beyond the Gypsum factory.

Today I was able to average 884w and 945w for the 2 sprints and max out at around 1274w. The threshold was a nice 293w average (ftp around 310w) and the VO2 max efforts were around 333w which is low in the zone.

Here is a screen capture of the intervals...

Time flies. The first CX race is a week away and the excitement builds. Hopefully everyone will be able to attend with the gas shortage.

This week and last week have been filled with CX workouts and intereval sessions. Last week I did 40 minutes of threshold Tuesday, CX practice Wednesday, VO2 max Friday and CX workout Sunday which made for a stressful week. This week since there was no Wednesday CX practice, I did 45 minute threshold Tuesday, 60 tempo Wednesday, and I will do 25 VO2 max today and then CX on Sunday.

I don;t want to overlook Dahlonega but Gloucester is really on my mind. It is the 1oth aniversary and with Armstrong saying he will be there, the crowds should be huge.

Cross practice at Little Mulberry was well attended with at least 20 riders. We did a nice 30 minute race that included a fierce 30 second run-up section. The rest of the course was grass. I felt pretty good and was happy to be able to hang with Shey Linder as long as I could. Jeff Welp and Dan Coy were also riding well. Folks are starting to get their cross legs/lungs and being able to last longer at a high level.

My Tufo tubular clinchers are getting old and I ordered a back up pair of Tufo Flexus tires today. I really want a pair of the Challenge tubular XS dry tires with the file tread interior and side knobs. It would be great for a course like Yargo.

GO STEELERS!!!

Nationals registration was fun and I was able to get in each race within the top 10. At Gloucester I will be 32nd so around 4 rows back.

I have been doing the weekly cross practices on Sundays and Wednesdays and both are very different. I think they primarily work the VO2 max area and I am also adding in sprints and more VO2 max on Fridays. Today I did 3 sprints (1 standing start which was not very good, a rolling 12 mph start which was very good and a standing start in the 39 which was better than #1 but still not very pretty to watch). I was able to hit 1254w for the 2nd sprint and hold it at 880w for 17 seconds which is not bad for me.

I then did a small pyramid of 3-4-5-4-3 VO2 max intervals. I did the first 3 with complete recovery rest intervals as 3(4)-4(5) and then did incomplete recovery for the last 3, 5(4)-4(3)-3(2). These had an average wattage around 333w which is right in the area I wanted. The efforts felt good and recovery was fine. This was in a ride that lasted around 1:45 and gave me 117 tss.

Here are the intervals...


Sunday looks nice with a run-up and a 30 minute race effort. Then only 2 more weeks to GA CX #1 in Dahlonega. The fair is in town next Wednesday so I may substitue something else instead of CX practice.

Nationals Waiting Game

Things to do waiting to register for nationals at 1am...

• Eat snack
  
• Stretch
• Watch Pittsburgh beat Cleveland
  
• Grade 34 papers
• Update blog

Hope I get a good spot.

Today we had a cross practice at Little Mulberry Park near Auburn, GA. It is a very nice park and we work out on the cross country running course with almost all grass and a little dirt.

We did 2x15 intervals today and it was hot, but otherwise nice. We had a nice group of masters racers who know what they are doing and are competitive. The intervals hurt a bit considering it is only my 3rd CX effort this year. I find that I am lacking leg speed and I am still sitting a lot, even out of corners where I should be standing. This is left over from MTBing and I'll start doing some speed work this week to help with that. The efforts were hard for me and I feel behind last year so far. I recovered better today though and both intervals were even in terms of effort.

My first goal is to get to a comfort point in time for Gloucester. I know that will be a hard weekend and that being so early, I may not be 100% going in. But, I am optimistic and with more practices I will become more comfortable.

Michael Barry (PRO cyclist) has been writing columns in the NY Times on a number of cycling topics. Today he had a piece on Lance Armstrong's return to cycling. While I don't really care about Armstrong's return, unless he decides to ride Flanders, Roubaix or any of the other spring classics, I did like some of what he said about Armtrong's addiction to the sport. I think at times all cyclists can relate.

He tells of Armstrong's Michelin atlas full of highlighted training routes and how he would search for new roads to try. He also related experiences about pro cyclists and their need to race (which I cannot identify with since I am not a PRO). But at the end of his piece he wrote this...

On a bike, riding alone, in the environment I feel at peace and can escape. Pushing myself in training to attain new levels, I feel the rhythm of the pedal stroke, the spinning wheels, my breath beneath the ticking chain. My mind is focused as there is clarity making me content.

I think if you take out the cycling references you could apply this quote to all sports and why some people are active in sports their whole life. I think that it provides focus, security, and selfish alone time with a positive outcome. Of course there are always folks who take it too far and rely on it like a drug, but for most people I think the quote rings true, especially if you replace "training" with "riding, running, swimming or any other sport.