Yesterday I showed up for a long group / team ride down from Germantown to Red Banks, Miss. The group was a solid one and included most of the racing members of the team. It being late December and plan being base miles we ended up rolling out in a rotating paceline.
The problem was chiefly on the way back. The route was rolling route and during the course of this two of the biggest issues that I have experienced in riding pacelines for the last 6-7 years…
- Not pulling through properly. The goal of the advancing line is to smoothly overtake the rider leading the line moving back (who had slowed ever so slowly as they were moving over). This also means getting over as soon as practical in front of the rider in the backward moving line.
- Not keeping a steady effort up and down rollers. Steady speed is cool but trying to maintain 22 mph up and down rollers will mess up the line and pop off riders.
The number #1 issue above reminds me of something someone once told me. The most important thing you do in a rotating paceline is give your wheel (draft) to the backward-moving line. (Well, maybe 2nd most important…but I assume it is relatively obvious you shouldn’t wreak out other riders.) Staying up on the advancing line too long as the backward line withers in the headwind will achieve two things. It will piss off / tire out that guy moving back and disrupt the rhythm of the line. And you will go slower as group.
Well, it seems that in Tennessee cross season lasts all winter. There are four weekend of good racing that I need to pick and choose from. These January races are tough because they correspond to the weeks where I need to be logging some miles… I might see if I can do both.
I haven’t been running really, after I got somewhat injured trail running back in November. I laid off that since I did not want to mess up cyclocross racing through December. I did want to do a trail race this winter at some point, here are some my options in January:
- January 5th: Athens / Big Fork (Arkansas) 17 mile / 26 mile. [Andrea tells me that this race may wreck me for a week...even the fun run!]
- January 20th: Swamp Stomper (Millington, Tenn) 25k/50k. [this race is closed according to their website, so I guess it is not meant to be]
So it looks like it will be all about cross and training for the road season. Besides, I haven’t laced up my trail shoes since … early November?
Discouragement is part of the game, I know. It does not mean I have to like it! After a dreary rainy day filled with frustration at work… I proceeded to meet Andrea to do some upper body lifting.
One of the more difficult things I have had to try to do is learn these Olympic style lifts. I am starting to get okay at push presses (using a sudden dip and explosive drive up to move up a loaded barbell which you finish by pressing with your arms overhead). The new development is to try to evolve to push jerks. These, I cannot get for some reason. The problem is that I am so focused on the drive, I can’t manage to drop under the weight after the drive, so I end up pressing it anyway (which is harder). What this means is that I can’t do as much weight.
My shoulder (left rotator cuff) is the only thing hanging out there from my Glenview park crash. I can do most excercises without problem, but this slight injury is preventing gains on the overhead lifts. I am favoring it too much even when there is not much pain in that muscle. The good news is that is not affecting my riding at all. It is only giving me a problem in a range of motion never encountered on the bike. I just hope I can get past this soon so I can make some progress on these lifts before the next phase of lifting. In the meantime, I will do what I can… the legs and core and the more important things for cycling anyway.
I have decided to move my blog to a new domain name. Instead of blog.ryanbosio.com, my blog will be located at blog.roadcx.net. I think the transition will be smooth and I am doing it primarily to make it easier to find my blog. If you go to blog.ryanbosio.com you will automatically redirect to blog.roadcx.net. I am still trying to figure out where this blog is going, but I wanted to give it a more generic name since I want to free it up to write about other things other than things directly related to me.
Another heavy week… Kansas City was essentially a rest weekend with only 30 minutes of racing and a lot not riding for 5 days altogether. After arriving back on Monday, I got back going on the program again. Here is an idea of what I have done so far this week.
- Monday: drove back from Kansas City to Memphis, took 30 minute walk when got home.
- Tuesday: rode 35 miles up at the Bartlett night crit ride. Generally pretty moderate, but did some long efforts on the loop course.
- Wednesday: lifted legs, moderate (3×3 reps): Squats, 1/4-squats, good mornings, walking lunges, and abs.
- Thursday (day off work): lifted upper body, moderate (3×3 reps): Push press, machine row, bench press, bent-over row, decline press, pull-ups. Rode 30 minutes on spin bike since weather was bad (heavy rain). Ended up riding 35 miles on the road in the late afternoon with two 10-minute sub-LT intervals.
- Friday: lifted legs, moderate (3×3 reps): deadlift, jump squats, front squats, straight-leg deadlift, & abs.
- Saturday: moderate 40 mile group ride. 30 minute walk in the afternoon.
- Sunday (planned): long 75 mile ride to Outdoors ride and back.
This is one of my bigger weeks so far and next week promises to be similar. Except for cross racing, I am staying away from a lot of intensity. I should have about 15-16 hours this week, which is a bit more than I have been able to do with work and other obligations recently… My weight has been held in check at around 170 pounds. 2008 will be a good year. I am so far ahead of last winter and haven’t even really started to train hard yet.
Here are the photos that I and Andrea took during the weekend.
The first set is from Saturday, December 15th for the Master’s race.
[Masters 30-34 photos]
On Sunday, we took some photos of the elite women’s and men’s races. By Sunday, the weather turned a little warmer and melted some of the top layers of the frozen mud. It turned the course into a sloppy mess.
The women’s race saw Katie Compton lead from the first lap and take her 4th straight national title:
The men’s race had a bit more drama. Defending champion Ryan Trebon was wrecked out by a rider sliding off the course into his path. That left the race pretty much to Page and Johnson. Johnson attacked Page and forced Page to follow him for a lap or two. Late in the race, Page bobbled and lost contact leaving the race to Tim Johnson.
[Elite CX championship photos]
Well it is that time of year again…. time for the 2008 road calender to start unrolling. Here is my Memphis-centric take on the 2008 season.
March
April
May
June
July
August
Kansas City Cyclocross National Championships. Men 30-34 race. 12/15/07 11am.
Cold, icy, and windy. That pretty much sums it up. Overnight some snow started to fall and the temperature dropped down to the low 20’s. I don’t know the exact temperature at start time, but it was probably 24-25F probably. I did grow up in Michigan so the weather wasn’t so strange, but I never used to ride a bike in it. We would cross-country ski.
All the slop from yesterday froze up solid leaving a heavily rutted icy course. This race a lot of firsts including sub-zero temperature riding, riding on ice, etc, etc.
My start position was basically back row due to registration order. I was a little bit strung out up the pavement section for the start. The transition off the pavement had a slight dip down with some icy mud ruts and short uphill. Several racers got tangled up, so I ended up dismounting and running through that section. Getting back on it was a tough first lap trying to figure out how to ride the ruts. I have to say it was an experience. I know I passed some people and some people passed me. In the end, I ended up 52nd of the 68 that actually started (122 were registered). I was lapped by the leaders at about 1-3/4 laps and they ended up pulling me at the end of the 2nd lap (30 minutes). During the 2nd lap, I finally started to figure out how to ride the course. Oh well, it was a good experience anyway.
I was really surprised I didn’t fall on this course. I probably stalled in the ruts about 2 dozen times and had to dismount to get going again. I ran a good part of the course sometimes to a good effect…it definitely felt more secure.
Two other Memphis guys came out and raced the 30-34 race. Russ Griffin finished on the lead lap in 33rd.
Robby Holditch representing Los Locos was shown to be 2 laps down. I don’t remember passing him, but maybe he was mixed up in one of the early crashes.
Today got a look at Kansas City Cyclocross Nationals course. Sloppy and soupy. I watched some of the master’s women and the master’s men 45-49 races before getting out for only a lap in a half. My bike was completely covered in mud and grass. I think I fell down twice and stalled in the mud (mostly due to lack of momentum and traction). It is definitely unlike anything I have ever riden… if you want to even call it that. I was on foot for over 25% of the course.
The real question is…how will the overnight condition change the course? 6″ of snow is forecast along with sub-freezing temperatures (high of 27F for tomorrow) . In any case, it should change from a nearly unrideable mud slop to a nearly unrideable frozen rutted course…. we’ll see.
As for my wounds, it still have some tenderness on my left hip from the fall and still have an open wound on my elbow. It have it covered with J&J advanced care right now. I like that better than the 3M Tegaderm I was using. The main advantage is that the advanced care seems to be more sturdy. Mostly I protect the banage with a gauze and overwrap of elastic bandage and then medical tape to keep it from slipping. It seems to be working.
I meant to take some photos, but didn’t bring my camera down to the venue from the car. I hope to get some good ones tomorrow. I need to rely on Andrea in the pits in my race if it is anything like today. In that 1-1/2 laps, my bike picked up handfuls of thick mud with a grassy binder. It probably would make great building material right off the bike…
First the good news. My new Ridley rocks.. Did a long group ride on Saturday morning to shake out all the bugs. Great ride, no real issues.
This morning was return to Glenview Park and another practice race. Nationals is only 6 days away, so I needed to test out the bike on the grass. I started out better than last week and was lined out with the leaders for the first lap and into the second lap. By the end of the 2nd lap, I was gapped a bit behind Russ, Cal, and Chase and was trying to bridge back up. The course went off the grass onto the rain-soaked pavement at a bit of an angle. I don’t know exactly what happened, but I laid it down on the pavement. I got some minor abrasions on my left leg and a tore out some flesh on the inside/bottom of my left elbow. I remounted and started to ride again, but thought better of it when I looked at the blood going down my arm. Race over.
Oh well, I am a bit banged up but none of this should impact this week or next weekend. I also scraped up my (new to me) Dura Ace STI levers a little bit. Oh well, they work just fine, just look a bit used now!
