Monday, May 11, 2009

road racing

so it seems that the season is over for me if I don't head up to Sunapee. And that course really doesn't look much like one i could do well on, but then if I can pull my head out of my butt in the first part of the race, maybe there is a chance. But it is a haul up there. In contrast the next round all seem to be some where in western CT and that's further and a much crappier drive.

I guess I don't have to worry about getting skinny for a couple more months. Sweet! I'm wicked hungry. Yesterday and Saturday were two pretty low caloric days esp considering i raced one of them and then waked all over an amusement park on the other. A mother's day gift, a day at Canobie Lake Park with the family. Mom's got in free with kid and got a lunch voucher. It was an interesting mix of people there, and the girls had fun and yeah - I'm still not a fan of those kinds of places... but i'll admit to having some fun with the girls... for most of the day we were paired up - with a 42-48 kid and a 48+ kid that's how the rides break down. Well, that's a good thing. Sort of. The new super fly team kits are supposed to show up this week or next week, and well, with road season all but done, I'll have some nice training items to replace the all but threadbare and faded team stuff that i've got, can't wait to see what the new cross team kit is going to look like.

I got thinking about this "can't wait for cross" stuff flying around. I've said it I know. But it isn't really any different than saying "i can't wait for Battenkill next year." If Battenkill were every month - it would get old and lose it's magic. Cross all year? Same thing. Cross creaping into the summer? Not good. Damn sport is hard - best to do when cool out. If it is hot do some road racing where you are going fast enough all the time to get good evaporative cooling and you aren't getting off the bike and running.

So yes. I can't wait till cross... but I will because the anticipation has value... that and I'm not in shape for it yet.

Unleash the season with the Waterville Valley CX race and SBX double weekend. All the other states have doubles. Why not NH? Gonna be killah.

no more rambling - time to head home and see what's left in the fridge to make for dinner after no shopping this weekend...

heddwch
G
written (if you can call it that) by before

21 comments:

velocb said...

G-Man! True enough. I think everyone is totally geeking on cross right now (myself included) but not too many would actually want to race it any time but the fall right? That is when cross weather happens.

I sure am not interested in "racing" cross until maybe early September. But it is really on my mind. Mostly its the mental prep, and getting the body ready so its not a panic in August....but it sure is fun planning...plus all the crossers are such cool cats.

Bend? You in?

5:16 PM
gewilli said...

bend, you know it!

there are a few out there who want to race now - all year - when ever... and that's not right.

ya wait - you spend the summer building and getting ready for the opener. planning the season to peak in December... sure it would be nice to peak in Jan when the rest of the world (except canada) hold nats, but hey - we have what we have here and we're pretty damn lucky.

i can't wait for september, but man...

there's a hell of a lot of work to do before then, no?

1000 mounts and dismounts
running
intervals
training and conditioning
needs to happen before then...

9:23 PM
solobreak said...

Today is all you get. Yesterday is over, and tomorrow never happens. It's all the same fucking day man...

And it's all just bike racing. Strap on your helmet and hike up the compression socks. You got Sunapee, Maine, Plaistow, crits (gasp!) and Mt A. There is even the Balloon Fest. You know you want to go.

10:25 PM
trackrich said...

G's head would explode trying to plan for Mt. A. He'd build a start ramp in his driveway so he could practice 100 roll-offs from it and would obsess over the intricate balance between weight, durability, and tire pressure for the next n weeks until the event. We would all enjoy the hell out of it :)

Now that I'm thinking about it, I may give it another go this year... I sucked last time... need some redemption.

8:30 AM
gewilli said...

maine's just so damn far away... ;)

not that sunapee is any closer than Battenkill...

and Mt A...

I've done that one a couple times...


Sunapee, now that i've got doubts about the car making it up and back i'm not sure if i can get there...

8:37 AM
gewilli said...

well - sunapee is full...

damnit

8:43 AM
Unknown said...

Too bad - that's only 45 minutes from my house and I would have gone to watch.
Wait - nope, I'll be doing the Seacoast Bike Trek that day anyway. Oh, well.

8:56 AM
solobreak said...

Wow, 75 rider field limits. Probably a good idea. Plenty of room in the 35+... Sunapee is only an hour past Canobie Lake.

Mt A did away with the start ramp last year. Too many mishaps.

We are lucky. Almost none of our races are "far" compared with many other parts of the country where 3 hours is "close."

9:52 AM
Colin R said...

there's a hell of a lot of work to do before then, no?
No. There isn't. That's almost four effing months from now. You could get in fighting shape in half that time if you were serious about it, and you'll never get in fighting shape if you're not, doesn't matter if you have 4 months, 8 months or 12 months.

Those 1000 dismounts and remounts you do, you know how much time those are worth over the course of a race? a couple of seconds, tops. Drop them and focus on your fitness, you know, that thing that wins bike races.

running? screw that. don't skip rides so you can do 20 minute jogs around the neighborhood. How many times to do you even run longer than 20 seconds in the season? You wanna practice running? Put a runup in your interval. If there's "so little time before cross" (which is bullshit, of course), then do specific running, not general.

Solo's right. Don't bullshit yourself (and us) about getting fast tomorrow. Talk is cheap. You can get serious any time you want, and the proximity of September has nothing to do with it.

- this message brought to you by negacoach

11:10 AM
solobreak said...

Jeez, someone needs to go out for a ride. or a nap... But thanks.

-NC

11:19 AM
IMA said...

Cut him some slack- he's out there drilling it at Tuesday night's RISD smack-down. I'd like to go and make him cry extra hard but it starts out too early for my work schedule.

11:46 AM
gewilli said...

thanks colin...

the running isn't for going fast in cross, but then maybe you knew that and are just playing devil's advocate.

it is more than that...

but yeah - none of that stuff makes you faster... but it makes you smoother and less prone to stacking it up... and ya look better...

'cause ya know racing isn't about winning - it is all about looking good while doing it :-P

11:49 AM
IMA said...

Running.. we have a guy on our team who raced the Boston Marathon a few weeks ago and finished in 3:14- a result he wasn't happy about, but he didn't do too bad at Sterling this weekend- finished 11th in the Pro race.

11:57 AM
solobreak said...

Here is a rainy day project for you. Or maybe the Data Wizard will spoon feed it to us someday when he is really bored. Pick a cx race from last year, any one. Take the top 3 or top 5 from every category, and cross reference the names with road-results.com or the uscf results database. What % do you find who do NOT have numerous road results?

12:35 PM
gewilli said...

well off the top of my head:

Colin Roto-Rooter
Big Thommy P
Curtis Skinny B

12:38 PM
solobreak said...

Does the top of your head know what a percentage is? Because 3 podiums out of hundreds of possibilities is a pretty small one...

12:47 PM
solobreak said...

And you left out Coady...

12:48 PM
gewilli said...

yes, solo, i know what you are saying...

cross is just bike racing - if you put the work in it doesn't matter if you are racing road or cross or mt you'll get results...

and yeah - my bad - totally forgot Coady - there's probably another one or two - but not many more...

then again if you look at the pro's most of them are top level Mt Bikers off season - and if include top results for mt bike races then forget it...

i get your point... i've gotten it for a while... i just am an undisciplined busy/lazy unathletic talentless fool trying to race bikes...

12:56 PM
Colin R said...

G - how long have you been doing this sport? If you're not smooth yet, you're never gonna be smooth. More importantly, you're already smooth enough to be 95% as fast and 95% as stylish as anyone. You could spend the rest of your life working toward that last 5% and never get there, so focus on something else that matters. Despite what you claim -- it is actually about going fast, or else you wouldn't have brought up all the training you have to do between now and then.

Solo's claim that you have to be a roadie is specious, but Thom and I race mtb's like it's our job. We should not be on that list as examples of being fast at cross without racing hard all summer.

1:02 PM
gewilli said...

and neither should Curtis - he's racing the odd race here and there and training like he's pro...

i was being a smartass including the top mt bike guys around only cause solo singled out roadies...

and yeah - the 1000 dismount/remount things - i don't need to practice them. I did a few cold flying remounts lately and nailed em pretty good...

i've gone on about why running is good before... and with your memory and all i know you remember it.

also...

running has yet to displace cycling - it is usually added on top for me... never in place of...

1:18 PM
velocb said...

Race your strengths, train your weaknesses right?

I am running right now (and it sucks!) because most of the guys who beat me last year are fast as hell on the runnups. And frankly it is demoralizing to get blown by on a run or mud pit by athletes. At 44 I am going to train as an "athlete" not a bike racer. I self-identify myself as a cross racer and will always put my training focus on that.

Training your weakness means being honest with yourself. Who beat you and why. Did they beat you just because they are better than you? Could be and that's ok. Or did they beat you because you didn't train on something that is a weakness. Cross is a very simple game to get pretty ok at. For me I love the nasty conditions, I love sand pits and runnups even if I am slow on them. I don't want to be slow on them any more.

Road racing is great as long as you don't crash and injure yourself and lose valuable training blocks. And road racing itself doesn't really translate to cross anyway. You don't need to train on 20% hillclimbs to be good at cross. I sucked at cross before I move back to New England. You know why I think I am better now? Rolling hills and flats...Big mtns do nothing for a cross racer. Race Wells or Wompy if you really want to get fast at cross by racing. But pray you don't hit the deck and lose massive amounts of flesh and break bones...

I think at our age you can coast all summer, get super specific in July and be fine for cross season. In fact its probably healthy in the long run for a masters racer. We only have so much in the bank. And if cross is your thing and you don't want to burn out by November adapt to that mindset. All the rest should be fun...

3:11 PM

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