kids cross camp

So on Wed JLS packed up his manvan with bikes and kids and trundled down to Riverside (that reference is for Jack Chapman for whom I have to thank/blame for making me want to say RIVERSIDE M-er F-er every time i say the name of the town down here).

There was a chance that some team mates of mine might show up, one of them did. We did do a mini-cross clinic, then the kids got hot, wanted popsicles and the little two weren't really interested in bikes, more into playing with each other. 5 year old girls have surprisingly similar interests and a really good time together... We worked on dismounts and remounts.

Getting off the bike was no problem, and they both started getting back on pretty easily. We didn't work so much on barriers or picking up the bike.

After a bit we went over and hit the sandy bmx loopy bandit track in the park. Pretty technical actually. Awesome for handling practice. Not so much fun on my marathon plus tires with 50 psi in them, but i was fine with straight ahead traction if I kept my fat ass in the saddle.

Lots of riding around, a bit of just having fun and then we headed over to lunch. Hitched the trailer to JLS's bike and I pulled out the tandem and put the trail-a-bike on it. And we all made our way over to the Clam shack for lunch.

Then K took A and JLS for a ride up the bike path past the Lighthouse and back while the little two played with dolls and giggled inside.

We gotta do this again. Maybe we can get Chad and Chip and maybe a few others to make it a bigger deal. The plus side, even with K's crashes and wipe outs she still had fun. Shook it off and acted tough, wiped the tears away and got back on the bike, and REALLY wants to go to the Luna Chix women's cyclocross clinic. Not sure what I'll do during the clinic, maybe take a nap in the race wagon or just ride around on what ever part of the course they aren't using, who knows... but I've got a feeling there will be no keeping her from it. Will wait for weather forecast and probably register early next week. Man i should really register for a cross race or something eh?

Quad cross is online, reg opens on the 23rd. And there's a $5 cub juniors race. THAT is cool. I like that pricing for 10-14 year old races. So it looks like I'll probably be up there nice and early so we can get a couple pre-ride laps in. We'll see.

The incentive to register now for the big races isn't there yet. Still under 40 for the VT races and just at 40 for G-ster. Probably shouldn't hold off much longer.

I have a few recipes but i'll put em in a different post, eventually.

This morning's run didn't happen. Yesterday I woke up and my knee was achy, a weird pseudo inflamed sort of pressure feeling. It went away during the mellow ride into work, but it was enough that I elected to tell my coach "sorry, not this morning" to the run. And this morning? Just tired. With the days off and running around and all the rest it just works well being a rest week. Keeping it light duty. Maybe toss in some CX drills this weekend to boost the intensity. Doing loops with two sets of barriers actually is a pretty intense workout, so I'll probably try and do that to kick off the week on Sunday.

Following a plan is important but also listening and backing off before an injury. I don't want to wind up needing to take multiple weeks off to let something heal because of over-use. It didn't work very well last year, I started the season off pretty flat.

I've also managed not to get negative about the end of this month. Mostly due to just ignoring it and paying it no attention. And so far it is working.

Hey if anyone you know collects old Fly Fishing rods or reels drop me an email - i have a couple things every collector needs to own, I'll make em a great deal.

Wow - getting close to lunch time. What's on the menu today? We'll see. Not enough of dinner last night (it was very popular) and breakfast is long gone.

Cyclocross is coming.

Time to get out and do your 1000 dismounts and remounts. Yeah, I might not get them but if you are a cat 4, haven't been racing cross seriously for 5+ years, new to the sport, double hop your remounts, it is really going to make a difference in your energy expenditure to get out and do 1000 of them before your first race.

Start at a walking pace. Do about 100-200 a session. Really focus on being smooth and slow. Get the mechanics down and then the next 200 just slightly faster, and repeat until you can get on and off smoothly at a full run.

Some people (results boy) feel that it is a waste of time doing this. But hey - you can't do sprints or VO2 max intervals every day. And if you don't like running this will get your "running" without really actually "running." And who wants to be the guy double hopping, smacking their pedal, landing on their sensitive bits, bashing into barriers?

Remember you want to go forward on the saddle, not up and down.

And personally, I haven't found the step through to be any faster than the step behind. But then maybe i'm not going fast enough (doubt it). I can go as fast as anyone, just not for as long as the fastest guys (yet). I'll get there there. Watch out.

heddwch
G