Course Pre-Riding

Maybe I should show better judgement and stay completely out of it but...  well reading Paul's comment over on Jonny Bold's blog popped something in my head.

And dod gammit i'm going to get it out.

Twitter ain't the place, neither is +

Course pre-riding.  Before the race? Value?  There is great value in it.  And if you get to the big races early enough you'll catch a glimpse of some of the fastest (non-elite) guys riding and re-riding sections.  Namely really the fastest of the fast.  Looking to eek seconds out in certain spots, or figure out the fastest way to take a corner, trying to find that easter egg left by the course designers.

Some courses are like a puzzle.  Tom S does a good job of creating sections where the most obvious 'line' isn't the fastest or smoothest way through something.  Riding a section over and over again trying combinations esp with a few team mates can be a huge advantage.

That said, in a group like the 35+ 1/2/3 race you have a pretty tight pack of people who've been doing this cyclocross thing for a while, newbies are usually far and few between.  Even the slow ass bags in the back aren't that slow or that dumb.  The transitions and best lines are usually discovered and copied and ingrained within two laps.  Unless they are of those dubious hidden ones where it is okay to do it one way for most of the race, but you save that secret for when you are racing your nemesis and you're trying to gain an advantage.

Is the complaint of the lack of pre-riding valid?  For the Master category I think not.  How many times have they raced at _______?  How different are the transitions on the course?  The terrain, the grip?  Now my perspective is obviously skewed.  Holeshot? Me? Yeah right.  But still, you can do a quick re-con between races no problem. even if you have to jump off the course and just follow it along watching the field go through.

how does it work?  Get there with two race breaks before you race.  So you race at noon and there is an 11 and 10 am race.  Get there at 9:45, grab the bike and do a quick recon lap so you know the course, identify areas where you want to target at speed between the 10 and 11 race. Then spend that time inbetween getting your number, checking tire pressure, setting up the trainer, dealing with bathroom, tent set up, food, coffee...  and of course all that takes 100x longer because you have to stop and compare notes with everyone, generally socialize.  Takes time.

Then get on the course, do your hot lap in kit, repeat a few sections if needed.  now here's the key, Don't get on the course right after the winner crosses.  that's not smart unless you missed the first slow pre-ride recon lap.  Wait a few minutes.  Give the tailgunners some space.  If you start getting close to that pack of assholes chatting and laughing riding 20 yards behind someone who is giving it everything and just wants to finish, loop back and do a few of the more challenging transitions/turns at speed until you give them space.

When your lap is finished you'd better be all set mentally with the course layout.  Now it is time to jump on the trainer and finish the warm up/coffee infusion.  Or go out and warm up on the road.  What ever works best to get primed for the race.

it is an hour long race at most.  no need to do much in the way of fuel if you are eating properly leading up to the race.  if you are racing the next day the protein and carbs in most recovery drinks is a really good idea, as it spinning on the bike for a good 15-30 minutes.

There are of course situations where all this is thrown out the window.  Incident on the course, other delays, races stacked closer together than on the hour.

Then what?

Then you jog the course.  W/O a bike you can't get yelled at, won't be tempted to jump on and ride sections. And at running/walking pace you see stuff you might not other wise.  Also if you do that during the race (staying off the course of course) you can see what is working or not.  Many times you can learn how NOT to ride a corner or a section by watching the Cat 4s (they have value after all).   Or watch the progression in skill from proficient at the business end of the field to the just having fun and have their tires at 65 because that's what the sidewall says and they don't want to flat.  Seeing that, watching, learning is helpful.

All that said it will do you jack shit if you don't have 45 minutes of massive watts.  And you don't get those without a massive amount of work (and a handful of natural talent).

Bike racing is hard work.  Cyclocross is no different, but those elements of the course, the fact that it is really a Time trial for most of us with a few obstacles thrown in and 75 of your best friends on the course at the same time, means even if you are some what lacking in the watt department there is a chance to make up a few spots with bike driving.  And really?  It is just fucking flat out awesome.

If I want to get jazzed up I think about that one lap, in the 35+ race in Bend. That grass U turn with the off camber there before the beer tent that goes along the finish straight.  Some dude completely yardsaled in front of me, bike and body across the course.  You hit it with speed and if you had the right line it was cake money simple (but I guess it wasn't that simple because everyone around me was having problems with it the whole race, maybe they ain't so good at reading courses out in the PacNW).  I hit that hot with the guy crashed out and pulled the perfect evasive maneuver, totally owned that section of slick grass, and everyone packed around the outside reacted with cheering and shouting.  Money in the bank.

I can't race for wins right now.  Who'm I going to beat? Anyone?  Not likely.  I have to race for moments like that.

THAT was a winning moment.  goosebumps thinking about it.

Riding through the tunnel of sound in the Clydesdale race that night was a very close second.  Having Danny Summerhill go through a whole 30 pack of beer standing at the inside of the same corner spraying everyone down was pretty awesome but that beer tent and finish line, people two and three deep drunk off their asses SCREAMING and yelling and laughing as we raced through that in the dark.

Having a friend WIN a national title and be there to see it happen and see him at the end of the race?  That is awesome too.

Yeah it is  just bike racing.  Jonny has me on an 8.1 mile TT course by over 3 minutes.  THREE FUCKING MINUTES.  that's a lot.

I sometimes get too focused on the racing "not to get lapped," the negative.  I have to remember, I don't suck.  I'm just not as fast as a handful of other old dudes in New England.

Ah fuck.  Getting a bit too Stuart Smalley. Oh well.

What a load of garbage.

There's a TT to do.   At least I remembered my 80mm valve tubes and valve extenders this week.

heddwch
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