Coonamessett Farm Eco-Cross, 11/11/11
Eco Cross in Falmouth, MA has become a Veteran’s Day tradition for me. The challenging course and the funky vibe are too much fun to pass up and it doesn’t hurt that I have had success there in the past. Coonemessett Farm is a fairly compact venue that features two good climbs, many 180-degree turns, and several vegetable garden sections that just suck the energy out of your legs. For a bit of a change the Pro 1-2-3 was the second race of the morning starting at 10am and I will admit I have gotten used to the sleep ins that the Elite race generally allows.
I got the venue in time for a few quick laps before the first race of the morning and the course was very similar to last year with a few small changes including a new out and back gravel road section in the woods. They also put the barriers outside of the beer garden this year. I do not think that was quite as much fun but what can you do. The course had short laps of around five minutes for my race and was fairly soft but not nearly as muddy as you might have expected from all the rain yesterday.
As I did my recon laps I settled on a tire tread and pressure combo for the day. While you could argue for hours on this topic I have tried to simplify it as much as possible. Here is how I attack the problem. I am gnerally running only two treads this year, Typhoons (an all around grifo stye tread) and Rhinos (the gold standard in mud tires). I tend to lean toward more traction rather than less so I have left out file treads from my inventory. On the drive to the race I consider the weather, has it been raining lately, and what I know of the course from the past. This is how I chose what tires to start with. I then set them to 33-34psi both front and back and go for a lap to see how it feels. From there I go to a more or less aggressive tread depending on the course and I vent small amounts of air to get it to a pressure that feels good to me, hooks up, but does not bottom out too often on whatever features the day’s course has. I also sometimes mix and match treads sometimes running a more aggressive tread in the front and less aggressive in the back. The Rhino front and Typhoon rear has become a favorite combo for me this season.
A group of 25 of us lined up for the start and while the numbers were not huge the front row was lined with Keoughs and other Corner Cycle heavy hitters so it was going to be a hard race for sure. The start was an uphill gravel road leading into an abbreviated first lap and the group quickly strung out. I was lined up 2nd row and had a fairy decent start, not too far behind all the Champion System brothers and ahead of many guys I usually struggle to beat. As we got through initial abbreviated lap and into the first full lap reality set in a bit and I lost a few riders but I settled in to ride my race. I felt pretty good today and focused on the power sections where I felt I had an advantage and did my best to get through a few loose 180s that were my weak points. I ground a few guys back and ended up 10th for the day. I crossed the line with a smile on my face as I really enjoyed the course and there were a bunch of kids in the beer garden that made a ton of noise for me every lap. I will do my best to be back again next year. Next stop on the tour, Plymouth South School.
Let’s look at cyclo cross for a rider who is focused on the road. We will go over why people would race cross, how cyclo cross differs from road events, the potential benefits of cross racing, downfalls of racing cross and finally what I would recommend for someone who wants to have their best road season next year and race cross.
Why race cross
- Most road riders will at some point entertain entering a cyclo cross race or two for a number of reasons. Commonly I hear things like;
- I want to maintain my fitness for next road season.
- I want to improve my fitness for the next road season.
- It looks like fun.
- The best road riders in my category ride cyclo cross.
- I want to improve my bike handling.
Differences between cyclocross racing and road racing
- Event length is between 30 minutes and 1 hour with the exception or short criteriums or time trials cross races are shorter for someones cross race category then when they race on the road in their category.
- The bike handling skills for cyclo cross include getting off and running. That never happens in road races.
- The effort put out in cross races is dictated just as much by the course as by the other racers.
- In cyclo cross tactics in general do not play as much of a role in the outcome of the event as they do in a road race.
- Bike set up is different between cross and road. The riding position for cyclo cross emphasises power and bike handling over aero dynamics on a road bike.
- The cross season lasts from mid August to mid December.
Potential benefits of cyclo cross for your next road season
- Improve your weak points. Any personal weak area that cyclo cross racing or training emphasizes more then on the road could cross over to your road riding next season and pay benefits. These include short bursts of speed, bike handling and aggressive all out racing style.
- Improves your ability to handle difficult weather conditions. Since there is a good chance or cold, wet or adverse weather you could learn to adapt to those conditions.
- Racing and training for cyclo cross will help you maintain your fitness longer which can make it easier to start up training for the next road season.
- It’s fun. Having fun is the best reason to ride, train or race.
Potential downsides to cyclo cross for the next road season
- Burnout. Due to the overlap of the cross season with road you may find yourself starting cross with good results and fading fast as the season progresses.
- Bad timing for next road season. Due to the short and early cross schedule there may be some issues with not resting enough so that you can build up for the next season since the cross season overlaps with a time normally used to recover and plan for the next road season.
- Expense. You now should include the cost of another bike or two, travel and entry fee costs in your budget.
- Relationship problems. You now will be focused on racing for 9-10 months a year. If you have a job or a family the additional time away and being focuses on other areas will cause stress.
What I would recommend to have your best road season
- End you road season and take your break from intervals, long rides and traveling to events. Basically recover.
- Train for cyclo cross but don’t race until later in the cross season.
- Use basic cross equipment to keep the costs under control.
- Have fun!
Before you get those two cross bikes and invest the time and money into cross racing remember what it is you want to do, race on the road. Many times people refer to the top road riders in their category and use them to justify a cross campaign. The logic is “I will do what they do then I will be like them.”. What is not being factored in is that many times these top riders are much fitter then the people below them and they will have a reasonable chance of winning any event they enter because of that fitness gap they have over the other riders in their category. It’s not the cross that is making them better but rather the fitness they already have.
We got a new world champ!
New World Champ!
The weather is getting cooler. We want you to be keep your riding going – so we have lights and winter clothing. Assos makes some of the best and the new line is even better. Come on in and check it out.
Assos Winter Gear
This past weekend I rode in the Tokeneke road race where, from the start, there was plenty of aggressive racing despite the long distance of the race (88 miles) and the rain. A breakaway of three lead riders – one rider from Embrocation, one CCNS and one from Bikereg – formed quickly on the first lap. The gap never got all that big and since CCB didn’t have all that many riders in the race, we didn’t want to do too much work that might hurt our chances of winning. To begin close the gap to the breakaway, our team mounted a major attacks but not until later in the first lap. CCB then kept a hard tempo through the finishing climb of the second lap and, countering a series of short-lived, but ultimately futile, attacks, it took us about 30 minutes to catch the breakaway.
I happened to ride next to one of the three members of the original break and he commented that “I was the only guy working!” This is not the first time I have heard this nor will it be the last time I have been in breaks like this. Many times the rider who does more work in the break thinks it will be his only opportunity to break away. To the contrary, the rider should conserve energy recognizing that he (or someone on his team) will have another, probably better, opportunity later in the race.
Assuming you want to do as well as possible, there are only really two reasons to get into a breakaway.
By reducing the competition to a small group of riders, a solo rider may use a breakaway to better position themselves for the final part of the race.
A team may use a breakaway for the same reason
Or a team might try to drain the energy of the competition by making them chase the break or to set up a future attack composed of other teammates that meet up with the break, making them the biggest component of riders in the break.
Picture this: you are with a small group of riders and have a small but significant gap over the field but you realize that you are doing more than your fair share of the work. At first this seems okay, as you can maintain the gap, but eventually you become tired and your temporary ‘teammates’ don’t seem to be picking up any of the slack. Perhaps you decide to stay positive and do the work, hoping they will recover and do more later. Alternatively, you decide to reason with them and mention that the move is more likely to work if they increase the time on the front of their pulls or pull a little harder. Or, becoming angry about the situation, you yell commands for the rest of the breakaway to work harder. What’s the best strategy if your goal is to have a successful race?
Take a moment to think about your goals when in a break like this. Try to visualize what the likely outcome will be: the break is no longer functioning and you are now tired. If reasoning with the break doesn’t work, immediately stop working or attack and get rid of them! Though this may seem contrary to your goal, recognize that the move will be caught sooner rather than later and you will have fatigued yourself doing ALL of the work.
Consider these alternatives presented by this situation:
- you are strong enough to hold off the chasing group solo, so what do you need the other riders for? Or
- you continue to work and get tired while others are getting a easier ride.
Either way, the result is the same: you are less able to respond to later moves or worse, you get dropped before the finish. Is that what you or the team want? Situations like this rarely work out in your favor, and are never helpful to your mindset for the rest of the race.
With the latest brouhaha going on in Washington and the turmoil on Wall Street we’re reminded of the old truism “It’s the economy, stupid!”
Well in cycling, specifically road bikes, there is another truism but you never hear this one given that everyone is pushing the latest and greatest frames with pictures of bottom brackets and talking about more new standards in bottom brackets. This one is simple: “It’s all about the wheels, stupid!”
You’d think given what you read about frames, frame material, beefed up BBs and seat stays that it’s all about the frame. We got news for you, it’s not. The wheels make the ride and in the next few weeks we’re going to detail for you how this is case and some of the wheels we’re been riding and racing.
So in the meantime, don’t look at your portfolio too much and get out there and ride.
If there is anything we like it’s Colnago and Shimano Di2. We’ve been riding and racing this group for a year and it’s the real deal and it is without question the future. The stuff works and is an improvement in shift quality. Colnago has done good job making a Di2 specific frame so that the cables and batteries are integrated into the frame – we like it.
The music selection has some merit to us, too. We used to have a record shop in the same building as us – looney tunes. We remember riding our BMX bikes there in the 80s and getting a Police Bumper Sticker.
I am about to pass on the secret to winning bicycle races that seems to be lost to many racers and coaches out there. Can you answer the question “How do you win a race?”Answer it without any doubts? I bet you can’t. Do you come home from races and training feeling dissatisfied with your performance? Maybe you think you need more power? Is that why you didn’t win? Do you think if you had a lighter bike you would have won? Are you feeling stumped and that’s why the victory alluded you? None of these have to do with you not winning.
How about your tactics? Are you thinking “if I had just attacked or sprinted…” maybe that’s it? Possible, but no again. How about my diet? If I had eaten my special diet of pancakes and fruity pebbles…? Unlikely!
Here it is the answer. What you have been waiting for. Hold your breath… You didn’t win the race because you didn’t cross the line before everyone else. Period. It is really that simple. I can hear it now, but Amos wouldn’t more power make me win? How about my tactics, position in the field, nutrition? These are great questions and do factor in to the final result but if your goal is to win then what matters most is the final result. I will admit one thing at this point, you cannot control the final result! So yes all those things matter but just because you work on them it does not mean you will win. Answer this question: Do you think that the strongest rider in a race always wins? Is your training focused on crossing the line first or something else? Even a casual observer of bike racing knows that the strongest rider doesn’t always win. If that were the case we’d all race with power meters and then compare averages after the race. Well, guess, what? That’s how a lot of people train – there is an old saying – train to race and race to train.
If you were stumped by this question maybe you want to think about a coaching consultation?
What change in weather from 2010! We started with a cool over cast day with a threat of rain. Last year it was hot and sunny and pre race found everyone sitting under trees in the shade. This year everyone was trying to figure out how many layers they should wear.
For the the pro-1-2 we had a small field with around 40 riders starting. By some amazing stroke of luck the whole CCB team lined up in the front row: Yahor, Synjen, Jake, Sasha, me, and Jan in the feed zone. We were all laughing since most of the time we start at the back of the field. The basic pre-race plan was to stay out of trouble and not make any attacks in the early part of the race but instead follow wheels and then try and do something at the end.
The race started with a neutral roll out for 1.8 miles to the start of the course. The pace car rolls off and I follow it. Since my warm up consisted of riding over to the start line this was a hard effort too early. Someone from CCNS rides up to me and tells me he is covering my move. I look back and we have 50 meters over the field. Then two more riders roll up on from Team CF (I think it was Patrick) and one from Wheel house (sorry didn’t catch the rider’s name). The pace car isn’t going that fast and yet no one else came up. We surge a few times to stay up with the car but nothing special. We hit the end of the neutral and we start drilling it.
Almost right away I am concerned with the distance we have yet to cover and the fact that the course is very tiring. I take my pulls and so does everyone else. Team CF turns out to be massively over dressed and starts skipping pulls way too early – this turned out to be of no help to the breakaway. Eventually the rider form CF gets his extra(extra!) long sleeve jersey off and starts pulling again. Too little too late though since Ben Wolfe from CCNS bridges up from nowhere on his own(not bad considering the junior gear he was running!). We roll with five guys for a bit and then we drop the other CCNS guy from the break and the CF guy too on the finish hill (Welcome to 666 ft elevation – this is why we do Wyassup loops). First mistake: we decide to wait for him in the hopes that he would keep working since we still had a ways to go. Hmmm – why? I’m not sure.
We get back together again and start riding but it is pretty apparent that the group is losing steam. Again out of now where we are caught from behind by another group of riders. Another CCNS rider, Noreast, Team CF and Peter Bell. I am getting tired and decide to limit the amount of work I am doing in order to hang on over the finish hill. The group breaks up over the climb, the Noreast guy drops his chain and half the group gets split off and we are back to 4 guys.
Amazingly the Noreast guy bridges back on but proceeds to break a spoke in the rear wheel. We keep rolling and he actually catches back on! The group really slows as we head toward the finish climb for the next to the last lap. Peter Bell takes the oppurtunity to make a break and quickly gets 20+ seconds on us. We hit the finish climb and the group just disintegrates. He is 20 seconds up on me and I am hoping the guy behind me can come up to help but instead he is shot.
Now I am by myself.
I spend the next 7 miles or so chasing back on and we reconnect. We work together for a minute but we get caught from behind again by Gavin Mannion and another Wheel House rider. At this point I am pretty beat and am trying to sit on to make it to the bottom of the finish climb. The surges do me in and I come off on the next to the last hill and ride it for 4th.
How did I get 4th? Proper training given the course structure (the week prior we did loops on Wyassup and we worked on sprinting – you have to have to be able to “get over” the hill and continue to drill it). Racing smart (I worked with people and if other people from other teams were covering me: so be it, but they had to work).
Could I have finished higher? Most certainly. However, I controlled the variables I had control over and finished strong. Why be upset if other people, who I can’t control, didn’t race as smart? They finished well behind me anyway.
Perhaps you have the same thinking when it comes to your training: I finished…I lost . . . .I need to lose wight . . . or I didn’t win…. In general this is outcome based thinking. Outcome based thinking leaves out one crucial part of the puzzle, you cannot control everything around you. This means that your outcome is not under your control; only the process you use to achieve your final result is what you can control. The first time I read about this was in this book (great book by the way definitely worth a read).
Do you know what is the biggest hangup for outcome based thinkers? Drum roll please. They are not happy with where they are in their training or their racing results or even if they are doing well. With outcome based thinkers there is always a failure to wonder “what if”. This needs to change, how about instead of a “what if” thinker you become a process based thinker then no matter what happens in the event you can look back and say to yourself “I prepared as best as I knew how.” This is what makes it easy to deal with unforeseen events like flat tires, crashes, dropping your bottle with your energy drink in it etc. that is things that happen as part of normal circumstances. For just a moment think back to your last event: after the event how many people seemed happy when it was all over? Were you happy? If not it’s time to change.
Next time I want you to think about what you are doing to improve your results from your training rather then what has actually happened. Write the process you use in training down. Look at them. Perhaps you can make some changes to what you have done perhaps not. Build confidence in your plan by feeling good about the plan. When people ask how you did tell them you did good since you have been following you plan. There is an old saying “failing to plan is planning to fail” – that is true in this in most everything and it’s certainly true in training. The actual result isn’t what is important in the long run. It may sound a little different then what you are used too but it works. Try it today and see.
Want to learn more about what coaching can do for you? Send me a e-mail with your questions so I can answer them in future columns.