Last kick at summer

So after camp and a few days of training the weekend came and after a late Friday night I went to bed in hopes that I would be able to get up and make the club ride on Saturday morning but no avail. I rode Saturday, but I was slow and stupid on the bike.

Got home and we decided to go tubing and have a bbq with some good friends. It was in my estimation the last good day of the summer without something else going on so we decided to take advantage.

Sunday, I considered dong the club ride but again there was lot's to do around the house so I decided to get the Armstrong service course set up. I put up hooks for wheels and put new hooks up for the bike as the other ones were bending etc.

I also patched the front of the garage floor with quickcrete and so far so good. The holes were getting big.

Aly finished the living room on Sunday and hung the clocks and pictures etc etc. The house is pretty much 100% redone from top to bottom and ready for cross season.

Specifically I have one set up tubulars to glue up, some new super sekret tubs on Ambrosio Nemesis wheelset. :)

Monday I went to yoga and really felt the effect of tubing with sore muscles but wasn't bad at the club ride tonight.

Working on a new training program etc with a new coach, so lot's to digest.
Ah well back to work at 10 pm at night of course. :)

Please stop Dave

No offence to Dave Towles but his announcing always sounds like he's introducing the next stripper on stage. It just seems wrong what he does to announce a bike race.

Tuesday night club

Last night was the usual hilly Tuesday nighter and I was feeling the left thigh bruise from my de-skewering at crosscamp. Al asked how I was and I said I was a bit tired from crosscamp, and he asks about it and Chown naturally pipes up saying it was actually a cross dressing camp and Ben didn't go because he couldn't accessorize.

The conversation went downhill from there when we were asking Ben about his racing schedule leading up to Worlds.

The ride was typical A group ride with the Juniors, since we have three very high quality junior riders in the club and they typically like to hammer the crap out of each other.

Unfortunately, some of us got dropped on the second hill out on Roland, but at least I was in good company with Rick, Al, and Dale, all of us in and around 50 worked well to at least not get gapped too much. We picked up B and C riders in droves and mostly they would sit on and then tail off if we picked up the pace at all.

I think I should have been a little more conservative at the start but I always seem to be testing myself these days.

Cycle-Smart.com Cross Camp

I wrote some entries on how the Cycle-Smart Cross Camp was for me personally, but over the weekend I had time to observe the coaches at Cycle-Smart and think about how good they are with their brand and customer service and how that mirrored what I do at my software company.

I've long extolled the virtue of providing good, fast high quality support is what helps us increase the quality of our software products and remain in business. Being accessible, providing good information in well written articles and explaining complex topics in a clear and concise manner goes a long way.

Adam Myerson clearly gets this and is accessible and provides great information in a well written manner all on the cycle-smart web site. It was interesting to hear the emotion in his voice during cross camp. It is obvious that he gives a damn about providing high quality coaching in a sport that he lives and breathes daily. That my friends is a recipe for success both from you as a client and for Cycle-Smart.

I've decided to give them a try for the next 12 weeks or so. My biggest problem is maintaining form throughout the season and I am hoping they can help me with that. I've just started the process but no idea what to expect for me. Aly is already coached by them but I decided to give it a go myself.

In any case if you're looking for coaching or a great cyclocross camp then I highly recommend the Cycle-Smart camp.

#crosscamp Stage 2

The second day of cross camp was a little more subdued at the beginning of the day as the previous day heat and riding and core technique practice took it's toll. I was a bit stiff and a little flat but ready for the day after a bagel and coffee and some snacks on site.

My bike needed some repairs yesterday afternoon and the two mechanics at the clinic quickly got rid of some creaking noises and gave some advice on what may be at issue for the other lingering creak.

The first instruction was on bunny hopping. No this wasn't us suddenly learning to hop barriers six feet apart and 45cm high, but rather the type of hopping to save tires and avoid small obstacles.

Once again the message and technique was described, demonstrated and then we practiced the different methods immediately and got some immediate feedback. From bunny hopping we went on to starts, again simple technique and a checklist of things to get ready were gone thru along with demonstration. Adam went thru some of the tradeoffs and different techniques out there and gave good solid reasons as to why he does what he does.

Then we practices starts one row at a time, then two at a time then all of us. I tried some of the different techniques and different start legs. I have more to experiment with in terms of start position, on seat vs off but the rest I have down.

The rest of the camp was lunch and course evaluation, what to look for lines, look for places to attack, rest etc etc. We did a couple of ride thrus over various sections and got lots of valueable information. In the middle of this we had a fairly good downpour, which considerably changed the course so we re-did some of the sections.

Then we had an opportunity to "graduate" and do some hot laps to see what we would forget while under pressure. Unfortunately, on an uphill my rear skewer slipped and the rear wheel shifted and immediately stopped and I went over the handlebars while going up a steep hill. I must have whacked my elbow, because I was trying to lift my bike off of me but my arm was not obeying.

Coach Al helped me get going again and I had to chase for most of the two laps which was tons of fun.

In retrospect, my cornering improved significantly, dismounts good or at least better. I supermanned one remount, but nailed the next three. I found that if just kept aiming for the right pedal I would do significantly better on the remounts.

So that was pretty much the entire camp. I was a bit disappointed that we didn't all get to throw our helmets in the air, but c'est la vie. Seriously though if you're at all serious about your cross and cross technique then you need to go to this camp.

#crosscamp Stage 1

Got up at a reasonable hour got some food and loaded up and headed to camp at The Glendale Glide in Southampton. Easy to find and lot's of parking in a field on the left side of the road and the cross course on the other side.

Lot's of drinks and snacks available all day, which was great because it was pretty humid and you needed to drink all day.

The morning session was to cover Core Technique, which was Mounting, Dismounting, Lifting and Carrying. We were placed in the Advanced group due to experience. When we first started it was a bit disconcerting how rusty I was, but Aly and I both commented that we were happy we hadn't done some of our usual summer skill because it likely would have ingrained some bad habits.

First off the instruction from Adam was very good. Specifically re-mounting was a huge difference for me. I still got it a bit wrong in some instances in the hot laps the next day but percentage wise I am a lot faster and on the pedals earlier when re-mounting.

Dismounting, again the instruction was excellent with lot little tips and discussion on leg thru etc. The format of instruction, practice, feedback and discussion was excellent and really the only way to do this type of skill training.

The dismounting drill has made me possibly re-think my pedal choice as I was un-clipping and trying to pedal un-clipped and would clip in suddenly. It wasn't that much of a big deal but it is something to think about moving forward.

I worked to ingrain some of the things I had fixed and tried to have it become second nature as soon as possible and was really happy with the progress. The morning session alone made it worth the time and money investment.

Lunch was a huge burrito and lot's of snacks and drinks left you not wanting for anything. It was good to listen to various stories and get to know some of the people. It was great to see so many women in the camp and getting instruction from guys who know what they are talking about!

The afternoon session was cornering and although I wasn't happy with my cornering on the wide sweeping right hand turn that we started with, the tight off camber went better for me. Aly was making huge strides as time went on. Re-mounting was a big difference from the start to the finish of the camp.

After the day was done we rushed back to hotel, showered changed and went for Indian food before the 7pm talk by Adam at Smith College. The Indian food was great and the talk was excellent but my ADD and lack of coffee was getting to me and I had to go get some coffee to help me thru the night.

All in all Day 1 was and excellent start.

#crosscamp prologue

Just got back from the 11th Annual Cycle-Smart Massachusetts Cyclo-Cross Camp this past weekend. It was to a combined weekend of celebrating her birthday and getting some skill coaching in.

I was sworn to secrecy on her birthday and for once managed to keep my trap shut!

Arrived in Northampton / Hadley MA at 3:30 am, unpacked the car and collapsed into bed waking up at about 8:30 am. I was looking around for a do not disturb sign but couldn't find one, so I went back to bed only to have them come in the room at about 10 am and us explaining that we got in late and we were sleeping in and didn't need any cleaning that day.

We were both starving and in need of caffeine and we somehow stumbled into Bruegger's Bagel in Hadley, MA. I had a life giving Smoked Salmon and Aly had a PB and J with some coffee and we sat outside. This became our morning routine over the course of the camp, although not at the same location.

After, that we decided to go for a ride and we decided go for a spin for a couple of hours. We didn't know the area so we went on the Norwottuck Rail Trail which was right behind our hotel and went back an forth on the trail a couple of times and got the cobwebs out.

Then we got some lunch, did some shopping, back to the hotel and went out for dinner and went to the camp registration which was at a coffee place, but he had just closed and cleaned the espresso machine so no joy on some espresso.

We signed up, headed back to hotel and got stuff ready for the morning.

New Cyclocross Bike

So it's been awhile and despite risking getting "cut" from the Niagara Crossers Cyclocross team by Chown,(because of his disdain for blogs), I figured I should document more of what I do for cross this year, if only for review of what works and what doesn't and to help stay motivated.

The big news I that I got rid of the Ridley, it is a great bike but it was a little too big for me and I never really got comfortable on the thing. The Kona is different, comfy from the first ride and that was with Chowns components and setup. I have it built up with how I like it. The bike is ridiculously light and while that wasn't the goal it just worked out that way.

I retired the Cannondale road bike and had this great BB30 Cannondale Hollowgram crankset, so that was a no brainer. Chown had some Record shifters which I bought for the Ridley. With the Centaur front and rear derailleur and Campy cockpit on both bikes, I can rock out on either bike.

This weekend we are going to the Cycle-Smart camp in MA, and we are looking forward to it. Just a skill refresher and a chance to learn some new things and since I don't really take vacations, sort of a change of pace for me.

We will report on the camp either during or when we get back!