Cyclocross - CX and SSCX races and training

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNIqTyFS_Sc

I really enjoyed this

That only adds to my (vaguely) irrational loathing of both Betsema and Iserbyt.

Sweeck, on the other hand, can do no wrong.

Agreed... but Betsema on the pallet truck though! Really wanted to see them bunny hop some veg and sauce :(

Think how much it must have wounded them to take part in that.

it reminded me of those poor Vietnamese people in Essex :(

it was also one of the lowest kwalitie adverts I've ever seen but for some reason I felt compelled to watch it four times

Looks like racing is back in the Bristol area. Time to order some tyres!

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yay - my two boys will be happy to hear that!

I’ve moved up to Shropshire these days but I’ll be down for the Chavenage and Stroud rounds plus 1-2 more if I can find a friend to stay with. Looking forward to it.

I'm really looking forward to it. Aside from the fact that I'm not fast anymore.

Also, 3 rounds at Keynsham is too much for me I've always disliked that course. (Sprials make me dizzy and the hard ground is murder on my multiple times broken wrists) Fair play to the effort they put in though

Last time I rode around there I broke my hand. Carried on ‘till I realised I couldn’t brake properly haha

I don’t mind the course but I love the turnout you get with the BBQ etc. So will be there for first round.

I'll be having a go at a few rounds for the first time later this year

Could someone link me to or have ideas for an 8 week CX training programme? I only have a dumb trainer so I can't do FTP, but I could estimate "zones" with effort I guess. Want to do EKCX league in the autumn and might be fun to feel fit for the races

Just go out (or stay in) for an hour and don't stop pushing it 🤷🏽‍♂️

Do you have HRM?

I think there's something in 3 sessions a week.

1 session on the turbo of intervals (3 mins? 8 mins? 20 mins?)

1 session on a bike of skills and / or 30:30:30 (find a football pitch, sprint for 30 seconds on the bike, get off, shoulder the bike, run for 30 seconds, recover 30 seconds repeat till vomit arrives)

1 session on a bike riding a distance

I do yeah, guess I could break it out. Should I aim for zones? I think my max back in the day was just under 200bpm

Sounds like a good plan. Is tabata fashionable still? Thought that was a good zero to hero 6 week thing if it could be stomached

@psg1ben I have two young kids so this my approach to every road ride basically

Buy Rapha slides to make the most of your rest days.

Zones/% FTP are about the same thing right? What you're doing is "working at a capacity that is a % of your maximum". (I'll wait for someone to pop up and tell me "well, actually damo")

I think the key thing to think about here is:
have you raced cross before? will you need to factor in those sort of skills ?(I have terrible tekkers on everything. I don't work on any of it. Even when I "trained" with the great AndyP. Mostly, I was counting down the time till it was time to go the pub. I did manage to nail bunny hopping between two barriers one night. And that was my greatest moment ever. Thanks for coming to my TeDCXtalk)

however many sessions you do, don't forget to rest.
plan on running as well.

Whatever you do, you're going to find the races really busy.

You'll need to work on these things:
If you're lucky enough to get gridded: sprinting like mad from the start and staying there for longer than is comfortable. Staying at close to maximum, with what feels like randomly placed moments of really hard effort, getting off the bike, getting back on, sprinting, going close to maximum. repeating.
So your training should replicate that.

If you're not lucky enough to get gridded: you need to work on chatting to your neighbours, working out who you can and can't push past physically, whether you want to sprint from the start when you can see it's fucking carnage at the first obstacle, sprinting after the first obstacle and playing essentially mario kart on bikes.
So your training should replicate that.

1 mixed interval session of 5 x 3 vo2 max things / 1 longer sweet spot interval session
1 bike ride in the mud session
1 30:30:30 session
1 running session
1 chatting session
1 washing bike session
1 paralysis by set up choice session (tubs, tubeless, latex clincher), (1 x10, 1x11, 2 x10, 2x11, single speed), (discs - hydro, discs - mechanical ,v brakes, cantis)

Excellent, thanks very much! Looks totally doable, I also like how that schedule only has one turbo session. Really don't like turbo. I had never considered CX racecraft - most people's race reports were "It was muddy, I only got lapped by the winner once, I finished but felt awful the whole way round" so some tips on how to actually race is great

If the set up choice is heirarchical then I am fucked - clinchers on a canti equipped SS

@youramericanlover held hands with me at the NYD Madison Cross a few years back, so he has racing history.

If I was doing an 8 week plan, I'd split it into two four-week blocks and focus on three main areas:

• aerobic fitness
  
• vo2 max
  
• tekkerz
  
  

Depending on how much time you had, I'd do 3 fitness sessions a week and 1 skills session, plus a longer ride if you have time.

In the first block I'd focus on aerobic fitness, so 10/15/20 minute efforts with recovery between them. Start short and build up to 2x20 minutes in the third week. Then have an easy week.

The second block will have more focus on vo2 max, so 2-3 minutes at the highest intensity you can hold, short recovery and repeat up to 5 times. Two of those a week, plus one aerobic session.

On the skills side, and remember you can't throw fitness at a skills problem, I'd focus on transitions on and off the bike, slow speed cornering and faster cornering.

chatting to your neighbours and playing mario kart

Got it, thanks

Ah! that makes sense @andyp about NYD.

@youramericanlover you've made me consider a shouldering session on my local hill. THANKS.

Thanks @andyp - I'll also see if I can not be punishingly hungover for each race. Also annoying that I'm still one year off the vets so I can look forward to being eaten alive by some mutant 17 year old instead of just being embarassed by a 45 year old with grown up kids

@Chalfie Not my fault!

Listen to andyp

You have the right base fitness already because you ride regularly and enjoy rinsing yourself on occasion.

As a mid pack specialist the technical things will make a big difference, and most of them needn't feel like training. Dismounting, carrying, and remounting as fast and as smooth as possible are easy wins, and being prepared (and capable) to get off your bike and sprint for a bit. Who knows if it's going to be a muddy year but if you're single speed be prepared to do some running....

Something I've always failed at is knowing the lowest possible pressure I can get away with and knowing the limits of your tyres. Obviously that depends on conditions but riding and ragging your race bike around teaches you these things. Practicing off camber corners and hitting ruts helps too.

I've only ever found course crowding to be an issue on lap 1 or 2. Ultimately if you race more than once or twice your gridding roughly matches your capability. The bigger issue for me has been to learn what I can sustain for lap 1 and 2 without harming lap 6 or 7. Going so deep into the red means you lose concentration and judgement which almost always ends up costing you.

The best bit about cross is going full tilt off road on challenging terrain and having a bit of a scrap without worrying about getting killed by a horse or shot by a dog walker.

knowing the limits of your tyres.

alright JB

I think one of my best results was on about 50 psi. Clinchers and a dry course helped, only about 15th place.