More about what is Cyclocross.

Cross, as you should now know, is a Winter sport. The Belgians dominate on the international scene. It is done on a bike that closely resembles a road bike, but with different brakes, knobbier tires, and a little bit beefier frame and fork. The courses are usually around two miles to a lap and consist of varying combinations of road, dirt, grass, mud, and sand. We race in all conditions shy of deadly. I've raced in sunshine, rain, and snow. Along the course there is usually, but not always one or more short hills that are considered unrideable, either because they are too steep, the approach is odd, or there are wooden hurdles about 18 inches tall at the top and bottom of the hill. There are also often other spots on the course where two or three of the aforementioned hurdles are in sequence and you have to dismount and carry your bike over them. You do this as fast as possible, running over the barriers at 15 to 18 miles an hour, bike in hand, then leap back onto your bike again. It's rad. The link below is a great montage of cyclocross. And the music is pretty good too, Here it Goes by OK Go.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWGnM_1ViZA

I've got good news, and bad news...

So the bad news is, I don't know if my knee will be good to race on for this weekends famous Cat's Hill criterium. For anyone who doesn't know it, it's a great race. Super fun, technical and hard. The course is an hourglass shape featuring a one block long 23% grade hill, which ends in another few yards of false flat uphill. If I'm feeling good to race, I'll be doing twenty laps. I think the pros do 30 or more, that will be me next year.

The good news is, I am officially four points away from my semi pro upgrade. That means, more or less, 7th or better at my next race and I'm allowed to upgrade. So here's hoping that my knee is good for this weekend and my instincts are on point.

All said and done, the knee feels really good after about 3 hours of spinning today. So, hopefully, I'll be ready to roll come Saturday.

Wish me luck!

More cow bell.

So I did a three hour spin, and it was great for my legs. The knee felt good, and after I stretched I felt even better. I guess not stretching is taking its toll. Better get back on that.

The ride itself was ok. It's lonely riding solo, even with an iPod. I found myself wishing I could be on some trails. Riding on dirt is somehow so much more satisfying to me. It makes me feel like a kid. Like I did when I was 13 and I took out that $250 GT mountain bike and rode it off a curb. I felt like a Greek god. Like someone had given me winged sandals. Wind in my hair, I took that bike and rode it to death. It finally got retired when the crank arm broke during a dirt jumping session. An activity well beyond the bicycles intended scope of use.

All that to say, simply, I'm dying for cross season to start and it's still four months away. Oh well, I have plenty of things to finish in preparation for the season anyway.

Today's workout will be three to four hours of easy spinning. This will get me some solid hours toward my weekly goal, but not stress out my knee.

Let's get this party started.

I've wanted to race cyclocross at the professional level for the last eight years. I've trained literally thousands of hours, competed in hundreds of races (only counting 'cross), but I've never done well outside the local scene, in fact, I've never done particularly well at the local level.

This year will be different. This last year has been a lifechanging one. I've been through some major life upheavals and have come to the conclusion that: A, I have the potential to do well locally and possibly have decent showings nationally, and B, if I want to stand any kind of a chance at achieving any sort of pro level sponsorship I need to go out and whoop ass this season.

So, a little about cyclocross. It's a Winter sport. The season in NorCal starts in early September and runs through February. The bigger races are generally on Sundays and the second teir local stuff is on Saturdays, or will fill in for the bigger local series on a Sunday when no one else is running a race. I plan on racing roughly 40 races during the season. Six of those races will be UCI events, which are ranked internationally and will draw much tougher fields of competition: actual pro 'crossers. These races are located around the country and have larger prize lists than local races ($500 for the win vs $60, yeah, big difference). But more importantly these are the only races where a racer can score UCI points, which determines your starting possition at a UCI race, National Championships, or World Championships. I also plan on attending Nationals, which are in Bend, OR this December.

At this point in the season, I'm already racing and training plenty. Last week I put in 17.5 hours of training, including a criterium (short distance road race). I'm working on getting my Cat 2 (semi-pro) upgrade on the road. In eight races I've managed to pull down 20 of the 25 points that I need for that, but haven't had a win. I have never won a road race. I've won on the track (velodrome), the mountain, and even cross, but not on the road. I'd like to get one win under my belt before I upgrade.

This week my training goal was to be 19 hours including track racing tonight and another crit this Saturday, but Monday I did something to hurt my knee and have been riding slowly and very little so far. My knee feels great today, but I will not be racing tonight. It's more important to heal up for this weekend and be ready to get back to normal training. In the next week or two I'll be adding on some weight lifting to start preparing for cross.