Originally Posted by jpearl
I've been toying with the idea of trying that cyclocross race I've always wanted to do, even though I haven't raced in 13 years, and now I'm just a, er, recreational rider who likes to go out and get muddy, sweaty, and exhausted on his cyclocross bike (no fenders on my cross bike!).
My idea is to try the easiest category possible, I think it's called "C" classs, and I would be racing without a USCF license. My question is this: What kind of training do people like me tend to do, namely people with full-time corporate jobs and families to tend to, plus the other daily grind stuff that leaves me precious little time to ride?
The cool thing about cross is that the races are short enough for normal people to train for them. At least one ride a week of about 2 hours or more, road or off-road, cross, mtb or road bike. This doesn't need to be brutal, just a nice trip on the bike. All my other rides are about an hour to 1.5 hours. The short ones in the morning before work are big on intensity. There are large open fields surrounding drainage areas near me the city keeps mowed. The ground there is damp and anti-momentumatious and perfect for practicing dismounts, remounts and short intervals. Just cruel the way our cross courses are. The other day will be a mixed ride with trails, dirt roads, pavement and whatever I feel like. This gets me out about 4 times a week. My running is so heinously bad that a 20-30 minute run two or three times a week helps me improve.
Ron