Cyclocross Racing - Get Ready...

Let's inspire each other for the upcoming CX season. Pictures, links to blog posts, whaaaaatever, just so long as it relates peripherally to the sport of cyclocross racing. That includes pictures to tasty post-race beverages and eats, too.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/34/70357260_7ecc62d801.jpg

From here. (http://flickr.com/photos/seemann/70357260/)

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/2105/shorttrackew2.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/39/79675021_c260793a51.jpg
From here. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/digammo/79675021/sizes/l/)
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2274/2120291531_9651c0b0cb.jpg
From here. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/22027819@N08/2120291531/sizes/m/)

I can't wait for the mud action - cleaning off my bike in a carwash, postrace; specks of sand between my teeth, legs covered in filth.

Seriously.

I'm having trouble staying motivated for the Gateway Cup (which starts tomorrow) because I'm so excited for the start of 'cross season.

Pretty pictures are fine.

But if you really want results, you have to train. And the inspiration for your training is picturing the guy who consistently beat you last season. Picture him training, doing everything you know you should be doing but aren't. He's a winner, and you're a loser. Unless you take action now.

P.S. The photo posted by the OP is so totally homoerotic. NTTAWWI.

Pretty pictures are fine.

But if you really want results, you have to train. And the inspiration for your training is picturing the guy who consistently beat you last season. Picture him training, doing everything you know you should be doing but aren't. He's a winner, and you're a loser. Unless you take action now.

+1

print this out and read it a few times daily

+1

print this out and read it a few times daily

+1

It's getting taped to my stem, or barring that, a simple "You Suck. Pedal Harder."

As for the original post, well, nothing is more hardcore in CX than bare legs covered in embro, on a cold, snowy December day. Just think, in three months, we'll be at that point, getting ready for state championships and Nats, sick of washing grime out of our kits and bikes, and craving some time off of the bike.

But on those Saturday and Sunday mornings, you're still up at 6 AM to drive three hours to a race in Nowheresville with three of your friends and a cooler of beer in the back, full of the nervous jitters of another day of racing. You have nicknames for each other, you make fun of each other's bikes, "I still can't believe you actually rode your road bike at last week's grass crit."

its more hardcore when you are wearing shorts and short sleeves with no embro

As for the original post, well, nothing is more hardcore in CX than bare legs covered in embro, on a cold, snowy December day.Or sexier! The fact that the summer tan has given way to a rosey, hairless sheen makes it that much hotter.

Avoid this . . .

Pretty pictures are fine.

But if you really want results, you have to train. And the inspiration for your training is picturing the guy who consistently beat you last season. Picture him training, doing everything you know you should be doing but aren't. He's a winner, and you're a loser. Unless you take action now.

On vacation at the beach this weekend I had a few hard workouts scheduled. At the start of almost everyone I wanted to bail so bad but I kept repeating this post through my head and I ended up completing everything as scheduled.

On vacation at the beach this weekend I had a few hard workouts scheduled. At the start of almost everyone I wanted to bail so bad but I kept repeating this post through my head and I ended up completing everything as scheduled.Right on. Yesterday was on the treadmill at the gym, I was so ready to bail but stuck with it.

^^^ ahh, yes, running. for the last few weeks i have been putting my running shoes on the moment i get off the bike after commuting home. typically i'm doing 4-5 miles with some intensity and speed work thrown in. i think this addition to my training will be quite useful and i'm actually enjoying the running whereas it used to scare the crap out of me and feel completely awkward.

Ran 30 minutes yesterday morning, then did 3 hours of CX practice and hard efforts in the afternoon. Got home at 8:10 PM, threw my bike and shoes in the corner, and grabbed a Bells Kalamazoo Wheat beer for consumption while in the shower. The CX practice was hard –*and since I was riding with a bunch of 1/2s, I was getting a helluva workout. Plus, the intervals I was doing on the 14 miles to and from the park was giving me a workout too.

My first race is on the 14th in Cincinnati –*I gotta get my game together.

Just started doing intervals last week on a local practice loop. I'm still trying to get in as much much mountain biking as I can before the snows hit, so I'm going to call that my base mileage. Not as a good as road, I know, but at least it helps with handling skills too. I'm trying to make up for a summer of little dirt.

3 hours of intervals huh? I gotta step up my game.

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/2105/shorttrackew2.jpgA nice photo of bad technique. He should either have a hand on the top tube or simply bunnyhop that small log.

I know it's bad technique. It's actually a photo of me in a short track race.

The dismount was unexpected due to a pile up in front of me . I rode that log (and the one before it) on the other 4 laps.

Thanks for your fine analysis of the ultra-serious importance of proper carrying technique in amateur racing though.