Help !! Cross race preparation in 1 month?
 

It's been suggested that I take part in a 'cross race in about 1 month on Boxing day. I'm interested in trying this, but only really for 'fun'.

If people think it's ok for me to enter, what advice could they give me...

Goal: Fun, not to come last, having a change from road-riding.
Bike: Surly Cross Check with 10 spd ultegra 53/39, clipless MTB pedals (it's the only one I've got!)
Me: I ride about 50 miles/week and can maintain 16-19mph as an average over a 10 mile run (half my commute)
I'm pretty fat, about (18%), weigh 92Kg at 5' 8" mostly because I'm a powerlifter the rest of the time. This makes me not at all light on my feet... I can sprint ok, but any distance is going to be slow.

Problems: Remounts. I can only do these very slowly (a walking pace right now). Should I lower the saddle a bit?
Possible improvements: I can drop about 4Kg in the next month which would help.

Planned training: 2x week intervals starting at 20 mins, and working up to 60 mins, 1x Distance ride, Technical practice most days

Your training plan didn't include any running, but it should. Saddle height should be optimized for riding, not remounting. The rest seems fine. Have fun!

blazing fast remounts are overrated, especially mid-pack in the c race. get them solid and fluent, don't do anything stupid and risk a crash.

also i would not try to drop more than four pounds (not kilograms) in a month. drastic weight loss like that is unhealthy and you still need to feed your body if you want it to perform.

have fun, sounds like you've got the right idea, you'll do fine.

And don't get discouraged if you don't do well and/or get pulled from the race! I know cat 3 road racers that got totally shelled in their first 'cross race.

Good point about the running:) I was going to keep the intervals either on the bike or in the gym (more controlled and safer) and just run with the dismount/remount training, but as my running is quite poor it's probably a good idea to do more of it.

Cheers for the suggestions and reassurance. I actually watched this race last year and it looked quite serious but it is on Boxing Day, so people have to be hung over and bloated right? :)

I wouldn't worry about a thing. Even the running. You can worry about that if you decide you like CX and are competitive up through the higher ranks. At the beginner level you should be more worried about stability off-road, i.e. not crashing. I recommend practicing on a variety of terrain: gravel, grass, loose dirt, sand, mud, etc. Practice sharp turns in particular as CX courses seem to feature those prominently.

Don't worry too much about dismounting and remounting, either. If you have some spare time & cash you can construct some practice barriers (Google...); it won't hurt anything but I would focus more on handling skills and general bike fitness. Dismount/remount/carry/barrier/running technique are not going to win the race if you don't have bike fitness or if you're crashing at the first sight of dirt.

Where's your race? I'll be in Leominster then... Might be interested.

Make sure you are familiar with how your bike handles off mud. Try to practice some mud. Don't forget to practice your remounts and try to imagine how to deal with hurdles.

I've ridden the bike off road for a few hours, but currently have 32mm urban tyres on it until my knobblies arrive. I've just been doing sprints, LT and intervals on the road/gym and running/remounts off road since then.

I have nothing but road commuting to compare myself to really, and I most often commute on my Brompton (24 mile round trip)! I certainly keep up with mountain bikers on it, but even going full tilt, I just can't keep up with roadies.

I'm going to have to get some serious off-road practice in I can see.

The race is in Kenilworth, Warwickshire about 60 miles maybe from leominster.

One thing you have going for you as far as weight loss is muscle mass since you are a power lifter. All that muscle should burn some serious calories. I don't see anything wrong with trying to lose some weight before the race as long as you take care to eat enough protein so you don't lose too much muscle. I started the season heavy and have lost about 2 lbs per week. It has hurt my power on the straights, though I feel much lighter on the hills.

Cross doesn't favor the skinny, little guys the way most other cycling disciplines do. True you aren't super-prestige material, but at the local / regional level weight is way less important than for road or mountain racing. I'm 6'2, 220 and lucky enough to live where courses are flat, fast and bumpy which is a major advantage for us larger land mammals.

For the intervals you'll want a mix of some longer ones for a base and then start building up shorter intervals to mimic race demands.

Ron

I agree with this. The guys winning our local cross races are not necessarily the same guys winning hillclimbs. Sure, losing some mass will not hurt if you're overweight/underpowered and if the weight loss is done sensibly, but in one month's time, the OP is probably not going to make any gains significant enough to warrant a crash diet.


Definitely, 'cross is all about riding at threshold for about an hour, with short bursts into the red zone. As I said earlier, it mainly comes down to fitness on the bike. The running, dismounting, etc., are not going to help you if you do not have the basic fitness to ride your bike fast, plain and simple.

Just show up and have fun. Your first race will hurt A LOT more than you think it will, so why sweat it.

If he wants to train for it, why discourage him? Yes, it will hurt, and no, he probably won't win his race, but a month of prep can genuinely improve fitness.

I was in a similar situation as this guy for my first cross race, it was the season-closer and I did about three weeks of spinning classes, and practiced the remounts and such, and I was very glad that I prepped for it. I did half-decent, then I found out about a four-race series across the state line the following month (January), and I did half-decent again, and the whole thing springboarded me to getting a cross bike, doing group rides, losing ten pounds, etc etc.

LOL :) - I'm entering the race because I've known about it since I was a kid (I'm mid thirties now) and I happen to have built a cross bike this year. I'll definately lose a few pounds before I show up but it'll almost all be fat as I try to guard my hard-earned muscle!

To achieve this I'll follow a special cutting protocol for endurance athletes which basically alternates low carbs for half the week with high carbs for the other half. Low intensity steady-state cardio is performed during the low carb days (walking, riding slowly, practising remounts) and productive training (which for me includes weights) ie intervals, LT training and most importantly off-road lap work is performed after 24-36hr carb load.

I'm not doing the race to lose a few pounds but rather to see what it's like competing in a different type of event. My training has always been WEIGHTS/cycling and I'm just swapping to CYCLING/weights for a short time really.

I could drop the weight a LOT faster and easier using a much harsher diet. This successfully strikes a balance between maintaining perfomance and cutting relatively slowly. I fully recognise that I'm not going to win, or be in the top half of the field even. However I feel strongly that bodyweight is a factor, especially if it's adipose.

Cheers for the tips so far guys, it's great!

I was wondering about running a smaller chainring than 39, mostly becuase I'm such a terrible runner. The rear cassette is 27/12 I think.

That should be okay; a tad on the high side relative to what a lot of guys run, but most of the courses I've been on do not have much steep climbing; and/or the steep bits are preceded by a barrier, forcing a dismount and carry anyway.

Having done this race on Keniworth Common for the past 3 or 4 years, unfortunately I'm having to miss it this year because of family commitments :cry:.

I wouldn't worry to much about running as the sections where you are off the bike are quite steep and have steps cut into them. Probably if anything is to practice running up the stairs at home carrying your bike.

Being hungover is optional & not advised, and to be honest the main reason why I've done it the past few years is to stop myself eating too much christmas day.

Enjoy it as i'm annoyed I can't be there

Don't forget to save some money to repair your bike. CX is extremely hard on bikes. :-)

Bob

I didn't say not to train. i just don't think he needs an elite A training schedule for his first race. Just have fun.

Went out today to try out my new 'cross tyres. This is the first off-road training I've been able to do without slicks.

After couple of muddy field laps , I rode up the Malvern Hills, which was very tough indeed and opened my eyes to a few problems. Firstly, the gearing seemed too high (39 front 27 back), however the hills are very steep indeed. Secondly coming down steep hills is terrifying! Next time I need to pick a route that's more trail-based.

Generally the bike held up pretty well, whereas I was knackered. Riding off road is a lot tougher than riding on tarmac :)

Iffacus - sorry you can't be there. I watched the race last year and know the common fairly well, but I'm not sure if they vary the course much year to year.

Ahh, the Malverns :) I don't think you'll see slopes like British Camp in Kenilworth though. Good practice for anything though, I reckon. We have a big old hill on campus I ride up to keep in shape. You could probably get a good deal on a 2006 Campagnolo compact if you want to drop the gearing some more, but the Malverns are very much harder than anything else around.

I don't think the vary the course much, you can be assured that the start will be on the road climb up over the railway bridge. Then there will be the quarry and turret to get down, other than that its just the steps off the plateau to worry about.

I have got round fine with a lowest gear of 39x28, but generally don't need the lowest until the road climb on the last couple of laps.

Enjoy, and hopefully I'll see you at a few more cross's next year.

Iffacus, I know the bridge you mean. Is the quarry that incredibly steep sand/gravel slope about 100ft long with a 2 ft rain water trench running down it and tree roots all over the top? Not sure where the turret is... I can imagine the route goes down from the quarry to the big track that leads back under the railway (get some good speed up along there) and back up to the plateau. Also the steps out of the plateau are pretty steep...

I tried riding on Hartlebury common today and that was a huge boost to my confidence compared to the Malverns. I belted round a perimeter route with good long sections of tarmac, gravel, sand, grass and deep mud covered in leaves and a hill scramble carrying the bike. I went over rough stuff confidently and really felt good. Even my remounts were improved.

One problem I'm having is finding my hands being shaken off the hoods while braking for long periods coming down bumpy hills. Luckily I've mounted top levers too, but at speed it's difficult to switch to using them. Perhaps I should be braking from the drops not the hoods, I don't know.

I remember why I was always a better climber than descender now - fear! There's nothing like coming down a steep slope with both wheels locked up only to run into a rock hidden under a pile of leaves :)

Training is going well. My interval training is done exclusively in the gym as I reckon my heart won't know the difference. Remount and dismount training is also going well. I'm jumping onto the bike at last from a quick jog and mostly landing 'comfortably' on my tensed thighs.

There was one hilarious moment when I remounted but caught the front of my shorts on the back of the saddle as I went over. As I swung the rest of me onto the bike the shorts gave me a serious cheesewire wedgie which was so painful that I rode right into a tree! (It was dark). My balls didn't thank me much and apart from leaping higher I'm not sure how to protect them.

Yes, you should definitely be in the drops when coming down stuff like that- doing so will give you better control, make it much harder for your hands to come off of the bars, and achieve a lower center of gravity which helps with balance.

cluelessgoon, same story here; I knew about 'cross in my teens, but I'm in my mid-30s and only first racing it now.

There's been a lot of good feedback here as far as training, so here's what I'll add:
- Get out of the gym and be solely on the bike. Make sure you can ride hard for a 40-minute period. Also, condition yourself by riding to the point where your heart is racing, legs are burning, and breathing is maxxed, then let off the effort for a little bit, try to gain control of your breathing and heartrate as quickly as possible, then up the effort again to the max-out point before dropping off and regaining control again. This, basically, is 'cross racing, for 40 minutes.

Otherwise, it sounds like you're doing a good job of getting yourself prepared. In addition to the ride training, you'll also need to get yourself prepped for race day, including showing up two hours before your race and riding the course as much as possible to know what's out there and how to handle it. Ride the course at a slow warmup pace and at race pace. Riding through a section and racing through it are two different things, so get to know and master the course before you race it.

Get a good warmup and get to the start line ten minutes before the race starts. This way, your body is ready to go, and you know what lays ahead for the next forty minute of hell...I mean...er...fun!

Seriously, good luck and we all look forward to reading a race report.