Cyclocross Retrospective

 

I’ve had a few days to think about and digest the recently concluded cyclcocross season. Pretty much an average, and unspectacular season, although lessons were learned, and I'd like to think a foundation is in place for next year.  

My plan had been to treat cross season preparation as I had with mountain. I put together a training plan for September and most of October and tried to stick to it. Unfortunately, some work duties hindered this prep although not to a great degree.

In terms of my endurance, I think I was spot on. I maintained the mountain bike fitness and worked on the constant redline efforts with short track races at Town Run and cross practices at the velodrome.

I think my major limitation was in the general skills area, namely, tight cornering, especially in muddy conditions. I had good speed and endurance, but other riders both gapped, and gained, on me in corners. The most obvious location for this was the Bradford Woods race which had two sections of repeated in and out turns, one in bound, and another as you headed towards the finish line:  

 

Even with the dry conditions at this race I was very slow in these sections and it cost me in that race, and in others.

So, the plan for next year is to put more emphasis on maintaining speed through such sections as well as technical skills in general. Anyway, here are the results for this year in my Cat 4 division: .

IndyCycloplex: DNF (Terribly frustrating result considering that I trained on this course for several weeks preceding the race. And apologies to my wife who had to deal with my grumpiness on the way home.)

Bradford Woods:  7th

Richmond: 6th

Camp Goldman: 10th

Trader’s Point: 4th (just short of the podium...)

I did enjoy cross more this year than last. It seemed 2012 it was a novelty, just to see what it was like. This year, it was more fun and I was more enthused about the races. The end of the season has left me wanting to train more for next year and…..looking forward to the next cross season. Definitely didn’t say that last year.

What races I’ll do will be a question. At the ICX finale last week the race director announced that he was “retiring” from running races. Not sure how that will impact the ICX series, but I had heard rumors over the summer that Planet Adventure was not going to run any cycling races next year. The ICX seemed to have some attendance issues, but I think this was due to starting the season in Fort Wayne, away from the more populous Indy metropolitan area, and less promotion of races (in the lead up to the finale race on December 7, the ICX Facebook page had not had any updates since November 21) So, we’ll see what happens. If there is no ICX series net year I will dive into the OVCX, although I will likely stick to the races in Indiana or maybe Cincy.

And no, I will not be buying a cross bike anytime soon. The mountain bike is working just fine! (except I heard that the OVCX does not give awards for mountain bike podium finishes...not that I'm planning on winning any podiums a year from now, but that would kinda suck)