Mud and Cowbells

Bike fit

2010-08-31T12:33:43Z

So much discussion about 'cross versus road fit. You can read a pretty lively discussion on this VeloNews article, which, I'll have to agree with Adam is pretty non-informative and potentially misleading to folks coming in to cross.

I'm not going to tell you how to get fit. You should absolutely see a professional to ensure you do not completely screw yourself up, yet the differences between your cross and road set ups should be demonstrable and designed to help you flow with the bike on a CROSS course (e.g., you're not a hill climb on pavement). For me, that means a seat height that is slightly lower and more forward than my road bike and bar position (specifically the hoods) higher for better control. The combo of the seat position (lower/forward) and the hoods gets my body in a position that feels like it has me in a nimble position to get around the bike, yet sort of naturally enforces my elbows to be properly bent and back comfortable yet 'driving forward' to ensure I am getting power to the pedals consistently for 60 minutes (there is no coasting in baseball...er, ah cross).

Anyways, while studying tapes last night, I saw this awesome example of positional dispariy between De Clercq, Nijs and Vervecken...three World Champions. You'll seen Sven looking very cross-classic...e.g. positionally high, Vervecken impossibly low....e.g., 'Euro Low' (seat way down and back lurched forward and finally De Clercq who is somewhere in between but with a road influence for sure.

Anyways, ensure you get a REAL fit this season to ratchet up your game!

Reconstruction

2010-08-30T13:23:24Z

Being brought to failure and the repeating stresses we put on our bodies and minds the way we do is humbling. Yet we repeat these antics for we are driven. We are driven to do the best we can and not simply roll over and succumb.

So it was this weekend and the many weekend prior. Out with my training partners for the early part of this season prepping for cross. Webber, Hackworthy, Dubba, Overton, Robson, Spalding, Bortz and more. Team mates and suffer-mates all these last few months getting in the good and hard miles. 5-6lbs of body fluid lost on these rides as we traverse unbelievable Aspen-lined singletrack at 9,000 feet, climb 10% grades and just…suffer. Training in a way that keeps the smiles affixed, even as the kilojoules mount up.

I have to look at November and December. I have to look farther down the road. I have to remember the day I hit terra firma this summer and my forced rest that ensued. I have to listen to my mentors and truly hear them when they say “something has finally stopped you and will force you to push the high end out to where it needs to be…” This is not 2003 and picking off races is not possible with the pool of sharks we swim in on any given weekend here in CO. Fit now is suicide, so feeling generally bad is good on these rides. Not bad as in overtrained-bad, but that feeling when you are under significant load and your body instinctively knows the sharpened point of the pencil hasn't been ground in yet yet you can feel it in the distance. Leg speed is slower, the chain is still felt, yet you are happy.

I have my sport back in its compartment. Back under control. Leveraged to balance the rest of the seats on my three-sided teeter. This important leg keeps me alive, feeling inspired, that I can push as hard as ever.

The season is here.

Game on.

Steamboat Velo Cross!

2010-08-29T20:06:39Z

My boys up in Steamboat Springs, Glen Light and Jon Cariveau of Moots, are helping us all get our cross on as early as can be in the beautiful and scenic resort town itself.

Reports from local hardman like the Michael "The Aussie who should have been the Belgian Tornado because I simply own the gutter on you" Robson say the course will be hard yet fun.

Glen sent me one spy photo. Video forthcoming:

Here is all the data you need to know about the event. Hope to see everyone up there September 11th!

2010 cx flyer

View more presentations from Greg Keller.

Attention young cyclocrossers!! Boulder Junior Cycling CX info...

2010-08-23T20:40:21Z

Boulder Junior Cycling Cyclocross Information

View more documents from Greg Keller.

An epic cross bike rode. Come fly with me.

2010-08-22T03:37:59Z

Make sure you have Google Earth plug in and hold on to your jockey shorts...

Enter Dartfish into the world of cyclocross

2010-08-18T15:14:12Z

So as you know, we had a really successful cyclocross camp this past weekend. One of the key attributes FasCat Coaching brought to this camp was science and technology...all to improve our game. On the technology front, Coach Frank used Dartfish, and amazing piece of video technology and software, to visually demonstrate what we were doing right...and wrong...all in crystal clear HD slow-motion.

Here's an example of what this looks like with Coach Frank walking us through...

The FasCat | Boulder Cycle Sport | JBV Coaching Cross Camp – SUCCESS!!!

2010-08-15T23:49:31Z

What an amazing weekend! The camp was an absolute success. It was incredibly fun to participate and help out where I could amongst these behemoths of cross. The preparation was amazing by Frank Overton of FasCat Coaching, Albuquerque native and uber-coach to cross hardmen John Verheul of JBV Coaching and Boulder’s own Brandon Dubba Dwight. The camp also had phenomenal support from Donn Kellogg of Clement tires (and each participant got a free set of the new Clement PDX mud tire. Amazing!). Let me give you the blow by blow of the weekend….and if you’re on the fence for doing a camp or you think you’ve “already got it”, etc, think again and try and make it to next year’s camp. Amazing time spent.

Day 1: Welcome to the camp, fitting and VO2 Max testing

To begin, the camp had some great and passionate participants: Denver-Boulder locals Tim, Ed, Doug and new Boulderite Dave Hackworthy. Dave is an Elite and U23 rider and Worlds and Euro Camp Participant for new the new Clement | Ridley | Boulder Cycle Sport team. We also had Wes from Indy and Joe from Idaho. Great characters. Make no mistake: This was a crew of passionate ‘crossers who want to get their game dialed. The skill levels ranged from first season to Pro. If a Pro rider is in the midst, you should be too! Everyone should continue to learn. It’ll make you fast!

The first day was spent with essentially a 3:1 ratio of coaches to camper focusing on your fit and your fitness. It was a true 'lab coat' session and wonderfully educational.

Coach John V used 20 + years of experience (and coaching many of YOUR heroes on the cross scene to huge seasons and World Championship podiums) to get YOU dialed on your bike. This is not a road bike fit for your cross bike. This is position-forward, milk-the-power fitting specific for your cyclocross bike, your style of riding and of course your physiology. The software programs used (primarily Dartfish) were amazing. You could see in amazing slow motion how various changes would radically improve your position which by extension improves your power and most importantly ‘freshness’ on the bike.

While one camper was getting fit, another was in the VO2testing torture chamber. FasCat coach Krista would work with you on the VO2 max/lactate testing. I’d never had this done before and it was…frickin’ hard!

The VO2/lactate testing was very ineteresting. It involves a radically hard ‘escalation’ of effort starting at 150 watts and progresses in blocks until you’ve reached your threshold. This could be 350 watts for some, 5 or 600w for others. The interesting part is how the body manages lactate during this load. I was told that I was at 2x the amount of lactate produced than any other camper at my threshold (400+ watts for roughly 60 seconds at the end of my testing). Good? I still need to get the analysis walked through but it’s really how you process lactate and manage it under load. Trust me, no Lemond am I but having the data is better than NOT having the data! I am better prepared with how to handle it during races.

To get your lactate measured, you offer your finger for prick

ing. You can see my right hand in the picture to the left about to get pricked. Or, here’s what it looks like close up (right)…

So, again, the effort was massive and was (for me) the first depth I’ve done since coming back from busting myself up. But it felt great to go fully cross-eyed for the first time in 9 weeks.

While one camper was being fit and another wired up in the hurt box, Rebecca’s incredibly capable hands as a PTA would ensure your muscular/skeletal system was in good order from the exertions you were putting out. She was also critical in the fit process to ensure your body dimensions matched the bike fit spot on to keep you injury free…

Day 2: Equipment and Skills…

Saturday morning was a cross geek’s dream. We spent considerable time diving into low level details of cyclocross equipment. Brake set up, tire pressure, gearing ratios, running double versus single rings….you name it. It was discussed. Brandon painstakingly walked the campers through all these details and answered everyone’s questions.

We then kitted up and got ready for our day-of-skills training. We would do an AM session at a large thickly-grassed park, the afternoon session at the infamous Elk’s Lodge: where legends are made and hearts are broken every Wednesday morning.

The instruction and training was infinitely low-level. All ninja tricks were exposed to the campers to ensure fluidity and fun. The smoother you are, the faster you are, and it all adds up to more smiles and podium potential.

For our skills sessions, Paul from CrossPropz was a huge help to the camp by providing TONS of his portable barriers. We had them spread out essentially in mini-courses on the grass with Coach Frank equipped with Dartfish taping EVERYONE’s game. We'd come through the barriers over and over again. We would watch the films, rewind, critique and try again until ALL the campers felt great and proud of their improvements. Everyone was markedly faster through barriers after seeing themselves and having some of the best coaches in the industry work with them to refine their game. Between sessions, we’d go back to the plush HQ of FasCat Coaching and analyze everyone as a group. It was enlightening to hear everyone help eachother out, no holds barred, just to ensure their camp-patriots were faster…

Later in the evening before team dinner, Coaches John and Frank got together with campers one-on-one to walk through individualized training plans…a HUGE part of this camp’s draw. Campers are worked with on their goals for the season and plans were created accordingly…for each individual. Amazing.

Day 3: Putting it all together…

The prior 24 hours were intense. Tons of watts put out, tons of hot laps put in and LOTS learned. Yet, still tons more to try out! In the morning, coaches John and Frank talked through a general philosophy of training for cross to ensure freshness by the end of the season (sound familiar??). We also talked of how to efficiently warm up. I did a small contribution on race day rituals....quite fun to articulate some of the ninja tricks I've learned over the last 14 years of racing this beautiful sport...

Race Day Rituals

View more presentations from Greg Keller.

Hot laps and more instruction on handling off-cambers and run ups happened Sunday, the last day of the camp. Coach John dialed in everyone’s technique to show how to save energy, be strategic in taking ‘your space’ through barriers and finding lines that you’d NEVER think about. Only that amount of experience can show you these details.

If you’re interested and have plenty of time to waste, you can look through my Flickr album for the camp. Or, feel free to leave comments to ask any questions about it. Worth every second.

I HIGHLY recommend the camp, or any camp you can attend if traveling is hard to do no matter where you *think* you are in your cross ‘career’. You…Will…Learn…LOTS! You’ll also make some rad new friends in the process who share your passion for what we do on any given weekend in the fall.

Hup hup, buttercups! What did YOU do this weekend to get your head in the game for cross??

P.S. Our camp had Space Legs? Did yours? Ha!

Dugast sealing & gluing assembly line

2010-08-09T19:53:51Z

Its that time. The rubber and cotton has been stretching in the basement since the spring. The BCS team will be using a mixture of Rhinos and Typhoons. Here’s what I am doing at this time of the year.

1. In order to prevent ‘Dugast Rot’, I called upon a great friend of mine in Belgium, Michel Bajorek. Pro mechanic and cyclo-crosser extraordinaire. Michel, and others I’ve spoke to have insisted that I need to apply AquaSeal before the tire is glued to ensure the hard-to-reach spots where the base tape may be exposed are protected. In the picture to the left, I have applied Aquaseal from the tread all the way to the edges of the base tape. I have intentionally left the base tape ‘naked’ to ensure the best possible contact between the glue on the rim, and the layers of glue that will go on the base tape itself. Only the very edges are covered with AquaSeal.

2. I applied one coat on each side of the tire to cover the cotton completely. I do this off the rim obviously and let them dry off the rim overnight inflated. I then deflate, put back on the rim (no glue yet), re-inflate and do any touch ups on the sides. I’ll let this dry again overnight.

Next up will be gluing so I have an assembly line working….

Dear Andre’: Please start coating your sidewalls as part of your manufacturing process. You’re killing me.

Inhale. Exhale. Repeat.

2010-08-03T21:11:22Z

Just saw this old picture and it reminded me of the early season races and efforts to get the body used to that level of intensity. Lots of controlling-the-breating as you attack again and again. In through the nose, out through the mouth.

Yes, the early season: That familiar taste of blood which radiates through the back of your throat. The cross-gut that most certainly greets you as you cool down and start to pack up the car to head home.

We love this.

To escape the intensity of business-building, I’m beginning to get the ‘service course’ in order. Ridley’s getting dialed, a new X-Fire on it’s way to beat on. New Dugast rubber to glue. No clavicle to think about, no business looming. Just me and the bits to assemble and dial in. And now my 8 year old with me in the garage…trying to figure out how to put on carbon chain guides! HA!

Living the dream.

My head is back to where my heart is

2010-08-01T23:19:31Z

I find myself drifting to Josh Duplechian's site to review his beautiful photos...crisply capturing evrything I love about the sport. As I've mentioned over and over, the racing is only one aspect of the sport I love. In reality, it's all the small details. The smell of the embro, seeing my friends each week, the drive to the event.

You all know precsicely what I am talking about.

I'm there again, mentally at least, which is all I need to drive the corpse faster in the summer heat. Weight shedding, deep thinking, long days. My clavicle reminds me that it's still there, still sore, yet mending. Don't fall now. It's all fantastic to feel when everything is going so fast and with mad uncertainty these days in my 'real' life. My sport, it's still there for me and I am grateful.

The season is coming. Things are different. Specified training will be pushed much deeper into the season this year which is testament of my 'maturing' (read: graying hair) and the fact that the excitement I feel for cross by June (which is typically transferred into intervals all at the wrong time), will finally be pushed out to when I need it. I get fit super fast, but lose it super fast as well. So it's time to grow up a bit and have patience. Who knows how it will all go but one thing is or sure, I will be racing and racing hard.

Before we know it the leaves will have changed and you'll be hearing your tires tear through the mud; the sounds of the pneumatic pumps wailing dialing in pressures; the ubiquitous cowbells deafening everything.

I can't wait. Game on.