Photo by Dejan Smaic - Sportif Images

Ups and downs...highs and lows. It was a weekend full of 'em! The Boulder-area had some of our classics this weekend. Interlocken on Saturday and Xilinx on Sunday are two of the most revered and favorite courses by the locals run by some of our best promoters, Boulder Racing and Blue Sky Velo. 

Interlocken

The weather the Front Range has been experiencing is classic Indian Summer - warm sunny days with dry and fast conditions. But we can always artificially make a 'cross

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The big show. The Grand Prix's. The circus comes though once a year to Colorado and it's fantastic to see great friends as they follow the caravan from city to city. But alas, I've had a love/hate relationship with the USGPs. It's a crap shoot so for me, I can really set no audacious goals. Just train within the tempo of the folks who have been racing or are peaking for these two days. And that's exactly what I did. With no meaningful call up procedure (my sorry ass was in the smoking section both days), I had to just look at personal objectives: ride smooth, attack all the hills, stay in the wheels. I still can not figure out why the GP's can not use USAC's ranking system to determine call ups. Order of registration feels like a cop-out as we've now compiled and can access much more sophisticated data to lay out a start grid. But I digress. 

Day 1

It seems like the weather gods know exactly where to be on the first Saturday of the Colorado leg of the GP's: Directly over Fort Collins. The morning races were gorgeous....but by mid day (the Junior races and elite master races), the skies opened up, temps dropped and the rain began to piss down. 

My oldest, Aiden (10), is now in full swing racing in his 3rd season of cross. He gets it all...the mud, the suffering, the self control...but on the start line he and all the other brave kids were standing there in a collective vibrating mass. All shivering. Nerves, fear and cold all building up waiting for the whistle. Aiden, on the front row was looking at me terrified. Then the chief referee signals "30 SECONDS!!!". Aiden looks forward, breathes and stops shivering. Today he's racing with the BIG kids. The teenagers. His calmness inspired me and when that whistle blew, he ripped to an incredible 14th amongst a huge field in horrible conditions. So proud of him. I can only envision what he is learning about himself at this age. Let's face it, when I was 10 years old, I was not doing this. Not even close. Shivering on the bench in a hockey arena or soccer field can not compare to this level of bravery. 

Photo by Amy Keller

The 35 Masters then lined up. I'm in the back of the bus in the 6th row and I can see my teammate and current world champion Pete Webber not too far ahead. I'm thinking: "How can a world champion not get a courtesy call up? When he goes to Belgium

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Hello Cyclocross Fans!

Colorado Front Range Cyclocross from Celin Serbo on Vimeo.

You ever leave a concert hall in the wee hours of the morning and your head is hurting and your ears are ringing? That is precisely how I felt after this amazing weekend of racing, color-commentary announcing and general cross-nerding with our community.

For the past few months, Colorado has been a true desert…hot and dusty races with your skin suit unzipped and your mouth as dry as a cotton ball. The racing has been fast, but we all were lusting true ‘cross weather and so it came and greeted us in Fort Collins at the New Belgium Cup, the most recent stop of the USGP series.

Day 1

Let the truth be told: I was as nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. It was my first race back after crashing 3 weeks ago and the conditions…while SUPER fun, muddy and crossy…still had me in a mental bind. I did not want to get caught in a pile up, and I did not want to hit the deck on my own accord. Pre-riding the course it was obvious that if you did not flow on the courses super fast descents or rail the off camber corners coming out of them, it could be your demise. So I made it a goal to just ride the course and stay out of trouble and get back to racing again locally to ‘be in it’ so to speak so I can continue to work for a good showing later in the season.

The weather was super cold as we waited in the grid, a group of roughly 75 racers from Colorado and many of the Nation’s best Masters from around the country. We all focused down the start/finish pavement section for the signal from the UC official’s start gun. POP! We all got underway cleanly nearly instantaneously into mud off of the pavement. I settled in mid pack and that is where I’d stay for the day. Keeping people away from me and attempting to keep myself out of trouble!

My compatriots, Ward Baker, Pete Webber, Jon Cariveau (coming back from a super scary injury in the beginning of the season) and Michael Robson would have banner days…They pushed the pace hard from the get go….with Pete Webber coming from nearly the back to the front by the end of lap one. For the next two days he would put on a clinic of bike handling and flow…combined with a level of fitness that no one would even come close to matching. My race was one being fought ‘in the middle’. For roughly 3 of the 5 laps, I was happy to race with a hero of mine, Ned Overend. Everyone on the sidelines was going nuts for us and even

Ned when we traded turns would yell at me ‘Come ‘on! Hup!”. The guy is gold. It was super rad and watching him flow was great…made me realize that my lines weren’t all that bad either!

Brandon and Josh were faithfully working the pits. I was happy to have three bikes to play with…one that was in there as an ‘emergency.’ so to speak…with Typhoons on and was truly only a ‘break glass if necessary’ situation. The other bikes had Rhinos and hooked up SO WELL it was crazy. It was like cheating. Coming into the pits later in the race there was some confusion and I was handed that Typhoon-laden bike. Talk about hilarity in motion…even with pressures in the 20’s, the bike was like a deer on ice. I had no game! I was laughing my way around the course…and running many sections I’d ride with the Rhinos as the rubber simply would not…COULD not…hook up. Honestly, no excuses, stronger dudes with ONE bike showed more grace than I but the point being it was amazing to me the difference between the tread patterns in these conditions.

I made my way around the course taking my time and re-learning how to feel blood in my lungs again…and it was good. Coming across the line I was happy to be back in the game again…even if the game was MINUTES ahead compliments of Mr. Webber. I took a ‘meh’ 24th but I survived and was truly happy. The people around the tape shouting for me I want to say THANK YOU and much love. It was humbling and motivating all at the same time.

Day 2

I awoke to the sound of the alarm at 6:30. I was sore…but a good sore. I had a massive task in front of me: Get these bikes in SOME sort of racing condition! They were shattered from the prior day’s racing…with mud and grass still embedded in places that I did not know mud could enter! Two hours of cleaning, scrubbing, polishing and lubing later…I packed up and headed north again for the second day of racing.

Day 2 would be a sort of carbon copy of Day 1 for me…even though I was actually going to ‘attempt’ to race and suffer a bit more. Moreover it would be a carbon copy for the leaders with Pete Webber again demonstrating a cannibalistic tendency to eat Master’s racers alive. No one, not a single racer, could match his flow. It was an impressive display of athleticism.

Photo by Dave Weber

The course on day 2 was a bit modified….adding in some new features like a stair case run up which many of the pros would ride to our astonishment. My race was super interesting. I suffered more than I thought I would but I felt like I railed better. Most of my day was spent racing with a well known Master competitor, Richard Feldman. He was having an obviously tough day in the mud and I tried to simply stay as clear as I could so I could race my own race, but there we were locked in virtually the same rhythm until a gap opened up that I could cover on the last lap. I ended up virtually the same as the day before…26th…having again raced my own race once I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to truly be anywhere near the true action.

Racing aside, I was able to have a boatload of fun with some race-announcing action. Colt from Cyclingdirt reached out to me a while back to ask me of my interest in helping do some color-commentary for the Open Women's and Men's races. I took on the challenge as I’d had fun working with Dave Towle at Schoolyard Cross a few weeks prior. I did this on both days and had a BLAST. It was tough hurrying from the finish of my race directly to the booth. I was hypoxic and FREEZING but I hope what I said on the mic sounded decent and made people laugh and appreciate more of the goings-on from a racer’s perspective. Day 2 features me with my friend and Boulderite Jeremy ‘JHK’ Horgen-Kobelski. We had a blast and I think I saw a glimmer in his eye that he really wanted to be out there racing…and not in the booth!

All in all a fantastic weekend. My love for the game has never been stronger and the pride I felt having all my friends yell their guts at me around the course was again, truly humbling. It is a direct reflection of the community we have built amongst and within each other’s spirits that continues to draw me to the start grid every weekend, no matter what.

I am indebted.

It was a true taste of the coming of fall this weekend here in Colorado. We pinned up numbers at the Frisco Nordic Center for the annual double weekend at Frisco Cross…a traditional season-opening race for many Coloradans who are getting their season kicked off. The Aspens were blowing up and the hint of coolness in the air for the 35A race (~ 55 degrees) had me reaching for the first time this season for the Northwest Knee Warmers Embrocation (review coming soon).

I’d been feeling pretty OK. The legs turning well in training and I knew I’d only be doing 1 of the 2 days so I wanted to get some deep hurt on. And I’d accomplish that mission fo shizzel. I had my teammate Tim Faia with me who is always going well no matter the season. My plans were simple: Start hard, race hard and flow. No goals….just flow. I’m still a bit freaked about pushing the envelope. I constantly hear the sound of my collarbone breaking in my head and I’m just getting used to trusting rubber again. I had a quiver of tires with me but I ran the Hutchinson Bulldogs as they simply felt ‘right’ over this pretty brutal Colorado course. There is a ton of woodchip and rock covered terrain to deal with and I felt best on this tire.

The start was classic me, pushing the pace super high for the first lap…starting up a gigantic twisty paved climb...with a lot of matches burned early. Fast forward and I’ll get to the punchline: Took 8th place and could not stay in contact with the lead group. Timmy won brilliantly with a last lap attack over Robson and Hogan with great performances by Mr. Yoder, Clay Harris, Brian Maslach and a surging Pat Gallegos. Here’s a few minutes of the race before Mr. Yoder lays down his obscene power causing great discomfort to us all:

2010 Frisco CX 35+ (part 1) from Rod Yoder on Vimeo.

The 10K feet of altitude, slow ramp up of intensity this early season and not being smart on the gun kept me out of the nosecone of the bullet train up front, but I accomplished a massive amount of training depth which was sorely needed. I also really fell in love with bike handling again. I don’t know what it is but while not tubulars, those Bulldogs just felt…right. I’m giving them the crappy-conditions-tire award for good handling over truly bad elements.

More season building this week I am stoked for. Still taking this season literally one day at a time. One watt at a time. One corner and dismount at a time. I am so in love with it all again it makes me weepy.

Lots and lots to report, sports fans. On the road all week for InterBike and CrossVegas, so I have a massive backlog to pump out to you! Let’s get to it…

 - Cross Vegas -

What an amazing ride with my main man and kindred spirited brother, Michael Robson. We had his F-350 (the beast known as 'Trevor') all bio-dieseled up for the 10.5 hour journey from Boulder to Vegas…packed to the rafters with more Belgian carbon fiber and Steamboat Ti than you could shake a stick at. I don’t think the radio got turned on once. For 10 hours we just geeked on bikes, racing, families, work…you name it and it was talked about. One of the truest road trips I’ve had in years…right down to the smoked jerky we consumed on the way down.

We were amped for CrossVegas and doing the Industry Wheeler’s and Dealer’s Race. After doing the Elite Race the last two years, it was time to actually ‘race’ with friends and colleagues rather than set goals to not get lapped. I will say this: Michael and I were hungry to show off Colorado racing and we truly wanted to ensure we walked away with a win for the Rocky Mountains. We headed off to the Desert Breeze Soccer Park where Cross Vegas is held each year to scope out the course and get a feel for the grass. I threw on my GoPro and captured the course as it was being prepared early Wednesday AM. You can get a feel for the course and the thickness of the grass...even though my camera is essentially pointed straight down! Sorry....

With some hot laps in our legs, we packed up and headed over to the InterBike trade show. Michael who is now product testing a boat load for VeloNews was on the prowl looking for the latest and greatest in tire, wheel and sealed cable system technology. I too had a shed-load of meetings with folks, both for my company BlipSnips, as well as for my little ‘side hobby’ in the bike industry. It was fantastic to see my friends at Ridley...especially to walk through all of the ins and outs of their new 2011 product line, provide feedback and learn more about what’s forth coming. They have literally taken 'grass roots' to heart by talking directly with guys like me who race every weekend, as hard as can be, on their equipment. They want to know what works and what doesn't. I love the relationship.

By evening, we’d fueled up our bodies and prepared for war. There would be a good selection of strong riders represented in the Wheelers and Dealers race, and I wanted to be a part of that animation. Our main man Jon Cariveau from Moots who is a staple of Front Range racing, the well known retired New England hard-man Mark McCormack, National Master’s Champ from my old home of CA, James Coats, and a cast of other razor-sharp racers, many former professionals who like to put it down in the Master’s Races in their respective regions. Game ON!

The field was massive, some 150 or more deep. we assembled into the start grid and waited for the USA Cycling folks to blow that whistle. Legs twitching…eyes focused down the start ramp it was on like Donkey Kong (as my man Dave Towle blares out at races…)

TWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET! We’re GONE! My cleat engages and Jon C and I get right off the front almost immediately. There is a ‘parade lap’ on lap 1 to essentially string out the mass of lycra-clad humanity behind us. Jon and I are chatting all this time, essentially surveying who’s with us and to up the tempo. We trade off the first lap, on and off on the front to ensure we separate those who came to play early on. It’s only a 30 minute race,  so we will race differently tonight: all out, full gas.

Michael, who was staged roughly 5 rows back, had an INCREDIBLE charge to the front. By the first lap proper (after the parade lap), he’d passed like 60 people. When he bridged, it was like re-enforcements arriving. I told him to sit in and get his wind back.

All the while we are drilling it at the front, we’re talking, looking, surveying. McCormack is such an incredibly experienced rider, any mistakes will throw you out the back quickly.

For laps 2-3, we’re in a group of 8-10. Robson, Cariveau, McCormack, Matty P from Moots is having the ride of his life…mashing it near the front with ONE GEAR! We’re pushing the pace hard. The course this year is infinitely better. Brook Watts and crew nailed it with a WAY more flowy course (especially the back side’s climb which arced as opposed to just  going straight up the grass hill side. They injected an additional set of steps as well to keep it interesting for spectators and racer’s alike.

By the 3rd of the four laps, Jon C pours it on. The 8-10 of us string, separate and we know Jon is on a banner day. He takes Michael, Pascal Wehr (Cannondale), Mark McCormack and John Phillips (Bikesource) with him and they jet. I am paying for my earlier efforts and dangling off the tail end of the front 5. I’m frustrated but still motivated.

A freight train group of racers is coming on fast, with strong guys like Peter Smith (Embrocation Mag), George Barthel (Giant) and other hounds with their tails up in full chase. I feather my pedal stroke and recover. I flow at the front with these guys trailing, setting my own pace. On the last set of stairs, I make a final move and pin it as soon as I re-mount. It’s a LONG ass way to the finish line but I knew if I could get through the S-turns solo, I’d be good.

I am railing the grass and felt great with the tire selection and pressure. It was down right fun! Counter steering through each corner with nary a hint of a slip. I come through the final turn and drop it into the 46x12…click! click! click! and just drill it, coming in right behind the stellar Matty P (Moots) who crushed the single speeds.

It was a Colorado day for sure. We drilled it fo’ shizzel with Jon taking the “W”, Robson 4th, Matty P 7th and me 8th. It was a really great time. The racers from around the country were such class acts, it was motivating to get in shape for Nationals.

- InterBike -

For two days, I walked around the city that is InterBike. It’s like walking around the Louvre. You need a couple of days to take it all in. Honestly, nothing barked out at me as ‘the next trend’. The UCI rulings for cross (e.g., disc brakes, etc) were effectively non-existent as there simply was not enough time for companies to react from the announcement this summer. I suspect we’ll see tons of light weight cross braking goodness next year. I will however show off some of the cross sex I spied:

Team mate Allen Krughoff and Ridley USA Sales Manager Todd Schmidt talking shop.

Vanilla Cycles Speedwagon. Money.

My man Chris Jones’ custom-painted Focus.

The Wheelers and Dealers winning steed. The 16lb RSL

Tim Johnson showed me his custom Dugasts with Schwalbe file treads. Harkens back to the old Dugast Pipistrellos that Nijs hoards. Maybe even better.

True artistry in Zonconato’s bikes. 

Katie’s custom Stars-n-Bars edition Stevens.

See the entire album including my wanna-be-photog action shots from the men’s elite race here.

 - Boulder Racing No. 1 – Xilinx -

So after drilling it home for 11 hours on Friday from Vegas, my family and I re-packed and drove out to support our teammate and friend Brian Hludinski’s Boulder Racing series. The first race was at Xilinx, a favorite course for racers in the Front Range. My son raced at 8:30, drilling it again to a fine 4th place. On the pre-ride, I honestly could not believe the kids were going to make it through some of this stuff…big ditches to be hopped, sand traps, logs…a VERY technical course to say the least.

At warm up I felt pretty good even given the travel. It took me virtually no time to get the legs worked up and feel ‘light’. The pedals turned well and the tires hooked equally well. I ran Typhoons…although this was a more Rhino kind of day. A fairly classic Colorado course to contend with so you'd better have some MTB chops.

The BCS crew was in effect. Tim Faia, Mark Wisner and I were all feeling good and from the whistle, we put the hurt on the field. The start is a high speed haul up a long paved driveway leading into a ‘funnel’….a bunny hopped curb that pours into a set of windy single track. 'Be there first' is the rule.

For the first 3 laps it was a tight group. Faia went to the front and set a radically hard tempo around lap 3. Robson flowed behind me with his exceptional handling skills. I wasn't going to tow anyone to Tim so I let Michael come to the front and pull to catch him.

As we flowed into the trees in lap 4, I punched it again to flow first through and let Timmy get some more daylight. Robson and I got a laugh with him yelling “Ah, so THAT’s how it’s gonna be!” When we got to the back-side pavement after we exited the trees, he got into the drops and put such an attack in it was incredible, the Aussie track specialist he is. Tim would have to really work for it today as Michael was on a tear.

For the remainder of the race it was Michael and Tim duking hard, then me, Jeff Cospolich, Mike Hogan (the three of us pictured above) and my teamie, Mark Wisner who turned himself inside out to bridge back after tearing a hole in his new FMB’s (arrgh!). Jeff and I traded assaults, each equally balanced in our plight lap after lap. By the last lap, Jeff came to the front. We flowed on foot through this section of ditches designed to get us off the bike. When it came time to remount I bobbled, slipping a pedal…and again…and again. Grass build up n the Sidis that I had to hit off the seat stay to clear and re-engage. Jeff, the high altitude MTB’er that he is, flowed well and I could not close the gap. he taking 3rd and I holing on for 4th for the day.

The fitness is coming to the surface. I feel like a bike racer again even though I feel my clavicle after these hard efforts. It simply is reminding me to smile and be happy. I feel that level of un-comfort after these efforts that is ironically GOOD to feel…as if there is room (lots) to grow fitness.

Just as Timmy F said as we cooled down: “God I love this sport.” Seriously: what DO people do with their weekends in the ‘real’ world out there? I’ll assume they somehow feel the same things we do after racing. Or so I hope. 

By intent, I’ve kept my mouth shut. Never any pressure on them to ride…or even less, to race. In fact, quite the opposite. If there was any inspiration I tried to convey to my young’uns, it is to try EVERYTHING.

And so my boys did. Both of them gravitating towards bikes....with some baseball and rock climbing thrown in for good measure too.

Today was massive for a father and a son. Aiden, raced his first ‘cross.  A hot an dusty one in Golden…the Green Mountain Sports Race 1 of their series.

I think I was infinitely more stressed than my boy pre-race. He was just amped to get under way. We pinned him up and he and I went about doing a recon lap or two, me explaining the fine points of tire pressure and what lines to take…he, not giving a rats ass about tire pressure, call-ups, hydrating and any of the lessons I was giving up for free…but simply stating: “Dad this is AWESOME! We get to ride our BIKES on these trails???!

That was what I needed to hear. And from then on I just watched him. Smiled. Flowed.

When they sent off his wave of 8-9 year olds, I couldn't help myself. I just got on my bike a pedaled behind them. Watching him lead out, crash, then get back up and just keep going. No complaints. Just his focus ahead. He noticed a while in that I was around, and he just blurted out like a banshee:
” I…am…having…FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”. Reminders of why we do it.

Yet a bittersweet taste was present this AM and I felt it run deep in my soul as I rode behind him, smiling. I kept thinking back to my own father. My own one-on-one time with him, as rare as it was. I was the youngest of five and the reality is, the age disparity was simply too great for him to be active with me. He did, however, try to teach me how to throw a mean knuckle ball…his forte’. I never could get that right. Kept beaning batters sending them crying to their moms.

But alas, I thought of him and am sure he was smiling at the scene, the pride, the time being spent between father and son.

At the end of my boy’s race, it was dad’s turn. No warm up to speak of after his race ended. I was on a high watching him. I had a bud pin me up, I tightened down my shoes and got to the line. We had call ups from last year which enabled me to take a front row seat. Many of my buds were there today. My teammates, Faia and Wisner, Legg-Compton, Cospolich, Harris, Hogan, and of course Mr. Michael Robson. We lined up just like old times, and settled in for our pain-cave session.

Let me digress for a moment if you’d humor me however.

In June I sat on the couch with a snapped clavicle thinking “Oh well, maybe I can at least take picture this cross season if I can’t race.”

But today, 3 months later, I was smiling in the sun. The human body is amazing. I had no expectations for today other than to get a massive workout, feel the joy of pinning on a number again, and test our Mr. Robson’s tubeless set up he prepped for me (Mavic Ksyrium ES’ with new Hutchinson Bulldogs).

Today's course was Colorado to the core. Fast and flowy dirt trails, mixed with a wee bit of grass. They feature-ized well with a very creative stair case run-up timed nicely after a fast ingress turn into it.

Along with the tire testing, my plan for today was to literally focus on lines, technique and tire pressure. Tubeless for the first time. All executed to plan. At the whistle I feathered a bit to let a few guys like Faia and Robson move to the front and let them pull around. Mark Legg-Compton came through second lap and put it down and tore Faia and Robson with him which was too rich for my blood today. (Yes, Frank, I could feel your presence rationing-out only a few matches to me.)

GMSV Cyclocross #1 - SM35+ Open - Lap 1 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

To the tubeless testing: Many of you have been tubeless for ages. I run them on my MTB, but the burping in cross I witnessed time and time again last year was too risky to try. This year, with Hutchinson's updated kevlar bead, things were VERY tight to get on, but super solid under my 180lbs. Roughly 34psi in the rear and 32 in the front. The feel is not the same as a tubular. Quite frankly, they aren't as supple (at all)…but really felt pretty remarkable on this radically bumpy CO course. I intentionally would dive into corners, trying out some lessons in counter steering Pete Webber walked me through this week, and they felt fantastic. Not one wash-out or any un-hooking in corners. So, I am definitely impressed with this years Bulldogs.

By mid race it settled into pretty fun pack racing. Wisner attacked our group and went to bridge ahead while I worked with a Green Mountain guy and my man Mike Hogan for the remainder of the race. Like the crafty national MTB champion he is, Mike attacked perfectly and I covered but felt myself starting to pay for it, decided to keep the change in my pocket and let him slip away. I yelled at him in the final turn ‘great race you crafty sombiotch!’. I took 7th on the day and all within the limits I set.

Picking races to focus skills on is critical…especially early season. Smarter racers than I have been doing this for their careers. Me, even 14 years on in this sport, it’s still an educational evolution. It’s GREAT to take a mental break from racing…while racing! I want to take on this season way differently this year. I want to feel fast when I want and need to feel fast. And I want to feel like I’m riding my bike every race moving forward…not licking my stem in agony. Today, I accomplished that. 

Off to Vegas this week for Interbike and Brook Watts’ Cross Vegas. Robson, Cariveau and I will represent CO in the Industry Cup. FINALLY I am thinking sensibly and get to watch the Elites with a beer, instead of racing it and making it a goal not to get lapped before 50 minutes.

Hup hup, buttercups. We're underway!

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...

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!

No this is not a cyclocross. Yes this a road race. A Colorado road race. This is Boulder Racing's Koppenberg race. If you ain't racing on dirt, you aint racing.

Shot by On Sight Media.

I was pleasantly surprised to wake up to this email today from my friends at Universal Sports!

"Hi Greg,

I wanted to let you know we will be broadcasting the Cyclo-Cross World Championships from Tabor, Czech Republic on-line January 31.  The broadcast will be showing the elite men’s and women’s races at 12 noon (ET), while the rest of the races will be offered on demand.  We are excited to offer the broadcast for this event again and hopefully highlight more Cyclo-Cross through the World Cup season.  Please help in any way you can to spread the word about the broadcast."

So you heard it! Spread the word! Click the picture to the left to head on over to the 'Cyclocross World Championships Dashboard' on Universal Sports.