Yup, we're all getting older. And it's critical to give back to the body...especially when you do sports like cyclocross. It's taxing on all parts of the body. I'm so honored to work with this great company, YogaGlo, and their commitment to helping with very specialized approaches of applying yoga to sports like cycling. have a look at this video the Boulder Cycle Sport Ambassadors team did to talk through why inserting the practice of yoga is critical, and how YogaGlo can help with its distinct areas of specialization like cycling.

That's it. As far as training is concerned, 'what's there is there' and 'what will be will be', given good luck and good legs on the day. We are amped here in Boulder. AMPED to race, see our friends from around the country and abroad and celebrate our sport. 

Four months. Four months of racing for me and I'm still hungry given a truncated season. A season that again seemed to challenge me in so many ways given yet another broken collarbone in late August and a resultant season of hurry-up-and-try-to-get-fit-along-the-way. Nothing was going to stop me from crawling back on and doing what I love so dearly. 

And now we're here. Just days leading up to our trip to Louisville, KY and the Masters World Championships followed by the biggest cyclocross event this nation has ever seen: the Elite World Championships. At this moment I still can't believe I'm here, that I'm going and have enough motivation to tear legs off and go and do my best. 

It's incredible when I step back and look at all the support I have in my life to do what I love so much. A few shout outs...

• My wife and family: who deeply understand the teeter totter and how the bike, my sport and my friends balance my life and bring me great joy. 
• Brandon and the crew at Boulder Cycle Sport who take such great care of me. I'd love to bring them National Championships (but I think Pete and Brandon have that covered! ha!) but they know how proud I am to wear that Orange we wear and coach all the folks new to the sport who I see fall in deeper love race after race as they see their own improvements the 'Ambassadors' and I teach them. I'll never forget walking in the first BCS shop near my house the day they opened in 2005, seeing Brandon stocking shelves and saying: "So, do you guys do cross?". The rest is history. 
• Pete Webber for spending his valuable time convincing me I can compete at the level I know I can compete at, coaching me to keep a hurting engine to keep going and mainly believe I can flow again. You all have no idea how disciplined Pete is with his preperation and focus to the sport but most importantly how much time he spends helping this community to do their best individually and show the country how we love this sport collectively. 
• Ridley, SRAM, Bell Helmets Clement Tires Anthem Branding, Harshman Wealth Mix1 and Mavic who graciously support this old man and allow me such amazing communication lines to provide feedback and help evangelize such incredible products. I can only do that because they are 'the biggest little companies' on earth who relish these racer channels. 
• Our community of 'crossers here in Boulder. This is what we do. From our juniors to masters, we simply live for cross and live to shout our guts out at each other to race, do our best and represent where we're from proudly. 

The bikes and equipment are packed an in-route at this exact moment. We're going to go celebrate cross, race, spectate and come back to our respective homes and evangelize what we've seen to anyone who'll listen. But for now, we rest and think about the week to come. 

It's safe to say that Pete Webber has a distinct and very clear vision on how training should go: epically. More importantly: unforgettably. Each time you're on the bike, it's an experience, but if you're training on the same stretch of road over and over, you're just not getting enough of them. 

Welcome to Pete Webber coaching. His philosophy: "Life is too short to not ride dirt and see some epic stuff." This past weekend, Pete assembled a crew of folks to get in some specific 'base' prep for the coming cross season. No we didn't don our road bike and ride 'zone 2' for 5 hours. We donned our cross bikes with fat Clement tires and railed single track and some of the sweetest high country logging roads our state has to offer.  

Each mile was epic and yet still had us smiling like little kids. We saw parts of Colorado that are just simply hard to get to...yet breathtaking when you've earned them. The efforts were very shaped along the way..crafted by Webber. Slogs on dirt to get in good endurance, climbing to drop the kilos and insane single track to hone your skills as we all transition from fat tires into the not-so-fat knobby season.

All said and done 50+ miles of radness that I otherwise would never have been able to link together as I'm just not that 'creative'. And that's where Webber's experience comes in....having trained on these roads and trails for 2 decades and knowing each nook and cranny. That and using these hard-to-reach places to keep your mind fresh each time you need to throw your leg over the bike to get in miles to push towards your goals. 

 It's coming folks. The cross season is on us in a month! Where do you think your skills are when you think about last season? Where was that guy making ground on you each race? How does that gal get back on her bike so smoothly? 

Time to Crack the Code and learn the secrets from two of the most amzing folks in the sport:

Tim Johnson and Pete Webber!

On Saturday August 18th, you'll get to learn from the best and have a boat load of fun while doing it! I'm proud to be a guest coach and will ensure the appropriate amount of huppiness will be experienced with every little tweak we make to your remount, shouldering, cornering and smiling. 

Click here to register!

I have taken, taken more, and taken yet again….way more than my proverbial fill. Consider me a glutton who continually would take from my body’s resources…and never gave back.

And to think the only thing I want out of all of this bike stuff is to pop wheelies and shred with my friends. To be the 50+ year old dad some day railing with my sons in Fruita or God knows where.

The past month I had a wake up call. Extremely scary and all demonstrable of the fact that living in fast forward for almost 20 straight years of riding, training and racing yet never giving back to my body what it needs to continue doing it. What happened? Well, let me explain…and I’m sure many of you will immediately know what I am talking about…

Race. Train. Ride. Race. Rest a bit. Train. Train. Ride. Eat Well. Race. Race. Train. Ride more.

Notice anything here? Lots and lots of on the bike volume. Some rest and thankfully due to my unbelievable wife, supreme nutrition.

But all this time: NO BODY CARE. No stretching, massage, yoga…NOTHING. And all the while my muscles getting stronger…but only in their repetitive planes of motion. Yanking, pulling, melding with one another into singular masses of muscle doing the same repetitions over and over. My regular routine was this…

• Train my butt off during the week…typically before work hours.
• Immediately shower and get back into work, slumped over my computer, or trapped in a tortuous seat on some airplane.       
• Race on weekends
• Rinse and repeat for, oh ~20 years.

About a year ago, I’d finish a cross and my back would essentially be seized. As in ‘Robotic back.’ No real pain per se, just effectively rigor mortis of the back. Stiff as a board. It’d ‘fade away’ eventually so I never got concerned. I’d had no serious bike fit changes so attributed it to a case of the O.L.D. ™ ^{Michael Robson.}

Fast forward. About a month ago, the pain settled in. Truly (like I’ve heard it said before) like a stabbing pain. Right in the “Q-L” (quadratus lumborum) above my hip bone (the iliac crest).  It was immobilizing. No sleep, difficulty walking, sitting, lying, bending over. A cripple.

And yes, like a child I was scared and freaked out that “this is it! I think my racing is done!” (Ha…).

And yes, this is exactly why I married my wife. She did the equivalent of the bitch slap of my small brain saying: “Dude…you need to give back for everything you take. Duh.”

Um, what?

And thus began my story of “The Obvious” and all the things I’ve done this past month to get back on track with the help of my wife and good friends here in town.

Here is a list of the things I am incorporating and integrating into my life which I would implore you all to do if you feel cycling is going to be one of those lifer things:

• Stretching – I do not know about you, but I was brittle. As in could not touch my toes. I began to slowly and steadily begin a DAILY stretching routine. 
  • 20min in the AM (first thing, before breakfast). Hamstrings, IT, QL, Glutes, Psoas and back. In addition getting my thoracic area to open (e.g. to work on preventing back rounding and better breathing)
  • 40min in the evening (same pattern but integrated in strectch bands...e.g. HUGE rubber bands to help pull my legs farther)
• Massage - OK, I admit it's a blessing having my wife be a massage therapist...but even I have to beg to get time on her table! 
  • Trigger release therapy...to essentially fire the most problematic muscles literally 'releasing' them when they get into their defensive postures to protect the body when it's reacting to muscle issues. 
• Back Stregthening via Foundation Roots - I am on my 2nd full week of this but it is rather mind blowing. See here for info. Get yourself to a class. DO NOT fool yourself that you can watch the YouTube videos and just do it. You really need to be assisted before you go on your own so you do not wreak havoc on your back muscles. CRITICAL for lower back strength. Especially for 'cross when your back is going UP DOWN UP DOWN UP DOWN for 60 minutes violently. 
• Core Stregnthening – I am not a fat guy, but not a ripped 6 pack-core guy either. It all comes down to what’s under the surface not only of your stomach, but also of the back (see Foundation Roots above). But for core, I am doing a ton of strengthening to breath better and to generally support my body for longer periods under duress (think: a cross race). 
• Physical Therapy - This was SO instrumental for my recovery. I visited my good friend, amazing PT and fellow 'crosser Charlie Merrill as he is the 'guru'. I was crippled and his treatment of physical therapy was amazing. I am working on plans with Charlie for 'maintenence' as well. The core of his work was:
  • PT via deep manipulation of my muscles via slow and methodic pulling and stretching. 
  • Dry Needle Therapy- 6cm acupuncture needles deep within the muscles to literally/directly trigger and release them. It was the spark to get them to release deeply along with my wife's trigger release massage (deep...but not as deep as the needles can go). 

So what does all this mean: More work. I need to put back in the till what I take out. It means that I need to tack on and carve out times of day where I need to focus on this. More balance needed so I can ensure my family and work needs are met, but allowing time for these critical things I need to do to keep rolling. And that means what you see above is now a forever part of my life. Many of you will read this and undoubtedly say: No shit, dumbass. But what can I say? I'm a full-gas guy and thus am paying for my sins blazing in fast forward all these years. But alas, I see the magic to this type of body maintenance and the benefits are already surfacing. 

Hope it helps you in "planning for prevention!"

As we head into cross season, the training each year about this time begins to change. We go from epic long base miles and MTB rides that fundamentally teach you how to suffer for long hours on the bike to much higher intensity workouts that stress your body to the core. Intervals, motor-pacing and Tabatas begin to take over so that the constant power-peaks in a cross can be maintained during the course of a 60 minute race…

Click to read more ...

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!

Honestly, I do not think that I’ve ever seen Joachim (emphasize the "Yo!" in Joachim) without his red and white Danish National Champion’s kit. The guy is an institution of cyclocross battling with the best in Za Motherland and we are blessed to have him here in Boulder for a bit. Joachim Parbo is hosting a ‘cross clinic for those who are ready to step up their game. Here’s your invite…

It's time to fine tune your skills, and prepare for the last month of the cyclocross season! Join Boulder Cycle Sport and Danish National Cyclocross Champion Joachim Parbo for an advanced cyclocross skills session on Monday, November 16th at 4:00pm. (Yes, we know it's early, but we have to get it done before the sun sets!). On the bike we will cover topics such as, how to ride sand pits, negotiating off camber turns, dismounts, remounts and more! Once the sun sets we will make our way to Restaurant 4580 for a technical discussion on equipment, bike set up, tire pressure and race strategy. Joachim has battled on the most difficult and challenging cyclocross courses in the world, and against the toughest competition, too. Learn some of his riding, training and bike set-up secrets!

WHAT:
ON THE BIKE SKILLS CLINIC: 4pm - 6pm

• Tackling sand pits

• Proper dismount and remount technique

• Setting up for tricky off-camber turns 

• Personalized tips and advice for each participant

OFF THE BIKE TECHNICAL CLINIC: 6pm - 7:30pm

• Technical discussion on equipment, bike set up and tire pressure
• Cyclocross bike fit suggestions
• Race course strategy: Planning your efforts right will make you faster!

WHEN:
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16th, 4:00pm - 7:30pm

• 4:00 - 6:00 pm - On the bike skills clinic
• 6:00 - 7:30 pm - We'll get out of our bike clothes and head to Restaurant 4580 for an off the bike technical clinic, Q & A, plus food and drink!

HOW:

CLINIC FEE is $45 per person and included food and drink at Restaurant 4580
SPACE IS LIMITED TO 30 RIDERS!

Please swing by Boulder Cycle Sport to sign up. Payment must be made with cash or check (to Boulder Cycle Sport)
FOR QUESTIONS OR MORE INFORMATION: email brandon@bouldercyclesport.com

We had a great turnout of folks today at the Boulder Edition of the Cycle-Smart Cyclocross Clinic. We met up and had folks sign in at 7:30 and proceeded to cruise to a nearby park to ensure we were tucked out of the way with plenty of grass to get our huppity hup on. Ben Turner and Brandon Dwight divided the crew into an advanced and beginner group while Brady Kappius and I got into the details with specific individuals to make 'em smooth! We tapped into various skills revolving around barrier work, transitions into run ups and did some mock racing to put all the learned skills to work under a little bit of elevated heart rate.

All-in-all a great way to spend a Sunday. Click on the photo below to see some pics I snapped on the day.

It was like 6:25 this AM as I threw on the ‘backback-o-barriers’ and took my sluggish, half-sleepy, non-‘morning meeting’ body (you all know what the morning is right?) down to Amante. I was convinced it’d be me and maybe two other hard cores out there beating the snot out of each other in these pre-season days.

And then…like a mirage…as I rolled into the meet-up spot, my peeps were all there. Laid out in front of me. Family. Nearly 30 of us there today…the hard workin’ stiffs who need the juice before going into the coal mines for the day. The excitement was in the air….conversations of gear, re-uniting with friends haven’t seen since last season. Cross is here and the people need their cross.

We hit up Elks for a couple of deep sessions. The engine felt pretty damn good and the early morning training is he;ping out a lot. My body is fresher and I am getting a much higher quality depth in the legs than years prior.

Oh, and the equipment dudes are rolling on this year: unbelievable. People have their cross machines DIALED in. For many, it is their pride and joy of the stable. Sound familiar?

Digital celluloid:

We all had sleep in our eyes…

One of MANY Ridley’s out there. WAY more than I’ve seen in year’s past.

Part of the crew…along with another variant of the port-o-barriers!

DK

The Working Man’s Crew.

Brian’s Ibis. It has gold bottle mount bolts.

More carbon bling. The Time Cross Machine.

Ridley X-Fire Exhibit A

Ridley X-Fire Exhibit B

Ridley X-Night Exhibits A and B. Boing!

Ironically, the Working Man’s Wednesday Worlds intersected with a long standing Wednesday AM road group ride…and my man and boss-man Walter Knapp is part of that throw down. Note he sponsored this RAD Panache kit (see the Lijit Logos??).

And LASTLY, spotted in the Back Woods of Maine. One of the woodsman up there was spotted in an M & C lid!