Went into the woods today, and it was just like this but without the people:
Archive for the 'Training' Category
Check it out. Velog is a really simple social network and training log for cyclists. It’s a like having a mini blog just for logging your rides. As cyclocross season approaches you can use it to keep track of your training rides, monitor your progress, and compare your activity with that of your friends.
Race.cx now has a group on velog which you can join. It’s neat because you can see who the other race.cx readers are, where they are from, and what they are riding. Also, if you join the group, your rides will show up right here on the race.cx sidebar. You can see it to the right, just underneath the “asides” section. If you have your own blog or website, you can add your own personal velog to it just like I’m doing with the race.cx group here.
Also, to stimulate your competitive side, velog let’s you graph your ride data against friends and other riders. The picture to the left shows my hours over the last week compared with some of my friends.
Several weeks ago I spotted this shirt for sale on ebay. It’s now an installation in the race.cx cyclocross museum, sitting right next to the 1st edition hard cover classic of Cyclo-cross by Simon Burney.
So what happened at the 1987 cyclocross nationals? Clark Natwick, coming out of a decade long purple patch, won his final of five national elite titles. A pioneer of cyclocross in the US, Natwick was on the line at the first ever nationals at Tilden Park in Berkeley, California. In later years he would win national titles in 1976 as a junior, and in 1981, 1982, 1986, 1987 as an elite. He podiumed a total of eleven times at nationals. Natwick later went on to race for the Ritchey pro mountain bike team and retired from racing to become an elite level cycling coach.
Want to win five national cross titles? Try follow Natwick’s cyclocross specific training plan. You should have already finished your muscle building weight training and big ring hill climbs. Right now it’s time for high volume, low intensity riding, mixing in some light running or plyometrics.
To keep yourself sane while jogging, try hitting the local MTB trails instead of on the sidewalk around the neighborhood. Remember, trail running is to road running as cyclocross is to road racing.
Clark at left bunny hoping to the 1976 junior national title. Photo by David Reuter.
So here we are. It’s almost April and what are you doing to get ready for cross?
We packed it up and hit the road for some base and MTB skill work in Colorado. The rocks were hot, and the spandex rare in the land of big hucks and baggy shorts.
Fall in love all over again, go ride your mountain bike.
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