Skills Practice on Thurs 28 - I can't make it

Folks,
sorry I had to move around my schedule for personal reasons and I won't be able to make it to Wyman Woods on Thursday.

If anyone is interested, I suggest you hit up the park and practice and hone those skills.
If you are racing both days, I would suggest not too much hard effort, but focus on skills, trees, turns, barriers, mounts, remounts, off-camber, etc.

Farm

RE: Tues Sept 27 Practice

Everyone,
great job and hats off to Spencer and crew for setting up another sweet, hill climbing twist-fest for practice. I'd say easily this practice space is one of the best places we've found and seems to provide more than enough challenges for everyone.

You might have noticed (or maybe not?) the courses getting harder each week, this is on purpose and for good reason. All those short-steep hill climbs, longer laps, off camber hill climbs, wide sweeping fast turns, will all come in handy at some point this race season. When you encounter hills or anything else thrown at you during practice, come race time - you can reach into your deck of cards, pull them out, throw them down behind you and show Cleveland your wake.

It seems many of you are really starting to find your groove, cornering, trusting your tires and pedaling power. Some impressive efforts from a bunch of you last night. It was nice to see a cross section of riders out there giving it their all and working through their own challenges. Thank you to the ladies for also showing up and getting involved in cross.

I'd guess there was about 35-40 or so of you that braved the sprinkles to come out and show your mettle. Everyone stayed around into dusk for 4-more laps of fun, then put in the effort to assist in tearing down the course.

I did see some new faces out there. If you need help, with anything please don't hesitate to reach out to me, Mason, Tim Sholl or Layne. We would all gladly help where we can.

So why don't you put it all together and come out this weekend to race?

Gear Fest in Dayton Saturday
http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=13245

John Bryan on Sunday
http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=14163

http://capcitycross.com
http://neocx.wordpress.com/schedule
ovcx.com
http://www.cxfestival.com

Tonight's practice IS ON!

The rain doesn't look too bad. Only 30% chance through 9pm. We'll be good to go.

See ya out there.

spencer

Tuesday September 27, 2011 'Cross Practice

Will be over behind Jesse Owen's Memorial Stadium around 4:30/4:45 to set up. Practice starts at 6:15. Be ready. We've lost a lot of day light.

MAP

See you tomorrow night.

Spencer

September 20, 2011 - DrainageCX

Another week, another practice.

Yes, yes, yes practice is going to be taking place over at the drainage ditch behind Jesse Owen's Memorial Stadium. Kevin and Allan will be there to set up around 4:45pm. Expect races to start 15 minutes after 6pm. When it's all said and done, stick around and help pull flags out of the ground.

MAP!

We're knee deep in 'cross season so step it up. Ask questions if you have them. Work on handling those bikes, dismounts and remounts. Lay off the brakes. While it may feel good to go full throttle, remember that it's practice. Work on your lines. Don't hesitate to go back and try new lines (be careful of riders though).

I won't be there, but I hope everyone has a good time. See ya next week!

Spencer

CBus - Skills - Some Thoughts and Re-posts

Cross Peeps: here are a few reposts from last year and some other observations, but relevant.

I wrote this up last year, regarding dismount techniques. I thought I would repost a link since there were some questions last week about the proper ways to dismount.
http://crossbus.blogspot.com/2010/09/cross-practice-follow-up-dismount.html

Remember, like Spencer said, practice isn't always about going 100mph. Spend some time re-riding or going back over and over certain sections of the course each week at practice, finding a faster or better line through the areas you are finding difficult. It's important to know, there is always a better way and faster line through those flags and around corners. If someone is putting distance on you during practice, it might not be that they are more fit, it might just be they are picking better lines through the turns and around corners. Just because you are pedaling, doesn't mean you stop thinking. Remember what I said last week, just because the person in front of you is riding that line, doesn't mean it's the best or fastest line. Think, pedal, think, pedal and oh yea, breathe. Again, remember, your goal should be riding each lap faster and faster as you choose better lines and find the fastest way to get through the course and figure out where to pass, where to 'rest', where to enter and exit challenging sections. Think and pedal. Trust those tires.

Try taking a lap in a harder gear, I see quite a bit of spinning, which is fine, but there is also nothing wrong with trying for a lap or two, to push a harder gear. Push your butt back on that saddle and push a harder gear, you might surprise yourself with your power output. Again, this is what practice is about.

Last thought - Thursday at skills practice we worked on getting everyone around some tight turns (trees). I would suggest trying bending those elbows and lowering your chest some into the tight turns. Load up the front of the bike with your weight and then find the balance point of your body weight by shifting your weight back on the saddle. You'll have to experiment, but Professor Sholl and I saw noticeable improvement in the folks that were lowering their chest and bending their elbows around some trees. 

October 2 is the first CapCity Cross Race at John Bryan state park, are you ready? You can also pre-register if you wish.

A quick video of some folks going through the barriers and the sand pit last year during the Thursday Skills practice.:.:

Ditchcross - Tuesday September 13, 2011

Greetings,

I'm here to inform you Columbus 'crossers that practice will be taking place tomorrow night over at the ditch behind Jesse Owens Stadium.

MAP

As always, I'll be there at 4:45/5 to start setting up. If you have ideas or want to assist in setting up please come early (before 6) as we're usually done setting up. We'll race at 6:15. There will be longer races and shorter breaks since we're losing time.

**Don't forget your helmet**

(Mud pits are fun, ask Blake when you see him)

Also, the forecast is calling for scattered showers/thunderstorms around 6-9pm tomorrow night. If the weather looks nice enough, we'll be there. If not I'll post here, the 'cross group and facebook. Keep checking back for details.

Lastly, I'll be out of town Tuesday September 20, 2011. I'll need someone to take up the roll of setting the course up and transporting the equipment. Contact me (Spencer) if you can do it. Thanks!

Let's hope the rain holds off so we can practice tomorrow night!

Spencer

Skills Practice - Wyman Woods - Thurs. Sept 15

CBUS,
more notice this time.
I’ll be over at Wyman Woods again this Thursday, Sept 15 from 6p to 7p.
For all those ‘beginner’ or ‘intermediate' folks:
If you need help with skills, now is the time, show up and let’s see what we can do about working on your weakness’s. Racing in Ohio has begun. What do you need help with?


There is also a sandpit at Wyman, if you have never ridden through sand I can try to help. There are lots of trees and off camber.  How about some lessons on trusting your tires and picking lines and driving your bike really fast.


see you Tues and Thurs!


Farm

Thursday Skills - SEPT 8 - Wyman Woods - 6:00p

CBUS CX Peeps:
I have some time tomorrow at 6:00 pm to teach some skills or one on one stuff with anyone who's interested, until about 7:00 pm.
I won't have time to bring my barriers, but we can work on mounts, dismounts, and some cornering technique around trees and such.
These skill sessions seemed to work out quite a bit for a few folks last year, if you are new to cx this year or were new last year or would just like to learn how to drive your cx bike faster.

I'll wait around till 6:15 or so, if no one shows up, I will leave.

MAP Location to Wyman Woods

Farm

Tuesday Night drainagecross Practice - 6 of September Edition

Cbus 'crossers,

Come out to the ditch tonight to spin those tired legs from the first weekend of 'cross racing. I know everyone's sore from racing against Cleveland or the treacherous fire roads and horse trampled descents of Frankenbike, but that's no excuse to take a break just quite yet. You're just building your base and you need some more to put on top.

MAP!

As always, I'll be over to the drainage ditch around 4:45/5pm to set up. Hot laps begin a 6:15pm and will go through dusk. We're losing valuable daylight, so expect shorter breaks between races.

Also, I'll be keeping an eye on the weather. It looks like it should be good, but I'll update if any flash floods, hurricanes, tornados or earthquakes. We are in a drainage ditch; expect to get wet tonight.

See you soon,

Spencer