ProRaceMechanic
Maximum Pace
- Dec 31, 2009
- 907
- 89
Recently I attended Japans Single Speed Cyclocross National Championships.
Out of the 65 competitors I placed 8th. It was a great day for racing. A little chilly but I feel this is good for me because I work outside everyday early in the morning and cold weather is a part of my life. I could see from the start many people were overdressed. Leggings, long hat, vest, jacket all completely unnecessary when racing cyclocross unless it is snowing. You go so hard and the race is over so fast that as long as you set off with a proper warm up your own radiating body heat will keep you warm. I started in the second row of 10 people. I lucked out as I was warming up until the last possible moment and I entered the group of people from the front. Probably didn't make any friends doing that, but I didn't mind. Cross racing is all about the first corner. If you get held back here you will never see the podium. I was lucky to be near the front and made it through here pretty well. As for the rest of the riders, there race was over from the start. The course was very fast with one mud section, a fly over with 10 stairs and one set of barriers. Each lap took 6 minutes and we races for 45 minutes. After the first corner I held my place and only moved up. I was very happy about this. It is always a blow to the ego when someone passes you. It affects your pace and mindset. In the last 2 laps I started lapping people and getting stuck behind them. It's hard not to get frustrated but I bit my tongue and tried to announce my presence by shouting hidari, migi or sumimassen. All seemed as equally UN affective and passing anywhere possible with the most affective line is what worked best. Next year I will go balls out from the gun because this is where I lost. I have done this and blew up before finishing. However, at that time my physical conditioning was not the greatest. So the answer is to winning cyclocross is being fit and going all out! Duh!
I rode my Ridley Crossbow aluminum frame bike with 32-17 gearing with 50mm Cole carbon tubular wheels with a Vitoria cx mud tire in the rear and a Tufo Flexus Primus in the front providing traction and stability. Easton carbon bars, Campy carbon crank and record levers with internals removed really brought down the weight along with the Thomson post and stem and Fizik saddle and TRP Euro X magnesium brakes. The bike was spot on!
Thanks for reading
ProRaceMechanic
Out of the 65 competitors I placed 8th. It was a great day for racing. A little chilly but I feel this is good for me because I work outside everyday early in the morning and cold weather is a part of my life. I could see from the start many people were overdressed. Leggings, long hat, vest, jacket all completely unnecessary when racing cyclocross unless it is snowing. You go so hard and the race is over so fast that as long as you set off with a proper warm up your own radiating body heat will keep you warm. I started in the second row of 10 people. I lucked out as I was warming up until the last possible moment and I entered the group of people from the front. Probably didn't make any friends doing that, but I didn't mind. Cross racing is all about the first corner. If you get held back here you will never see the podium. I was lucky to be near the front and made it through here pretty well. As for the rest of the riders, there race was over from the start. The course was very fast with one mud section, a fly over with 10 stairs and one set of barriers. Each lap took 6 minutes and we races for 45 minutes. After the first corner I held my place and only moved up. I was very happy about this. It is always a blow to the ego when someone passes you. It affects your pace and mindset. In the last 2 laps I started lapping people and getting stuck behind them. It's hard not to get frustrated but I bit my tongue and tried to announce my presence by shouting hidari, migi or sumimassen. All seemed as equally UN affective and passing anywhere possible with the most affective line is what worked best. Next year I will go balls out from the gun because this is where I lost. I have done this and blew up before finishing. However, at that time my physical conditioning was not the greatest. So the answer is to winning cyclocross is being fit and going all out! Duh!
I rode my Ridley Crossbow aluminum frame bike with 32-17 gearing with 50mm Cole carbon tubular wheels with a Vitoria cx mud tire in the rear and a Tufo Flexus Primus in the front providing traction and stability. Easton carbon bars, Campy carbon crank and record levers with internals removed really brought down the weight along with the Thomson post and stem and Fizik saddle and TRP Euro X magnesium brakes. The bike was spot on!
Thanks for reading
ProRaceMechanic