See everyone tomorrow - Irene can't stop us.

At tennis courts at 8

Yesterdays Clinic:
9 riders in total: Stokes, Perlberg, Mehlenbeck, Henning, Ben(don't know last name), Nelson, LaPuinzina, Ceasar, Me.
Ride hard to Cunningham. Ride the trails with people getting lost (as usual) in bigger than normal gears.
Then back to our field for practice:
Handling courses - two of them - one for maintaining speed through the turns and one for acceleration and braking into turns. Both were really good for hearing the side knobs of your tires bite.
Starts - 6 repeats in groups of 4. Foot on ground and sprint. Ouch these hurt.
Dismounts - step by step on how to get off smoothly and most importantly in control. Right hands in the air people...
Practice and critique of dismounts and jumping over a barrier (provided by Jim).
Remounts - again, step-by-step breakdown and critique. Everyone of the new guys remounted successfully at least once. Good job Josh, Erik and Ben.
Simulated race course - 5 laps or so of a 2 minute loop to show people how to evaluate lines, push their bikes up short run ups.

Weather was the most cross-like in recent memory.

Someone else will hopefully give a participants account as it might be less clinical than mine.

Eric

our route...

Bummed out that I missed the first CX clinic! I was in Western Mass & Vermont yesterday, riding the 115k (73 mile) version of a mostly dirt-road ride called the "D2R2." (it was the hardest day on a bike that I've ever done.) Wondering when the next ride out to Cunningham might be...??

Good to get reacquainted with the bike, although it took me right into a tree while riding on (well, slightly off) the trails. Really good to do the handling course, which teaches one to lean more than one might think possible. A little tire slippage isn't a bad thing. Next time I presume we will do a longer (and more intense) simulated race, which is really valuable before attempting a race. The necessity to deal with the obstacles while riding with high intensity is always something of a shock and is best done in private. Eric, of course, is a consummate teacher of the art!

I had a great time yesterday. With only 1 season of cross under my belt it felt great to break down the skills and re-learn them.

I also was humbled on the trails course where I did a last second wimp out / crash before a rocky downhill. Oops.

Come on out for this, with the tempo ride out and miles getting back, it turns into an overall great day of working out.

Usually I adjust pretty well to ageing and accept my growing limitations, but when I read and hear you guys talking about cx, I wish I had my younger knees and ankles! This year like the previous ones, I'll enjoy reading your race reports full of intensity and fun.

for folks that want more CX:

Wednesday evenings have a regular CX meet up going on.

http://www.nycvelo.com/wed-night-cross-practice-on-randalls-island/

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=40.794708,-73.926294&hl=en&ll=40.795017,-73.926294&spn=0.009454,0.018389&sll=40.793912,-73.926444&sspn=0.009454,0.018389&vpsrc=6&t=h&z=16

Note, this isn't a Kissena event. There is no instruction going on here. It is pretty much racing, maybe a little practice. Fun, but you'll learn more from Ragot's sessions.

I am so ready for CX. I just heckled somebody in my office to PowerPoint faster. I also was asking for a beer hand-up at a company picnic on Governors Island.

So hi - the Ben missing a last name named above in Eric's post is me - Ben Reid. Had a VERY fun time training and chatting. Up for another trip to Cunningham Park this weekend - would love to coordinate with other CX - minded folks. Same drills, this time no hitting joggers... Sat? Sun? Mon? I'll propose same idea:

7AM GAP, ride to Cunningham Park, first some trail riding, then dismount/mount drills, momentum corner work, tight corner accelerations, sprint starts. Who's in? Saturday or Sunday?

Ben

Ben - If its not too late for you - I am in for Saturday but may have some trouble hitting 8am. 830 or 9 definetly though.

My Saturday plan is to drive to the car dealer (bike locked to rack)
-> drop off car for service
-> go back out to car and grab bike
-> pull off breakaway pants ____star style (fill in the __, basketball star or porn star)
-> ride over to Cunningham and hit the trails
-> ride home \ shower up \ head to to Clayton's for the Kissena Party.

Call my cell 646-235-2336.

...OR we could do a more formal day on the normal schedule Sunday or Monday :)

I too am behind schedule, sorry. Since i am late updating, let me know if Monday 8 at GAP is possible.

It being June, Cyclocross training time is just 2ish months away, and the season is 3 months from now.

Time to start thinking about equipment !!!
- buying a cx bike for the first time ?
- upgrading your frame \ wheels \ brakes \ pedals \ etc ?

See the above thread for pure CX gold. Talk to the guys at your shop . Talk to clubmates. Search the interwebs.

PS - there are rumblings of bagels and coffee (and beer handups?) at my parents place for the first cx practice - more details to come this summer.

Posted By: mperlbergfrom the nycx email list, if you're not racing cross you don't know what you're missing.

Cross folks,

I'm moving and thinning out the stable. I've got an older model 56 cm Performance Scattante aluminum cross frame, fork, HS and a 110 mm stem up on Craigslist. I rode it in two SICX races. It's no Ridley or a Sachs but it'd make a great platform for a starter bike or a second pit machine.

http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/bik/3052808142.html

give a call if you're interested.

Patrick Farrell

Hey Josh - YES - i am planning to buy my first CX bike. Any suggestions (beyond the nycx email list) on where to source a decent, used ride?

I rented a bike from NYC Velo for my first couple of races. Definitely an eye opener re: how much abuse they take. This is *not* your beloved road bike, trust me.

Advice for newbies...

I first started doing cross many years ago, when in the midwest it was really "Mountain Bike Light," moved here, stopped racing cross, then couldn't avoid the gravitational pull that is the pure awesomeness of cross racing in New England and the Mid-Atlantic regions, and started up again about 3 years ago. I found a frame through a friend of a friend of a clubmate and built up a bike (total cost < $500) from spare parts.

The one thing I can say, I should have done years ago, and really haven't even done it yet, is invest in some good mud tires. I don't know what those are, others on the club can guide you there, but when the course turns sloppy, your 45 minutes of good pain, will turn into 45 minutes of sisyphean torture. You must be able to put the power down, and while my first 2 years I was sucky all around and my equipment didn't really matter that much, by year 3, my skills finally got raised to the point where my equipment let me down and that's just frustrating.

So save yourself some grief and make sure you have some extra cash for at least one good set of mud tires. For much of the season, I had some cheap-ass looking tires that were OEM spec and were mostly fine on dry to moist conditions, but there were other times when I was at a serious disadvantage. Also, you may consider investing in tubulars. Normally, I can't be bothered, but in cross, low tire pressure is almost always your friend and you can go so much lower with tubies.

CX Virgins, eBay is your friend. Point 1) YOU WILL DESTROY EQUIPMENT. It is inevitable. So eBay lets you get in the door with cheap equipment that you don't mind destroying in the dirt. You can pick up a bike for less than $1K. Look for CAADX, Giant, Ridley, Kona, Redline and Van Dessel which all make great CX bikes. Don't worry about not having Dura Ace everything (See point 1 above), 105/Rival/Mirage stuff will do you fine and doesn't hurt as much to replace. Frankenbikes are totally ok. Heck, I am running Sram Brifters, Shimano Crank, Campy front & Sram rear derailleur and it all works just fine.

Some good current eBay deals out there now.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cannondale-CAADX-5-Cyclocross-Bike-Size-54xm-Shimano-105-/290720396751?pt=Road_Bikes&hash=item43b04935cf

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Geekhouse-Mudville-Steel-Cyclocross-Bicycle-56cm-SRAM-Force-Rival-Mavic-ENVE-/200768989054?pt=Road_Bikes&hash=item2ebec3a77e

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cannondale-CAADX-5-Cyclocross-Bike-Size-54xm-Shimano-105-/290720396751?pt=Road_Bikes&hash=item43b04935cf

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fuji-Cross-Comp-Cyclocross-bike-/251074578303?pt=Road_Bikes&hash=item3a7536077f