You pre-load the night before AND 30 minutes before starting. However, I don't know if I'd pre-load for a 45 minute race!

a) you definitely don't need to preload for a 45 minute race

Laying off the pre-load from now on.

Y'all better consider Forest Park and Blunt Park next year as a CX appetizer platter, before the hearty feast of the full season kicks in.

I also love how your focus was on the misuse of pre-load rather than Rick's shoulder or my ribs.

Dan Reiners said:

I also love how your focus was on the misuse of pre-load rather than Rick's shoulder or my ribs.

Dude.  Slamming 21 oz of preload minutes before a CX race... what else IS there to talk about?

This kid who was at the Myerson clinic with Marc, Patrick and Joshua took 4th in a very fast 3/4 race at Blunt  Park He was hell of speedy holding his own in a very strong/very competent  field

Jules,

Dan Reiners said:

Jules,

I never said I slammed pre-load minutes before for a race. It was a mild aside that preload is gross (which is the general consensus on this board) both going down and coming back up.

Ha!  Sorry Dan, I had this image of some kind of Viking Beer Mile Cyclocross scene with a giant pitcher of salty apesweat Osmo Preload at the start.

I'm not racing Independence Cross https://www.bikereg.com/Confirmed/25521 as I have some errands that day north of the city and will be racing Silk City in CT for reasons of logistics instead. I'll try to transfer reg over to any interested persons.

In searching for full zip cx tights for pre-race warm up I found these on pre-order sale until August 31: http://steenwear.com/product/full-zip-cyclocross-cx-warm-up-tights/

I don't know this company. My sense is that they are small and new and like to take photos in Belgium. Regardless, they have a pre-order sale of $50 for tights you can wear on a chilly warmup and then zip right off at the start line.

I ordered a pair bit note that the size chart seems off to me. It suggested that with my inseam (to above ankle) of 72 cm that I should take 2XL. I've never worn 2XL in anything. I emailed the company and they suggested medium (my usual) or large as the tights don't stretch lengthwise (due to the zipper). I decided on a large. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

By the way, champ sys does make a full length zip cx tight. Perhaps if there was enough interest it could be added to the store.

Rick- I'm doing Silk City in Manchester CT too- See you there in September!

I will once again be working on cx skills in Cunningham Saturday morning at 9. (Same location as last weeks post). I'll bring barriers. Anyone looking for guidance about some aspect of cross or just wanting someone to train with is welcome to join. I'm planning on spending first hour in the field working on skills and the second hour in the trails for some tempo riding finishing off with short sprints. I am not joining the bandit cross as I want to focus on skills rather than a mock race. Holler if you are thinking of joining me.

Hey Patrick -- I should be there.

PatrickG said:

Holler if you are thinking of joining me.

I will join you.

@eloy -- I might drive. I have room for one more bike and need a navigator
if I do. That said, I'm also open to riding as well.


On Thu, Aug 28, 2014 at 3:14 PM, eloy <

Steen cycling wear is my old friend from Texas. Gregg germer.

Adam Fabian said:

@eloy -- I might drive. I have room for one more bike and need a navigator if I do. That said, I'm also open to riding as well. On Thu, Aug 28, 2014 at 3:14 PM, eloy <

Adam, driving there is dramatically better. Let's drive out. Please tell me when and where to meet. Feel free to email me at eloy@groovylab.com or text/call: 347.225.1058 

I'm convinced. I'll email or text you offline to plan.


On Thu, Aug 28, 2014 at 4:41 PM, eloy <

If anybody can give me a ride on Saturday, I'm down. Although I'll probably just spend the bulk of my time working on my drive side dismout/carry/remount. I've been clipped by two too many mirrors on trips riding out there. It's one of those circumstances, where i feel like wearing kit while riding out there is akin to having  bulls eyes drawn on your front and on your back

Patrick, I have a pair of store-brand REI rain paints that make me feel very pro while warming up in cold conditions. Plus, they are great for layering over jeans on cold days while watching the pro-ish races.

The only downside is that I have to roll them up at the ankles lest they get caught in drive-train for warm-up laps. Usually I have fleece leg warmers underneath and I'm still toasty.

I think I've mentioned this before, but for the coldest days I prefer fleece shorts and fleece legwarmers. Never really loved the look of the KCC tights. And with the fleecy combo pack, I get all the warmth and a more fitted look.

I'm looking for pedal recommendations for my cross bike. On my road bike, I've come up with a solution for my left side knee problems. With my heels together and my shins aligned my left foot points out the left quite a bit. So now I'm running a 20mm knee saver extender. In conjunction with my speedplays adjusted for a ton of float on the left pedal, this is working. My knee pain has all but gone away and my power numbers have improved markedly as my left leg is now properly aligned w/o any of the twisting I was experiencing before

The problem you have is that you unclipped, I think eggbeaters don't have a way to adjust tension. I use Shimano's XTR whatevers, where the tension can be adjusted pretty hardcore. Perhaps that would help.

Eggbeaters have some trick about reversing the cleats (left cleat goes on right shoe) in order to get either more or less play prior to clip out.

I found the following instructions online, but you better check for yourself in your owner's manual.

The cleats have round dots which indicate the amount of free play before disengagement. With dots on the right, the cleat disengages early at a 15 degree heel twist in either direction. With dots on the left the cleat disengages at a 20 degree angle. The earlier the easier. If you are duck footed or have stiff ankles it can be a problem because the release angle is not manually adjustable.

I'll try flipping the cleats around to see if that makes a difference. It's my heel rotating inwards(my toes rotating outwards:the reverse of how you normally unclip) that's causing me to clip out. I'm guessing the position that's normally an earlier release (when the heel rotates outwards/toes inward) might hold me in better.

FWIW, Meyerson and team is not exactly a big fan of the platformless egg beater pedals. There is a not insignificant time spent cranking when you are unclipped and they contend it's much harder with the 'beaters."

That said, I don't plan to change. I like 'em just fine. And Al Donahue did a comparo with his "candys" and discovered that his shoe doesn't actually contact the "platform" of the candys any better than the minimalistic egg beaters!

this looks like  it was a pretty awesome race….I'm posting it here because it featured some big name crossers e.g. Tim Johnson, Dan Chabanov, and Anthony Clark who won it. I think Pete Vollers put a lot of energy into it and that's probably why there's no Green Mountain cross this year