Sorry Gwynna, I'm racing road this weekend.  Boo..

@Gwynna- I'll be out of town, but Willy Lake is a blast. Some tough stuff in there and some great not as tough stuff as well. The cave is short, albeit fun (and very cool [in terms of both temperature and grooviness]).

@Neil - so after that ride (or even during) we did on Sunday, my hands were sore and tired. Is this a function of me gripping the handlebar too tightly (and therefore wrongly)? Braking too much or is there an adjustment I need to make on my handlebar? 

@Phillip- Could be a little bit of both or either. Next time riding off
road make a conscious effort to have a relaxed upper body and hands. Also,
have someone take a look at your position on the bike. As with a road
bike, saddle height, fore and aftness of the saddle, bar height, top tube
length, and stem length all factor into how much pressure you place on your
hands.

*Position of Levers on Bar*
Also, check out the angle of your brake levers on the bar. Do they work
comfortably when you're hovering out of the saddle with your butt back on
downhills? Are they comfortable to use when seated? Are they crunched
against the inside edge of the grip? If so you can experiment with moving
them inboard a tiny bit at a time and see if that helps.

*Bar Width*
Lots of different preferences here. I almost always cut mine a little bit
from stock width which is a bit more comfortable for me and also allows a
little more squeeze room between trees. Of course, once again, what you're
comfortable with width-wise is going to be very much a function of your own
physiology, personal preference, and of course the stock width, along with
the sweep and height of the bar on the bike.

*Reach/Engagement of Lever*
Some disc brake levers also allow you to adjust reach so take a look and
see if for instance you're having to extend your fingers further than
comfortable. If so, you may be able to bring the engagement in or out a
bit so you're not straining your fingers as much.

Some general guidelines for the stuff above are covered in this BikeRadar
article:
http://www.bikeradar.com/us/gear/article/workshop-setting-up-the-cockpit-on-your-mountain-bike-20662/

*Grips*
That having been written, sometimes grips are to blame. I don't recall
which ones you had on your bike, but much like saddles what works for one
person doesn't necessarily work for others.

- ODI lock-ons are a popular after market switch out on mountain bikes.
They might add a little weight but they won't move around and come on a
variety of plies and thicknesses.
- http://www.odigrips.com/mtbgrips.aspx
- As are Lizard Skin and Oury grips.
- http://shop.lizardskins.com/collections/mtb
- http://www.ourygrips.com/mountain-grips
- Ergon's and Specialized's designs tend toward the more bulging
"ergonomic" style (which I have no experience with but may be good):
- http://www.ergon-bike.com/us/en/home#
- http://www.specialized.com/us/en/ftb/gripstape/grips





On Wed, Jun 4, 2014 at 3:12 PM, Phillip Maronilla <
kissenacycling+d875@email.vanillaforums.com> wrote:

> @Neil - so after that ride (or even during) we did on Sunday, my hands
> were sore and tired. Is this a function of me gripping the handlebar too
> tightly (and therefore wrongly)? Braking too much or is there an adjustment
> I need to make on my handlebar?
>
> --
> Reply to this email directly or follow the link below to check it out:
>
> http://kissenacycling.vanillaforums.com/discussion/comment/63871#Comment_63871
>
>
-

Hmmm.. thanks Neil. 

Yes - I really need a gushy thick gel like grip myself - I love the lizard
skins for road - anyone have a specific recommend?

Best,

-Eric

Eric J. Robertson

*Mr. X Gotham*
214 Sullivan Street
New York, NY 10012
ejr@mrxfx.com
Office (212) 993-7878
Mobile (917) 509-4696

. _ 0
... _ \ <_
.... (_)/(_)


On Wed, Jun 4, 2014 at 4:51 PM, Phillip Maronilla <

I"m reg'd for the clinic. There's only one spot left.....small class size capped at 10

Congrats Gwynna!

Thanks. Lewis Morris has no rocky technical sections (when we rode it two weeks ago). Definitely a fast xc course. btw 9.5 miles is looong.. I did a 5 mile race last year with a mix of everything, except maybe a descent, and that took me an hour to do.

Awesome racing:
http://www.redbull.com/us/en/bike/videos/1331653236062/replay-uci-albstadt-2014-xco-men
Seems so much more peaceful compared with CX — dudes running XTR electric too.

I'm still running 9 speed and xtr is now electronic..

A 'cross race is definitely more intense than a mtb race. The start alone is hectic, with 50-70 people sprinting at the start. You'll never have that in a mtb race. And while a xc race gets your heart pumping, it doesn't compare to a cx race where you feel your heart is about to explode..throughout the entire 45 mins.

@Gwynna, that's an interesting take, I agree MTB'ers are a whole different religion. I think you'll find vs CX the main difference is on the FTP side, you literally are full gas for 45 minutes with no time to rest. Then you have a whole new set of skills: constantly dismounting, jumping and running — mastery of these is the difference between 1st and 30th place.

What interested me in the race above was they were borrowing heavily from the cross format with a shorter crowd friendly circuit. Also you could almost have ridden that course on a CX bike.

@John-As attendance and sponsorship has diminished in mountain bike racing over the last 10+ years, there's definitely been a push to make race venues more accessible to cities and friendly to spectators and TV.  As a result (intended or otherwise), xc courses by and large have become notoriously less technical - favoring some riders and obviously disfavoring others. It seems like this is particularly true of the World Cup races, as opposed to say local U.S. races and even the U.S. National series, which, for the most part,retain some technical-ness. The other thing is that as the xc format has become less technical  --at least on the World Cup circuit -- promoters are filling the gap between xc and downhill with much more technical (than xc) enduro format races --- which coincide with the long travel marketing push of the manufacturers. So,I think there is a technical racing world out there, it just isn't in the on xc World Cup circuit.

Having never watched a televised mountain bike race I was actually surprised how similar it seemed to cross, at least the first lap which is all I've had time to watch. 

Gwynna and all...rent a car from Enterprise or Budget in Fort Lee. Usually $40-60/day for smallest car. Zip car way too expensive. Ride your bike over the bridge to pick up. Enterprise not open on Sunday, so you usually have to rent for an extra day if you don't have two races on a weekend, but the money is still better. Also enterprise has 24hour drop off, so you don't have to worry about Sunday night parking in the city. Drop off the car, ride back over the bridge, and youre done.

Fun race yesterday at Lewis Morris Park. There were a few of us there, Gwynna, Rick, Eric, Joaquin.

Fast flowing xc course which we were familiar with since, thanks to Neil, we rode the trail a couple of weeks before. I did the cat 3 40-49. A big group. 41 finishers. Came in 20th. I was in a bad spot at the start, I should have been at the front (or close to it). 

No warm up for me so I told myself to take it easy the first 10 mins. The start was orderly and everyone got into a single file almost immediately. Right at the beginning, there was a stream crossing which bogged down some people. The guy in front of me crossed it fine, but lost traction on the way out, which stopped me on my tracks. No big deal. Got back on and passed him. The first hill saw Rick pass me and I never saw him again until towards the end (he got a flat). I got stuck a couple of times behind slow guys and was content to stay there because of the slow pace until I yell at myself that this is a race and drop these guys.

By mid-point, my arms and legs were tiring from all the jarring motion to a point that going down a hill, i would just sit instead of standing (not a good idea). I was doing fine going uphill, passing people etc., but people were "dropping" me on downhills. Literally, I'm on someone's wheel, then they just disappear and leave me. Strange. I don't have the confidence to bomb a hill, yet. But it's a skill one needs in XC to do well.

There was a beer hand up in the last mile, then a fast downhill almost to the finish. Free beer at the end, can't get any better than that.  

 - The End

Neil - any other race course coming up that's similar to Lewis Morris? (not technical).