• #PSIcx More info here.
• Preliminary staging will be here before Sunday.
• PSI-clocross For Life hosted by Rob Curtis and the crew from PSIMET at Emricson Park in Woodstock, IL.
• Please pay attention when you are racing and entering the park in your car. There are 4 road crossings on the course and while there will be course marshals at each crossing, please look both ways before crossing. Better safe than sorry.
• Speaking of cars, no parking on the grass – anywhere.  There is plenty of parking available throughout Emricson Park, please use it or you will be ticketed. This includes team vehicles intending on dropping off team tent and compound equipment.
• Speaking of tent compounds – please try to keep the team tents in the areas near start/finish and Heckle Hill.
• The Pizza food truck many of us have seen at events like Caldwell Woods will be there around 10:30. There are also plenty of places to eat in downtown Woodstock on the square and we encourage all hungry racers to spend their money there.
• The weather looks great if a little chilly. Please dress appropriately for both before, during, and after your race(s).
• No inside bathrooms or the warming hut again this year. All Porta-potties near the Start/Finish.
• Rt 47 through Huntley is not under construction this year but still subject to traffic, so please plan your travel times accordingly. Your best bet directions are to exit I90 on Route 47 into the town of Woodstock. A left on Lake Ave and another left on South St should lead you right to Emricson Park (on your right).
• Now that the official sunset time is literally minutes after the end of the Cat 4/5 race, PSIMET and the South Chicago Wheelmen would appreciate any help tearing down the course after the Cat 4/5 race.
• While Rob Curtis LOVES the festivities on Heckle Hill, he asks that if you bring it in you pack it out… or at least drop it in one of the trash cans. It is often tough to see trash on the ground after the last race due to sunset.
• The SRAM NRS equipment pits are a fair distance away from the start/finish area, so please plan your time accordingly.
• The course: New direction, with the course running anti-clockwise. Hills, and some bumpy fields, and a high-speed trip through the woods, and hills.

Cyclocross racing is made to take you to your limit.  You have a power profile (Peak Power at different durations) and it’s important that you take inventory and identify the different efforts that you have in your arsenal. 

The start is like a sprint. The entire first lap is a VO2max nightmare. The middle of the race is normally more on the FTP side of things with wicked little ebb and flow situations necessary to either drop or stay with others. The last lap is usually an FTP normalized power/VO2max feeling death march with a possible sprint at the end. Take inventory, know what you have to work with and develop every aspect:

.02 (12 seconds, explosive power): This is your start and finish. Starts are pretty straight forward.  The finish is more intricate so know what distance suits you best – usually 150-300 meters. When you get to a race course make note of a stationary object that is your sweet spot distance away from the finish line and key in on it as a place to launch yourself into the final sprint. This type of effort will also get you over short hills and, if necessary, short gaps.

1 minute, lactate clearance: Jam up short hills, close small gaps or go into “cling-on” mode when things really get tough. If you’re feeling awesome then go ahead and let it fly from a kilometer out from the finish.

6 minutes, velocity at VO2MAX: Work this duration out and it goes a long way.  The first lap of a race is often as much about who can suffer as it is about who is the strongest.  Peg it as long as it takes and things will calm down at some point long enough for you to recover and settle into a group.

12 minute: See CP6, but with twice as much misery and pain! Also consider this as a way to help make an attack stick in the last couple of laps.

CP30 (30 minutes, lactate super threshold): The field is made up of those that have this type of muscular endurance and those that don’t. It is a more useful number in road racing should you find yourself off the front, but still an important one to build for cyclocross as it represents the sustained power that will get you to the end with a little something left.

Use your tools to build a good result. Get a great start, bridge up to the group just ahead, attack at THE critical point of a race, maintain good position……these are all necessary evils in the pursuit of happiness (winning will make you a happier person). Don’t do anything unless it is a direct benefit to you or a teammate. Pulling at the front of a long headwind section with no help from anyone else in your group is like running sideways at a marathon. Have a plan, know what you have going for you and use it to win!

Rob Kelley

TRAINING BIBLE CYCLING

Photo: SnowyMountain Photography

• Good times all around at Campton Cross this past weekend. Thanks to the entire Bicycle Heaven and Training Bible Cycling gang. The weather was stellar with no wind which allowed everyone to show off their best Halloween costumes. Links to all the results are here.
  

  Photo: SnowyMountain Photography

• Next up the CCC travels a bit North to Woodstock, IL for Psi-clocross for Life hosted by Psimet. Look for the course preview at the normal time on Thursday.
• Just a heads up, if you do not have a Wordpress account and you post comments here on the CCC site that WordPress thinks might be spam (e.g. lots of links, etc), the comment has to be manually approved (by us). We try to approve all comments in a timely manner, so just hang tight before re-posting
• The Lost and Found bin (which is always at registration or near the CCC trailer) is getting a little big. So please, be kind to our race promoters and don’t lose your stuff.
• And finally… we kindly ask that when you are out pre-riding the course or even just spectating and if you see course tape broken, mangled, etc… please take a minute and fix it. We know mistakes happen and no one would purposely ride through stakes or course tape, but while not racing, please lend a hand and help us out. Thanks!

Photo: SnowyMountain Photography

• Rob Kelley, Peter Kelley, and the entire Bicycle Heaven crew bring you the 10th edition of Campton Cross in beautiful Campton Hills.
• Remember to use #CamptonCX on Twitter and Instagram.
• Need directions? Point yourself towarsd 4N930 Brown Road, St. Charles, IL. From I-90: Randall Road South, to Rt. 64 West, past LaFox Road, turn right onto Brown Road and park is up on your left.
• More details here and here on the Training Bible Cycling website. Preliminary staging will be here.
• Remember reg closes 30 minutes before the scheduled start of each race. If you’re late, you’re not racing. We’re even giving you an extra hour to sleep this year… again. Please find your way to the park near the corner of Rt 64 and Brown Rd in Campton Hills/Wasco… NOT the other Anderson Park in Oak Park. The map on BikeReg is correct as well.
• Race director Rob Kelley will be the judge in the annual costume contest.
• There will be a food vendor TBD w/ Reems Brats and coffee.
• Sorry, but NO alcoholic beverages are allowed in the park.
• The weather looks great again but a little chillier than last week.
• Training Bible Cycling and Bicycle Heaven have increased the Cat 1/2/3 payouts to $700 total for each field.
• Rob and the crew encourage riders to NOT warm up on/around the soccer fields to the East of registration. The village has asked us to keep off the areas visible when you pull into the park. If you carefully ride North on Brown Rd for about 200 meters you can hop onto the Prairie Path/Great Western trail (see the thick yellow line in the map below) which is a great place to warm up. Thank you.
• The Course: Similar to years past but altered slightly to accommodate the SRAM NRS equipment pit. The start chute may also be lengthened depending on the weather.

Try To Run Like This Guy!

Running……I really don’t like to run.  Even the short amount included in getting over a barrier or two is too much.  As with most things that means that it is most likely one of my limiters (AKA weaknesses) and so something that needs to be addressed.  MORE

Photo: SnowyMountain Photography

• Holy cow was ABD Sunrise Park hard and a blast and also really hard. Its subtle, but we think ABDcx is the hardest race in the entire series. Sure there are no hills, no sand, no flyover, no wind (this year) but there is just no place to recover along the entire track. When we mentioned this to race director Jim Nowak on Sunday his reply was “Good. I want riders to finish and have absolutely nothing left in the tank.” It was the perfect race for all our newly upgraded Cat 2’s, Cat 3’s, and Cat ‘4s to test their mettle… so well done to all of you! Results links are here.
• This Saturday “Higher Gear is getting the band back together – for the third year in a row! The Rhythm and Blues Revue Cyclocross Race is back – bigger and even better! Ghouls and goblins will fill the field at the third annual Rhythm and Blues Revue, hosted by Higher Gear. Join them on Halloween, Saturday October 31 for one of the most fun CX races in Chicagoland.” More details here.
• Next up, the CCC travels just a little bit farther West to Campton (NOT Compton) CX, hosted by Bicycle Heaven and series sponsor Training Bible Cycling. Its the day after Halloween, so please dress appropriately. Campton CX is also increasing payouts for both the Men & Women Cat 1/2/3 to $700 for each field paying 8 deep.
• Speaking of payouts, please pick up your payouts at the venue! The CCC standard minimum payout schedule is here, but most race promoters will only hold on to unclaimed winnings for a few weeks before donating the money to charity.
• Speaking of charity, remember the CCC is accepting donations through each race’s BikeReg page for our end of the year lump sum donation. You can also donate your winnings back at the race or send us an email if you want to go big. This year we are directing all funds towards Big Marsh, West Town Bikes, and Blackstone Bicycle Works. Donations have been very lite this year, so we can only assume you all must be paying off all those GoPros and fancy carbon wheels you keep breaking.
  

  Photo: SnowyMountain Photography

• And finally… since we can’t seem to get through a single week without unnecessary drama about something, just a few bunch of words about heckling. Whether you love it, hate it, or don’t care, heckling is a part of cyclocross. Full stop. What makes our niche sport so great for spectating and taking photos, i.e. the slower speeds of the racers (vs. road, track, etc), close proximity to the race track, riding our bikes in the park, hanging out with all our friends, being able to read racer names on their helmets, etc… also allows for the heckling. For better or worse, we can’t have one without the other. Its part of the culture and if done correctly is a beautiful, wonderfully funny thing that helps riders make it through the race. So to the 98% of you doing it correctly, thank you. But, for the rest of you, and as we have said over and over and over and over… there should always be more cheer than jeer. If you wouldn’t say it in front of your grandmother or wouldn’t want it on the front page of the Monday morning NY Times… don’t say it in a public space where a.) there are impressionable kids, b.) everyone has a camera and is recording you, and c.) other people who have no idea what CX is will hear you and think everyone else at the event is also a jerk. All that being said, if some dude (and lets face it, its always a dude) is truly being rude, unruly, stoopid, or otherwise making a fool of himself, kindly ask him to stop… in person, right there, at the venue. Put a little skin in the game and don’t wait until the next morning to vent here in the comment section or on the Facebook, or Twitter, or your MySpace page. The CCC has not been made great or horrible by any one person. We all have a responsibility to make the CCC the best CX race series it can be, so please do your part, on both sides of the tape. Okay? This will be the last time we discuss heckling here this season. So let’s all just be cool and race our bikes, and let other people race their bikes too.
  

  Photo: SnowyMountain Photography

• #ABDcx  Remember to check out the standard preview page here.
• – Preliminary staging will be posted here.
• If you upgraded this week and want 1/2 your CCC series points to follow you to the next category, please contact us at ChicagoCrossCup at gmail by Friday. We will NOT automatically transfer your points.
• Parking on Foster Ave is allowed but on NORTH side only. There should be “No Parking” signs along the park (south) side. If not, please respect this. Also Parking is allowed on Struckman Blvd (better option), or at Sycamore Trails School (preferred).
• $25 prime to the winner of first partial lap of each race (other than Cat 4/5). Payouts will be held until Campton Cross. Any payouts not claimed after Campton Cross will be donated to Bartlett Park District Foundation.
• North of the Border will be serving Mexican and American w/ veggie options.
• Other Brother Coffee will be there with your warm beverage in the AM.
• Kiddie race is at 2pm!
• No alcohol.  Sorry Park rules.
• The Course: Nearly identical to last year but with a new start chute.

Cyclocross is unique in its’ physical demands.  It’s all-out, shut down completely for some twisty turns and then on again at full tilt.  The very fast and fun course at Randall Oaks (thanks Main Street Bicycles and crew) was a good example of this.

Chicago Cyclocross Cup (c) Liz Farina Markel/Tipping Point Photography

Recover when you can’t pedal……It seems pretty obvious but takes some discipline when you’re so fried that you can’t even spit correctly.  Break the course down in your mind during your warm up laps and remind yourself to back off when the course necessitates during the race.  Use those precious moments to breath and collect your thoughts.

Cyclocross takes longer to learn than most endurance sports.  There are so many little things to remember and execute and all while you’re almost completely out of your mind.  So as with anything that we do – barriers, start, turns, etc. – you’re wise to work on this aspect as well.   These are tough!  So do them on a day that makes sense to have hard intervals:

Warm up for at least 20 minutes in zones 1-2 heart rate/power

Do as one continuous effort: 10 seconds race pace (120% or more of your FTP power/race pace), then right into a technical section of turns that take 10 seconds to complete x 9 efforts back to back = 1 interval .  So each interval is 3 minutes in length (20 seconds x 9).

2 minutes of recovery between intervals.

X3 intervals = 1 set.

Take 5 minutes off between sets.

Warm down with at least a 20 minute spin in zones 1-2 heart rate/power

Two or three sets for a 4/5, four or five sets for a cat 3 and six or seven sets for the 1/2/3 bunch is a good hard day on the bike.

As with pyramid intervals the recovery is as much a focus as the power.  Train your mind and body to relax in the technical section.  As with most learned skill repetition is your friend.  It will become a natural thing to do on race day and that is going to provide you with more power where it’s most beneficial.

Rob Kelley

TRAINING BIBLE CYCLING