The Cyclocross Workout Of The Day for Friday, 10.9.15. “Rant Ignition”
Howdy folks,
It’s Friday again.
I’m not sure how that happened. This week absolutely flew by. Heck, this cross season is flying by! Don’t blink, or you’ll miss the rest of it.
Since we’re on the topic of “miss,” did you happen to see the Cyclocross Nationals schedule? It was released earlier this week, and – frankly – it sucks.
MONDAY JANUARY 4, 2016
Time Event Distance Description
2:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m Registration/Packet pick-up Biltmore Estate- Historic Barn at Antler Hill Village
2:00 p.m. – 5:15 p.m Course openTUESDAY JANUARY 5, 2016
Time Event Distance Description
9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m Registration/Packet pick-up Biltmore Estate- Historic Barn at Antler Hill Village
9:00 a.m. – 9:45 a.m Course open
10:00 a.m. Cyclo-cross Male Non-Championship 23-29 40 min
11:00 a.m. Cyclo-cross Male Non-Championship 30-39 40 min
11:50 a.m. – 12:30 p Course open
12:40 p.m. Cyclo-cross Female Non-Championship 23-34 40 min
1:40 p.m. Cyclo-cross Female Non-Championship 35+ 40 min
2:40 p.m. Cyclo-cross Male Non-Championship 40-49 40 min
3:40 p.m. Cyclo-cross Male Non-Championship 50+ 40 min
4:30 p.m. Awards Antler Village
5:15 p.m. Course closedWEDNESDAY JANUARY 6, 2016
Time Event Distance Description
7:45 a.m. – 8:15 a.m Course open
8:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m Registration/Packet pick-up Biltmore Estate- Historic Barn at Antler Hill Village
8:30 a.m. Cyclo-cross Male Master 30-34 Cat 1/2/3 45 min
9:30 a.m. Cyclo-cross Male Masters 35-39 Cat 1/2/3 45 min
10:30 a.m. Cyclo-cross Male Master 40-44 Cat 1/2/3 45 min
11:30 a.m. Cyclo-cross Male Master 45-49 Cat 1/2/3 45 min
12:15 p.m. – 12:45 p Course open
12:45 p.m. Cyclo-cross Male Master 50-54 Cat 1/2/3 45 min
1:45 p.m. Cyclo-cross Male Master 55-59 40 min
2:35 p.m. Cyclo-cross Male Master 60-64 40 min
3:25 p.m. Cyclo-cross Male Master 65-69 40 min
4:15 p.m. Cyclo-cross Male Master 70-74 40 min
4:15 p.m. Cyclo-cross Male Master 75-79 40 min
4:15 p.m. Cyclo-cross Male Master 80-84 40 min
4:15 p.m. Cyclo-cross Male Master 85+ 40 min
5:15 p.m. Awards Antler Village
5:15 p.m. Course closedTHURSDAY JANUARY 7, 2016
Time Event Distance Description
8:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m Registration/Packet pick-up Biltmore Estate- Historic Barn at Antler Hill Village
8:00 a.m. – 8:45 a.m Course open
9:00 a.m. Cyclo-cross Female Master 30-34 Cat 1/2/3 40 min
10:00 a.m. Cyclo-cross Female Master 35-39 Cat 1/2/3 40 min
11:00 a.m. Cyclo-cross Female Master 40-44 Cat 1/2/3 40 min
11:40 a.m. – 12:40 p Course open
12:40 p.m. Cyclo-cross Female Master 45-49 35 min
1:35 p.m. Cyclo-cross Female Master 50-54 35 min
2:30 p.m. Cyclo-cross Female Master 55-59 35 min
3:25 p.m. Cyclo-cross Female Master 60-64 35 min
3:25 p.m. Cyclo-cross Female Master 65-69 35 min
3:25 p.m. Cyclo-cross Female Master 70-74 35 min
3:25 p.m. Cyclo-cross Female Master 75+ 35 min
4:20 p.m. Cyclo-cross Female Non-Championship Cat 4 30 min
5:15 p.m. Awards Antler Village
5:15 p.m. Course closedFRIDAY JANUARY 8, 2016
Time Event Distance Description
8:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m Registration/Packet pick-up Biltmore Estate- Historic Barn at Antler Hill Village
8:00 a.m. – 8:45 a.m Course open
9:00 a.m. Collegiate Men D2 50 min
10:00 a.m. Collegiate Men D1 50 min
11:00 a.m. Cyclo-cross Male Non-championship 9-22 35 min
11:01 a.m. Cyclo-cross Female Non-championship 9-22 35 min
11:45 a.m. – 12:30 p Course open
12:30 p.m. Collegiate Women D2 40 min
1:20 p.m. Collegiate Women D1 40 min
2:15 p.m. Cyclo-cross Male Singlespeed 40 min
3:10 p.m. Cyclo-cross Female Singlespeed 40 min
4:05 p.m. Mixed 4 laps/4 riders
5:00 p.m. Awards Antler Village
5:15 p.m. Course closedSATURDAY JANUARY 9, 2016
Time Event Distance Description
8:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m Registration/Packet pick-up Biltmore Estate- Historic Barn at Antler Hill Village
8:00 a.m.- 8:45 a.m. Course open
9:00 a.m. Cyclo-cross Male Junior 15-16 30 min
9:45 a.m. Cyclo-cross Male Junior 13-14 20 min
10:15 a.m. Cyclo-cross Female Junior 13-14 20 min
10:45 a.m. Collegiate 4×4 Team Relay 4 laps
11:30 a.m. – 12:00 p Course open
12:00 p.m. Cyclo-cross Male Junior 11-12 20 min
12:30 p.m. Cyclo-cross Female Junior 11-12 20 min
1:00 p.m. Cyclo-cross Male Junior 9-10 20 min
1:30 p.m. Cyclo-cross Female Junior 9-10 20 min
2:00 p.m. Cyclo-cross Male Industry 40 min
2:01 p.m. Cyclo-cross Female Industry 40 min
3:00 p.m. Cyclo-cross Mixed Donut Race TBD To benefit a local charity
4:00 p.m. Awards Antler Village
5:15 p.m. Course closedSUNDAY JANUARY 10, 2016
Time Event Distance Description
8:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m Registration/Packet pick-up Biltmore Estate- Historic Barn at Antler Hill Village
8:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m Course open
9:45 a.m. Cyclo-cross Female Junior 15-16 30 min
10:30 a.m. Cyclo-cross Male Junior 17-18 Cat 1/2/3 40 min
11:30 a.m. Cyclo-cross Female U23 17-22 Cat 1/2/3 40 min 17-18 awarded separately
To follow Awards (morning races)
12:30 p.m. Cyclo-cross Male U23 19-22 Pro/Cat 1/2/3 50 min
1:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m Elite women practice only
2:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m Elite men practice only
2:30 p.m. Cyclo-cross Female Elite 23+ Pro/Cat 1/2/3 50 min
3:30 p.m. Cyclo-cross Male Elite 23+ Pro/Cat 1/2 60 min
4:45 p.m. Awards Antler Village
Master’s racer? Want to watch the Elite race? Good luck with that. The only open course/preview day is Monday, Tuesday is completely dedicated to non championship races; Congratulations, you just kissed an entire week of vacation time goodbye.
Two Industry races? In the best time slot of the day? On Saturday?
WTF is a donut race?
This whole thing has turned into a money grab and a circus side show. Enough already.
We don’t need multiple “Industry” races and so many non-championship events that they take up more than a full day of the schedule. I get it; this crap fills the pockets of USAC and the promoter.
Great for them.
Not for the rest of us.
It’s time to break this s**t up.
Move the Masters and citizens races back to December.
Stage a stand alone Elite National Championship event in January for the few top of the heap categories that will contest Worlds later in the month.
Enough already.
(In all fairness, they did get one thing right with this schedule; they put the Jr. races on Saturday. That was the right thing to do, for multiple excellent reasons. Credit where credit is due.)
Rant over, on with today’s workout…
You might just be racing tomorrow.
If you are, you need to open up your legs a bit today.
Time for…
Ignition –
(Zach McDonald, this vid’s for you!)
You’re going to do a series of short, hard sprints midway through a 1 – 1 1/2 hour ride. Before you head out the door, give some thought to where you can do that effectively.
A flat, straight, low-traffic section of road is what you’re looking for.
It would be great if it’s about a :45 minute ride away; that would make things nice and simple.
Hop on your bike and roll out the door.
Ride steady, at a moderate pace for 1/2 hour – 45 minutes, eventually winding up at the aforementioned stretch of road.
You’re now going to do a series of Hard out of the saddle sprints.
How hard?
Well, hard to say. You’ll start to get the hang of it pretty quickly, but figure that you’re shooting for an output level that will allow you to crank out all the sprints in the set at about the same level, but not easily.
You aren’t sprinting to failure here, and you aren’t doing a max power test.
Don’t overdo it, you’re trying to open your legs, not destroy them.
Make sense?
10 sprints, 10 seconds each.
1 minute between each sprint.
After the last sprint, roll back home spinning easily to recover.
Budget at least 15 – 20 minutes for the spin/ride back home.
when you get home, put your feet up and relax.
For some folks, this isn’t quite enough to get their legs open and ready the day before the race – or at least it doesn’t feel like it’s enough – and the importance of “feeling” ready can’t really be overestimated.
If you’re part of this club (I am) add a 10-minute effort at right about your 2×20 output level before you start the sprint sets.
Warm up, 10 minute effort, 5 minutes spinning, sprint efforts, spin down, go home.
Hey! Even if you’re racing Sunday – not Saturday – this week, give this workout a go today. A wee bit of sprint work two days before a race works really well for some folks. You might be one of ’em.
Enjoy!
M
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