Pain Cave

I was in my own personal 'pain cave' this afternoon. Been reading suggestions on the Interweb about gear ratio for SS cross and I determined that the ratio on my 29er was to low (36x18) so last night I converted to 36x16. It was a great gear for riding into work today, but home was a different story.

I rode home from work via Forest Park (Thurman Gate to Lief to Ridge to St Johns, etc.). The minor gear change was PAINFUL. I think my experiment failed. Granted, it could be that it was my 4th hard ride in 4 days or that I had a pint at lunch today... Either way, my legs felt the gear modification. It is worth another test, but I think I am going to be converting back before Hornings (my first SS cross race)

Velog

So I've been checking out Velog ("the social cycling log") lately and finally went ahead and 'joined'. I also figured (not like it was hard) how to embed my training data into the side of my blog (see column to the right...). Cool beans.

Master As vs. Single Speed

I put cross tires on my mountain 29er a week ago and have been putting some miles on it (Forest Park, Tabor, Commuting, etc.). I loved the bike before, but am really loving it now. Skinny tires are fun & fast. The confidence of being upright and using disc brakes is so liberating. I feel like I’m pretty capable of at descending in the dirt on the cross bike, but when I do the same descents on the 29er, I absolutely slay them. I’m riding a 36x18, but need to test out 36x16 which I will try to swap out tonight for a ride on Thursday...

Which makes me wonder if I should plan on racing SS this year? Here is what my schedule is looking like right now.

Sept 30th: Battle at Barlow - Master As
Oct 4th: Alpenrose (Cross Crusade #1) – Master A’s
Oct 14th: Horning’s Hideout*: Single Speed
Oct 21st: Rainer High School: undecided. May take a by
Oct 28th: Astoria Fairgrounds: undecided: May take a by unless the family wants to make a weekend out of it…
November 4th: Barton Park: Master As
November 11th Estacada/ World Single Speed CX championships…: Undecided on which to race. SS might be more fun to watch
November 18th: Hillsboro Stadium: Master As
December 1st: PIR/ USGP of Cyclocross #5: Single Speed?
December 2nd: PIR/ USGP of Cyclocross #6: Single Speed?

* I won at Hornings last year in the Bs. Supposedly the course will be mixed up a bit from last year, but still, there is no pavement, so definitely a mtn SS course.

'cross season is underway

Wow, it's cyclocross season already. I've been getting as prepared as I can by logging as many miles as possible on the 'cross bike via Forest Park and Mount Tabor. I've also been running (and running stairs) when I get the chance.

I'm excited to start but very nervous about the whole prospect of racing with the As. I feel like I am in pretty good shape, but pretty good just doesn't cut it with the big guys...

Also been thinking about what I should do about a pit bike. I'd love to have another bike to keep in the pit (and to use as a road bike the rest of the year). I go back and forth on whether or not I should get another standard 'cross bike or whether it should be a disc brake cross bike. I'd love to have a disc brake bike...