Thanks to Pat Sprute for catching me on one of the few where I didn't fall on my face.
I had a great time tonight at the CX clinic. I love having a whole new chunk of bike skills to learn. Tonight we did dismounts and mounts and running over obstacles.
I learned a lot:
- I need to slow down and learn the technique. I tend to rush through this stuff, but I really need to grow into the speed part. I fell a couple times; I had a full on ass-over-tea-kettle wipe out, and I knocked over the obstacles (PVC pipe numbers) a bunch of times. I'm pretty sure I was the klutziest one there. No surprise.
- I jump/hop over the obstacles. It's better to sort of sprint over them. I was kind of getting that near the end, but it's hard. You really do have to sprint to make it work.
- I suck at bunny hopping. I tried to bunny hop the obstacle and ended up breaking one of the pvc joiners. That made me feel like a total jerk.
- I get the Lycra thing. Trying to run and mount with my baggie-ass shorts is dumb. How could I not think of that? Somewhere I have some proper Ibex cycling shorts. At least they're wool.
- There's that running thing. I can ride all day. But if I try to run a block I'm ready to fall over. I need to do some running. Local mountain biker Ben Tobin has suggested running the Peaceful Valley stairs. 5 times in a session. Hmm.
- My bike is a mess. I need to get it super dialed in. Replacing the spindle has screwed up everything. Hopefully I can get the PITA stuff (mainly new shifters/running cable/handlebar stuff) done this weekend and use the next month to dial it in.
- I love this stuff. It was fun because I'm so raw at it. There's so much room to grow.
The rookies this year only race 30 minutes. Which is good. But as Mike S pointed out, that means it's faster. So there's that.
First race that I'm interested in is October 19th at Farragut St Park. That gives me over a month to practice, loose another 10 pounds or so, and try some running.
5 comments:
John, thanks for coming out . You will be surprised at how easy it will get after doing it over and over.
Hope to see you at the next clinic.
Shawn
Rock on, John! Don't sweat the weight loss. While you may burn off excess the extra exercise can increase muscle mass which weighs more.
Thanks for organizing Shawn. It's a great clinic.
Hank: good point. I'm really not concerned with weight as much as getting rid of the remaining glob of love handle around my mid section. That's certainly not muscle mass.
Good job,
I would go for a run instead of doing stairs. If you are not a runner, walk downhills and go harder on uphills at first. Running downhill will make you really sore.
Great job on going to a clinic, best way to speed up the learning curve.
i look forward to reading your future race reports.
Me thinks you'll have a good cheering squad.. Gin, trombones, and cowbells ..right?
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