Cross Fever....it's that time of year

After a little break from training and racing, I am back to it with a little more structured base training through October.  Nothing exciting to add to that as it is all base training for this month before I add some more details and intervals into training next month.   By next month I may have more of an idea of the racing schedule for 2014 aside from IM St George 70.3 in May.

On the fun side I have been racing cyclocross this season after dabbling a couple of times at the end of the 2012.  It's nice to be racing low key with no expectations and just purely to have a good time.  So far I have raced a handful of times and will continue to do so through the Fall.  Aside from it being fun, it's an awesome workout and will dramatically improve your bike handling skills.  Where else can you race for 45mins on your bike in the Fall and average 165bpm's? 

Racing at ProvidenceCX in early October

Generally I race in the 3/4 category races (I am a Cat 4 for 'cross) and finish middle of the pack, always fighting someone for that all important 30th spot.  However, this past weekend I stepped down a level and raced the 4/5 category which was immediately prior to the Masters 3/4 race.  It was primarily as a good warm-up and to get some laps of the course before the 2nd race.  Fortunately I had a good starting position and after sitting in the top 5 for the first two laps, pushed away on the final lap and ended up winning the race.  Bonus!  For the 2nd race in the Masters 3/4 I was back to battling for 30th spot and got 31st :-)

Top step of the podium at Tacchino CX 4/5 race

If you haven't seen a cross race, why not head out and watch one (they generally serve beer), or better yet sign up and race one, mountain bikes are allowed.  The closest one in the Annapolis area is on Sunday Oct 27th at South River Farm Park and is being hosted by ABRT. 

Anyway, in the next month or so I'll be changing up the blog a little to add in weekly training updates....it will keep me honest as we target the 2014 season.