Sep 3, 2009

a cross manifesto of sorts

i’ve been dithering around since road season ended. i just didn’t want it to end. i’d be happy riding in a circle forever if i never had to get off my bike or worse - figure out how to get back on it. and don’t even mention sand pits.

anyhow. a while back i got tired of my schedule. and then i actually got tired of my road bike and there was a window of opportunity where i actually couldn’t wait to get on my ‘cross bike. which was good timing since ‘cross season is around the corner.

i figured it was time to maybe, i don’t know. practice.

so i jumped on it. the opportunity and the bike. and the two of us took to the trails. at first it was scary as shit. but now, its just fun as shit. i figured if me & the ‘cross bike can ride some kentucky singletrack, then a three meter wide ‘cross course isn’t gonna be as scary to us as it was last season.

i’ll let you know if this theory holds water. or mud. or sand.

sure, i’ve still got to figure out the whole remount thing and those pesky sandpits. evidently, my husband gave the whole damn town a kick ass and highly enlightening sand pit clinic which i missed. he assures me a private lesson.

i’m not gonna get sucked into the whole “i’m just here for the points” thing, or the promise of a wheel raffle entry if i do every damn race of the season. i’ve picked my races and i’m sticking to them.

and so mostly what i am saying here is that my goals for this ‘cross season are merely to suck less than last year and to have more fun - at both the sucking less and the ‘cross. it’s my hope that simply deciding to have more fun will automagically translate into sucking less.

so that’s it. i’m not really ‘training for ‘cross’. in fact, according to coach if i want a good road season i’m supposed to just be dithering around right now and having fun - which works out well, cause i want a good road season and dithering around is all i’ve been doing.

so there you have it. and you heard it here. i thought if i announced my intentions for the upcoming ‘cross season right here, out in the open for all to see – that' y’all could just remind me when i come off a course dropping the f bomb in front of small children and lovely women who have baked muffins for me and my airstream; about the mud or the course or the this or that -that i’m just here to have fun and roll some sweet knee socks.

remind me. please.

9 comments:

Gotta Run..... said...

Alright.. you asked for it... we will be watching and listening :)) f-bombs and all.

zencycle said...

There are two things you need to remember about cross racing

a) it's way more intense than a solo jaunt in the woods on your cross bike

2) it's mass start, so even though it's a minimum of 9 feet wide (hopefully) you'll have to worry about banging elbows with a pack of riders while you're in O2 debt.

Not taking it seriously is your best bet. and it's a good way to maintain fitness heading into the off-season. Other than a little dismount/remount practice, the only thing I would recommend would be to to a few running sprints intervals during the week. You'll soon find that the thing that kills you is the trying to accelerate on the bike after you run, so building up some fast twitch by doing 100 meter sprints is the best training if you're just doing it for fitness and not competition.

Judi said...

hell yea girl.

Groover said...

Nothing wrong with the F-word once in a while. It's part of the fun. :-)

zanne said...

aw heck yeah ... didn't mean to imply that I wouldn't drop the f-bomb - I don't have that kind of restraint! Just that I'm hoping that it gets tossed around in fun instead of anger (over placing, course, etc). As in 'fuck yeah that was fun'!

zencycle - thanks for the tip. I'm gonna dig up my running shoes & add it to my regimen of not really training.

bsegal said...

You know my kids were gonna learn that word somewhere, and now I get to blame you. Even tho it was probably a croquet player.
She'll still bring muffins, but you have to beat the shammy. All you need is to realize you had a great road season, get Seteven to re-create that sand clinic(because it rocked)
and be confident. that's all you need. Give cross what you gave to the road and you're there. You can beat the shammy.
here's the tip o'the week. Line up for race#1 and announce loudly that your husband made you breakfast or something of that nature. Have him (as always) shout encouragement from the sidelines.
you know where Im headed.
And wear the kneesocks.

Holden said...

Personally, everyone's CX goal should be to suck less than last year. CX is one of the most humbling sports around and that's why I love it so. Here's to sucking less than last year.

Beck said...

I like the part about sucking less and having fun--goals all of us should have.

DrJohnM said...

Just read the Manifesto. NIce.