More 'cross Practice

I did cyclocross practice again with the Flying Rhinos last night. I now understand why the club tends to do well during 'cross season. They start working on it well over a month beforehand and set up pretty realistic courses. Last night, we did 4 sets of 6 lap "mini-races". I didn't wear a watch (or have a computer), but I'm guessing the 6 laps takes about 15-20 minutes.

I felt much better this week than I did the last time I did this 'cross practice. Part of it was that I had some Clif Shot Electrolyte drink in my water bottle instead of straight water. I think this made a big difference as the night wore on. The other (not so good) side of it was that I probably didn't ride as hard as I did on my last outing. The group was quite a bit smaller last night and there weren't too many people who were riding at my pace. There was a decent-sized group that was quite a bit faster, and another big group that was quite a bit slower. So, I spent a lot of time with just one or two other guys riding alone in between them. (In fact, on our third "race", three of the fast guys put me down a lap... I couldn't believe it! Either they were really hammering, or I was going a lot slower than I thought... or both.)

The other thing that was very obvious to me last night was how much the cornering work I did on the trail Sunday helped me. I definitely cornered better last night than I did the time before, and I was usually able to recognize what I did wrong when I didn't hit a corner very well (usually it was not looking all the way to the exit). I'm also getting better about adjusting my front/back weight distribution. I like the phrase used in the Lopes/McCormack book about generally having your weight centered on the pedals. I think this is better than just talking about shifting your weight forward/back when climbing/descending. For me, that's not specific enough, but I can feel it when my weight is centered on the pedals.

My hands felt much better this week. I rotated my bars up a little bit, so the flat section going to the shifters was parallel to the ground (before, it pointed down slightly), and I think that helped. I also tried to get in the habit of moving my hands to different positions. I put them on the bar tops when I didn't need to corner or brake and in the drops for the paved sections. I still did most of my riding with my hands on the brake hoods.

Somebody in my office bought breakfast from the cafeteria this morning. I don't know what they got, but it smells fried and tasty. It's driving me nuts!