'Cross Practice

I made it to cyclocross practice at the track last night. It was one of the first of the year, and the first one I went to. I've sort of decided I can only do one club ride a week (they take a little too long), so I need to decide how I want to split the Tuesday night 'cross practice and the Thursday night dirt road ride. I think maybe the Thursday ride is more what I need right now.

Anyway, it was a little weird to get back on the 'cross bike on a (sort of) proper 'cross course. Things went pretty well, but I felt rusty.

The main thing I need to work on is barriers. I've practiced just a little in the backyard this summer, but I need to do more now. I wasn't particularly good over the barriers last night. I had trouble with my timing when I didn't have a clear line of sight to the barrier (because of people in front of me). I was also slow getting back on the bike and into the pedals.

I think my cornering was improved over last year, thanks to continued practice on the mountain bike. There was one off-camber corner after a little downhill. I was able to take it confidently without braking because I kept the outside pedal loaded and my weight forward a little.

My intention was to keep the ride focused on skills and not to go too hard. I have some other hard rides planned later this week, so I wanted to keep this one easy to moderate. I was mostly successful; I held back a bit even on the group's harder efforts.