– #ILRcx More venue/course info here.

– Preliminary staging will be posted here for Saturday and Sunday. Saturday’s results will affect Sunday’s staging.

– SCW has increased payouts per the CCC maxiumum even though pre-reg numbers are not >600 riders. Cat 1/2/3 and Women Cat 1/2/3 will each split $900 over 7 places both days (2 Day * 2 Categories * $900 = $3,600).

– SRAM neutral support in the equipment pit both days.

– As per usual this time of year the forecast is for high winds and low temps. SCW asks that everyone take down your tents, all the way, Saturday night. You may leave your tent(s) on premise overnight.

– There will be  hoses available to wash your bike(s), but not in the equipment pit. The hose is located next to the pro-shop just outside the door to registration. SCW is working on getting a power washer for the pits, but not promises.

– Do not bring your bikes inside when coming to the registration room. Please leave them outside. Thanks!

– No warming up on the fairways or west of the course. The other courses are still open to golfers… yeah, they think we are crazy too for riding our bikes in this type of weather.

– Please stay off the putting greens at all times.

– Kenny Labbe will be on the mic again both days.

– Kids cx is on but for Sunday only. “Racing” starts at 2pm.

– Bring your bathing suit for the pool and hot tub.

– The Cave Bar will be open as well as an all you can eat buffet in the Masters restaurant.

– Speaking of the Cave… there will be an informal party Saturday night. Come say hello!

– The course: Classic ILR features with a few new sections and run clockwise. Approximation of this weekend’s course is below and the course will change slightly from Saturday to Sunday.

Starts are huge in cross. Whether you’re on the 1^st row or the 10^th, a good start can be the difference between a great or mediocre day on the bike.  Maintaining your position and/or passing large groups of people while charging down a straight at the beginning is a heck of a lot easier than making up large gaps throughout a cross race for sure.  Plus it’s fun!

First off you need to have a solid warm up in prior to staging, or else the violent effort needed is going to hit you like a ton of bricks half way through the first lap. Grip the bars tightly in the drops or on the hoods.  Most like the hoods but how often do you see roadies sprinting for the line on the hoods?  Make no mistake; this is a series of short and all-out sprints.  Get your weight back a bit, at least over the top of the saddle.  When the whistle blows jam your hips forward and off you go.

BMX is awesome, just wanted to put that out there. Growing up in that sport teaches some pretty wicked skills for sure, including how to go from a standing start to max speed fast.  While you won’t win a cross race because of a great start, you can lose one with a bad start.  You can win a BMX race purely because of a great start so it’s a large part of training and the core principals are the same.  Notice the hip action, pedal position and all-out/dead-lift type effort:  BMX Start

As with every aspect of bike racing, practice is crucial. Do 2 or 3 starts the day before race day to get the feel.  You need to find the starting gear that best suits you, get comfortable getting your cleat engaged quickly and work on shifting up as you spin each gear out.  This is a fantastic video and instruction from one of the best in the US: Cyclocross Start

It’s also a very good idea to incorporate focused and fitness based start reps into your training regimen at least once every other week. One or two sets of these is a solid addition to a skills oriented day and will also help train the body to accept and recover from what is one of the toughest efforts of the race:

Warm up for at least 15 minutes.

1 rep: All out sprint for 200 meters. Settle into FTP +10% and peg it there for 1 minute.  3 minutes off between reps.

1 set: 5 reps. Take 8 minutes off between sets.

Hit up some single track for the last half of your ride to work on skills (and to have lots of fun)

Warm down for at least 15 minutes

Good luck and go fast!

Rob Kelley

TRAINING BIBLE COACH

www.ROKcoaching.com

Photo: Snowy Mountain Photography

– With a couple minutes taken off the lap times from last year, the PSI-clocross for Life course was still able to throw a bit of everything at racers.  It was the first time we’d seen sand in the series, and it showed as there was a lot of reshuffling there.  Heckle Hill was another place that a lot of movement took place, some ran, some rode, and others tried to ride, gave up and figured maybe it was best to run.  Either way if you were doing something wrong you were sure to hear about it from the bullhorn in the PSIMET tent.

In a showing of the talent being drawn to the races, we saw both elite podiums represented by 3 different states.  We had a fresh name in front the men’s 1/2/3 field with Kevin McConnell (Mercy Specialized) from Iowa taking the victory ahead of David Lombardo (Verdigris-Village CX) and Ian Haupt (Milwaukee Bicycle Company Racing).

In the womens field Samantha Schneider (TIBCO/To the Top) is batting 1000 as she grabbed her 2^nd win, Brittany McConnell (Mercy Specialized) moved up a step from last week to 2^nd this time, while Sydney Guagliardo (Verdigris-Village CX) rounded out the elite podium. Full results are here and here and updated series standings are here.

– Next up the CCC heads to the Indian Lakes Resort in Bloomingdale, IL for the series’ one and only double weekend hosted by South Chicago Wheelmen. Remember online pre-reg on BikeReg closes Wednesday night for both races, so don’t come crying to us on Thursday saying you missed pre-reg. But even if you do you will still be staged by your CCC series points if you reg Day Of.

– Indian Lakes Resort has all the amenities you could ask for but more importantly there is a hotel. There are still rooms available and you can get the CCC discount using code (not the group code) “CYC” or “cyclocross”.

– Chris Henning and his crew are looking for volunteers to help run the Melas CX Basin Racin’ event. Sign up here and race for free and get lunch.

– Let’s have a quick chat about Internet trolls. We are well aware of everyone’s First Amendment rights to free speech, and we have never censored any comments here on the CCC site, nor do we ever want to do so. But just as you may not want to input your actual email address into the comments for fear of some sort of malicious spam bot somehow finding it and filling your inbox with junk, we’re pretty sure no one visiting this website wants to read your anonymous junk comments. So… if you’re going to post a ridiculously rude comment here on the CCC site, be man or woman enough to leave your actual name and email address so others can reply back to you directly. Otherwise head over to YouTube where the comment sections are priceless and your contributions will have a more appropriate audience. Thanks!

– For those of you already getting into the giving spirits of the holidays… check out the new World Bicycle Relief video: www.worldbicyclerelief.org/power. Just as in years past all donations made between now and 12/31/2014 are matched, up to $1million. The CCC will be donating all of the donations you the riders have donated through BikeReg in a lump sum shortly after the Montrose Harbor Illinois State CX Championships.

– And finally… The West Town Bikes (WTB) CX program has been providing sponsorship, mentorship and coaching to juniors and young adults that would otherwise not have the opportunity to participate in cyclocross events for 6 seasons.  Here are some photos from our last 4 seasons.  The fitness and commitment that cyclocross requires teaches perseverance and provides a healthy energy output while skills, knowledge and friendships gained help form a socially intelligent, responsible and physically fit community member all while growing the sport.  Half Acre Cycling, Half Acre Brewery, The Bonebell, Chicago Cuttin Crew and Seth Gable have all been key in getting us through the end of last year and this season.  We have a Pactimo team store open, password is westtownbikes, as one way we are outfitting our team and raising awareness for the program.  Jerseys purchased through the store can go to the purchaser or be gifted to the program.  We need smalls and mediums of all types.  Many of the adults you see wearing the WTB jersey are volunteers or youth instructors in the organization.

– #PSIcx More info here. Preliminary staging will be here before Sunday.

– PSI-clocross For Life hosted by Rob Curtis and the crew from PSIMET at Emricson Park in Woodstock, IL.

– Good luck to everyone race ‘The Iceman Cometh Challenge’ in Michigan.

– Please pay attention when you are racing and entering the park in your car. There are 2 road crossings on the course and while there will be course marshals at each crossing, please look both ways before crossing. Better safe than sorry.

– Speaking of cars, no parking on the grass – anywhere.  There is plenty of parking available throughout Emricson Park, please use it or you will be ticketed. This includes team vehicles intending on dropping off team tent and compound equipment.

– Speaking of tent compounds – please try to keep the team tents in the areas near start/finish and Heckle Hill.  Areas are marked on the course map below.

– The Pizza food truck many of us have seen at events like Caldwell Woods will be there around 10:30. There are also plenty of places to eat in downtown Woodstock on the square and we encourage all hungry racers to spend their money there.

– The weather looks great if a little chilly. Please dress appropriately for both before, during, and after your race(s).

– No inside bathrooms or the warming hut again this year. All Porta-potties near the Start/Finish.

– Rt 47 through Huntley is not under construction this year but still subject to traffic, so please plan your travel times accordingly. Your best bet directions are to exit I90 on Route 47 into the town of Woodstock. A left on Lake Ave and another left on South St should lead you right to Emricson Park (on your right).

– There will be no water or powerwashers available this year. If weather becomes an issue we highly advise you get someone in the pit to work for you.

– Now that the official sunset time is literally minutes after the end of the Cat 4/5 race, PSIMET and the South Chicago Wheelmen would appreciate any help tearing down the course after said Cat 4/5 race.

– While Rob Curtis LOVES the festivities on Heckle Hill, he asks that if you bring it in you pack it out… or at least drop it in one of the trash cans. It is often tough to see trash on the ground after the last race due to sunset.

– The course: Hills, and some bumpy fields, and a high-speed trip through the woods, and hills. Need we say more? This year the main course elements of years past remain but the course has been shortened slightly so you can suffer more times up the hills.

Wednesday Nighters

Things can begin to get a little less motivating in the race department this time of year. Between the training and racing you’ve put in a lot of time going all out, it’s cold/ish and we’ve just had the time change.  The couch/beer combo looks pretty awesome.

So rather than lay down a specifically timed and focused effort it’s nice to just go out and have fun. It’s also important to maintain the mojo and if you can do that it’s worth at least a few places at the line.  I just started testing these out this season with some folks and the results have been solid!  Pick any one to rip off on a Wednesday or Thursday night’s training session on any course that suits you.  Choose one and, while fairly mindless, they’ll keep you going in the right direction:

10/40:

Do all of this on a cyclocross course. Warm up for at least 15 minutes. Peg power and/or heart rate at zone 3 (tempo) for 10 minutes. At the end of that 10 minutes ramp it up to race pace for 40 minutes. This is one 50 minute continuous effort. Warm down for at least 10 minutes.

20/30:

Do all of this on a cyclocross course. Warm up for at least 15 minutes. Peg power and/or heart rate at zone 3 (tempo) for 20 minutes. At the end of that 20 minutes ramp it up to race pace for 30 minutes. This is one 50 minute continuous effort. Warm down for at least 10 minutes.

30/20:

Do all of this on a cyclocross course. Warm up for at least 15 minutes. Peg power and/or heart rate at zone 3 (tempo) for 30 minutes. At the end of that 30 minutes ramp it up to race pace for 20 minutes. This is one 50 minute continuous effort. Warm down for at least 10 minutes.

Another benefit is that these are a great gauge for current fitness.  look at average power and heart rate for the “race pace” portions of these and they should be close to your FTP.  Hopefully that is still increasing a bit and make note for future intervals.

Thanks for reading.

Rob Kelley

TRAINING BIBLE COACH

www.ROKcoaching.com

Photo: Jason Knauff

– Thanks again to Rob Kelley, Peter Kelley and the entire Bicycle Heaven crew for another fantastic Campton Cross event. Rob’s review of the day is on his coaching site here. In the Elite women’s race Danielle Smith Arman for the 2nd week in a row won the day and took over the Pactimo Series Leader Jersey from an absent mechanical stricken Kelli Richter. Back in town Tricia Fleischer was 2nd and Brittany McConnell visiting from Iowa rounded out the women’s podium. In the men’s race Joseph Maloney came down again from WI and took his 4th win in as many attempts and consequently also earned the Pactimo Series Leader Jersey in the process. Brittany’s husband Kevin McConnell came with her from Iowa to take 2nd with Mike Phillips taking the 3rd step of the podium. Full results are here and here and updated series standings are here.

– Next week the CCC makes its final stop in the NorthWest suburbs as PSIMET takes us to Emricson Park in Woodstock, IL for Psi-clocross for Life. Look for the usually course preview on Thursday morn.

– We’re now in the belly of the season and more than half way through the series. Keep your fitness sharp and your bike(s) in tip top shape. We haven’t had any really bad weather to truly destroy any drive trains, but now is a great time to get your bike(s) into your favorite CX shop for a tune up to make sure they are running perfectly for the rest of the season. Need a recommendation for a shop? We know a few that would love to service your rides.

– Pro Bike Express still has a few spots open for those of you traveling to Austin, TX for USA Cycling National Championships in January. Don’t miss out and “Travel like your train…”

– And finally… Looking for a nice (non-denominational holiday) gift for the cycle-crosser in your life who has everything? Remember the CCC has a limited run of 2014 series T-Shirts & beer Coozies for sale. Check ’em out and grab one or three before they’re gone.

– Rob Kelley, Peter Kelley, and the entire Bicycle Heaven crew bring you the 9th edition of Campton Cross in beautiful Campton Hills.

– Remember to use #CamptonCX on Twitter and Instagram, if you’re into that sort of thing.

– More details here. Preliminary staging will be here before Sunday.

– Remember reg closes 30 minutes before the scheduled start of each race. If you’re late, you’re not racing. We’re even giving you an extra hour to sleep in this year… again. Please find your way to the park near the corner of Rt 64 and Brown Rd in Campton Hills/Wasco… NOT the other Anderson Park in Oak Park. The map on BikeReg is correct as well.

– We know Halloween is tomorrow, but don’t throw away your Halloween costume. Race director Rob Kelley will be the judge in the annual costume contest. Remember when NECX set the bar really high? Well, they were up to it again last weekend too. Bring your A Game and put those pictures on the Internets.

– TDogs BBQ will be back again as well as Reems Brats, plus Hot Chocolate sold by a bunch of cute kids … so plenty of food.

– Rob Kelley says there will be live tigers, if he can find someone with actual real life tigers.

– Sorry, but NO alcoholic beverages are allowed in the park. So you know, be discreet with your High Life.

– Weather looks great but chillier than last week.

– Rob and the crew encourage riders to NOT warm up on/around the soccer fields to the East of registration. The village has asked us to keep off the areas visible when you pull into the park. If you carefully ride North on Brown Rd for about 200 meters you can hop onto the Prairie Path/Great Western trail (see the thick yellow line in the map below) which is a great place to warm up. Thank you.

– The Course: Similar to years past but definitely more of a power course with a new field/maze section in the NorthWest section of the park. That’s the great thing about CX, each track is different and you have to be good at every type of course to do well. Also a log jump/barrier after the 2nd woods section. See here for a handlebar camera preliminary preview of the course, plus a few other videos from over the years. The taped up course can be seen @rokcoach Saturday evening and rokcoaching.com.

No reps this week, all fun.  See below for a video of our kind of new course for this Sunday, along with a few videos taken over the past 9 years.  Can’t believe it’s been 9 years!:

See you there.

www.ROKcoaching.com