– This weekend Beverly Bike*VeePak is bringing you some fun additional adventures to Chicago’s Southside and rolling out the carpet – check out the dismount near the stairs!

– Additional details can always be found on the preview page.

– Preliminary staging for Sunday’s CCC event will be posted here by Saturday. If you recently upgraded and are eligible to take 1/2 your points with you, please email us at ChicagoCrossCup at gmail so we can update our records. Staging for Saturday’s Beverly HILLS race will follow CrossResults.com rankings and will be posted here.

– 5K Trail Run: To try something new, BB*VP will be kicking our Saturday off with a 5K Trail Run using part of our afternoon cross course. The 5K starts at 10 am. The first 50 preregistered runners will be receiving a free t-shirt and a chance to run through the park on a fun yet challenging course.

– Afternoon of Cross: A fun preview of Sunday’s full day of racing. Check out the Bunny Hop Challenge at 3:15 pm. You must sign up and sign a waiver to participate. Highest jumper gets $25!

– This Sunday stop #3 of the Chicago Cyclocross Cup heads to Chicago’s Southside at Dan Ryan Woods-CCC#3.

– Food: Make sure to bring snacks to get you through on Saturday. We will have water on hand for the runners at the end of their run but we will not have food or water on hand for the Saturday afternoon cross races.

– On SUNDAY for all PRE-REGISTERED racers, BBVP has once again graciously contracted some good eats for all of our racers. This year we are mixing it up and we are trying something new again. This year we will be a free made to order crepe from culinary and pastry students from Kennedy-King College and Le Cordon Bleu. We will have two kinds: Sweet and Savory. Sweet includes bananas and Nutella. Savory includes ham and cheese. BBVP is paying for all of this food… so preregister and ENJOY! Tickets will again be stapled to your your bib #’s for redemption at the crepe station. Do not lose the ticket and if you enjoy it, make sure to tip your chefs. We do not expect to have more than preregistered quantities so preregister now.

– Water: BBVP will NOT be supplying water (saving the world with less plastic). There are two water fountains on site, but hydration by riders should be planned for by bringing fluids with.

– Coffee: Hardboiled Coffee will be providing complimentary coffee during the 5k. Heritage Bicycles will be sharing coffee throughout the day. Please make sure stop by their tent to say hello and enjoy a hot cup of coffee.

– Beer: New this year, BB*VP has teamed up with Imperial Oak Brewery. In doing so, we will be offering the first 450 preregistered riders – aged 21 or over of course – one free beer coupon. They are valid while supplies last at the venue but coupons can be retrieved onsite at the Imperial Oak Brewery tent or saved and used within the week at Imperial Oak Brewery. A choice of Dubbel, Saison or Wit.

– Again this year, BBVP has hired One2Go Event Services for professional timing and results. All preregistered riders (with valid email addresses included in their RunReg & BikeReg profiles) will receive race results and lap times for their race via email shortly following their race. Riders must be preregistered to enjoy this feature. Results will also be tweeted by @One2Go_Results on twitter following each event.  Your #’s go on your left SIDE! Failure to follow properly place bib #’s risk you not being scored and potentially a $20 fine.

– Safety Pins: The CCC supplies pins for riders but we ask that riders recycle their pins and use them each week.  We also ask that if you forget pins, that you only take the 4-5 needed, not small handfuls that would take care of 2-3 other riders.

– Runners will be required to wear a bib # on their front stomach area.

– Parking: Parking is free, and the best spots are off of the 8500 S Western Ave entrance to the park… follow parking lot to the South.

– The Chicago Marathon is being run on Sunday so please plan your travel times to and from the race accordingly.

– Online pre-registration on RunReg.com and BikeReg.com closes TONIGHT at 11:45 PM. Please remember on-site registration closes 30 minutes prior to each race’s scheduled start time. All bib #’s must be picked up prior to registration closing so please be timely and considerate to all those you race with and don’t show up 15 minutes before your race expecting to still get in. We will be doing a hard cut off 30 minutes prior to handle waitlists. If you’re late, you go to the end of the wait list. No exceptions so come early and get your numbers!

– Slow Roll Chicago will be out all weekend spreading the word about their organization!

– The weather looks great for this weekend.

– The Course: Runs anti-clockwise. The course will once again be offering a little something for everyone. It will have straightaway power sections, hills (and we do mean hills), technical turn sections, and the infamous bunny hop barriers will be back (although spread out on the course this year). Note that registration is in a different location this year, and most of the course has shifted to the West. Energy management will be key. Bring your awesomeness!

Recovery between efforts in a sport like cyclocross is huge.  You have to go in with the confidence of knowing that your body can recover quickly and re-set after hard core efforts.  Just as you train yourself to produce as much power as possible for specified periods of time, you also must train to be able to bring the heart rate down over and over again.  Even as little time as it takes to go through a series of turns can be enough to bring it down a few beats, and in cross every little bit helps.

Pyramid Intervals are a great way to develop this.  Go all out for each interval.  Focus on relaxing and bringing your heart rate down at the end of each interval.  It does help to consciously remind yourself as that type of mental repetition will help make the concept stick even during the most stressful race situation.  Giving yourself the opportunity to recover now and then can be the difference between being able to hang on or POP!:

Warm up for at least 15 minutes in zones 1-2

One Set:

30 seconds at your max/30 seconds recovery

1 minute at your max/1 minute recovery

1 minute 30 seconds at your max/1 minute recovery

2 minutes at your max/1 minute 30 seconds recovery

1 minute 30 seconds at your max/1 minute recovery

1 minute at your max/1 minute recovery

30 seconds at your max/30 seconds recovery

Take at least 6 minutes off between sets if you decide to do more than one of these.  You can manipulate them anyway you want by adding or subtracting to or from the duration of each effort.  More importantly, reduce the recovery time between efforts.  Power and heart rate are not only important for the hard part.  Look at how quickly your heart rates goes down after a hard effort and work to reduce that over time and adjust recovery between these intervals accordingly.

As example, you’ll probably need the full 30 seconds to recover after an all-out 30 second interval the first time you do these.  After a few sessions of focused work that may begin to creep down toward the 15 second mark.  Take note when this happens and shorten the recovery for the next pyramid session and you’ve just increased your capacity to recover.

Good luck and go fast!

Rob Kelley

TRAINING BIBLE COACH

www.ROKcoaching.com

– Thanks again to Robots pb <3 and Axeltree for hosting yet another great Hopkins Park cx event. Full results are here and here, CCC overall standings are updated here, and lap time reports courtesy of One2Go Event Services are here.

– Up next, the CCC heads to the South side of Chicago with our hosts Beverly Bike-Vee Pak for Dan Ryan Woods with the added bonus of the Beverly HILLS CX race the day before on Saturday (which also includes a 5K trail run). One2Go Event Services will be out again providing results and lap times for both races, including the 5K. The Saturday race is not part of the CCC series but should be a bunch as fun. Remember the Chicago Marathon is on Sunday so please adjust your travel times accordingly. Online pre-reg for both CX races closes Thursday evening. Looks for the course preview on Thursday morning.

– From our friends up North… “Grafton PumpkinCross, sponsored by BelgianWerkx, is offering Chicago Cross Cup racers a chance for two FREE entries to our race in addition to the previously mentioned $5 off tollway discount (“IL”) for all other CCC racers that aren’t lucky enough to nab the free spots. Simply be the first two people to register at: https://www.usacycling.org/register/2014-2846, enter code “CHI”, race for free, take our prize money (!!!) and have a great time on this rad, technical course. You won’t be disappointed!”

– Online pre-reg is now open for CCC race # 10, Melas CX Basin Racin’, back for another year at Melas Pak in Mt Prospect.

– They keep rolling in…

 Say hello the CCC’s newest 2014 series sponsor, SPY Optic who is furnishing some rad specs for overall prizes.

– And finally… are you #WookieApproved? Local wrench extraordinaire Chandler Snyder who is half of Pro Bike Express will be offering their “Pro Not Bro Service” at Cyclocross Nationals for the 3rd year in a row in Austin this January. If you haven’t heard of what it is they offer, you can hear it straight from clients’ mouths from Nationals in Boulder here. This year PBE has simplified their pricing and limited the number of riders they will support, so space is limited. Register Early and “Travel Like You Train…” You will have your “Home Away From Home” right among the other Teams and Vendors so no worrying about lugging anything with you. Trainers will be provided and onsite coffee service too. For more information please contact Wesley Smith/Pro Bike Express: [email protected] Registration is up on the website: www.probikeexpress.com

– #HopkinsCX

– See general info on the preview page here.

– Numbers on the LEFT! fold the corners, pin through twice and use scotch tape to reinforce your pin job. don’t let your significant other pin you, they will probably mess it up.

It’s pure pleasure to be able to read, formulate, calculate, create and track the numbers generated by the folks that I work with. From casual cyclist to pro, it is as rewarding to hear about their success as it is to have a fun ride myself.  The mind does wander though, and every once in a while you discover little nuggets like this one….

My guy, let’s call him “Willie”, had the unfortunate experience of having to take a pee right in the middle of the ABR state road race championship. Willie had a good day with a strong 2^nd place finish.  I got to thinking, “what does pulling over and taking a leak really look like within a power file?”  It looks like this:

“Your heart rate up to that point was averaging 133 – 137 the entire time you were racing before that (the bathroom break on the side of the road).  It was 158 average for the 1min and 18 sec pee stop and maxed to 163!  Your highest HR average for 1 minute during the whole race was 163.  This means that the stress of stopping, coupled with effort of trying to push it out fast, was almost the most taxing thing that you did on the bike all day!  Fascinating stuff and sorry to say that you’re looking at a feature in an upcoming blog post.  Do you have any pictures you want included?”

Luckily for all of us Willie didn’t offer up any pics.

Good luck and go fast!

Rob Kelley

TRAINING BIBLE COACH

www.ROKcoaching.com

Photo: Kelly Clarke

– Looks and sounds like everyone had a great time at Caldwell Woods hosted by xXx Racing-Athletico. Thanks to the entire xXx Racing crew but especially Kevin Corcoran and Alan Treuthart for pulling together a sweet new venue that has even more potential for next year. Give these men a high-five the next time you see them. To help make sure the Cook County Forest Preserve knows you enjoyed the venue and want it back next year, leave a message at http://www.FPDCC.com/contact/ tweet at them @FPDCC, or post on facebook.com/FPDCC.

– Next up the CCC heads west to Hopkins Park. Info for Hopkins Park is already here and look for the regular course update on Thursday with some tasty new bits.

– Caldwell Woods results are posted to USAC here and CCC Overall Standings are here.

– CCC Series t-shirts and beer koozies are for sale over on the store page.

– Concerning the starting times of the Single Speed vs. Junior 15-18 categories, we are reviewing the situation and will make a decision by Thursday.

– Say hello to a few new 2014 series sponsors who just joined up last week.

 Yojimbo’s Garage – Yojimbo’s Garage is a single-location, brick and mortar bicycle shop on Chicago’s near North side established in 1997.

TENSPEED HERO – Unable to sell capes – at least until we find a way to fly, TENSPEED HERO works up a sweat crafting cycling gear for you to sweat in. We picture steep cliffs, hot tarmac, and breezy coasts as we design with primary colours and other ones, too. Always considering a cyclist’s swiftness and deft determination, if our small friend-based company had a board of directors it would be called the wheel of directors. Together in vibrant regalia, we aim to keep you awake and dreaming.

 Newins Illinois Vehicle Auto Insurance – Newins Illinois Vehicle Auto Insurance is a leading Chicagoland based insurance agency dedicated to helping customers find affordable and convenient auto insurance that suits their lifestyle.

 Red Writing gets attention and gets to the point. Red Writing delivers compelling copywriting, technical writing, and information design for Web sites, marketing, training, and reference materials.

– Speaking of series sponsors, we have several outstanding photographers who are out there each weekend grabbing snaps of everyone. If you want to use their photos, always make sure to give them credit for their work. And if you really want to help these folks out purchase one (or more!) of their photos.

– The Bonebell and SRAM are excited to present the Big Marsh Mashdown, an informational event geared toward showing riders around the Big Marsh Bike Park Project. On Saturday October 18th there will be site tours and raffles paired with casual racing for everyone to see what Big Marsh is and learn about what it will be—a world-class bike park on Chicago’s south side! Volunteers have been hard at work cutting trails for the day’s three fun races, which are each open to all skill levels and all off-road bicycles. Race proceeds will benefit Friends of Big Marsh. Registration is open here.

– We hear your concerns about the new bib numbers ripping at the edges, but the old Tyvek ones used to do the same thing if you pinned them through the little holes at the corners. Instead watch this video for the correct way to pin a number. You should only need 4 pins, maybe 6, but really no more than that. That being said, if you are the type of person who “falls down go boom” a lot, bring your own pins and use as many as you need to keep that number on your jersey.

– And finally… it seems we have to remind at least a few of you every year at this time the difference between heckling and just being a jerk. Please don’t be a jerk. If you need a refresher, see the CCC’s guidelines here, Psimet’s post here, or Ryan Kelly’s words of wisdom here. Its totally cool if you and your friends call each other POS’s in private, but when you’re out in public, where there are young kids and people not familiar with CX and heckling, doing so makes you look obnoxious and the rest of us like fools. We’re not saying don’t heckle. But when the best you can do is “You suck!” or some variant, do us all a favor and just don’t say anything. Instead, ring your cowbell haarder and come back next week when you have something more creative, funny, supportive, funny, crowd pleasing, or yes… funny to yell. So in short, be excellent to each other and party on dudes!

– Here we go, the first race of the 2014 Chicago Cyclocross Cup at Caldwell Woods hosted by xXx Racing-Athletico.

– Registration will be in picnic pavilion near start finish line. Remember reg closes 30 minutes before the schedule start time of each category.

– This year the CCC is going even more green with biodegradable bib numbers. They aren’t quite as tough as traditional Tyvek numbers though, so please do not fold or crumple them up. If you do you risk not being scored. Numbers on your left RIGHT side (not your back!) so the officials can read them.

– Results will be posted as soon as possible on the CCC’s new 4 sided results board. Please do not crash into it and break it. Full results will be posted online Sunday night and series standings will be updated later in the week. This is the first race, so series standings are the same as the first 30 finishers, duh.

– Porta-potties will be located in the small parking lot nearest Devon and Milwaukee adjacent to registration.

– Teams can set up tents anywhere, but xXx recommends doing so in the field across from the beer garden for viewing the field, hill, and finish line.

– Main parking will be at Aquatic Center with pedestrian/racer access to course along north side of Devon Ave.

– xXx Racing will be awarding cases of Goose Island beer to the top step of the podium in the Cat 1/2/3, Women Cat 1/2/3, Masters 35+, Masters 45+, and Masters 55+ races, assuming those winners are all 21+ years of age.

– The equipment pits will be one sided as a two sided pit would require additional course crossings for fans.

– Additional info over here on the static preview page.

– Remember to use the hashtag #CaldwellCX so everyone at home or in other parts of the country can follow along.

– The course. Its new and untested, but there’s a Goose Island beer garden… so have fun and watch where you are going.

VO2max is defined by Joe Friel as (in bold because he’s the MAN when it come to cycling coaching):

It is essentially the maximum output that you are able to sustain for 5 – 6 minutes.  When developed it is one of the most lethal weapons in your arsenal.  Bridging up to someone, attacking, hucking up to the group when things are cooking and the general lungs in the mouth feeling we all experience during certain portions of a cross race are all situations that require a stout VO2max type effort.

Once you have laid down the foundation for your ftp, and some time toward the end of that period in your annual training program, you’ll do well to spend time building power at this rate.  Because not everyone has access to a proper VO2max test (but most with a power meter have a good idea of their ftp) we took athletes with varying strengths over the period of a racing season and analyzed the percentage of difference between ftp and VO2max.  This variance was normally between 25 and 15%.  While equated to road race specialties these designations will help you find a place to start relative to power output.  Sprinters were in the 25% range, all-arounders (roulliers) had about a 20% difference and good time trialists were closer to 15%:

Sprinter: ftp /.75

All Arounder: ftp/.8

Time Trialist: ftp/.85

So, as example, if your ftp is 300 watts and you are a sprinter then simply take 300/.75 to arrive at a goal of 400 watts.  It can be a little daunting at first because pegging that kind of power for 6 minutes will be out of your reach at that point in the season.  As with every phase though it is a progression beginning with shorter duration so hang in there, you can do this!

You should have some good legs and a strong mental outlook for these very taxing efforts.  That will require you to schedule these after an easy day.  Doing these after a tough day is like a punch in the stomach!

Take 5 minutes off between sets for each of these different durations.  2-3 sets in a ride is challenging enough to push your limits without wiping you out so completely that you can’t complete the intervals at the power level that we’re looking for:

VO2max2: warm up for 20 minutes.  Then a 2 minute interval at prescribed wattage, followed by 1.5 minutes of recovery x 3 is 1 set.

VO2max3: warm up for 20 minutes.  Then a 3 minute interval at prescribed wattage, followed by 2 minutes of recovery x 3 is 1 set.

VO2max4: warm up for 20 minutes.  Then a 4 minute interval at prescribed wattage, followed by 2.5 minutes of recovery x 2 is 1 set.

VO2max: warm up for 20 minutes.  Then a 6 minute interval at your max, followed 3 minutes recovery x 1 is 1 set.  (You’ll have a good idea of what kind of power you can push by the time you get to this point.  Settle in at that power and push yourself to your limit for the duration of the interval).

Your heart rate will not react fast enough to use as any type of a gauge for the 2 and 3 minute efforts.  It can be a guide for the 4 and 6 minute intervals though.  If you know your heart rate zones and see that you can go with a higher heart rate then adjust the power to suit and you’ve just gotten stronger!

Good luck and go fast!

Rob Kelley

TRAINING BIBLE COACH

www.ROKcoaching.com