I officially started my cyclocross season yesterday. I opted to get a training plan (by pro CX racer, Andy Applegate) from Trainingpeaks.com.  It was only $55 for 3 months, which would at least give me structured workouts and not break the bank.  Not as good as a real coach, but better and easier than creating workouts for myself.

The first workout was a 30 minute run at an “easy pace”.  Uh, yeah…well, my easy pace last night was around 7:00.  The weather was cool, which is probably why I ran faster than I should have. My legs felt great and my HR didn’t get too high. Plus, the feeling of cross country and fall was in the air.

Tonight was our team’s first informal CX practice at Montrose Harbor.  We started these last year and had a decent turnout, but nothing like this year.  We had about ten XXXers out for practice tonight, some beginners and some veterans.  Very cool to see everyone. We had some homemade PVC barriers, which helped folks get back into CX mode. It felt kind of weird to start hopping on and off the bike again, but it was addicting! I was amazed at how fast it came back to me.  I still need a lot of practice, but I felt more confident on turns and the dismounts at the end of the session.  It will be interesting to see how these workouts shape up over time. I had a lot of fun last year when the weather got colder and we all got in better with our technique. You can usually tell the diehards by then, but there’s no doubt CX is getting more popular every year.

For a taste of what we do in CX, here are some videos.

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