TBD Cyclocross Camp and the Case for Riding with Faster People
Well, folks, it’s almost that time again. The mornings are starting to feel almost crisp, we’re talking about tire pressure and brake pads on Slack, and our personal AirBnB Trips page is happily full with trips to Baltimore, Falmouth, and Northampton. Thus the squad headed out to the Hamptons for a weekend of cross bikes, trails, sand, skills, and dogs.
This log looked SO MUCH bigger in person!
Why I love TBD Cross Camp the Most (hint: because I’m bossy)
I can’t say enough good things about our weekend in the Hamptons. While the weather was sweltering, riding around in the woods never feels quite as bad as riding on the road, and jumping in the pool after a few hours on the trails cools one off so nicely!
The dogs spent a lot of time looking into the water, but not swimming
While our coach very nicely told us that doing too much skills work would be the blind leading the blind, we did practice dismounts, remounts, and a good amount of sand riding. This was fun and felt reasonably productive - but I think the best part of the riding was just trying to hang on wheels in the woods, remembering how to corner, and gaining confidence on roots and other obstacles.
I also exhibited some typical bossy behavior mostly because I am convinced that nobody should feel like they have to live with a stutter step for too long. Luckily my teammates took this in the spirit in which it was intended, which was to be helpful!
We did also ‘race’ one Strava segment that we thought would be fun to take the KOM / QOM on. We did this in TT format, starting around 30 seconds apart. This was fun and great - a good way to remember that while it feels smooth cornering at an endurance / tempo pace, mechanics tend to start falling apart at higher efforts.
I think the thing I took away from the weekend was that while gravel is growing a ton, cross is still my favorite. Partly because I think it emphasizes bike handling, skills, and weird stuff like carrying our bikes over barriers, partly because of the high intensity of the races, but mostly because it means weekends away with some of my favorite people.
Check out some more images in the gallery, and if you see us at a cross race please drop by our tent and say hello!
The case for just riding with people faster than you.
While our coach may have called our TBD cross camp “the blind leading the blind,” as the blindest of the bunch, I knew I was bound to gain something from the experience. While we can (and extensively did! And continue to!) argue about what’s most useful to practice – turning? barriers? remounting? - the fact remains that we can all stand to be better at everything. I don’t doubt that I would’ve benefited from drilling skills at Cycle Smart camp, but I’m sorry, when there’s a pool involved, I will choose pool 100% of the time.
So consider this an argument in favor of: If You Want to Get Faster, Ride With People Faster Than You. Going into my first season as a Cat 3 is incredibly intimidating. Luckily, I have exceptional teammates with far more experience to learn from. I find few things more motivating than just wanting to keep up with ride partners, especially when you know those ride partners are going to be your direct competition.
Nothing is better at teaching you to ride sand than watching your teammates, one by one, glide (mostly) gracefully through inches deep sand to show you it’s really possible. Still braking into every turn? I recommend having Barb on your wheel shouting, “don’t brake!” or Lisa quietly whispering, “don’t lose the wheel.” Need motivation to keep up? Perhaps the quiet judgement emanating from Rod as he barrels down on you from behind insisting he’s fine and definitely does not want to go ahead of you will do the trick. If you’re still trying to internalize “smooth is fast and fast is smooth,” I recommend a few minutes on Matt or Shane’s wheel, who seem to barely pedal, and yet disappear from view almost instantaneously. Want to nail a feature? Try doing it while all your teammates stand around cheering. Already love going downhill? It’s even better when you hear Mitch gleefully exclaim “no brakes!” each time he fully sends a descent, and knowing that, in spite of his protests, he has been converted.
Do I have any illusions after cross camp that I will stand on a podium this year? Absolutely not. But my stoke is high, I feel like I can turn just a little bit better, ride sand just a bit smoother, and spent 100% more time in a pool (and with dogs!) than I would have otherwise.