http://www.mnscs.com/ has all the details.

You have all been to races like this – the place you line up is the order you finish unless you

A) sprint the ‘prologue’ gravel road and the one 20 yard stretch of double track to move up.

B) riders are kind enough to pull off the trail to let you pass.

I did both and moved from middle pack to 3^rd place entering the single track. I emerged on the other end after an hour and a bit in second place in the 2^nd wave that I started with and 13^th overall.

I have no idea how the chap who got first in my age group managed to get first overall – how did he pass all those riders in the single track?

Fellow Crossniac Mike – where is the video of the race from the crotch cam?

http://www.mnscs.com/ has all the details. In short, it was a great race with enough hills and open areas to thin the herd.

Fellow Crossniac Mike C snagged 2^nd in the single speed group and second in his age group (first was first overall). I took 8^th overall and 1^st in my age group.

FSA 29er wheels finished their first race in fine style.

Ladric

I am looking for an old pair of crank-bros pedals I can use for the season-either to borrow or buy for el’cheapo.

Cash is running low, and I’ll have a new steed that needs pedals.

So, if you looking to take advantage and buy some new pair, or have a pair of candy’s or egg-beaters sitting around, let me know…. I’ll rebuild them post if I’m borrowing, or pre-if they need it.

fpa

I spent last week at the 2009 NSCA National Conference in Vegas.  I hate Vegas, but I go to the conference every year to keep up will all the strength and conditioning research.  Long story short, I spent 5 hours of the trip with the head strength and conditioning coach from the U.K. Track Cycling Team.

If you follow Track Cycling, you know that the U.K. walked away with the most hardware, and are considered by many to be the best Olympic Team in this past Olympiad.

OAO and I went to the 3 hour presentation, and then got the chance to have a few beverages with the coach at the Paris Lounge for another couple of hours.

He gave us the “no holds barred” juice on what they do in training.  He had videos of all the top names in the weight room, showed us all the data from the last 2 Olympic training cycles, and even let us see both the SRM power data, and the weights and lifts he has had them do.  Two of his guys are ripping it up this year in the Tour.

OAO went home to Florida, took all the information, and has given us an 8 week Core cycle similar to what would be Rx’ed in the U.K. for cyclists going into the most critical time of the year. Now that his NFL guys have had to report to camp, OAO has put aside time to program all the Core work through CX Nationals for our team.

Now, that being said, you should scale these workouts to your own abilities.  So far, I made it past the first couple of days, but I can tell you this will be a war of attrition.  You should take the WODs at core value, and make sure you ease into them, especially if you have not been doing Core work in the “Off” season.

Once our season is in full swing, there will be a taper period to make sure you are firing on all cylinders, and are able to finish this season on top.

For more juice, check out Highlandelitefitness@blogspot.com and go to the Crossniacs Wod link.

B

…is up, kinda. Check it out here. A few dates are still getting sorted out, and the Candlestick Park race (my favorite one since it totally suited me) is gone thanks to Park Service budget cuts.

If you’re thinking about coming out this way during the fall, I recommend the Sierra Point Night Race (!) and the Golden Gate Park one also.

- Nick in SF

So, I hear there’s a new sport called “mountain biking” around. I wouldnt mind giving it a try.

Any MN team member want to lend me a bike and take me to the hills or where ever you guys go?

-peter

For professional reasons, I’m looking for killer pictures of you racing in your crossniac kit. Got an amazing photo you could email me? Should be semi-high rez, nothing too small. Need soon…..

peetanderson@yahoo.com

FPA

Guy will be fined $45,000 for racing in another team’s kit, but we’re glad he got into cyclingnews.com while doing the Breck Epic.

Maybe, if we ask nicely, he’ll give us a little report of the race.

fpa

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