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rider diary

• It’s Always A Good Day To Ride: Preparation, Waiting, And Finding Some Patience

  3 September 11 • 0 comment

  

  In less than two weeks, I’ll be traveling to the first cross race of the season. Like you, I’ve been preparing for these races all year, training hard, eating and drinking right (most of the time … )

• A Fine Line – Trying To Stay Upright In Oregon

  1 September 11 • 0 comment

  

  I’m getting dropped. It’s a Saturday morning in the middle of August, and I’m on a training ride with my teammate Christian in Portland’s Forest Park. We are headed up a stupidly steep fire lane and all I can think is: I’m getting dropped. I should be at home sleeping in, or at least eating breakfast and reading a book. But instead I’m out here, heart rate through the roof, sweat dripping on to my Garmin so I can’t even read it, looking for an extra gear I know isn’t there. What am I doing?

• It’s Always A Good Day To Ride: Progress; And Why ’Cross Is So Much More Fun Than Crits

  20 August 11 • 0 comment

  

  It’s summer in Wisconsin, and that means a lot of criterium racing. We’re fortunate to have two race series here, and as a teacher I have a bit of time in the summer to race.

  The result of all the racing is that I’m definitely making progress in my recovery. I’ve felt progressively stronger as the summer has gone on. I don’t think I’ll ever be the rider I was before the crash, but I have become a different rider.

• We’re Not In Canada Anymore: Craig Richey Tackles The Off-Season

  7 August 11 • 0 comment

  

  Canadian racer Craig Richey is back in North America after his first season racing ‘cross in Belgium. He checks in with an update on off-season successes and plans for a big adventure this August.

• It’s Always A Good Day To Ride: When To Ignore Coach Crusty’s Program

  6 August 11 • 2 comments

  

  It was one of those rare days this summer in Wisconsin: sunny, 75 degrees, mild winds. I was camping with a buddy in Boulder Junction, home of some beautiful northwoods roads and trails.

  My friend was going fishing, and I was headed out on the ride. The training program told me to ride zone 2 for 80 minutes.

  When I returned, my friend asked me where I’d been.

• Stories From The Front Lines: Cowbells, 12 Year Olds, And Masters Racing

  31 July 11 • 2 comments

  About five or six years ago, I had the misfortune to have my peak season as a racer coincide with the U.S. National Championship of a certain 12-year-old girl who was perky and sweet and faster than a speeding bullet.
  Race after race, town after town, she would crush my soul with her stars-and-stripes velocity. She was truly a phenom and while I knew she had no idea she was humiliating me, it was driving me crazy.

• It’s Always a Good Day to Ride: Feeling the Flow – Or Learning Not to Think

  23 July 11 • 1 comment

  

  Cyclocross Magazine columnist Paul Warloski profiles his return to cyclocross after a near-devastating injury. Follow Paul as he takes us along for a ride of trials and tribulations of a cyclocrosser with a refreshed perspective. If you missed it, check out Paul’s last column, Finding Perspective. Flow – Or Learning Not to Think by Paul Warloski [...]

• It’s Always A Good Day To Ride: Finding Perspective

  9 July 11 • 1 comment

  

  Although I’m no longer going to win any prizes for prettiest legs, the crash that nearly took my life has offered a surprising gift.

  The day I was brought in by ambulance, the doctors took me into surgery immediately, the first of four, and I spent eight days in the hospital.

• It’s Always a Good Day to Ride: Chase Fun, Not Points

  25 June 11 • 4 comments

  

  During the season, I made sure I raced every race in the series, even races I don’t like, just to maintain my spot in the points for the trophy. To me it was purely a symbolic and tangible piece of evidence that I could still race my bike, just 18 months after the crash.

• It’s Always a Good Day to Ride: Learning to Trust the Bike and Find Those Mad ’Cross Skillz

  11 June 11 • 3 comments

  

  Like most riders who come to ’cross from the road, I sometimes struggle with technical skills.
  I’ve learned a lot in the past five years. Yet I still grab too much brake, don’t trust my tires enough, and slow down too much before barriers and corners.
  The remedy this season? Lots of practice in a park nearby and lots of mountain bike riding.

• Mechanical Mondays: The Conical Brush

  6 June 11 • 7 comments

  Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that when it comes to bike maintenance, sometimes the simplest tools can be the most effective. For example, Dave Drumm walks us through the many uses for a five dollar conical brush. (We also love baby bottle brushes for cleaning out water bottles, and they can be found for about [...]

• BABOCO Training Camp, Cyclocross Style with Christine Vardaros

  3 June 11 • 0 comment

  

  It’s still four months before my first cyclocross race and season preparation is already in full swing. It was kicked off by our BABOCO Cycling Team training camp in Benidorm, Spain. We were treated to eleven days of road riding in the mountains under warm sunny skies. It was especially welcome after a long, bitterly cold winter spent in a paper-thin skinsuit.

• Orange Hair and Peaking – A Column by Paul Warloski

  21 May 11 • 1 comment

  Cyclocross Magazine columnist Paul Warloski returns this week as he continues profiling his return to cyclocross after a near-devastating injury. Follow Paul as he takes us along for a ride of trials and tribulations of a cyclocrosser with a refreshed perspective. If you missed it, check out Paul’s column It’s Always a Good Day to Ride. [...]

• It’s Always a Good Day to Ride – A New Column by Paul Warloski

  2 May 11 • 5 comments

  Cyclocross Magazine would like to welcome new columnist Paul Warloski, who like many of us, has a passion for cyclocross. Only for him, this passion nearly consumed his life, literally. Follow Paul as he takes us along for a ride of trials and tribulations of a cyclocrosser with a refreshed perspective. ’Cross Saved My Life [...]

• Masters Worlds Promoter Interviews – A column by Lee Waldman

  11 April 11 • 7 comments

  

  Masters racer and Cyclocross Magazine columnist Lee Waldman has been investigating Masters Worlds from a variety of angles. Today he brings you part three, interviewing a few of the folks helping shape the rules for the 2012 Masters World Championships in Loiusville. Missed his previous Masters coverage? Check it out here and here. Although it [...]