Castelli | InsiderNews – Tagged "cyclocross"

cannondale, cyclocross, National Championships, Photo, Racing, usa - December 20, 2018

2018 USA Cyclocross National Championships

As a previous host of the 2013 Cyclocross World Championships, Louisville, Kentucky was familiar with dramatic events. Heavy snowmelt and a river rising onto the race course being one of them. This year, the weather delivered in a more predictable way. Rain came down and riders churned the wet hillsides into muddy trenches, the way it’s supposed to happen. At least in the world of cyclocross. But the event also delivered some of the most incredible race stories and rider performances that could be hoped for. Castelli teams and athletes, from juniors to the elites, all raced with grit, carrying mud-thickened bikes like crosses, and often finished with smiles and looks of disbelief. Here’s a look back on the mud and gray skies, on emotional performances, and on seemingly unthinkable victories.

February campervan challenge

After I pinched (another!!) nerve back in December and got ill before the national cross championships I did not get selected for the world championships in Valkenburg. With only a few other races in January, I wasn’t sure where to go from there. Even though I wasn’t in good shape I did not feel like ending my season. So together with my partner, I thought up the perfect plan to end the 2017/18 season on a positive note and hungry for a summer of hard work. After a short visit to my family in Denmark, the plan was that I would fly to Spain for a training camp, coming home just in time to drive to Belgium to race the Worlds rematch in Maldegem on the 7th of February. We would then stay until the end of the cyclocross season doing most of the races available which meant racing twice a week. It sounded good to me! One slight concern…. it wasn’t the cheapest plan on the planet. To solve that I could have stayed at home to train or done only 1 or 2 weekends of racing in Belgium. But for some reason, this was the only plan I ...

My favourite training session: 15 – 15 – 15

When I see this on my training schedule, I know it’s going to be one of those days. I will go training for a maximum of two hours and come home broken. Even though it is hard, I also know it is one of my go to sessions to get ready for racing. Due to illness and injury I did not make worlds selection and as it is important to me to end this season on a positive note I decided to skip the January world cups and instead go on a training camp to get fit for the last cyclocross races of the season in Belgium in February. So I did this session twice while in the last block leading up to the races. What does 15-15-15 mean; 15 seconds sprinting, followed by 15 seconds maintaining the speed, followed by a 15 second rest. Do this for 10 minutes, have a 10 minutes break and do it again. I usually do this 4-5 times, so it simulates the length of a cyclocross race. What I like about this session is that it is very versatile and yet very specific. And as a bonus, you can do it both on ...

USA Cyclocross National Championships

The mainly dry and spread out cyclocross nationals course in Reno was not your typical grueling cross course like those that span muddy Belgian hillsides. It was next to a sprawling dog park and a playground. It was at altitude but otherwise seemed almost benign. The real test for Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com riders Stephen Hyde and Kaitie Keough came perhaps mostly from within. Having raced alongside 13-time national champion Katie Compton for years, Keough knew that she had to be mentally able to overcome the seemingly unbeatable Compton. Her strong efforts on the day placed her on the third step of the podium with a bronze medal, but she was clearly looking for much more. As defending national champion, Stephen Hyde carried the pressure to repeat, as do all former national champions. He came to the race off of strong finishes in Belgium in December, but then was hit with patellar tendinitis coming into the new year. His heavily taped knee peeking out of his leg warmers did not seem like a good sign. On top of that, Hyde crashed and bloodied the same knee during a practice lap on race day. Having to mentally deal with that gnawing at him at ...

A week in my CX training

What does my week look like? No two weeks are the same, the training I do, depends on a number of factors and what my race calendar looks like, but I want to give you a rough idea of an “average” training week. Monday—Recovery The main thing for me on Mondays is recovery and planning the week, do laundry, a food shop, etc. I can focus on training and work the rest of the week. After getting my race bags emptied I get on the bike to do an LSCT test, which is a 20-minute sub-max test designed to track levels of fatigue and adaptation to training (read more about the test). If I am really tired I get straight off the bike after the test, other days I do an easy hour. Tuesday—Technical day Tuesday is a double day: I start with a 30-minute run before breakfast. You use your muscles differently when running, so for it did not affect my cycling performances in races, I need to train my running ability. In the afternoon I spend up to 2 hours on my cross bike in the park or local forest. I focus on skills work and add efforts ...

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cyclocross RSS

2018 USA Cyclocross National Championships

February campervan challenge

My favourite training session: 15 – 15 – 15

USA Cyclocross National Championships

A week in my CX training

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