As we brought the new guy into our home he had the new fresh look and perspective.  Only 8 weeks since his first breath of fresh air, 10 inches long and weighing a few pounds,  every step a clumsy step, every yelp a new sound.  He is seeing everything with new eyes,  it reminds me of September of the start of cyclocross. Every course and every race is something new, something different.  Even if the course has been used before there are new bumps, new rocks, new elements to the track that force the racer to look at the course with fresh eyes and if they don’t they will get bit. Preriding is so important for me,  not just rolling the course daydreaming but actually taking the time to look at the course and understand what challenges are ahead, where my strengths will be used and where I need to take extra care.  This is similar to how Logan ( pictured above ) takes on his everyday right now,  he is learning where he can go hard and where he still has to take it easy. I am going to take every race with fresh eyes,  and also welcome Logan to the earth and to his race in life.

It is incredible the amount of coverage a local bike race gets. I am always amazed Monday morning when the weekends photogs have started to post up their shots from the races around the region and country. Some pro, some amateur, some with great equipment, some equiped with an iphone. Still, the amount of shots that are taken is incredible, but that in itself is part of the new photography paradigm that has been created with digital photography, shoot often and shoot a lot. Just as the computer has taken some of the skill and training out of being a graphic designer the digital camera has done the same. A person can shoot 100′s of photos and there has to be something good in there, getting lucky. Photographing cycling is not easy, you don’t get very many chances and at the speeds that racers often travel it can be tricky and one must rely on luck even just a little bit. This time of year when cyclocross rolls around  it seems that the media gets better, the local photogs enjoy the subject more and the subject matter I think is more interesting which pushes the photog to create a better picture. The stories that are told through the pictures are magnified with cyclocross: blood, mud, dust, beer, fans, snow, fall colors and mother nature providing some wonderful natural terrain. Some great photographers capturing the art of cyclocross: Easties from the mid-atlantic DemonCats.Com – Kevin Dillard – super artsy and one [...]

Sandwiched in the middle of the week, on Wednesday’s are the the local cyclocross “practice” workouts. This was the same in the other city that I lived in, Wednesday’s meant getting together at the local park and ride hard in a simulated cross race. Philly had hot laps, running drills and often other skills. For many this might be a day that involves going hard in a race simulation. I am finding that between my other workouts on Tuesday and Thursdays that Wednesday Worlds is the day that I go easy. Sure, it is always fun to ride at the front and ride hard, earn respect but during weeks when it is hard to get out of bed, somewhere something has to give – so I focus on skills, riding clean, dismounts, remounts and keep the HR going easy. It just becomes to much on the body especially with double race weekends. That leaves Monday for recovery, Wednesday for a skills, easy day and Friday easy prepping for the weekend. Most weeks Wednesday has something hard in there but it is not part of the CX workout. This is nice, it is nice to just ride the bike in a group and not worry about riding at the limit. I am leaving that for the weekend. Recently I have been training with a Powertap on my cyclocross bike, power based training is everywhere on the road but I have not really seen it on cross bikes. Maybe people are training [...]