- We're counting down the days, not weeks, days,
until the 'cross season, starts here in New England
where I'm from in the United States.
It's a very exciting time.
So, I decided to put together some tips for your
pre-season, cyclo-cross checklist,
to make sure that when you hit the track,
you're ready to go.
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Okay, so first up, we're going to talk about equipment.
Now, during the pre-season, it's really important
to go through all of your gear from last year,
to make sure that your equipment is on point.
Why?
Well, if you do all this training,
and you condition your body,
and you're feeling strong, you get out on the 'cross course,
you go through that first bump,
bars go down to the ground,
chains broken, shoe broke, not cool.
So, I'm going to show you guys a couple of the things that I do
every year, to make sure that I'm ready to go.
First up, would be the cleats, they need to be replaced,
if you have loose, old cleats,
you're going to be jumping a barrier,
or jumping an obstacle in cyclo-cross,
and you can pull out of your pedal,
and then you can have a recipe for disaster.
On longer rides, loose cleats make a lot of wobble,
knee issues, not good.
So, how do you get the cleats
to be in the same place every time?
Well because I'm using the exact same tread and pattern
that I have, from shoe to shoe, and year to year,
you can see, that this one, measures up at 19,
and this one, also measures up at 19.
It's a really simple way, it might be a millimeter here,
a millimeter there, you got to make some small adjustments,
after you get out on your first ride,
you go back and you check em' out. But, overall,
I've used that technique with a lot of success.
First things first, you got to get out in the garage,
and you got to get that bike,
you got to see what's going on with it.
If you're like a lot of my friends,
your bike is probably still filthy from being hung up
after the last race of the season in December or January,
you finish the national championships, you were exhausted,
you didn't want anything to do with cyclo-cross,
and you got straight into some pie around the holidays,
and your bike got hung up dirty.
You got to get that thing down,
you got to get it out in the light,
and you got to see what needs to be replaced.
So, we got the bike out in the light,
it's obviously filthy, it needs a good cleaning.
but, if your bike's been sitting for a while,
it's been in the garage, you haven't ridden it much,
you really do need to check everything out.
Things that I would just replace, right off the bat,
automatically, if you haven't ridden the bike in a while,
because you're not going to remember
when you replaced the chain, or this or that.
Chain's got to go, it's probably got some rust,
it got beat up, it got hung up dirty,
it hasn't been properly cleaned, it's got to go.
Fresh chain.
Next up, you want to check out your tires.
What the heck were you thinking,
hanging up your tubular tires,
or really any tires, for six months without touching them.
I don't know, but tubulars, in particular,
you want to make sure that you push on the side walls,
and that you check to see if any of the glue is cracking,
or you have any other issues or imperfections with them,
because tubulars are like, really need to be maintained
and taken care of accordingly.
If you've got regular tires, like these ones,
these Conti, cyclo-cross tires, then yeah,
you just need to check and make sure that there's no cuts
or burrs or any sidewall abrasions,
anything that would make your day really bad,
so take a good look at that.
If you're using a battery powered system,
like eTap, or Shimano's electronic system,
then you want to make sure that the batteries
are all charged up, and everything's firing perfectly.
Then lastly, you want to look at the brakes.
You probably want to check and make sure that your pads
still have plenty of wear left on them,
otherwise, got to replace those.
And then you want to make sure if you're running hydraulic,
that you've got a bleed, a fresh bleed,
and if you're running cables, well then you know the deal,
you got to replace the cables, new cables and housing,
for sure, for a bike that's been sitting,
hung up, dirty, since last December.
So, we're moving on, from the bike,
and we're now going to talk about the body.
What have you been doing in the off-season?
Hopefully, some road riding or racing, or some gravel stuff.
But, hopefully, you're in shape enough to take on some runs.
You got to get out there,
and you got to start doing some runs, or get in the gym.
For cyclo-cross, it's not all about just going up a hill
and pedaling out on the roads.
No, you need to have dexterity and agility and speed.
You don't want to get into your first 'cross race
and then be sore for a month afterwards
because you didn't do any prep.
So, I always recommend to do, at least twice a week,
maybe 10 or 15 minutes, which is like one or two miles,
just to get your muscles ready,
so that when you do get out there on the course,
and you have to run with your bike, your body's prepared.
So, another big suggestion that I often make,
is to find a cyclo-cross specific coach.
Someone that has experience,
that can sort of guide you in the right ways.
You don't want to be trying to go down one road,
to come back up, to go down another one, no.
Got to have a good coach,
that knows what they're doing, to help you prepare.
I always recommend too, a good cyclo-cross camp,
someone that's experienced, that knows their stuff,
that can give you the basics,
and teach you, exactly what you should be doing.
How to get on and off the bike,
things that we're going to go over
in subsequent videos, down the road,
but definitely should do that,
and make time if there's one local in your area.
So, my last tip, is make sure that you look at
your local race listings,
and see if there are any cyclo-cross training races around.
They're usually 20 or 30 minutes long,
it's a great place to go over your bike,
see if your body's doing what it's supposed to be doing,
blow out all the cobwebs,
and it's a great place to have a lot of fun.
It's too much,
to get right into the cyclo-cross season full gas,
so doing like a shorter training race,
to make sure that everything's firing at all cylinders,
is a great way to start your season,
and they usually happen around this time
of the year, August.
So, that's my last tip for you guys.
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