Thursday, 19 July 2012
The weird and crazy world of Cyclocross
Iv realised whilst speaking to people lately that they have absolutely no idea what cyclocross is. I try to explain that its like road riding, but off road, fast pace and a fair bit of running with the bike. I can understand that it might be difficult to imagine it if you haven't seen it before so here it is.. I made sure there were bails in the video because I think its hilarious. Some pretty sweet looking courses in the videos with awesome features. I especially like the bmx/ dirt jump looking sections.enjoy!
Tuesday, 17 July 2012
Training week 1
So the past week has been a bit of a introduction to training. I went out 3 times on my bike and did about 90 miles. The first ride was a bit rubbish and made me realise I'm going to have to put in a lot of effort in the coming weeks. But it was ok as it was my first road ride or first long period of aerobic excersize for well over a year. And when I put it like that, I could be doing a lot worse.
Here is what my routes have been so far. On my 2nd and 3rd ride I tried to use the 'map my ride' app for the I phone but unfortunately I have been a complete noob! My phone ran out of battery on ride 2. And ride 3, I thought I had pressed record to only find out when I got home that I had only pressed the settings option.... :/
I mapped the routes out the best I could on google maps.
On days When I haven't been on my bike I have been at the gym working on the guns.
Up until now I have been going to the gym 5 times a week but with a totally different goal. I wanted to get bigger muscles, gain some weight and lose the belly that I had accumulated from being in a desk job. The problem that i had got into, as im sure many do with a desk job, is you get so caught up burning your eyes and brain out looking at a screen all day that once you finish work, all you want to do is get home switch off and watch a film or play on the ps3. Well thats how it was for me anyway.
But gone are those days of being a lazy slob.... And so have the days of wanting to become muscle bound and look like Arnie! Well that was never the plan but I did gain 4kg and my body fat percentage dropped quite a bit and i was very happy with my progress. And now i feel like i am better prepared as i have a good base strength..but what do i know.
So now my new goal is to become fit enough to actually race throughout a cyclo cross series, hopefully peaking around the time of the Champs. Rather than just being fit enough to participate. I'm not really about the participation of things, I like to win. Little to no point in doing things unless you want to win I think. The bad thing about that, is that I feel I am going to have to get used to being thrashed for a while... Safe in the knowledge that I'm letting them win untill champs time :)
Ok iv gone on a fair bit now. But i guess it is my first training post so i have to give a bit of an intoduction. I have also probably given away my race plan but only time will tell if it is my plan or not.??
Here is what my routes have been so far. On my 2nd and 3rd ride I tried to use the 'map my ride' app for the I phone but unfortunately I have been a complete noob! My phone ran out of battery on ride 2. And ride 3, I thought I had pressed record to only find out when I got home that I had only pressed the settings option.... :/
I mapped the routes out the best I could on google maps.
 |
| Pretty Simple 20 mile route, not many hard climbs.,but the wind was pretty strong. this took me about 1h 15mins |
 |
| This is one of the hardest rides of done in recent memory. Its very hilly and about 35-40 miles and i really tried to push up the hills. im not sure how long this took because im not 100% on the time i left but was about 2h 30mins. |
 |
| This 17ish mile route is just easy. all slightly up hill on the way out and downhill on the way back. This took an hour as i was just doing an easy recovery ride as the route the day before kinda hurt. |
On days When I haven't been on my bike I have been at the gym working on the guns.
Up until now I have been going to the gym 5 times a week but with a totally different goal. I wanted to get bigger muscles, gain some weight and lose the belly that I had accumulated from being in a desk job. The problem that i had got into, as im sure many do with a desk job, is you get so caught up burning your eyes and brain out looking at a screen all day that once you finish work, all you want to do is get home switch off and watch a film or play on the ps3. Well thats how it was for me anyway.
But gone are those days of being a lazy slob.... And so have the days of wanting to become muscle bound and look like Arnie! Well that was never the plan but I did gain 4kg and my body fat percentage dropped quite a bit and i was very happy with my progress. And now i feel like i am better prepared as i have a good base strength..but what do i know.
So now my new goal is to become fit enough to actually race throughout a cyclo cross series, hopefully peaking around the time of the Champs. Rather than just being fit enough to participate. I'm not really about the participation of things, I like to win. Little to no point in doing things unless you want to win I think. The bad thing about that, is that I feel I am going to have to get used to being thrashed for a while... Safe in the knowledge that I'm letting them win untill champs time :)
Ok iv gone on a fair bit now. But i guess it is my first training post so i have to give a bit of an intoduction. I have also probably given away my race plan but only time will tell if it is my plan or not.??
Saturday, 14 July 2012
The Ride (bike #1)
 |
| Redline CX |
Here it is! This is my cross bike #1. I have two cross bikes, i will take a pic of the other one at a later date.
this is my favourite of the two mainly because its lighter and rides better, but also because it has the better components on it. I was lucky enough to have been given this bike from my Bro out in California as it was his old bike and didn't need it any more. Cheers Mark!
Many people will think that this is just a road bike. If you look closer, you will notice a few differences. Cross bikes are to be ridden mainly off road so, this requires a few subtle differences over a road bike.
The first and most visual thing that sets it apart is the brakes. This has canti-lever brakes whereas road bikes have smaller more aerodynamic calliper brakes. The only reason for having these bigger brakes is to allow for better mud clearance. i.e. stop mud gathering at the brakes making it almost impossible for the wheels to turn.
Another difference is the frame strength, due to the off-road demands, the frame is overbuilt, mainly around the head tube on this frame, just to stop it from snapping or bending.
The frame seat and chain stays are also a little wider to also allow for better mud clearance.
My bike currently has a road setup, with road slick tyres and a bigger chainring. this is purely to achieve higher speeds and make it a bit easier. For the cross season i will put a smaller chain ring on and put on some nobbly off road tyres. I'll go into that more a bit nearer the time.
This is a pic i took today but it is not how it will stay. I have a few upgrades planned which should come fairly shortly. I will post pictures of each new thing. It weighs about 21.5lbs at the moment and i will be looking to get rid of some of that weight.
Heres a list of the bike and components:
- Redline CX Frame and fork
- Alex hubs on Alex AT450 rims (soon to be replaced, and stored as spare wheels)
- Dura Ace 7700 Groupset ( Rear Mech currently not on it but will put that on soon)
- Shimano LX brakes
- Time Atac pedals i think. ( i use these on road but will change to crank bros 'egg beaters' for off road)
- Profile Design stem and bar
- Easton EC70 seat post
- Selle italia Flite saddle
and thats pretty much it. I dont know what tyres, cant see anything written on them from the sofa and im not moving.
Hopefully you'll stick around and follow my progress and find out how much bike weight i can drop, if at all. and also at what cost! Also i will post some pics of bike #2 very soon which i want to get rid of some weight at little cost.
You Stay Classy readers....
Welcome to my bike blog
So this is my very first post. First things first. A welcome is in order. And thank you for taking your time reading what I have to say.
Let me introduce and tell you a bit about myself.
My name is Matthew noble and I am currently 22years old. I live in Plymouth , UK and have been cycling since I was about 2. Over that time I have raced xc, dh, bmx, cyclo cross and road. I have managed to become southwest champ in dh, cyclo cross and was close with bmx. I have never orientated myself as a type of rider ie rodie, downhiller. I like to think of myself as a cyclist who respects and enjoys every aspect of the sport. I find it very funny how people can have such a hatred or disregard for another type of cyclist. For instance a downhiller calling a roadie a fag because he wears Lycra....it does make a good laugh though! Despite me being a Lycra loving roadie at times.
I also work for an upcoming online bike company Koo-bikes.com. Worth a look if you've never heard of it. They are the only bike shop that weighs every single bike product, in house, on very accurate scales, to give riders more knowledge about the product. And if your anything like me, I want to ride the lightest stuff. Especially if Im trying to shed some bike weight.
I guess me working for the shop will make it easier to get hold of new products and review them and stuff. So it benefits the readers also. That's you by the way!
Ok why am I doing this when I could be out there riding. Well it's simple really. Firstly, There is only so much riding one man can do and what better than spending your spare time writing about bikes.
Secondly, I have started to weight train a lot recently and I have decided to put my fitness to the test and race the upcoming southwest cyclocross series and thought why not blog my progress.
Not many people know much about cyclo cross and there doesn't seem to be that many sites out there that gives it that much attention. Unless I'm missing something and haven't found one yet.
So I want to show what it takes to prepare for a season. What sort of bike you need, how much training I do (I have a full time job, so there will be levels of commitment and a limit to how much I can do) what I do to prepare for a race. What I think about before, during a race and after. And of course what I eat.
Over time I will blog about almost every single bike related thought I have, from dh riding right through the spectrum of cycling to fixies! Cus they are kool!
This is a list of what to expect:
- Southwest cyclo cross
- Training: hours- miles -diet
- Bike build: my bikes. Pic of new stuff and why I choose it over other kit.
- Race day bike pics ~ other peoples bikes
- Relevant info: news, races, websites.
Feel free to subscribe to my blog. It would also be very cool if people wanted to send me pics of there cx bikes for me to post them on here. And feel free to share my blog on fb or whatever.
The pic is a little giveaway of what is my number 1 cross bike. Guess if you can.
I'm off for a ride!
Let me introduce and tell you a bit about myself.
My name is Matthew noble and I am currently 22years old. I live in Plymouth , UK and have been cycling since I was about 2. Over that time I have raced xc, dh, bmx, cyclo cross and road. I have managed to become southwest champ in dh, cyclo cross and was close with bmx. I have never orientated myself as a type of rider ie rodie, downhiller. I like to think of myself as a cyclist who respects and enjoys every aspect of the sport. I find it very funny how people can have such a hatred or disregard for another type of cyclist. For instance a downhiller calling a roadie a fag because he wears Lycra....it does make a good laugh though! Despite me being a Lycra loving roadie at times.
I also work for an upcoming online bike company Koo-bikes.com. Worth a look if you've never heard of it. They are the only bike shop that weighs every single bike product, in house, on very accurate scales, to give riders more knowledge about the product. And if your anything like me, I want to ride the lightest stuff. Especially if Im trying to shed some bike weight.
I guess me working for the shop will make it easier to get hold of new products and review them and stuff. So it benefits the readers also. That's you by the way!
Ok why am I doing this when I could be out there riding. Well it's simple really. Firstly, There is only so much riding one man can do and what better than spending your spare time writing about bikes.
Secondly, I have started to weight train a lot recently and I have decided to put my fitness to the test and race the upcoming southwest cyclocross series and thought why not blog my progress.
Not many people know much about cyclo cross and there doesn't seem to be that many sites out there that gives it that much attention. Unless I'm missing something and haven't found one yet.
So I want to show what it takes to prepare for a season. What sort of bike you need, how much training I do (I have a full time job, so there will be levels of commitment and a limit to how much I can do) what I do to prepare for a race. What I think about before, during a race and after. And of course what I eat.
Over time I will blog about almost every single bike related thought I have, from dh riding right through the spectrum of cycling to fixies! Cus they are kool!
This is a list of what to expect:
- Southwest cyclo cross
- Training: hours- miles -diet
- Bike build: my bikes. Pic of new stuff and why I choose it over other kit.
- Race day bike pics ~ other peoples bikes
- Relevant info: news, races, websites.
Feel free to subscribe to my blog. It would also be very cool if people wanted to send me pics of there cx bikes for me to post them on here. And feel free to share my blog on fb or whatever.
The pic is a little giveaway of what is my number 1 cross bike. Guess if you can.
I'm off for a ride!
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