Jim Horner Grand Prix

Today was the Jim Horner GP cyclocross race down at the Argyll Velodrome. You'll have to take my word on that 'cause I forgot my GPS at home. I get a lot of enjoyment out of logging data while I'm riding and it felt a little odd to look down and not see my GPS on my bars. I think it's the first time in six years I haven't recorded a ride. The course made good use of the small ravine near the velodrome as the riders had to cross the ravine three times during the race and all the significant twists and turns were located along the ravine's edges. As per usual, I spent my race at the back of the field though I actually lapped one rider. I was close to three other riders for the opening few laps but my stamina is limited and they started to pull away after the halfway point of the race. While I was with them I noticed my usual catching up on the corners and falling back on the straights. I really need to get some power and stamina back in my legs. I should really spend some time at the gym and on the trainer this offseason. Before the race, I was talking with fellow ERTCers Marg and Greg. We got on to the usual topic before a race of tire pressures. Greg and I were both running about 40 psi, which he considered a little hard but good for the course and I consider to be about as soft as I'm willing to go. The difference in attitude probably comes down to our body weight. If I remember correctly, Greg is a little shorter than me but much leaner and has a slighter build. He remarked that he's just under 60 kg. At 40 psi, he only has a total of just over three square inches of tire in contact with the ground. Even in high school when I was relatively fit, I was still heavy for my size. I'm currently quite fat so I outweigh Greg by over 25 kg. I once got a rough estimate of my lean body weight and, if it is still the same today, at 0% body fat, I would be 7 kg heavier than Greg's current weight. My weight means I had nearly five square inches of tire in contact with the ground during today's race. That's not actually a bad thing during a cyclocross race as the tire tends to spread out and float on top of grass instead of trying to sink in and leave deep tracks. Greg and I also chatted after the race about trying to brake less through corners. Cycling is all about momentum and I wonder if that's yet more incentive to lose the 12 kg I should lose. In theory, I could go through corners much faster with the same centrifugal force because of my reduced mass. In today's race I covered an unknown number of kilometres in something over 40 minutes. My lap times may have been consistent but might have dropped off in the end. I felt I worked hard the whole time but I cannot quantify that with numbers on my heart rate.