Getting ready for 'cross

Picked up my '10 TCX from Mountain Road on Sunday. After helping with the Leroy cyclocross race last year I knew this is something I wanted to get into this year. I decided against building a bike up, so instead did a bit of research and talking with Jacob at MRC. Kevin and I plan to get some cross riding in this weekend at Wendy Park in anticipation of the 1st Bike Athority race. No goals for cross season this year except to have fun, get some new bike skills practiced, and help with off season work in preparation for next year's road race season.

Is a TT bike worth it?

This week my TT bike is in the shop so I decided to take the road bike to the Leroy TT. I have been curious as to the time difference between the 2 bikes but could never make the sacrifice to take the road bike until I was forced to yesterday.

The results: road bike was about 1 minute slower across the 7.67 miles for what resulted in -1.3mph average compared to my Felt B2 TT bike.

Is is worth it: Well...not really. I didn't make any more money on the Leroy course when I rode my TT bike but I did return a faster time (which only Jim and I know along with my popsicle stick). So unless your getting paid for results, its not technically worth it. But there are a few advantages to having a TT bike:

1. You can better gauge your strength and fitness relative to the strong riders since they are probably on a TT specific bike in these events.
2. Faster times, quicker MPH average, and just different equipment provide more excitement and motivation to do these painful workouts. If I didn't have the TT bike I am almost certain I would not be at Leroy as much as i have been (8 times YTD).
3. You have a better chance of passing people!

The Leroy course definitely was not the same last night on the road bike. I still had a great time but it is not as fun going slower.

No Milk race for me

On Saturday night I decided not to do the Milk race even though I intended on doing it all year. Reasons were the forecasted high temps/humidity, a stressful week at work that I feel I didn't need to add a race onto, and missing that early morning weekend ride that is a mix of endurance/tempo work lately.

After reading the Milk races posts from a few local bloggers today, I am glad I didn't go. The Cat 4 race seemed sun roaching hot, miserable muggy, and some crashes thrown in to make it interesting. Yes, my decision to do 200 minutes on a ride around Geaugu County was much better: still roaching hot, miserable muggy, just no crashes.

In 200 minutes I lost over 5lbs while drinking 32 oz of Gatorade (didn't bring enough with me). The last 30 minutes were miserable. My HR was consistently 15+ bpm more than where it should have been.

Laurel Hill

On Saturday I headed out at 8am for a 40 mile route up and over Laurel Hill twice on different routes. I was a bit worried about how bad these climbs would be but was surprised on how easy they are (compared to what I thought it would be like) and how much fun they are. The picture above was the first summit (2684 ft). This was reached on Rt 30 heading east with dense fog going up the climb starting around 2000 ft. The decent went down to a town called Jennerstown and then along the ridge for about 15 miles north until I took Ligonier Pike up the east side of the ridge. This climb was 6 miles instead of 4.5 and the road was very rural but well paved. It was a completely different climb since the first 4.5 miles are between 4-5% and heavily shaded. The last 1.5 miles goes up to 6-7%, in the sun, on a main road but it had light traffic. That summit was 2743 and the view was incredible (hard to capture on camera though):

The descent was 4-5 miles, 6-7%, on excellent pavement with no tight corners. I was holding between 47-49 mph for miles! This is now my new favorite route. My #2 and #3 favorite routes are both around Ligonier PA also. Now back to riding the roads in boring Geagua County (at least compared to this). I can't imagine riding down in the higher Alleghenies or Rockies or Alps.