[dc]H[/dc]alf of cyclocross is fitness. The other half is skill, otherwise known as "getting out of your own way." While it's important to be able to ride until your eyes bleed and your face peels off, if you continually botch your run ups, mounts, dismounts and barrier hops, you're guaranteed to be disappointed come race day. So that means it's time to get out there and practice your skills, dammit!
Here's the story behind this workout: You'll perform this ON YOUR CROSS BIKE! No, your road bike is NOT suitable for this workout, period. We're going to teach your body how to get off your bike. Then we'll teach it how to get back ON the bike. Finally, we're going to put it all together so that you can actually do it when it matters the most (hint, that's during a race!)
Here’s the program:
First, warm up on the cross bike. Get a good 15 to 20 minutes of spinning in and get your legs warm and ready to rock and roll. Stop and loosen up a bit. Really loosen up all those muscles you use in ‘cross but don’t even send signals to the rest of the year (this means running muscles and bike carrying.)
Time to get rolling with basic dismounts:
At a slow speed:
- Unclip your right leg, swing it backwards over the saddle and let it dangle behind the leg that's still clipped in.
- Don’t dismount, just coast with the leg hanging behind you.
- DON'T DISMOUNT!
- Swing your leg back over the saddle, clip back in, pedal a few strokes, and repeat. A lot.
- Repeat the whole cycle a dozen times or so, at varying speeds. Work on your balance and control coasting with one leg clipped in. Make sure your hand position is correct and you're able to move your right hand from the hood/drop to grasping the top tube and visa versa.
- Note that if you "step through" to dismount, you'll need to practice this as well.
Now, it's time to repeat that last sequence, but after swinging your right leg over the saddle, it's time to dismount. Think about what you are doing, and how you are doing this super basic skill! I'll give you a secret…don’t step down to the ground!
Huh?
- From your coasting position (with your leg dangling behind you) simply unclip your left foot, and drop to the ground. No step, just drop. Make sense?
- If you "step through" simple twist your left foot out of the pedal as you drop your right foot onto the ground.
- Repeat this a lot. I mean A LOT. Until you’ve got it hard wired into your body.
[pullquote] DO NOT HOP, SKIP, JUMP OR OTHERWISE LAUNCH YOURSELF THROUGH THE AIR! [/pullquote]Good deal, now you can get off your bike. But that's only half the battle. You have to be able to get back on. So let's practice that now…in style!
You dismounted on the left side of the bike, yes? Then while standing next to the left side (non drive side) and from a dead standstill, we're going to dance the 3-step.
- Left foot step.
- Right foot step.
- Left foot steps again but as you plant your left foot on the ground, drive forward off of it while swinging your right leg over the saddle, just like we did in the second part of our FIRST dismount drill.
DO NOT HOP, SKIP, JUMP OR OTHERWISE LAUNCH YOURSELF THROUGH THE AIR! It will probably end badly for you, as in your most tender bits will meet their untimely end on the saddle. You're trying to step over the saddle, and you aren’t landing on the saddle, you’re sliding OVER it, with your butt comfortable resting on it at the end of the slide. As for where your attention should be, don't focus on the saddle but keep your eye on the drive side pedal. Try to step on to (and into) it as you walk over the bike, ready to rock and roll as soon as your cheeks slide onto the saddle.
Repeat this. A lot. Super slow. Walking pace is too fast for you at first. Get this so wired into your body that you can do it in your sleep while ripped on Belgian beer and meth.
Ready for the big boy pants? Combine the last two excercises and repeat until you're bored stiff. Once you've drilled those moves into your skull, spin around for a few minutes and shake it out.
Ready for this? Now you're going to repeat the dismount/remount sequence we just did, starting slow and gradually getting faster and faster with each repetition. Stop when you bobble, stumble, trip or screw up and immediately do 5 of the sequences S.L.O.W.L.Y. That's how you'll fix your mistakes before they become habit.
Finished? Nope. Spin for about 15 minutes to cool down and then head home.
Now you're finished.
