CX Nationals, preparing for the worst
Some banter on the Twitters today got me thinking.
For those of you who raced in Kansas City in 2007, what I am going to tell you next is not news.
It can get cold in the mid-west during the winter, really cold. Shockingly cold.
If you are planning on participating in the 2012 US Cyclocross National Championships in Madison Wisconsin next month and have not had the pleasure of enjoying this kind of cold in the past be warned, the first time you experience sub-zero temperatures it can seem like a real slap in the face. That being said, it’s still totally possible to race and compete effectively in these kinds of conditions with proper planning. Training is totally not necessary, just planning. Which reminds me of a funny story.
I was originally a cross country skier and only came to cycling as cross training for my primary sport. In 1987 I had registered for the American Birkebeiner and was spending the winter racing various qualifying races around the mid-west in order to improve my starting position for the Birke. One of the races I had selected was the Superior Ski Classic in, amazingly enough, Superior Wisconsin.
The winter of 1986-7 was particularly grueling for cross country ski training because there was almost no snow to speak of. That’s not to say that it was not winter, because it was still incredibly cold that season. There was just no snow on the ground in which to train upon. Many dedicated cross country skiers were driven to the side of the road, out there in temperatures well below freezing, using roller blades and roller skies to try and train for racing on snow that stubbornly refused to come. It was totally pathetic, trust me.
Due to this lack of snow the Superior Ski Classic was moved from the challenging, but dry trails around Superior to the frozen surface of Lake Superior itself. The morning of the race I awoke to air temperatures of nearly minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit. When I went out to start the car to head to the race I was horrified to find that my battery was stone dead, frozen overnight. I ended up taking a cab to the start of the race, fully dressed in my racing gear, and arriving at the starting line a full 20 minutes after the start of the race. By that time the air temperature had risen to a balmy minus 10 degrees.
I paid the driver and ran from where the cab dropped me off to the staring line, jumped on the skis and took off. The starting area was an inlet off the lake, tucked into the woods around Lake Superior, and the race wound its way in and out of a few of these inlets. It was cold, but the woods around the frozen lake provided a nice wind break from the gusts blowing out on the open frozen water. In the protection of the woods it was pretty easy to actually work up a sweat even in those cold conditions.
At some point however the course had gone as far as it could go traversing these areas off the main lake itself, and it was time to work our way back to towards the start. The only way to do this was to head out onto the open lake and cut across as the crow would fly had he not been smart enough to find somewhere warm to be instead. Coming around the bend of the final inlet the racers were fully exposed to the blasting wind, big gusts that would drop the wind chill temperatures from minus 10 back down towards minus 20 or below. The body heat and sweat you had worked up vanished instantly. It was pretty miserable stuff and it probably took 15 to 20 minutes to work back across the lake to the wooded and protected area where the race began. And that was the end of the first lap…only three more to go. I spent over two hours out on the lake that day in those conditions wearing just about as much as I do when I am on the bike.
And I survived just fine. Sure, there were periods of the race that were not particularly pleasant, but how many races have you done that were 100% within your comfort zone? And how enjoyable was that really?
Your race in Madison is going to be 45 minutes? An hour tops? No problem. Yes, your hands are probably going to get cold, your feet too. But you are not going to lose digits being outside in the winter for an hour. It’s not going to be particularly pleasant, plan for it. Be ready for it and accept that fact that it is going to be cold. Have lots of clothes at the start to stay warm on the grid and have those clothes ready at the finish. Put some Vaseline on your face to avoid frostbite if it’s really bad. Cover your ears. Use your Aeroshell. It will be fine. And if it’s not fine it will be over fast. I guarantee that you will be thinking about this race a quarter of a century from now, and these memories will make it all worthwhile.
And by the way, if you end up taking a cab to the start of the race make sure you have a plan to get back to your hotel once the race is over. Take it from me. Like I said, training is not necessary, just planning.
