Chocolate, waffles and ‘cross: Nearing the end

By Brandon Dwight

Editor’s Note: Brandon submitted the following journal entry on Friday, Dec. 4. On the following day Brandon finished second — by about a foot — to teammate Pete Webber at the Colorado cyclocross championships. A video of the sprint is at the bottom of this page.

There I was with four laps to go and I could feel the rear tire getting slightly softer as I hammered … well, rather meagerly pushed on the pedals.

There was enough pressure in my rear tire to motor along the flats, but when I hit the corners, stability and control were almost non-existent. It felt like I was cornering on ice. I had a spare bike waiting for me in the pit, but since this race was small and the course was dry, I hadn’t lined up a pit crew to hand it to me. And, since the course was so fast and I knew the guy on my rear wheel would get a huge gap if I stopped to grab my spare bike.

As I approached the pit with each subsequent lap I asked myself what is the best thing to do. Should I stop and get my other bike? I might lose a bit of time, but gain it back with more stable cornering ability. Man, this hurts. Should I just ride it out and see what happens. Man, this hurts. Then I would ride pass the pit opting to stay with the bike I was on thinking it was the better decision.

In the end my decision to stay with the same bike didn’t really pay off.

I got passed and finished in the same place I would have ended up had I switched to my spare bike. As I drove home after the race, I played the scenario over in my head and yes, there are things I might have done differently. I could have yelled to someone in the pit area to give me a bike hand up on the next lap.

It’s possible a quick bike change to one with optimal tire pressure would have slowed me up a bit, but in the end have been a faster choice. Or, maybe I should have ridden faster at the beginning of the race and built up such a huge lead I could have stopped for spare bike, a beer and a brat, and still had time to spare!

The slow leak in my rear tubular is very symbolic to what the end of the ‘cross season feels like. With two weeks left before U.S. Nationals in Bend, Oregon, it can be difficult to decide how much to race and train.

Conventional coaching wisdom says with two weeks before a big race, there is virtually no speed, power or fitness to gain, but there is plenty lose. Should you ride or rest? Sprints or intervals? Tempo rides or motorpace? Voodoo or séance? Light beer or stout? These are tough decisions!

For the fifteen years or so in which I have been racing, I know what works for me, but I still question many things. When racing well, you try to repeat the same steps taken leading up to the event thinking it will work again. When it doesn’t, you go into panic mode, forget about what worked in the past and try something new. It’s a vicious cycle, but trust me, eventually you get a system and stick to it as best as you can. You have to stay loose and not get too uptight if life throws a curveball at you. I winning all the time were easy, one would get bored and stop. There would be no more challenge to the sport. I guess that is one of the things, which keeps me going year after year.

Speaking of winning, Katie Compton and her husband, Mark Legg are going to do a quick Q & A, and autograph session at my shop this Friday night. Some of her great sponsors sent boxes of stuff for us to raffle off and we’ll be trying to raise some money for the Boulder Junior Cycling program which helps youngsters get into bike racing. This all takes place on the eve of our Colorado State Cyclocross Championships.

Hmmm….light beer or stout?

Thanks for reading,
Brandon

Brandon Dwight lives in Boulder, Colorado, with his wife, Heather, and chocolate lab, Oban. He is part owner of Boulder Cycle Sport and the founder of Doperssuck.com. Sponsors include: Ridley Bicycles, SRAM components, Zipp, Crank Brothers, TRP Brakes, Shimano footwear, Clif Bar, Hudz, IO/BIO and PRO.

FILED UNDER: Cyclocross / News / Rider Diaries TAGS: Brandon Dwight