V-CLUB TRAINING CORNER

We’ve teamed up with Marilyn Trout, certified USA Cycling Elite Coach to answer V-Club members’ training questions. You can view her coach profile at: http://www.trainingpeaks.com/coachdirectory/searchbydiscipline.asp#MarilynTrout

Send your cycling inquiries to Marilyn, and for a limited time, if yours is selected to be answered in our V-Club column, VeloWear will send you a $20 gift certificate that can be used towards any purchase on VeloWear.com. To submit your inquiry, e-mail her at trout_mic@msn.com, and type “V-Club Training Question” in the subject line of the e-mail.

V-Club member Lindsey Bishop is our 13th winner of a $20 VeloWear gift certificate! Her question that follows was answered by Peg Labiuk (nee Peggy Maass), a collegue of Marilyn Trout, and a certified NCCP level 3 coach with a career in international road and track racing. She is a World Championship medalist, World Record holder, U.S. Olympic Team member, former British national team coach and Kreb's Cycle co-founder (British Columbia, Canada).

I'm a mountain bike racer who began 'cross racing recently and is now getting into road racing.  I've been using my new road bike on group training rides lately, but here and there I still take out my 'cross bike on group training rides.  Is it just me or does the cyclocross bike, even with road tires on it, behave differently -from rolling speed to how it handles turns and climbs- than the road bikes around it?  Aside from the obvious physical differences of the 'cross frame, like the brakes and general geometry, why does it feel more challenging to handle than a road bike on large group rides?  And is it dangerous to train and race on a 'cross bike when surrounded by road bikes?  

Lindsey’s question looked simple, at first…

When comparing two bikes, the first factor is the frame dimensions. Lindsey reports that the road bike is a Team Fuji, 54 cm. The Felt F60X cross bike is a 55 cm. Ok, that’s a one cm frame size difference. She assures me that she had both professionally fitted and her positions are identical. So, let’s continue down a checklist of possible reasons why the bikes perform so differently.

Usually, cross bikes have slightly higher bottom brackets for better clearance (harking back to toe-clip dragging days). Indeed, the cross bike BB drop is 55 mm, while the road bike drops more, at 69 mm for 1.4 cm lower. That may make the cross bike feel less stable on the road. Another way of measuring that type of difference is the standover height. The road bike is 774.3, vs. cross bike 797, or 2.27 cm taller, a higher center of gravity all ‘round. Handling a bike like that could feel more cumbersome, especially when standing out of the saddle climbing, rocking the bike back and forth, a technique not often used on slippery cyclocross courses.

Since she notes that the Felt seems to roll faster than the road bikes around her in a paceline, I look for two things: wheelbase and weight differences. The cross bike is a whopping 229.7 mm longer and weighs in a hefty 23.5 lbs. If the Team Fuji is the RC model, it currently lists under 17 lbs. She did say the bike was a few years old, so she has to weigh it to know for sure. It looks like the cross bike is about 6 lbs heavier though. Now, it may cost her more energy to get that bike rolling, but it could carry more momentum, especially on downhills.

So far we have a cross bike that is larger, has a higher BB, longer wheelbase, taller standover height, and weighs more. All of that would contribute to the bike’s ride she is concerned with. But, I wouldn’t leave it at just that. Now I’ll look at some of the more minor differences that compound the experience. Although each bike manufacturer describes their bikes with varying terms, I could chart most of the tube lengths and angles:

You can see the trend that the road bike is built smaller and has steeper angles than the cross bike. If the road bike fits Lindsey well, I’m going to suggest that she could have gone with a smaller cross bike. The Felt comes in a 53 cm, much closer in measurements to the road bike. It would be a smaller frame to maneuver, reduce standover height, wheelbase, and maybe cut some weight. While she’s at it, if Felt could upgrade this up and coming cross rider and Colorado State Champion (Cat 3) to a light weight F1X, she’d move up the ranks even more quickly.

You can see Lightening Fast Lindsey on the cover of the March issue of “Peak Region Cyclist” Magazine, sporting her favorite Voler clothing, of course. She is primarily a Pro cross-country mountain bike racer, 2007 National Champ in Expert 19-24, with impressive results in Super D as well. I would take the mountain bike position into account then too, especially in considering what length cranks to ride. The road bike is a good venue for trying shorter cranks to get the rpms up, but maybe the cross bike should be most like the mt. bike position.

She isn’t sure what the handlebar widths are, but thinks around 40 cm. The Felt website lists a 44 cm bar comes on the 55 cm frame. The Team Fuji was formerly owned by Mike “Meatball” Friedman, fast man of the road and track, Team Slipstream Chipotle. He’s a big guy, so I would think that he would ride wide bars. So, our rider needs to get out a tape measure, and measure the bars, center to center. Women generally have narrower shoulders, so unless she has changed the bars, I bet both bikes have HBs too wide. A friend could measure across her shoulders, AC joint to AC joint, to get a guideline for what width she should be using. Handlebar width greatly affects the rider’s ability to handle a bike, especially in cornering. Lindsey might consider a women’s road bike too. Mostly, I like the packages – like the short reach brakes and narrower carbon handlebars that come with the Felt ZW1. Otherwise, she can change components to dial the fit and make the bikes her own.

Finally, she wants to know if she should ride the cross bike while surrounded by roadies. I believe you should train on what you will race. So, depending upon the season, yes, she should ride the cross bike. To get more comfortable with it’s handling, take it out cornering in a parking lot, practice getting out of the saddle for climbs and sitting back down smoothly, and riding closely on a wheel. I like using running tracks for drills – no cars, lines to follow, non-stop pedaling around the sweeping turns. Since she lives in Colorado Springs, she can access the velodrome – maybe get a fixie off Mr. Freidman, or hop on the Pikes Peak BMX track for variety. Now there’s a bike with small wheels, short wheelbase that just begs to get air.

Give Lindsey credit for feeling the differences in her rides and wanting to learn more about the machines. A few resources I use to help sort out the frame dimensions are Momentum Magazine (www.momentumplanet.com) and custom frame builders like Calfee (www.calfeedesign.com). Now she too, can talk the techie talk.

Print | posted on Tuesday, March 10, 2009 11:12 AM