Originally Posted by
hubcyclist
I'm in the same boat, trying to see what type of low hanging fruit there might be to shave off some seconds per lap. Power-wise I should be good enough to mix it up with the podium guys, and I'm not technically very sloppy, although perhaps too cautious, which might be why I never crash. I'm going to try lowering the psi to high 20's front and about 30 rear (from 30f/35r) for Sunday's race and see how that works out for me.
Exactly. The 3/4 guy I'm comparing to does have a slightly broader engine. He's got more overall volume under his belt. I've got the same level of intensity and near identical power, but that overall volume still counts for a good bit.
I'm guessing even if not just a couple ticks per part of the course slower cornering, I'm gassed from making up from that. Where he may very well be resting in some of those corners and then able to hit the gas on the way out. Where instead I'm gassed and not able to due to my overall inefficiencies.
One thing I didn't mention was that on race day I blew a lot of energy twice to try to regain positions. I did the race the 2nd day, so no callup. I was behind a guy or two that just would NOT gas it for the first pinch/corner. Then, I'm left sprinting two to three sections two laps in a row to try to catch up or pass some folks.
If on that first sprint I got around, I could have saved myself three sprint digs of around 15 to 20 seconds a piece. That would have been worth a LOT of energy divided up over the race.
I know crap happens in both cross and road racing that affect outcomes, but for cross I can appreciate my input to individual skills a lot more than "getting lucky" in a road race or just gross power and money spend in a time trial.