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2026-11-07

Pan American Cyclo-cross Championships

  • Id: 2026-11-07-pan-american-cyclo-cross-championships
  • Title: Pan American Cyclo-cross Championships
  • Kind: event
  • Discipline: bike
  • Surface: cx
  • Priority: key
  • Planned time: race start (confirm)
  • Duration: race
  • Distance: ~50 min race
  • Intensity: race
  • Location: Washington, DC
  • TrainingPeaks ID: 40520369

Objective

Race for UCI points with a committed start and steady middle laps.

Goal

Podium: best 15 sec at the gun 600 W or more, lap 1 no more than 240 W, laps 2-4 at 230 W or more.

Reasoning

The A race of the autumn and the test run for Ostrava: podium defence at World Cup intensity. Changed Oct 15: targets reset to her current race power (season race NP 208-224 W), and a rule for surges added. Changed Oct 25: climb, power-section and finish notes added.

Event details

  • UCI CC, Washington, DC.
  • Race breakfast 3-4 h before the start.
  • Warm-up 35-40 min: 15 min building, 2 x 3 min at 247-260 W, 3 x 15 sec starts. Stay on the rollers or trainer until call-up, with 2 x 20 sec hard at about 10 and 5 min before the start: heart rate 120-130 at the gun, not 95.
  • If it is 22°C or warmer, or in full sun: wait in shade with a cold towel or ice vest, drink an ice-slurry bottle 30 min before the start, take 500-750 mL of fluid with 500-700 mg of sodium in the 2 h before, and take a bottle hand-up in the pit if the commissaires allow it.
  • Race the first 60-90 sec for position, then settle: lap 1 NP no more than 240 W. If the leader goes harder than that on lap 1, let the gap open and close it on laps 2-3.
  • When the leaders surge: follow surges of up to about 30 sec at up to about 360 W. If a surge is longer or harder, let a gap of a few seconds open, ride your own threshold over the top, and close it in the technical sections.
  • Steep climbs and power sections: ride a short steep climb at the power it needs (the surge rule is for attacks). Gaps are kept on the power sections over the top: get back to threshold straight away and hold it.
  • The finish: learn the last corner and the finishing straight in the pre-ride. On the last lap, be first into the final technical section; on a short straight, the rider out of the last corner first usually wins.
  • Race.
  • Cool-down 15-20 min easy spin.
  • Review targets from the race file: best 15 sec at the gun 600 W or more; lap 1 NP 240 W or less; laps 2-4 NP 230 W or more, with no more than a 7% drop from lap 1; position at the first corner.

Constraints

  • Power meter paired and zeroed before the warm-up; the start and lap numbers depend on it.
  • Record the race as its own file, separate from the warm-up.

Recovery

Recovery drink within 30 min (GF/DF, about 1 g/kg carbohydrate and 20-25 g protein), then a full meal within 2 h. Legs up, carbohydrate-rich dinner and an early night: tomorrow is another race.

Fuelling

Breakfast of 1.5-2 g/kg carbohydrate from familiar GF/DF foods. 30 g carbohydrate with water 30-45 min before staging, a gel 10-15 min before the gun. Too short for on-bike fuelling: arrive fuelled.

Notes

Start at World Cup intensity. This is the fitness that has to carry to Ostrava. Debrief to Luca within 24 h: placing, gap to the winner, start row, lap times, what limited you, and how the legs feel the next morning.