Cyclocross for Newbies:

This is meant to be a little introduction to CX from my perspective, that of someone who was a newbie last season. It is not meant to be exhaustive or complete, I’m sure our CX veterans can add some great information. In fact, I have some work to do and just want to procrastinate a little bit more. Plus, I’m getting excited to the upcoming cx season. I’ve been encouraging a lot of Kissena guys to get involved, but I realize there might be a little bit of an intimidation factor when starting up a new discipline. I wanted to share my thoughts on what I learned during my first season to hopefully give anyone thinking about CX a little heads up.

Part 1 Equipment:

The Frame

What do you need to race cross? First, you need a cross frame. Go with something aluminum for durability. A specific cross frame is pretty much a necessity to get wide mud filled tires through with enough clearance. You don’t need fancy components. Weight is not a huge deal either, plus when you bike is covered in mud it’s hard to tell the difference between a lightweight and a standard bike.

Wheels and Tires

Wheels – again, go with durability. Lightweight might be nice, but realize they will take a pounding. Cross season is what finally put an end to my trusty ksyriums. Some fancy people run carbon wheels but again, they are fancy and not necessary, especially at the entry level. Keep in mind – the gear at CX races is much less “pro as shit” than a cat 4 blinged out park race.

What you put on the wheels is where you’ll want to do the most thinking. I recommend getting yourself a set of Michelin Muds for all around versatility. Some folks like running the Michelin Jets for drier “grass crit” types of courses, but I never messed around with that. A combo of a Jet / mud is common too. Most other clinchers suck.

For what it’s worth, I am going to make the plunge and experiment with tubulars this season. I am going with the cheap neuvation “r-tubular” and some good tires. I will report back if it is as amazing as everyone says.

Components

I ended up buying a new bike (giant txc1)with SRAM rival gearing. It was amazing; in fact it was far superior to what I was running on my road race bike at the time. Double fact – I had my best result of the road season on this bike – with some road tires. So year, it was nice.

That being said – it was way better than necessary, and there were a few problems with it. I was over-geared in the front with a 34/48. (the new model is a 38/46 which seems more appropriate).

I would consider running a 1x9 or 1x10 setup. I think the front gearing is a little bit unnecessary, and in fact even got in the way (accidental chain drop when shouldering the bike, etc.)

For brakes, any old thing will do, but the Avid Shorty 6s worked great for me. I know some folks like to tinker around on this part of the bike so I’ll let them chime in here. Some people reverse their brakes - I didn't for my first season but I will give it a shot this year. If it isn't obvious why, I'll explain more in the upcoming training post.

One other downfall of this bike was the giant brand seat-post. It wasn’t strong enough for CX applications, and the seat would move when doing a re-mount. That obviously sucks when trying to race with the saddle sticking up your ass. So that is a place to look for something sturdy.

So I went the new route – but you certainly don’t have to if you are willing to do some fiddling around for parts. You can pick up some old 9-speed stuff on the cheap and put together a killer setup. If you think you need something fancier watch ragot kick your ass on his bike which is set up exactly this way.

Oh yeah, pedals and shoes.

Get whatever pedals you feel most comfortable getting in and out of quickly. I went with standard shimano mountain pedals. Some people like egg beaters and time pedals, but again, this is probably personal preference. Also - I want to encourage someone racing the C's in a 56ish frame to get spd pedals so I can use your bike as a pit bike after your race.

Shoes: Here you need mountain bike shoes. I went with Sidi dominators, which I love, but I’d go with something from Lake given our sweet deal. They need to be snug and you need to run in them.

If you plan to add some running to your training - grab a decent pair of running shoes as well. They will come in handy for cross training purposes in the winter too.

Up Next: Skill training

Training:

How do you train for this crazy discipline? First you might want to watch this whole video series on youtube – it is really corny but quite helpful. I have a feeling Jeff Owens will dig the music.

This is part 1, you can find the rest.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdq2cDRyi4E

Let’s assume you come into the CX season with reasonable fitness from the road season. The first thing you should do is get out on your bike and learn to ride it. Get on trails, grass, and sand. Ride fast, and then ride faster. You’ll be amazed at how quickly you can adapt to the ideas of letting your bike slide around underneath you while still feeling in control. Here is some technique work – just in terms of riding, that I found very helpful. Ragot will being doing similar stuff at his Cunningham Park training sessions, and there might be an AM prospect park group that does this as well.

1) Work on 180 degree turns, fast, in both directions. Set up some cones on some grass, sprint in at high speed and try to get through the turn while doing as little breaking as possible. I’m going to continue doing this, and try to find a place to do it coming off a downhill to make it a little more challenging.
2) Set up a small figure eight, then ride around it really fast in both directions. Practice leaning and sliding. Better yet, do this when the grass is wet or covered in leaves.
3) Set up a tiny course (with run up, barriers, etc.) Race with a few friends around the course. Its OK if you lap each other, just try to hold the wheel in front of you or lap the person in front of you. When I say tiny, I mean like 100 meters of course.
4) Practice sprinting starts. 1 Foot clipped in, parallel to downtube, hold breaks down, and then plush, clip in, explode! Ragot taught me this as well, which led to vastly improved starts.
5) Barriers. Set up fake PVC barriers or throw some logs on the ground. Practice the flying dismount and re-mount over and over, coming into the barriers as fast as possible.
6) Practice carrying you bike, in every fashion. On the shoulder, like a suitcase, etc. Practice running with it. Up hills, on sand, up stairs, etc. You can do stairs and hills in Prospect Park. You can probably do sand to if you want to run in horseshit but I don’t recommend that.
7) Off-camber stuff was ridiculously challenging for me. If you can find it, practice on it.

Training:

How do you actually train? I used CX season as a kind of “race into shape” season. I raced a lot, recovered, and maybe did one hard session mid week. I did lots of level 6 stuff, because that was killing me in races. Stuff like 4x(20seconds on/10 seconds off). I also ran a bit, but there is some controversy over whether or not running is necessary. I say it doesn’t hurt, so do it a few times per week. It will probably make you a stronger overall individual and less injury prone during the road season.

What if you aren’t racing a ton. Do a race simulation one day on the weekend, and a long rode ride the other. Do a hard cx style workout (or casual race) mid-week. There were some illegal races at Randall’s island last year that were fun and hard.

Some people think CX is like a long time trial. It isn’t. Certainly it has an aspect of who can suffer the most over 40-60 minutes, but it is not a time trial. It is full of short bursts, recoveries, and then bursts followed by bursts followed by bursts.

I’m probably missing a lot here, but that is all that is coming to my head. I’m starting to feel a bit like Bertuco.

Racing:

Time to race. Since you’ve practiced all the skills above, you’re feeling confident and ready to race.

Get to the race early. Some races are set up the night before if you want to check out the course. Some have rules about this, so check it out. Racing C’s sucked because of the early start times. If you can, ride the course easy a few laps, then ride through it hard. Stop and re-ride any parts you found tricky. Just duck under the tape, go back, and ride it again. Simple. If you have extra time, you can cruise around the course and hit the tricky parts at speed. Be mindful of places where you’ll want to change gears before hitting a technical section (Example, tricky downhill followed by sharp uphill) Are there places you can run faster than you can ride? Find em. Lastly, follow an experienced teammate around the course. Watch their line choices. Ragot is ideal for this.

Some races Cs start late (Staten CX, for example) so you’ll have plenty of time to pre-ride the course multiple times. Ride though the pit if you are going to leave wheels there so you know how it is set up. Find a friend or teammate to hang in the pit to help you out should you need it. Don’t forget to drop you pit wheels /bike off in the pit

Be very warmed when it is start time. Get to the line early. Sneak your way up to the front. Some races do call ups based on points or rankings, some use registration order. So register early, as that will be your only chance at moving up towards the front. Some races just have a mad dash to line up, so be ready for that. Let’s say you will be 5-6 rows back. Check out the course and see if there are any places on the side to sneak around. Most courses start on pavement, but some have a nice strip of grass on either side. Often, the group will bunch up on the pavement and you can jump by 20-30 riders all at once if you are attentive.

Be aggressive early. Racing in the Cs has no strategy. Ride hard, harder, and harder. Sprint out of corner, out of turns,. Pass whenever you have a chance. Pass when running, at the barriers, and upon remounting. Sometimes you will find a log-jam where people are remounting. Run around them, and remount past them. They might have gotten on their bike by then, but they’ll have to slow down since you are now blocking the road in front of them! Are you exceptionally strong? Look for slogs on the pavement to bridge up to a group ahead of you.

The one thing to learn quickly about CX racing is that it pays to be aggressive. Insert video of Josh C smacking a guy in the face with his bike so make sure he didn’t take last. That is the type of aggression you need to have. You don’t need to worry about crashing in cross. It’s going to happen, but more often than not you will just end up with some grass stains.

After 40 minutes, it will be over, and you’ll be hurting. But then the best thing about CX season will happen. You’ll have a beer. You relax with your cycling buddies and talk about how awesome your race was. You’ll have another beer, some good food, and you’ll be ready for your next race.

Mike this is Gold. Thanks, and keep 'em coming!

Ha, thanks for the reminder, that was an awesome moment.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=498838570861&comments

cant stop thinking about cross, even in this crazy heat (my brain associates cross and cold)

Speaking of good cross videos, here is Myles doing a stair riding demo in the elite race of the race he promotes:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150090968780862

You might need to be friends with Myles to see that. Not sure. But he accepts anyone's friendship, especially if you are a hot woman.


here is another good one from Staten:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=452853840215&comments&set=t.1205760&type=1

thanks for this, michael

you've really distilled the spirit and tactics needed to do well in cross

one of the things i like best about cross racing is that you can come in waaaaay out of the money and still consider it to have been a great race. sometimes, you get the shit end of the stick at the start and have to race from the back. pass enough people and you will feel like a badass regardless of your final placing.

really wish i could have a proper cross campaign this year but school/girlfriend/job hunt will limit me to just a few races

rad on!

William is spot on. Maybe you start 95th, but you end up 22nd. That means you passed a TON of people and had fun doing it. Some races they will actually give a small prize to the rider who passes the most people, based on starting position. This is cool b/c starting position is huge. The race I finished top 5 in, I started...yup, second row. Go figger.

Regarding starting position:

It is true starting position can absolutely change the nature of your race. I managed to get good enough to fight my way into the teens and then once into the top 10 from a 30+ starting position, and I was really happy about that. It was really fun chasing from one group to the next, but I really had no chance at getting all the way to the front. You think you're moving up really well, but the guys in the front get a gap and are gone. I'm sure there are some exceptions to this, but you put some fit guys with bike handling skills on a clear course and they'll be increasing the gap everything you have to slow to pass someone. It is still fun though. You might be doing your first 4-5 races trying to move up in starting position by getting some points until you finally have a breakthrough.

That said, riding from a good start position is a lot more fun but still requires you to focus on a good start. If you are looking for a top placing, you can't let the guy who takes the hole-shot ride away from you while you screw around in 5-6 place. I found this happened to me a few times last year. I was surrounded by people more equal to my fitness level, but instead of riding forward to chase the leaders, we focused on passing each other again and again and again. I think at Beacon 4-7th place changed positions 25 times, but never once did we close the gap to the guy in front.

re starting position. Ditto above for technical crits. Too many riders around here blow off the start of a crit, only to spend the next 20 minutes trying to get to the front of the field.

@mperlberg – thanks for posting this! last night i watched 4 of those groovy Martin Eadon videos and got so excited that at 11 PM I jumped on my cross bike for about an hour. it was great, but i had trouble getting comfortable with drivetrain-side "Step-Off/Step-Thru Dismounts." i'll keep practicing them, but I'm just wondering if any of you ever had trouble getting the knack of drivetrain-side dismounts in your early days of cross?

3rd that starting position thing.

Though one of my favorite racing stories is starting 2nd from last row out of 125 starters at a very muddy Mercer race and finishing 25th. I passed a lot of people by being aggressive and running through stuff where others were riding through the thick mud.

If I had started farther forward I probably could have finished top 10 in that race.

One other thing about CX bikes. eBay is your friend. I built up a CX bike with parts I had and some eBay purchases for very little. Lots of cheap Shimano 9speed shifters or older SRAM stuff on eBay.

You can practice CX on your road bike, you just may slip around a little more. Heck you could probably race the first few races of the season on a road bike with 28mm tires and lower pressure. If you have a MTB you can race and train on that to start as well. It may be a little heavier but it isn't unheard of for people to do well on a MTB in a cross race.

random notes:

* Practice dis/mounts more than anything else when you're new. If you can't get off and on your bike fast and safely, you'll never do well at cross.

* While any treaded stiff-soled shoe will work for cx, it's best to have one that is threaded to accept toe spikes. You probably won't use them often, but when you do, it could be the difference between finishing or not (learned this the hard way at 1995 cx nationals).

* You can ride a road bike with 27-28mm knobby clinchers. It will seize up if hte course is muddy, but it can be done if you want a cheap taste.

* if you go the two-chainring route, get a "third eye" or some other kind of chain catcher so you don't accidentally unship the chain when shifting.

* Come to think of it, some kind of chain catcher is good for people with single-ring setups as well.

* running. start slowly. with good shoes. I start with five minutes twice a week. Followed by 15 minutes of walking. Then 10, then 15, then 20. Many say you only need to be able to run for 20 minutes for cyclocross. Never knew where this came from. Running doesn't need to be your main focus, but you can use cx to help ease a transition into a cold-weather running habit. Keep in mind that running is an easy way to get injured even for runners, so be careful with your running time and intensities.

* I thought Myles gave a good CX talk last september. I'm sure we can prevail upon him to do it again.

Staten CX is probably the easiest to get-to race for most of us. It's in the middle of October about 40 minute from the staten island ferry. I've never raced it so will let guys who have comment on it.

Last year I met a group at the ferry and rode with them to the race (the park is 2 minutes from me)
This year I wont be in NY anymore so I won't be able to do that, however..

Would anyone be interested in doing a Sunday/ Saturday course preview/training session there? We would need someone who remembers the course from last year. There wouldn't be any obstacles except for the ones already there, ie beach, stairs, tree trunks, grass etc.

I'd be glad to meet a group at the ferry and lead you guys out to it, then you could either take the train back or I'll ride back up with you

Could also serve as a great place to have a tactics/ intro talk
Just an idea

@ wojciech –– i'm up for a staten island 'cross course preview / training ride.

Posted By: Wojciech P
This year I wont be in NY anymore so I won't be able to do that, however..

where you going, Wojciech?

I'm getting kicked out of my parents so I'm going to do what i always dreamt about... Live on the road. I'm bicycle touring it down to the south and then maybe west, anything to escape the winter. Hopefully I'll find work along the way, though money's not a big concern for me.

I should be back late spring & ready for the season! However I don't know where I'll be sleeping, so if you have a backyard/ lawn that you wouldnt mind renting out to me so I can pitch my tent I'd appreciate it heaps!

shit

keep us posted how we can help

do you have tools/chops to get a contractor job on your own?

I'm up for a preview ride.

check out Keith's photographs from Gloucester last year.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/20770645@N06/5062783325/in/set-72157624997681085/

Looks like fun!

CLINICS - I want to start helping people help themselves to the awesomeness that is CX.
I usually give around 2-3 formal "come learn to do CX" clinics a year and tons of informal ones.
The CX season is starting up next weekend (in Mass) and in two weeks or so in Pennsylvania (where many of us will be).

So, for those of you who want to learn the secrets of CX and get in a decent ride as well, I will hold the first KCC CX clinic on:

SATURDAY, AUGUST 27.
Meet at GAP at 7am.
Ride to Cunningham Park in Queens.
8am Roll out of Cunningham Park (meet in parking lot near tennis courts).
Ride to MTB trails and cruise around them for a while.
Then to the fields for dismount / remount practice, cornering practice, shouldering and running practice, race strategy discussion, simulated race.
All fun stuff.
Ride back home.

If anyone wants to bring barriers, cones or other equipment, they would all be useful. Josh Ceasar's parents live very close so we can store stuff there (he offered last year, he may rescind that, but then he'd be a rat bastard).


For those of you who want to just meet at Cunningham - post or email that you will be there so that we wait if necessary or contact you if we flat or something along the way.

If you need directions, use this link to find Cunningham and then type in your address and change to bike directions: http://maps.google.com/?ll=40.729865,-73.77322&spn=0.002077,0.005284&t=h&z=18&vpsrc=6&iwloc=lyrftr:h,6921801701194212179,40.729795,-73.772764

What to bring:
Water bottle (there is a fountain at Cunningham, so you can refill)
Helmet
CX bike
extra tube
a healthy dose of humility if you're new as it takes a leap of faith to leap back on the bike
a sunny disposition as there are no downers in cross

Any questions? Post them here, otherwise start planning.

Eric

For those of us still without cross bikes; what's the scoop re: disk brakes now? Legal, or...?

@Jules -

Disc brakes became legal in CX last year. There were not too many disc brake equipped bikes on the market last year - most folks attributed this to discs becoming legal after the 2010-2011 model year bikes were already in the production line. There were a handful of "disc-ready" frames and bikes that came out that had cantilever brakes but disc tabs on the frame &fork as well. There will probably be some more disc options this year.

Do you need them though? Many folks will argue you don’t need that level of stopping power in cx and it is therefore not worth the weight penalty. They base this on cx being very stop and go, you don’t build the crazy downhill speed a mtb-er would have . I only have one season of cross experience under my belt – maybe some of the well seasoned crossers can chime in with their opinions on discs.

General buying advice: If you can get a demo bike, it’s a great way to try before buying. I had emailed a bunch of race directors listed on the bikereg page and asked them if they were having demo bikes. NYC Velo was running a Kona demo program last year, and they even made them free the weekend of Staten Island. You picked it up Friday and returned it after the weekend – I think it was ~75 for the weekend normally. Van Dessel brought demo bikes to a # of MAC races – you would pre-arrange with them and they brought a bike for you, $25 a race. Cadence in Philly was doing a weekend demo program for Cannondales. There are probably other shops in the area doing the same thing.

Demo Bikes & Cross

I don't know if any of this is going to repeat for 2011 cross campaign, but you might want to check these two options out if you'd like to dip your feet in the mud, but not get too deep:

Last year Edwin of Van Dessel was doing a free/low cost demo bike program at most of the MAC and local races. So you could get a taste of cross if you brought your own pedals, shoes & $20. These were Gin & Trombones bicycles. Also NYC Velo was running a demo bike program where you could rent a Kona Jake the Snake CX bikes http://www.nycvelo.com/kona-cx-bike-rentals/

Hey Eric, still planning on doing this on Saturday?

Posted By: eragotCLINICS - I want to start helping people help themselves to the awesomeness that is CX.
I usually give around 2-3 formal "come learn to do CX" clinics a year and tons of informal ones.
The CX season is starting up next weekend (in Mass) and in two weeks or so in Pennsylvania (where many of us will be).

So, for those of you who want to learn the secrets of CX and get in a decent ride as well, I will hold the first KCC CX clinic on:

SATURDAY, AUGUST 27.
Meet at GAP at 7am.
Ride to Cunningham Park in Queens.
8am Roll out of Cunningham Park (meet in parking lot near tennis courts).
Ride to MTB trails and cruise around them for a while.
Then to the fields for dismount / remount practice, cornering practice, shouldering and running practice, race strategy discussion, simulated race.
All fun stuff.
Ride back home.

If anyone wants to bring barriers, cones or other equipment, they would all be useful. Josh Ceasar's parents live very close so we can store stuff there (he offered last year, he may rescind that, but then he'd be a rat bastard).


For those of you who want to just meet at Cunningham - post or email that you will be there so that we wait if necessary or contact you if we flat or something along the way.

If you need directions, use this link to find Cunningham and then type in your address and change to bike directions:http://maps.google.com/?ll=40.729865,-73.77322&spn=0.002077,0.005284&t=h&z=18&vpsrc=6&iwloc=lyrftr:h,6921801701194212179,40.729795,-73.772764

What to bring:
Water bottle (there is a fountain at Cunningham, so you can refill)
Helmet
CX bike
extra tube
a healthy dose of humility if you're new as it takes a leap of faith to leap back on the bike
a sunny disposition as there are no downers in cross

Any questions? Post them here, otherwise start planning.

Eric

Also wondering if we're still planning on doing Cunningham or perhaps should just do a session in Prospect in wake of the coming storm.

Cunningjam. Leave gap at 7

I'll be there - meet you at the tennis courts. 8am in Cunningham ?