Cyclocross - CX and SSCX races and training

Wait till it rains.

And the lads with the pit crew can play their advantage 😆

Good to see you and @fredtc

Does 2nd forumenger get me anything?

Does 2nd forumenger get me anything?

A mixture of pity and contempt from Andy

Ungh.
I think pit crews should be banned.
1 bike.

1 bike

People got pissy when they did this in the summer series.

Nah that's bullshit. Pits are a key part of CX

Nah, pits and pit crews is all good. Nothing worse than having to quit a race because of bike failure. I'm just jealous.

Fair

Probably gets you some hero worship from @amey too, so it's not all good

"bike failure" is a great reason to quit/limp round.
I use(d) it a lot.

@leggy_blonde yeah they are. I agree.
I find it a little over the top sometimes. I'm not sure if it's jealousy, envy wrapped up in the shroud of environmental concern, resentment at a lack of similar ability to justify it all, or outright sour grapes because I can't afford it.

Yeah amateur bike racing is often over the top!

My 2 (recyclable) alloy frames with 105 mix definitely cost less than a lot of the single carbon bling bikes that make up a lot of the field. Still got beaten by a dude with cantis and a steel fork though.

and i did better last week on a borrowed bike 2 sizes too small, so I guess it just goes to show it's not about the bike

Or maybe it is....

You too! It was v cool to see some friendly faces. Nice atmosphere around the course.

Does 2nd forumenger get me anything?

I dunno but as third forumer I got you one higher place in the standings

Sad to say I was never troubling any of the two bike boys when I raced. I was barely troubling any of the one bikers.

Focusing on the inequity of access to "better materials" helped me to ignore the inequity of talent.

single bike category within the main category is nice for those of us doing it on the cheap, but realistically you can go along way in local league races by knowing how to corner, run with a bike and being gentle to equipment.

but realistically you can win local league races by being well good

I'm not taking advice from you ;-)

Bit of advice please - looking to enter a race or two over this autumn/winter (just for bit of fun and to break up the winter training) but not too sure on how to enter. I am based in the west London area so what would be the closest races to me? At this moment I don't have a bike, but I am looking to get one so any advice on a decent basic one to start out on (preferably second hand, but could get a new one on cycle to work if it is worth it, but the more budget friendly the better). Never done this before so any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks

I’m speccing a wheelset for cross: what rim width would you go for for 35c tubeless? Is 25/32 inner/outer too wide?

All the London league races, info and rules can be found here.

http://www.londonxleague.co.uk/

Depending which part of London, some of the central and Wessex league races may be close to you.

Check out the bcf listings

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events?zuv_bc_discipline_filter_id=4

As for bike that will depend on budget really

You'll love it

Thanks, I'll check those out.

For the bike I suppose I was checking to see if there are things I should avoid or if there are any recommended entry level ones.

The Forme calver aluminium frameset looks decent. £600 new

I got a junior framset to build a bike for my partner. It's light and has decent tyre clearance(around 40mm) which is important come winter. Plus you can also on bigger tyres in the summer and hit the trails with a bit more comfort

@andyp has an trek Crockett which looks good, also has good clearance

I've got a giant tcx advanced, great bike, loads of clearance but it was pricey. I'm not sure what the Ali version is like to ride.

I'm sure they'll be other makes mentioned but they're the ones ive geeked out on. You'll have fun looking and figuring out what you want

Cool, thanks. I'll have a look around, starting with the ones you have suggested.