Cyclocross - CX and SSCX races and training

Scott Mares of Sibex Sports has recently had his "The Complete Book of Cyclocross, Skill Training & Racing" published. Here's a small excerpt:

1 Minute Gain

If I told you that you could gain one minute in a race with the same engine and a little skill practice you would probably think I was crazy. Well, this next section will show you how to do just that.

Let’s say you have an identical twin with an identical VO2 max and LT (Lactate Threshold). You go to a cyclocross skill camp, but your twin does not. When you are there, you learn how to get on and off your bike efficiently and you continue to practice on a weekly basis after camp is over. Now let’s say that all that hard work and practice has gotten you only one second faster though the barriers than your identical twin. If the race is 10 laps long and has four barrier sections, after five laps you would be 20 seconds ahead of your twin. If we take into account fatigue and some mistakes your twin will make during the latter half of the race, you are probably now two seconds faster through the barriers than your twin. So, if my calculations are correct (and they should be after going through the first grade twice), in the final five laps you gain 40 seconds in addition to the 20 seconds you gained in the first half of the race. This means you would beat your identical twin by one whole minute. Go back through the results of your previous cyclocross races and see how close you were to your competition at the end. After some correct practice, you should be close to closing that margin on your competition.

Being efficient on and off the bike can make a vast difference in the long term of a race. A rider that is trying to stay with you though the barriers will most likely lose time or crash if they are not as efficient in dismounting and remounting as you are. That pressure will cause them to make a mistake and lose large amounts of time. If they back off, they will have to make extra efforts to catch back up to you, which will most likely result in them blowing up too soon. Smooth, controlled and efficient techniques will allow you put all of your energy in to going forward.

link

watched as cx race couple of weeks ago, def gonna have a go next season.

Interesting thought as well

Meh

i don't know all that much about it, but would not mind watching a race. its meant to be great for winter training.

Fuck that shit.

did a race last year, its fucking hard.
had to borrow a bike, fucking fun, want to do more.

cyclocross = winter training!!

get mountain bikes, freaks.

get mountain bikes, freaks.

get a horse!

^^LOL! The h-8-as re out 2nite

My plan at the moment is to give cross a go next winter. Looks a great laugh and I've heard the racing is alot fun with everyone having a laugh.

All I need now is a bike!

get a horse!

no, the shit all over the place.

^^LOL! The h-8-as re out 2nite

kidding dude!

My plan at the moment is to give cross a go next winter. Looks a great laugh and I've heard the racing is alot fun with everyone having a laugh.

All I need now is a bike!

I had a go at a couple of races this year and the above is only sort of true. It was the most painful thing I've done in a bike for an hour. Could not believe how much riding across grass flat out in the drops with 35mm tyres hurt my hands. Legs were a burning mess of lactic pain and then I saw the clock and only 15 minutes had passed.

Still great fun and amazing fitness training and I'll be giving it a go again.

I raced for a few seasons, it is intense and you have to be fit if you do it every weekend as you don't really get a chance to recover.
Washing your bikes becomes a drag after a while and i notice people who were swapping bikes were at an advantage as generally your 20 lb bike will weigh 40 lb when its covered in mud

Its obviously not all mud. Its not just some skill involved, but on ocassion, big cahunas also.

I bought a cross frame off ebay a couple of weeks ago with a view to giving it a go next winter. As I get older I seem to want to give new aspects of the sport a go. Luckily I'm in a position where I can afford to, although I only need to buy three things for cross, a frame, some cantilever brakes and some tyres.

It looks muddy and fun.

Is that drop safe with 16 spokes on the rear? Oof!

I think I'll try CX one day. I want to give being a roadie a go first though.

wow, thats some drop! Don't of any drops like that in this country for CX courses, they're mostly flat the ones i've done with the occasional bank to run up/ride down

I raced for a few seasons, it is intense and you have to be fit if you do it every weekend as you don't really get a chance to recover.
Washing your bikes becomes a drag after a while and i notice people who were swapping bikes were at an advantage as generally your 20 lb bike will weigh 40 lb when its covered in mud

hmmm an excuse to get another bike I suppose.

Thought I'd bring this back up owing to my increased interest in cyclocross.

Mucking around off road on my road bike in suffolk these past few days really opened my eyes.
so much so I bought a CX frame with the intention of dipping my toes into racing at herne hill (yes herne hill velodrome, see dulwich paragon website) this autumn....yikes.

anyone else?

I'll likely be racing against you. My new cross frame should arrive tomorrow.

....I'll likely be racing against you...

kicking my arse more likely Andy.
Tried running up my road (a hill) with my bike on my shoulder today just to gauge that kind of thing. Not a pleasant experience.

Yeah my frame arrives next week. practicing getting on and off at pace will be my main intention.

See you there!

I raced my first London Cyclo Cross League race yesterday, at Reed Court Farm about 7 miles south of Maidstone (so definitely not London).

It was a great course, lots of fast sections with a few technical bits thrown in. There were 130 riders on the start line so getting a good starting position was almost impossible (regular riders who achieve high placings get gridded at the front - it's hard to see how you can break into that group as you need a good grid position to get away cleanly). After 300 metres the course narrowed through a gate causing a bottleneck, and a crash exacerbated this, about 300 metres further on was the first technical section causing more delays, so I was well down by this point. Over the next few laps I kept chasing hard trying to catch other riders in my category and I passed quite a few. With two laps to go I banged my front mech which meant it was slightly fouling the chainset but kept going as I was in a ding dong battle with a guy I'd just passed, whom I could catch on the fast sections then lose on the technical bits. On the last lap he timed his move to perfection, passing me just before we entered the final section through a wood, which was singletrack, and holding on to the line. I've no idea where I finished as the results are only showing the top 19 so far and the top three vets.

Next Sunday the league moves to Hillingdon so I'll be riding that.

Found a photo, by Phil (philatlondon), of me in full flow.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30401683@N06/4023243769/in/set-72157622488901043/

Memo to self, remember to take a short sleeve jersey next time, regardless of how cold it is at home in the morning.

looking good on the ti beastie mr p