Cyclocross - CX and SSCX races and training

Wet mud beats the sticky kind, I had more gear problems at PORC a few weeks ago, despite myself and my bike looking more of a mess afterwards today. Another good technical course. The rocks, roots and mud made it hard to gauge tyre pressure and I think there were a fair few punctures as a result.

If anyone's after a decent folding, all-condition clincher I found these okay today, and they're very cheap at Planet X at the moment.

Met Biarittz before the start.

Hello again :-). Very nice to meet a friendly face upon my arrival at my first race. Helped to settle my nerves.

Really good course and organisation, nice one Sutton CC.

Now that I have cut my teeth I need to apply myself a bit more on the next round. I got stuck behind some bloke for ages, was getting annoyed at my lack of ability to go past him, when his rear mech came off just with a bad gear change. Oof.

11.4 kmh avg speed is testament to the technical nature of the course. Was also running cheap Contis and am chuffed how well they shed mud and gripped, even though I was running only a wee bit under 40 psi.

Looking forward to the 29th.

I had a pair of Schwalbe clinchers (racing ralph and rocket ron) at just about 30 psi. I felt them bottom out a couple of times, but fortunately I got away with it. They seem to have dealt OK with the mud, but they really shine when it's a bit more gravelly.

Oldbury Court on Sunday:

The ground was sticky but not as bad as I had expected given the biblical amount of rain that fell the night before. It was just starting to rain again as we were off.

The course was very flat mostly grass - with a small detour through some woods. No barriers or obstacles so no need to dismount.

I got off to by best start yet, and was feeling pretty good, picking someone or a group ahead to catch and then riding with them before doing the same again and then settling in to ride with 1 guy in what must have been about 10th place. Unfortunately the ground was getting slicker and a slight missplacement of my front wheel meant me going down. Was quickly up again but had lost the wheel of 10th place dude. After a lap or so I managed to catch him again, only to go down again - not so quickly up this time as 3 or 4 other riders barrelled into me and I had to disentangle myself from some tape...
Anyway no damage done and back on again to try and make up some lost places in the couple of remaining laps.

Came in 14th as it transpires - my best result so far (and looking at the results it would appear 4 places ahead of ex Rapha-Condor rider Tom Southam)

Was running challenge limus clinchers at around 25psi - bottoming them out once or twice a lap - about as low as I would want to go on clinchers I think.... maybe tubs are worth investing in for next year.

I was surprise at how much mud I collected - it didn't feel like a mudfest whilst riding it - just very slippery...

Somewhere in there is a brake

Time for a bath and some cake

Well done! From the collection of mostly grass on your bike it looks like conditions were quite merciful.

Anyone fancy doing the Woodecote CX sportive? 26th Jan, nearest station is Goring & Streatley, about an hour from Paddington. Same day as London League 15, sadly.

Good write-up Dan. Well done on the placing.

Anyone fancy doing the Woodecote CX sportive? 26th Jan, nearest station is Goring & Streatley, about an hour from Paddington. Same day as London League 15, sadly.

Would like to do one of those one day, but the short 3 mile trip to HH is too convenient. :-)

Hmm - I like the theory of them, but the 60% on road doesn't appeal greatly.
If i'm on knobbly tyres then I want to be off road (for at least 90% of the ride)

Has anyone done the South Downs Way on a CX bike? tempted to try it one summer (or at least a good portion of it)

I rode it last year and it didn't feel like 60% on road at all. But agreed, that figure is a bit off putting.

To me, it was nice to spend some quality time on the CX bike on a good mix of conditions and to test my endurance rather than ability to sprint.

It will be interesting to see if HH can host a CX race - the last one was moved. That said, the madison is still on, right?

It's still on the calendar. I think the recent dry spell will have given them time to improve the course a bit, but the rain expected this week may become an issue.

Have been considering the CX sportive.. which distance did you ride Howard?

Full distance. Was good. Didn't feel too long. Had good company though in Adam from the MTB thread, but I think he's doing Gorick this year.

Best buy mud tubular?

Best place to buy best buy mud tubular?

Dugast Rhino?

http://www.pedalon.co.uk/acatalog/dugast-rhino-tubular-32.html?gclid=CKnzlIT7ubsCFYtQOgodvy0AFQ

Rhino, FMB Super Mud or Challenge Limus seem to be most common. The Rhino's will rot eventually, even if you seal them with Aquaseal, FMBs come pre-sealed, the Limus' has a polyester casing so shouldn't rot.

I've only ridden the Rhino and it gives amazing levels of grip in deep mud.

But do you really need a mud tubular? I've ridden in muddy conditions on mixed conditions tubs like a Challenge Fango and got enough grip, and you can use them the rest of the season too.

I haven't ridden the tubular version, but the limus clinchers I have have very good traction - but don't shed the mud quite as well as I had hoped, so towards the end of a muddy race they get rather less predictable.

Have been really impressed by the tracer tubs in all conditions bar mud. Best results in races so far have been while riding tracer rear paired with limus clincher front. That was before we had all the rain these last couple of weeks.

Was hoping that moving to limus tubs now it's muddy would open up the next level of grip.

Dunno. Worth a try? Can always flog the extra set of wheels on here, I suppose.

I have the Limus tubs - they come out to play maybe once or twice a year. Work well when they do, but cost per ride is just stupid.

I reckon a good wheel / tyre stash is something like

One pair tubeless with a fast tyre for early season races
One pair tubs, all condition - Tracers / Fango / XGs

Then vary the tread on the tubeless set-up as the season progresses. For most races you'll be on the all condition tyres but if there's a real horror show fit something really aggressive to the tubeless wheels and have the all condition tubs as back-up.

The trouble with mud tubulars is that they are hopeless in anything other than mud so, as Howard says, the cost per ride gets prohibitive. That said, if it is really muddy then you can be looking at a significant advantage over other riders. I still harbour slight regrets about not using the Rhinos at the regionals at Bethlem last winter. I reckon I could have ridden all of the 'field of doom' with them on, rather than resorting to running with the Fangos.

I was going to go for three sets of tubs;

1 x file tread for dry
1 x intermediate for mixed
1 x mud

and had the wheels available to do this, but ended up giving up on the first as a mix of clinchers and the intermediates seem to work well enough in dry stuff.

Well done! From the collection of mostly grass on your bike it looks like conditions were quite merciful.

Anyone fancy doing the Woodecote CX sportive? 26th Jan, nearest station is Goring & Streatley, about an hour from Paddington. Same day as London League 15, sadly.

Could be up for this, though will have to wait to know about a possible job that starts in Feb...

Well done! From the collection of mostly grass on your bike it looks like conditions were quite merciful.

Anyone fancy doing the Woodecote CX sportive? 26th Jan, nearest station is Goring & Streatley, about an hour from Paddington. Same day as London League 15, sadly.

Quite keen for this. Need to figure out if I'm strong enough to do the full distance.

Finally there's a race in London and I have an appropriate bike and tyres. In.

Quite keen for this. Need to figure out if I'm strong enough to do the full distance.

You'd be fine.

It's being reported that there will a UK round of the Cyclocross World Cup next season, at Milton Keynes.

That would be awesome.