Cyclocross - CX and SSCX races and training

Wut? It was very muddy in places.
I thought anyway.

Hopefully I can make Sunday. I haz new tyres

Thanks, ordered. If I have no luck I think I'll switch out to the tubeless compatible A23 when I've worn through the archetypes.

They look like MTB tyres?

Yeah they are modelled on Panaracer XC tyres. The IRD tyre is a US only variant. The cinder cross rear is 35mm*

* ssssh don't tell the UCI

They won't care unless you start racing UCI ranked races.

Heh yeah I know :)

A narrow tyre sometimes handles mud (&snow) better, especially at finding that direct tractor traction down through the mud - Let me quote some H.C. Andersen

"Yes, of course," said Clumsy Hans, "but the very finest sort of mud. Look, it runs right through your fingers." Then he filled his pockets with it.

Yup - the IRD is a narrow 32mm.

Clement PDX. Should I put them on now? "allrounder, loves mud".

(seeks sexy times on 074560 etc and so on)

Yes. 'Tis the season to be muddy (and Footscray, Bethlem, Herne Hill and Wilmington School are usually muddy courses at this time of year).

Wilmington was a classic last year. Pedal, stop, pedal, stop..

Top tips for staying clog free?

Or in my case pedal, stop, pedal, tear off rear mech.

The best tip I know is to have two bikes and a pit bitch.

have a frame with a shit load of clearance.

Some kind of coating/polish to reduce the ability of mud to stick to the paint?
Silicone spray perhaps?

Regular frame polish helps a bit. But there's not much you can do to prevent clogging, particularly if the mud is sticky.

It depends on the course, but try and limit the number of gears you use, if there is any section where you need to get off and run, try and clear some mud away with your hand as you run and, if it gets really bad, stop and clear out the worst of it.

I've toyed with the idea of having a bucket of water in the pit, as a quick brush down would be suffice to keep you going, but as I usually ride to events it's a non-starter.

We could hire a van, have equipment, spare bikes, pit bitches. It's all possible. Just a question of whether it's worth it. If two or three of us were planning on racing at the same venue zipvan or something or other would probably work out OK price wise.

Just think of it...spare bikes, tools, washer, dry clothes, themoses of tea and coffee...heaven. Expensive heaven.

The bucket is not a bad call

I found what really caused problems for me on Sunday is when I was forced to ride through fallen leaves - these would mix with the mud and VERY quickly jam up the bike. If I could manage to avoid straying off the pure mud into the leaves then I seemed to fair a bit better.

Also when getting off to run - carrying rather than pushing the bike.

As mentioned - this still meant me having to stop multiple times to pull masses of crap out of the front fork/brake, so what do I know :)

Yeah never the push the bike if you can avoid it when it's sticky muddy.

When it gets like this though the damn thing becomes too heavy to carry

central league, hemel, seniors 2013. FFS etc.

Zip van idea: have you run the numbers?

Cleaning it after would be a bit of a PITA

or go old school hit man and get some decent lengths of tarp

Not really, you'll already have a jet washer. EVERYTHING going in and out of the van would be clean.

VW Van seats three people and costs about £80 for the day inc. fuel.

If it's just a case of spraying the fuck out of a bike and getting it clean enough, I'd be willing to help.
Proper mechanics and I'm utterly the wrong person to help out.

It is so much quicker to get the bike clean whilst the mud is still wet, basically the sooner the better. You're going to have to clean it properly later anyway, but getting the bulk of it off quickly makes that job a shade easier.

I left a zipvan a bit dirty and I got an narky email

Filth