Cyclocross, anyone?

Discussion in 'Cycling' started by Michael K., Aug 13, 2010.

  1. Michael K.

    Michael K. Member

    Mar 3, 1999
    There or Thereabouts
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Not like I have the money to dump into another bike and yet more paraphenalia, but I've suddenly got it in my head that I'd like to start racing CX this fall.* Anyone else out there doing/done so? Where to begin? Am I nuts?

    *Or maybe I just want to attend this and drink lots of tasty Belgian-style beer, without bothering about the whole getting-sweaty-and-muddy part.
     
  2. cleansheetbsc

    cleansheetbsc Member+

    Mar 17, 2004
    Club:
    --other--
    I have some Ommegang in my fridge right now. Yum.

    I think the main reason they have the events is to drink beer and eat chili. There is a big group here, just to the north of you. I have thought about it, but I am not much of a mountain bike rider (and there is some need to know how to do that) and I would hate to have to clean my bike after each ride. That said, the bikes themselves are really awesome. Wouldn't mind getting one.

    You are not nuts. There is a big race here in my town. Looks like fun. Maybe one day. Here is some info that team and where they will be racing:

    http://nycross.com/
     
  3. Michael K.

    Michael K. Member

    Mar 3, 1999
    There or Thereabouts
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Having just finished a 14 mile run (groan) I'll likely have some Ommegang in my fridge just as soon as I make it up to Half Time this evening. Don't know how I made it through life without having a good place to fill a growler. Then again, last time I was there a week or so ago, they had a couple of the more exotic and expensive Ommegangs on tap; the Zuur, which was $35 (!) for a 1/2 gallon growler, and something else, which was $30. That's a little bit much for me.

    And I heartily approve! Especially in the autumn.
     
  4. Dead Fingers

    Dead Fingers Moderator
    Staff Member

    Jan 22, 2004
    St. Paul, Minnesota
    Club:
    Minnesota United FC
  5. Dead Fingers

    Dead Fingers Moderator
    Staff Member

    Jan 22, 2004
    St. Paul, Minnesota
    Club:
    Minnesota United FC
    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTozzkHAbAo"]YouTube - Jaarmarktcross Niel 2010 (Part1)[/ame]


    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-2dN_llnZA"]YouTube - Jaarmarktcross Niel 2010 (Part5)[/ame]
    And then the last one. Mud fest.
     
  6. Dead Fingers

    Dead Fingers Moderator
    Staff Member

    Jan 22, 2004
    St. Paul, Minnesota
    Club:
    Minnesota United FC
  7. Dead Fingers

    Dead Fingers Moderator
    Staff Member

    Jan 22, 2004
    St. Paul, Minnesota
    Club:
    Minnesota United FC
  8. Belgian guy

    Belgian guy Member+

    Club Brugge
    Belgium
    Aug 19, 2002
    Belgium
    Club:
    Club Brugge KV
    It's the closest thing to a true working-class fan experience you can find nowadays (at least over here :eek:). It's what soccer was before big money ruined it for the average fan.
     
  9. cleansheetbsc

    cleansheetbsc Member+

    Mar 17, 2004
    Club:
    --other--
    I went and watched a race here in my town a few weeks ago. Fun watch, not for me, though. Have never been into off road and mountain bike riding so the technical aspect of going through mud has no appeal.

    That and having to wash the bike after every ride.

    I do like the bikes. Wouldn't mind one just for a commuter/local rider.
     
  10. Auriaprottu

    Auriaprottu Member+

    Atlanta Damn United
    Apr 1, 2002
    The back of the bus
    Club:
    Atlanta
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    +1

    CX bikes have enough clearance for bigger tires (28 or 32 at least) plus fenders), they often come with more reasonable gearing, and at all but the highest cyclocrossworld.com Bikes Of The Stars levels of competition, a higher bar is more aesthetically acceptable than on road racing-type builds. The more versatile among them also come with bosses for racks and fenders. I just wish more of them were made with lugged steel. My current project frame (Bianchi San Jose with cable guides and stops brazed on, repainted celeste- frame came up on the 'bay before a Volpe did) is TIG-welded, but it's steel, at least.

    And if it matters (yeah, it sometimes does to me), they offer a more competitive look than a touring bike or hybrid even with those build and fit differences, specifically because CX is an actual sport. "Here's my CX bike fitted with slicks for the road" works even if you aren't doing anything on it but riding around recreationally.
     
  11. Michael K.

    Michael K. Member

    Mar 3, 1999
    There or Thereabouts
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Aaaaaand a couple minutes ago I pulled the trigger on an inexpensive, but apparently good-enough-for-government-work CX bike, mostly for this reason. I'm just so sick of paying $4.20+ for low-grade gas (never mind the ridiculous prices I have to pay to fill my other car - a wonderful, weighty old Mercedes diesel tank). My goal this summer is drive as little as possible, at least for round trips of 20 miles or less. Since most of my work during the summer will be done at home, it's pretty feasible. Once I get a rack and panniers I should have little problem doing most of my shopping with it, even if my regular supermarket is some 10 miles away. I look forward to saving money and burning less fossil fuel and getting more saddle time and just being on a bike more.

    Also, I really have a bug up my butt to try racing CX this fall.
     
  12. Dead Fingers

    Dead Fingers Moderator
    Staff Member

    Jan 22, 2004
    St. Paul, Minnesota
    Club:
    Minnesota United FC
    Awesome Michael. Keep updating the progress.
     
  13. Dead Fingers

    Dead Fingers Moderator
    Staff Member

    Jan 22, 2004
    St. Paul, Minnesota
    Club:
    Minnesota United FC
    Awesome Michael. Keep updating the progress.
     
  14. Michael K.

    Michael K. Member

    Mar 3, 1999
    There or Thereabouts
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFL11Fs8Om8"]Hipsters discussing cyclocross - YouTube[/ame]

    I chuckled.


    I'm making my cyclocross debut this Sunday at Ommegang CX. Yes, beer and bicycle lovers, this is a real thing.
     
  15. cleansheetbsc

    cleansheetbsc Member+

    Mar 17, 2004
    Club:
    --other--
    Good luck. Enjoy the beer. I know a few of these guys from summer group rides http://nycross.com/. I'm sure they will be there. Its part of the Capital District cross circuit.
     
  16. cleansheetbsc

    cleansheetbsc Member+

    Mar 17, 2004
    Club:
    --other--
    Mike, perfect weather today for a cyclecross race. Keep the mud and beer separate.
     
  17. Dead Fingers

    Dead Fingers Moderator
    Staff Member

    Jan 22, 2004
    St. Paul, Minnesota
    Club:
    Minnesota United FC
  18. Michael K.

    Michael K. Member

    Mar 3, 1999
    There or Thereabouts
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    [​IMG]

    It went something like this.

    Cooperstown is about 3 hours away from my place, so given a 9:15 am Cat 4 start, I had to be on the road around 4:30 am. This was actually my second time in five days driving to Ommegang and back, after a concert on Tuesday. All this for a half hour of muddy riding on my birthday* - draw your own conclusions about my sanity if you like. I should have just stayed in a tent there, or perhaps an ark. It was pissing rain when I left here, and stayed that way virtually all the way up. When I arrived around 7:30 it was really scudding down - "Belgian weather" someone said. Very appropriate.

    The race itself was a hell of a lot of fun. The first half-lap or so, with the whole pack winding five wide through a series of rain-greased hairpin turns was pretty hair-raising, but I liked it. Even a half hour of racing like this was, as I'd heard and planned on, a beastly effort - totally different from the fairly solid-state aerobic pace I'm used to doing in tris and club rides. Big ass ponds of standing water and bogs of pungent, questionable-smelling mud and a long gradual climb that got softer and more soul-crushing each time up. I only hit the deck once, losing it on an off-camber turn at the top of a climb - that was more of a slow-speed tumble into the muddy grass.

    I finished something like 30th of 45 IIRC. That means I didn't finish DFL, so it was a success in my book. Definitely going to do more of these over the next couple months. At least as much of the NYCross series as is financially and physically feasible. (cleansheetbsc, I did the NYCross clinic a month ago in Troy and yes, there were a few of the NYCross guys I recognized racing on Sunday.)


    *I should also mention the afternoon of really good frites and great beers and football in the brewpub. That alone was worth the drive.
     
  19. cleansheetbsc

    cleansheetbsc Member+

    Mar 17, 2004
    Club:
    --other--
    Timely. The NYCross pictures were up on facebook today. Far worse conditions than I could have guessed.

    You were at that clinic in Troy? I almost went, except it was the first day of local rec soccer and I run the league, so I was out.

    Beer is on me if you make it to the Bethlehem Cup in mid-November.
     
  20. Michael K.

    Michael K. Member

    Mar 3, 1999
    There or Thereabouts
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I just got a look at those pics. There are some good ones (none of me...thankfully.)

    I'm looking at racing in Troy next weekend and Saratoga after that, and if all goes well, I'll be at the Bethlehem Cup in November, so I may just hold you to that offer.


    In other news, I think Joey's ok.

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEGAIYKTZ9w"]Starcrossed 2011 - Joey's Ok - YouTube[/ame]

    Is it wrong that I laugh maniacally every time I watch this?
     
  21. Michael K.

    Michael K. Member

    Mar 3, 1999
    There or Thereabouts
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  22. Michael K.

    Michael K. Member

    Mar 3, 1999
    There or Thereabouts
    Nat'l Team:
    United States

    Still planning on being in Delmar on Sunday? I haven't yet committed (as in forked my cc# over to BikeReg again) but am all but certain I'll be there.
     
  23. cleansheetbsc

    cleansheetbsc Member+

    Mar 17, 2004
    Club:
    --other--
    Sorry, never made it over-all two miles away. Spent the better part of the weekend either coaching/administering the local soccer club and real work. Crappy weekend.

    How did you make out?
     
  24. cleansheetbsc

    cleansheetbsc Member+

    Mar 17, 2004
    Club:
    --other--
    Pretty funny, saw this on Performance's Facebook posting.

    [​IMG]
     
  25. Michael K.

    Michael K. Member

    Mar 3, 1999
    There or Thereabouts
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Even if it seems like that 'What my _______ think I do' meme has totally swamped Facebook over the past week or two, that's really funny. I LOLed.
     

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