CYCLOCROSS: WINTER BIKE EXPLOSION
It's cyclocross season---bigger than ever. The bike race that makes you ride over ice and snow, carry your bike and run through the woods, is exploding in popularity.
Cyclocross, or cyclo-X, is a combination of mountain and road bike racing, with a touch of motor sports thrown in for good measure. Races are run in laps on a course full of obstacles. Racers must repeatedly get off their bike and carry it over the obstacles that are impossible to ride over. The winners will be those with the best bike handling skills, highest aerobic capacity, and ability to run the fastest while carrying their bike.
The season runs from September to February, which is basically mud season. Mud is such a big part of the sport that top riders are equipped a spare bike to use when the one they are on gets unridable because it's gunked up with mud.
Pit crews are part of the event, just like in motor racing. The pit crew holds the spare bike ready to go. Top pro riders have a bike tech or two in the pit, regular racers usually draft family or friends for pit duty. When the rider takes the clean bike back out on the course, the crew washes off the mudded-up bike, repairs flats if necessary, and gets the new 'spare' ready to ride.
The bike used in cyclocross is half road, half mountain. The geometry is similar to a road racing bike, but with a wider frame, knobby tires that are not quite mountain bike wide, and sometimes no gears, since mud or snow can build up and prevent shifting. Mountain bike shoes with good traction soles are used, since racers must often run up steep hills slippery with mud.
The usual race time is one hour, and lap distances average between one and three miles. Cyclocross has expanded to the point where it has sanctioned World Cups and World Championships.
As in any X-race, passing is part of the game. In International Cycling sanctioned races, the course must be three meters wide, but in the increasing number of local race series' across the U. S., sections of the course will often be singletrack, making for occasional civilized shoving.
The 2007 National Championships are scheduled in Kansas City, Kansas, Dec. 13-16. The course has two sets of stairs, several near-vertical hills, one slippery grass-covered hill, as well as three tight switchbacks. The course will be very tricky if it's icy, scary fast if the weather is dry.
One very popular and well run event is California's Urban Cyclocross series. The next race is the "Turkey 'Cross, Sunday, November 18th, at Entradero Park in Torrance. To register, go to www.backontrackproductions.com
America is currently the dominant country world wide in cyclo-X.