The cyclocross Thread (Page 2)

We have our State Championship racing this weekend.

Racing Cat 2,3,4 on Saturday
Racing 30+ and Cat 123 on Sunday.

Its held at a beach....our own like Koksijde

Do you find the races that have a lot of sand favor MTB's too much? There have been a few races where I wish they at least had a tire width limit.

I think they would be more of an advantage in some races that look like your pictures above...lots of mud w/ off camber turns.

I think most sand is rideable on a cx bike and all seem to stay at 32-33mm tire widths (USAC nationals and UCI rules limit to this size).

Speaking of SAND

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=201612328153315910167.000...

That looks like fun! The MTB's I've seen usually have the 2.2-2.5 inch tires which I think is pretty standard. It seems like the MTB's advantage is with the deep stuff, unless they need to carry. I haven't noticed in the off camber turns, but I'll try to watch more at the next race. The fast, smooth parts and areas where it's faster to carry are more suited to the CX bikes. Regardless, I have a CX bike so that's what I will race.

I have races this weekend (35+ and cat 5), then in two weeks is a fri-sat double with the state champs on Saturday. My goal these next few races is to start harder and get the holeshot. I'm out of contention for the points series because I didn't do enough races.

BTW - have a great race weekend! Kick some butt!

And.... 9th in 35+ and 4th in cat 5 (again). It was a fun course with no mud or pavement but lots of dirt. There were tight turns in the wood areas with lots of soft pine straw on the ground, and a good hill that everyone had to run up. The barriers had a bit more separation the usual and were 'hoppable' with the right skills - something I don't have. It was fun watching the higher cats do it though and it would have saved me a lot of time.

No races this coming weekend, then a Friday afternoon/Saturday morning double, with the Saturday races being the state championships. I'm 5th in the points standings with no hope of making third, but since I only raced a few times I can't complain.











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We have severe cold and snow this weekend. Saturday was freezing and Sunday was freezing w/ snow. Luckily I was done racing before the snow moved in...

Saturday finished 17th out of 39 in the 2/3/4 race. Got beat by a Cat 4 grrrrrrr.

Sunday got my clock cleaned in the 30+ race. The field was freaking stacked for the Championship race, lots of Cat 1's and got 80%'d. 49/70. Didn't want to warm back up and get back into sweaty clothes and race on file trends in the snow so bailed on the 1/2/3 race.

Me dropping into the sand

Raced in 6 inches of snow this weekend. Really wasn't much of a race. I've been sick and basically just around for 45'

How did the State race go?

Snow? Yuck! That's why we left the North East for AZ! Hope you're feeling better. No races this past weekend here, but I rode with a neighbor who is a pro MTB and CX racer. Wow, it was fun to watch him straighten out the trails and handle the technical sections like they were nothing! I may even have a new training partner.

Our final races are this Friday for the series finale and Saturday for the state championships. The best I can do in the series is 4th, but that's not bad considering I only did a few races this year.

Ended up 3rd in the cat 5 state champ race. It was a good race and I got to sprint to the finish, as the guy sitting on my wheel for the last lap tried to pass me in the final straight.

The 35+ was immediately after and I was toast for that race.

1st road race of the season is in 2.5 weeks...

Congrats on the podium, do you have enough races to upgrade? I remember I got so much faster once I upgraded, start to see races unfold, and pick up race dynamics for cx.

Edited by running2far 2014-01-02 6:35 PM

Thanks! Technically I'm a 4 since I had my license prior to cat 5 being created, so I can just start racing with the 4's next season. Here the races are all 3/4 since the groups are so small. Hopefully I'll get faster, the points are going to be hard to get in the 3/4 races. I've been doing a lot of MTB and singletrack CX riding on my 'rest' days. The racing is completely different from road, but lots of fun!