Lithuania

So who is going to try out cross racing this year?

Frunkin

Me.

Porkchopwi

Loved it so much last season (even on a 25-pound MTB) I'll be back this year with a 25-pound MTB -- but with cross tires on it.

ridethecliche

Likewise.

I'll be doing it if I can ever get this damn bike built up...

ZeCanon

ooh hell no

Psimet2001 

All.

Over.

It.


Finally got back on the cross rig last night. OOOooooo it's good to be back, but I also got the reintroduction to the pain. Cross hurts. Bad. I need to train.

Hida Yanra

Almost certainly not... but maybe-just-maybe I can pull it off.

Robobo1

I will. Have avoided it for fear of injury. I've since been in 2 crashes this road season... now that I've got those out of the way....

Actually, I'm doing it because everyone who does it seems to come in to the next season so much stronger. And I need to work on my instantaneous power, big time.

caloso

I did two races last fall on an old SS with 28mm tires jammed in there. Too much fun. This year I'm building up a proper CX bike.

cslone

Been hitting the practices for about a month now. I can't wait.

Lithuania

haha! The last two years I have paired down my road racing to avoid crashing and messing up my cross season. This year I only raced one road event and of course I crashed in it!

wanders

I seem to recall a pretty awesome cross finish for you last year.





...gone looking for the pic.

dmotoguy

IMO crashing in cross is 10000x more safe (and fun).

I cant wait.. just got this a few days ago:

Lithuania

crashing in cross is so different than crashing on the road.

and yes i had a pretty awesome, made it to cyclingnews.com, finish line crash last year.

for the record

wanders

Thanks Lith - are you going single speed this year?

Another couple noob questions to throw out there. Does anyone race with a different team for cross than their road? Does the "team" concept carry over from road to cross? Although I've never done one, it sounds/seems more individual.

Robobo1

I was wondering the same thing, as my team really does race well as a team on the road. I've been told that the team concept doesn't really carry in to cross, there's not much room to maneuver and there's not much benefit from drafting.

Lithuania

cross team work does not come in play very often at all in cross since there isnt really a pack but tactics can be played out if you have a team mates together at the front of the race. really though its much more like a time trial where everyone is going as hard as they can the entire time.

i will probably race geared this year but my SS bike will be there in the pit. if i dont get over my current leg issues I might just race it primarily anyway.

Psimet2001 

Our team carries over. We kind of focus on cross - although we are even more laid back about it. We have a very strong cross background on the team and as the manager I have found it has been a big factor in drawing a lot of people to our team during the road season.

The team concept carries over in a few ways. A couple of us were able to block for a teammate during one race last year. We were getting lapped and he was fighting for 1st.....took a couple of wide lines and that's it..... I don't condone this however but the guy he was battling was a ****** and he could have gotten around us if he wanted to.

Also....racing with teammates helps you get lined up in the front for the holeshot. If you get a bad position teammates are usually willing trade spots or physically open up room for you up front. You can work together but this is rare unless because of terrain, conditions, etc...you end up near each other a few laps in.

I found I was able to work with MJH2 a lot last year. He was either passing me or I was passing him but all either of us had to do was shout the other's name and the one being passed would open up a hole. Priceless.

We would also stuff or block the guy coming behind the teammate who just passed.

In the end it's definitely an individual's race but when you start getting to the point where you are kind of clumping together your team can be of help.

Oh....and we helped a few teammates with mechanicals - giving up bikes, etc. This is illegal BTW....

Lithuania

i will say this though. having team mates at a cross race is a huge help. especially if the weather is nasty. last year was pretty rough on me because i had so few team mates at races. Luckily the few I did, and all the friends ive made on other teams, helped me out a lot when I needed it.

Lithuania

blocking like this is pretty much against the rules!!!

also, most competitive fields will have call ups and order by reg so if you tried to swap spots it wouldnt work.

Psimet2001 

I have no idea what you're talking about....



I had the owner of one of the local teams grab my rear wheel while I had my bike shouldered in front of him and pulled me back and out of the way to get by me on a run-up. There's a lot of kicking and pushing too. It's kind of dirty up here. I love it.

Oh....he pissed me off enough though that I chased him down and slayed him a lap later - as I was buried DEEP in the pain cave.

We have callups but muscling spots in the front behind the callups is always possible and very helpful. our callups - 10 usually have about 3 or 4 missing (or upgraded) and they don't fill up the width of the course....letting everyone fight for the front line after they call the rest of us up.

I plan on getting callups this year though...if all goes well.

Lithuania

our fields of 125 riders would freak is people tried to move up.

i would be pissed if lap traffic tried to get in my way! seriously, that is not cool.

SaddleBags

At my level (read slow), my teammates are great for traveling together to races, sharing pit wheels/bikes, and having a cold ones after the races.

Lithuania

oh and at our races the promoter jerk everyone around by lining up everyone by order of registration after the first two rows. to top it off they open reg months in advance.

Psimet2001 

Sounds worse than it was in reality. Not blatant, but I didn't get in a hurry to get out of his way in a corner. I conciously didn't move out of the way as quickly....but still did. I did that because of who he was....I consider it blocking, but most wouldn't have even noticed.

....and our fields of 125...are just mass start. Just like a crit. The callup just gets you on the front of the line.