Cyclocross Racing - Can I do this on a mountain bike?

I've never done CX ever. I just want to do one race, our team is putting it on. I swear just one! I've got an old Durango made Yeti ARC XTR with a solid fork and road cassette and like 1.5" or something tires can't recall offhand.. Are mountain bikes legal? Is it like XC where I need to sprint like crazy in the beginning to get a good spot? I'm a "3" on the road. What am I in for?

The general rule is that mtb's are fine as long as you don't use bar-end extensions.

There's a sprint at the beginning, but passing people in cross is much easier than on mtb singletrack. In fact, CX rules specify a minimum width to the course.

Practice dismounts, remounts, and carrying (not just pushing) your bike.

You will be racing as a 4 in cross and I suggest you enter the C race instead of the B race.

Mountain bikes are totally fine as long as you dont have forward facing bars as flarge pointed out. I would suggest slapping on some smaller tires if you have them around though. You will be slower on a MTB than most guys on cross bikes.

On the flip side, here's a picture of Cole House riding his 'cross bike to 18th place in the 40 mile Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival MTB race this past Saturday in Hayward, WI ! (Foto courtesy of skinnyski.com)

http://www.skinnyski.com/racing/results/2008/photos/chequamegon/IMG_6829.JPG

BITD they'd just call it a mountain bike.
http://www.btt.com.ar/foto/o/11/29/1129884396_tomacfrodrop300.jpg

You will be racing as a 4 in cross and I suggest you enter the C race instead of the B race.

Mountain bikes are totally fine as long as you dont have forward facing bars as flarge pointed out. I would suggest slapping on some smaller tires if you have them around though. You will be slower on a MTB than most guys on cross bikes.

+1

Just show up and have fun. I'm helping some 3's get into cross, and they're doing great BUT realize it's a whole different type of cycling.

Cross-post:

Raced my mountain bike....in a cyclo-cross race this weekend.

It's an interesting way to race. Kinda like a time trial. You just go all out for as long as you can and try not to blow up.

We were mostly on turf with a small amount of mud. I ran my MotoB Ti Fly with the Kenda tires that come stock (I run Panaracers on the trail). They're still a lot wider than what most of the guys ran, but at 80 psi the rolled OK. The bike is light enough that carrying it wasn't a big deal. The SID was nice over a drop-off, but none of the cyclo-cross guys had any suspension and they stayed alive, so obviously I didn't really need it.

The tires were the biggest advantage they had on me. The skinny 700c tires just roll so much easier than even a semi-slick mountain bike tire. They seemed to have pretty good grip, too. I had a pretty big advantage on them under braking and downhill. The slightly rough downhills would shake them up a little, but it was like a billiard table to me. My Avid Juicy disks killed their canti's once it came time to get on the binders. I could probably brake 3-4 bike lengths deeper than those guys. I passed a bunch of guys that way.

Overall, cyclo-cross on a mountain bike isn't the way to go, but if you just want to get out and race, then it's completely do-able. You look like a geek at the start when everyone's waiting for the signal to go. Whatever, I passed a S-load of the guys that were looking down their noses at the newbie with the mountain bike. Ultimately, I held my own, but didn't end up even close to the money. Having said that, I'll be doing it again in short order. Now I just have to find really skinny 26" tires to be a bit more competitive.