Cyclocross Racing - Where do you practice?

My daily commute goes by one of the upcoming courses, so I've felt free to detour into the field there, but in general, it doesn't seem like it's nice to subject public lands to the kinds of things a cross bike can do to wet, muddy ground.

Maybe I'm just not being very creative in my thinking. Where do you practice?

Trails mostly, sometimes parks. If it's to wet to ride without destroying trails or parks, do on-road stuff. You can set up practice barriers anywhere, as well as do intervals or hill repeats.

In the Portland area Mt. Tabor is a great place to get some dirt time in the wet months because the trails tend to stay really dry. But it's problably not worth it for you if you live in Beaverton. You could combine it with a decent length road ride through the city, or take max.

my commute on the bike path has a horse trail that runs adjacent to it. it's gravel, rutted, hillier and way more interesting than riding a single speed cross bike on a freaking bike path. giddyup

My buddies and I set up a course in a public park. I also mountain bike during the week on technical single track.

There are a couple of city parks I practice at. One happens to be this year's provincials course and it's only 20 minutes away from my apartment. :)

My daily commute goes by one of the upcoming courses, so I've felt free to detour into the field there, but in general, it doesn't seem like it's nice to subject public lands to the kinds of things a cross bike can do to wet, muddy ground.If you don't run the same lines over and over again, riding over wet grass shouldn't do any damage. I think it's a good thing to treat public resources with respect, but also you are a valid user of those resources. A bit of resourcefulness and common sense, you'll find plenty of places to practices dismounts, remounts, switchbacks, off cambers, etc.

Also, ride the local mountain bike trails on your cross bike.

i started mapping out my rides where it would require me to cut through parks with grass and dirt. Kind of lame.. but its pretty fun.

In Portland, Mt. Tabor is very popular for practicing off road skills, or you can do hill repeats on the paved road.
Leif Ericksson trail for a more aerobic workout.

I'll use a public park for practicing dismounts/remounts.

I guess I'm spoiled now. Probably a hundred miles of trail within four miles of my door. Going out of one's way for mount tabor, where you need to do lie 5 or 6 laps to get any ind of ride in, seems sort of silly to me now.

I still have a fondness for that park, though. I grew up 6 blocks away.

I use a park. If you don't keep going in a circle, you won't harm the grass [unless it is really muddy].

We use parks along a MUP that runs near our team's shop. Plenty to choose from, but we ride them at night. During the day you can see these signs on the same trails that show bicycles with a line through them.

....not sure what that means...;)

I use a park. If you don't keep going in a circle, you won't harm the grass [unless it is really muddy].

Well, it's been two weeks since we had a day when it didn't rain. The forecast says there's only a 10% chance of rain on Friday. Maybe the fields will dry out then. :)