Cyclocross Racing - CX only?

Hi --

I was just wondering if anyone considers CX their main sport out of the cycling season? I was just wondering if you use the entire year to optimize your 1 hr racing style or maybe do a road season to keep up race fitness or just race crits or short-track MTB.....Do you not worry about running until before the season or do a little bit the entire year, upping the intensity only a month or two before.

any info is welcome. :) I'm sure everyone is different but I am looking for some ways to better structure my training for next year.

I focus most on cross. This year during the off-season, I did a variety of events, primarily singlespeed mtb racing and off-road multisport (an Xterra triathlon was my main event). Trail-runs, a 5K, even a bike road race.

Whatever keeps you happy, active, and motivated. For some, it's road racing, for some, it's mtb racing, for some, it's just riding.

As far as "intensity", I think of cross primarily as an endurance event. Totally different from crits, the only similarity is how long the events last. Guys who are good at crits are fast-twitch, while good crossers are more slow-twitch. There's a guy around here who does really well at crits, I smoke him at cross.

If you really want to do well in cross, I think you should organize your calendar for it, plan the year a la the Bible, and decide what your A, B, and C races are.

I've tried just about every type of racing I could, and I find cyclocross to be my favorite, so I say I focus on that.

With that said, my summers and early autumns are spent traveling as a race mechanic, which doesn't really allow me time to train to be any good at it. Still, I make an effort to go race cross whereas other types (road, crit, mtb, etc) I might only do if it's convenient.

I do try to make it down to the track during the spring, though, before road season picks up (gone working rather than riding) because that's a close second in terms of fun for me.

One of these years I'd like to try and actually train for cross as I really don't know what I'm capable of if I give it a good effort. My biggest fear with that is I won't get the kind of results I'd expect and would start to get frustrated with the whole game...

While this is my first full season of racing cross, I have been racing for a while so I'll give some of my input.

I would still race during the year doing everything you would normally do. Racing will keep you in shape, build strength and base. Late summer, early fall, I would start to concentrate specifically on cx and transition from the road season.

Schedule is another thing to consider. Like fore, I work as a pro bike mechanic and traveling lots during the summer. I don't get to do as many races as I like during the summer. So cross actually works out in my schedule.

That's really impressive that you guys are pro mechanics. I admit to trying to do all of my own maintenance but I am really quite pokey about it.

For me it seems like in CX you are right under your threshold the entire time and then have to surge when you get the chance. I suppose that's why I thought it was similar to a crit because you are at that threshold most of the time and then surging. I suppose TTing would also help because it would really help you know how long and how hard you can push your limits.

Yeah, but I'm not to serious about 'cross. I'm just even less serious about XC, and I don't race ont he road, though I might join the school team this spring.

I do cross because the in-town races are convenient, the scene is a blast, and the races and training can be done in short sessions, which is all I have during the schoolyear.

Ironically, I'd be a lot better at road racing and especially XC than I am at cross. My only real talent is sustained climbing, and cross just never has that. But it's fun. I may do more XC this summer, depending on where I'm working. I did some short track on and off, but I kept hinking how much more fun it would be if it were a cross race.

At the moment I consider myself mostly a recreational mountain biker and soemone who bikes for transportation. When I lived in Portland I was more of a tourer/road rider, because that is what is avaiable there. So riding is good, I like all of it.

I race both cross and road. I'll echo many other poster's sentiment that crits really don't prepare you for cross except in a few instances:
-Crits have helped me in sprints and leg speed/strength (spinning back up to speed out of corners, over barriers, etc... and that all-too-important sprint for 23rd place).
-Crits help to be comfortable bumping elbows and holding position.

Otherwise I feel like the sustained power and technical riding required for cross cater much more to mtb riders (especially single-speeders). The ability to ride at 95% for an hour and save time and speed through the technical stuff is why they almost always beat me (unless the course has LOTS of pavement where I can draft off of them)

All that being said, I race road because it's fun, and about the time I get tired of road racing cross season is starting, then about the time I get sick of cross, I take a couple weeks off and then start riding road again. I'm happy racing in the 3s and 4s and having fun, so that's how I gauge my season priorities.

I definitely agree that mtb would be very similar but most of the race season is at events that are a 2-3 hr drive away which is a little far for me. :(