Cyclocross Racing - Clydesdale racing questions

Considering doing a few cx races and have some questions...

1) First of all can clydesdales do this and if so how commmon is it?
I should be down in the 230 range by the first race maybe lower, thats at 6'1".

2) If you race C, beginner or whatever how fast are you on the road in your training rides?
I know that the actual speed of the cx race depends on coditions alot so I thought Id ask this to gauge how fast you guys are and get a rough idea my fitness compares.

3) I will be coming off a half ironman, how should I train assuming I have about 3 weeks to prep?
My endurance and volume are fine, I assume I will need to work on speed and power. I am actually considering using my track bike couple days a week to help me develop power using a bigger gear. As far as skills I am a halfway decent on trails and feel I have pretty good handling skills having ridden bmx as a kid and done a decent amount of off road stuff.

I have a 2001 Trek XO1 that I built up with spare parts to use as a road bike and to mess around on trails, that is what I plan to race. I also have a San Jose that I commute with, I've been using that to work on my mounts and dismounts.

Anyway thanks for all your answers! I will most likely try it just want to see how I can minimize what a fool I make of myself

I'm a Clyde and do just fine (6'5" 215 lbs). I regularly drop my non-clyde friend in races.

But then again, I ride lot's - he doesn't.

One thing that helped me was doing lot's of intervals for training. On the road I tend to ride long, steady and hard. You can't get away with that in cross. Be prepared for lot's of short, hard efforts with no recovery.

Your hardest effort will be the first half lap or so to get into good position.

But most of all, just show up and race once, then you'll be hooked.

210 lbs. (down from 225), 6'2" Did my first 'cross race last weekend.

Just go do it. My clyde field was 7 guys. We raced with the C's but a minute back. Nothing better than catching and passing skinny guys. Of course I crashed a few times, so I got to pass a few skinny guys twice.

+1 on intervals or anything else that is high intensity in short bursts.

Just go race. There will always be someone slower and/or fatter than you.

I am about 210 now so I guess I am a clyde too LOL. But I never seen a clyde category in a cross race. I'd say at this point just go for it and see if you like it. Best training is to ride your cross bike on the road and maybe two practice sessions a week in a field somewhere to practice skills like cornering, mounts and dismounts, run ups, barriers etc...

A bit of running is good too.

one of my buddies is north of 250 at times and even though I have a higher w/kg than he does he does fine in masters 3/4 races.

dont worry about comparing road fitness to cross.. its just too different. it sounds like you have the underlining fitness to finish races so thats good enough.

and remember.. if you are not making a fool out of yourself you must not be racing cx.

I'm guessing Lithuania is talking about Jim from the MABRA series. You should poke around his blog abit. He talks about what it is to be a clyde racer (equipment, power, training, etc). http://unholyrouleur-jim.blogspot.com/ Pretty entertaining blog in general.

thats him.

Thanks for the repsonses I guess I'll just give it a try. I Granogue is like 2 weeks after my half iron, its also a 2 hour drive, lets see how I feel after my race. I'll definitely the Beacon race and Highland park though at the end of the month. I know I saw instructions for a practice barrier made of pvc. Any of you guys make a barrier to practice with?

Big cones with holes cut in them and 2 inch pvc pipe. You don't want your barriers to sag I would recommend building your practice barriers a hint taller than your race barriers. When you hit the real thing, you might be tired...

I made a practice barrier out of 4 x 4's. We just leave it on site, of our practice course. I also have two real ones for races. the PVC ones are nice and simple.

i use milk crates and a 4x4 setting on top for practice barriers