Cyclocross - OW, my boys!!!

Well, i have 1 race left in my season before ankle surgery... tonight, i spent over an hour practicing technical turns etc, and mounts. I suffer from the stutter step remounting... I have been trying to work on the more 'pro' looking flying mount... that is until my practice was cut short by some extreme pain... down there :innocent:

I guess it will have to wait until next year.

How long did it take you guys/gals to get rid of your stutter step?

What is the stutter step? Kind of jumping an extra time before the "leap"?

I think I do that.

I literally jump, pushing off with my left foot and land on top of my saddle.
My shorts are tight enough that I can position my goods in a manner that prevents any unnecessary argey-bargey.
It took a leap of faith to get ride of my stutter step, it was scary at first to go into a full jump remount, but it worked the forst time and I haven't gone back.

I hate my stutter...hate it. Nothing to be done.

To get rid of the stutter step you want to think like a hurdler in track. Its all about the "trail leg" rotating up, over and down. I see too many people trying to bring the leg over with the hip closed. If the hip is closed the range of motion needed for the trail leg is drastically reduced and the rider needs to "skip" or stutter step in order to have the leg and knee swing around the bike while sitting completely upright and all the while loosing speed or momentum.

I used to coach HS track and field and would have the hurdlers do many drills and the trail leg was one of the most important. If the runner could not open the hip and pull the trail leg up and over the hurdle into the next step they could not return to fast running. Try this drill to get used to the position the body needs to be in to keep the body moving and the put the leg over the bike and into the pedal.

With your hands on the hoods, walk with your chest upright and square. Starting with the right foot on the ground, keep your momentum and continue to walk and as the foot begins to move back, open or turn the hip while letting the right foot stay on the ground. When you are at the point that the right foot needs to be picked up, pull the leg up, out and over the saddle with the knee following. As the step continues keep the leg moving ahead of the saddle by closing the hip and bringing the knee ahead of the hip for your next step. As you bring the knee around and then down the foot should be in a position to step onto the pedal and the seat will be under your butt. Because you are holding the bike with you hands you can adjust where it is in relation to your hip/butt. Once you are comfortable walking thru the drill add a little speed eventually working up to running with the bike.

If you do the drill correctly you will be taking a longer step and eliminating the "skip" or stutter step. The advantage of eliminating the stutter step is that your momentum carries, your right foot is in the pedal with the ability to force it down and you are back to putting power to the pedals.

Besides being faster and carrying your momentum, eliminating the stutter step also makes things safer. Think about it: you are basically hopping on one foot on uneven terrain in a shoe with a narrow sole, no shock absorption, and no ankle support. Also, when you stutter step, you are remounting your bike at almost zero velocity, which makes steering it difficult. With a flying remount, your bike stays vertical and in a straight line.

I finally got ride of it about half way through the season last year, after a season and a half of stutter stepping. The drill that finally did it for me was: I stood in my driveway with my bike at my right side. I mentally drew a line just in front of my left foot and imagined that I was jumping off a ledge of a cliff onto my bike. Once I did the standing jump onto my saddle a few times, I started doing it at a walk, then at a run. Once you get it, it's like, well, riding a bike. You mentally click and it becomes really straight forward.

I tend to endanger my kibbles and bits more if I actively think of leaping instead of just throwing the leg over.
If I think "leap", then I leap...and consequently have to "land". If I don't think about leaping and just throw the leg over then forward, I'm more likely to get the smooth slide.

Try sliding smoothly onto the inner thigh starting from a complete stop, then progressing to a walk, faster and faster.
At full speed the leap comes naturally as part of a fast stride.

But I'll be the first to admit that when I'm gasping for breath in a race, I tend to get overzealous on the remount and my technique goes out the window, landing on all sorts of appendages on all sorts of non-saddle things.

Check out this video starting at 43seconds here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2mQJkllTKM#t=43s
(This reminds me to revisit this series of videos. Old but still applies.)

My advice FWIW:

Start slow. As in, from a standstill. Hands on the bars, simply drape the right leg over the saddle. Picture your right knee tracing a counter-clockwise circle. Depending on how flexible you are, it might feel a bit awkward, but there's no need to jump.

Then ever so gradually speed it up. If you start stutter-stepping, go back to step one.

Never realized cyclocross was such a dangerous sport. Think I will be a spectator and enjoy the beer.

I think you need to be willing fall on your face a few times. I used to stutter step. The problem is, it often pulls you to the left, right into someone els's line. You have to just go for it.

Seriously. My wife and I discuss this. She is of a cautious temperament and is worried about falling down, crashing etc. A a result, she has not progressed as quickly in 'cross as she has in road racing. She has become very strong, but is not willing to go full speed and her dismounts and remounts are timid.

I spent my august and september last year (the first year I raced any kind of bike) practicing my butt off on dismounts and mounts. I fell down A LOT. Team mates still talk about the time I tried to remount when my hand was still on the top tube. I am sure you can imagine that it was not an effective strategy. The leg jammed between the wheel and the seat says sucked too.

I don't think Hurdle. I think jump up on the gosh darn seat.

I blow past guys in the barriers EVERY TIME because I am willing to go full speed, and click out a bit early. I also run 6-8 steps out of the barrier. I can accelerate faster running than riding. I bet you can too. Then just go for it.

I just changed my little avatar picture to one my wife took Sunday at Alpenrose. My daughters couldn't stop laughing when they saw it.

Practice a lot, at full speed. It will get easier. I recommend practicing on grass.

I blow past guys in the barriers EVERY TIME because I am willing to go full speed, and click out a bit early. I also run 6-8 steps out of the barrier. I can accelerate faster running than riding.That means you aren't doing the barriers at full speed.

I am clydesdale, my full speed may not be as fast as your full speed. However, I carry momentum EXTREMELY well. When I said click out, I meant unclick the right foot and bring it over. I can coast 10 feet before leaving the pedals and lose very little speed. I usually take about a step or 2 into the barrier.

Question: Do you mean that I should not be able to run that fast out of the barriers?

I guess we could all learn to do this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXh0mqtt-8Y&feature=related).

He means that you shouldn't be slowing down through the barriers, then you do't have to sprint out of them.

Question: Do you mean that I should not be able to run that fast out of the barriers?On a standard pair of barriers, on the flat, you shouldn't have to accelerate before your remount. Any extra steps you take, is time that you could be pedaling your bike. Therefore, only two steps before the first barrier, and only three or four steps after the second barrier. For most people, this translates to a 2-3-3 pattern. (Ryan Trebon does 2-2-4.)

That is different than the crest of a run-up. In that situation, you probably do want to take a couple of extra steps after the pitch levels off to pick up speed before remounting.

I guess I have some more practicing to do.

i have two choices right now:

a)stutter step
b)bend seat rails and strip seat post doing the jump.

I choose to stutter step.

a)stutter step
b)bend seat rails and strip seat post doing the jump.c) Buy a cheap saddle from the LBS clearance bin and learn how to remount correctly.

I guess I have some more practicing to do.Not to bust balls but surely you've at least seen video of pros that shows what a fast, smooth voyage across the barriers looks like. They aren't taking 6 to 8 steps to get back up to speed.

It does seem to me that a lot of people have problems because they're too cautious, but that's not just limited to their remount. I've seen a lot of people in the Master C races who slow down way more than they need to for the barriers.

This was especially apparent with the barriers on the gravel road at Alpenrose. I was blowing past people on those barriers because I was going in as fast as I can run, or maybe even a little faster. My remounts weren't always clean, but I went through so much faster than some of the people around me that it didn't matter. I saw a similar effect with the barriers in the velodrome, but there my speed was limited by how fast I could accelerate ater the turn.

By contrast, at the Blind Date last night, the barrier was set up close to a tight turn and I was barely able to straighten the bike out after the turn before I had to dismount and I found myself losing a little ground on the barriers because I'm slow in tight turns. My remount had nothing to do with it.

c) Buy a cheap saddle from the LBS clearance bin and learn how to remount correctly.

well help a brotha out then....

I place both hands on tops, stride off my left leg, and leap ever so slightly in the air while swinging my right leg over the seat. landing on the inside of my upper thigh. I then slide over to regular seating position with my downstroke. I can only guess im jumping too high? coming down to hard? please remember, I am a fat ass at 200lbs

Thanks for any guidance

I place both hands on tops, stride off my left leg, and leap ever so slightly in the air while swinging my right leg over the seat. landing on the inside of my upper thigh. I then slide over to regular seating position with my downstroke. I can only guess im jumping too high? coming down to hard? please remember, I am a fat ass at 200lbsIf I get you correctly, you can do a skip-less remount, but you just land too hard? But if you skip, you don't land too hard?

I recommend practicing very very slowly. Start from a standstill at first, just getting on your bike. Then add a step, then another, etc etc. Also, when you are remounting, you can support a fair amount of your weight on the bars. Also, visualize your right knee tracing a counter-clockwise circle, ending with your first pedalstroke. HTH

i have two choices right now:

a)stutter step
b)bend seat rails and strip seat post doing the jump.

I choose to stutter step.

I had problems with bent saddle rails using a fairly high quality road saddle. I would suggest finding something cheap and durable. You are only on it for an hour at a time. You don't really need anything that good.

Also, if you are worried about the weight... well you are probably losing more time in a lap by stutter stepping than you are recovering with a few extra grams saved on the saddle. Remounts should be pretty smooth. I was bending my saddle rails when I wasn't very good at it. I was jumping too high, afraid I would miss the saddle. I am smoother now, a year later, and I could probably go back to the lighter weight saddle if I so desired.

well help a brotha out then....

I place both hands on tops, stride off my left leg, and leap ever so slightly in the air while swinging my right leg over the seat. landing on the inside of my upper thigh. I then slide over to regular seating position with my downstroke. I can only guess im jumping too high? coming down to hard? please remember, I am a fat ass at 200lbs

Thanks for any guidance

I would try putting your hand on the hoods. This will get more of your weight supported by your bars and not flopping down on your saddle. It also makes for a better transition between riding/running/riding if you don't have to move your left hand to different parts of the bar to remount.

If I get you correctly, you can do a skip-less remount, but you just land too hard? But if you skip, you don't land too hard?..
correct. I can do perfect "two step" drills. Dismount, step right, step/leap left and back on. about every 6th time I land too hard and the seatpost (admittedly junk) slips and points the seat into the air


I had problems with bent saddle rails using a fairly high quality road saddle. I would suggest finding something cheap and durable. You are only on it for an hour at a time. You don't really need anything that good.

Also, if you are worried about the weight... well you are probably losing more time in a lap by stutter stepping than you are recovering with a few extra grams saved on the saddle. Remounts should be pretty smooth. I was bending my saddle rails when I wasn't very good at it. I was jumping too high, afraid I would miss the saddle. I am smoother now, a year later, and I could probably go back to the lighter weight saddle if I so desired.

My saddle is a beefy Sella Italia Prolink. I need to get a thomson post for sure. My thought was it was better to stutter step once per lap and save my equipment rather than superman remount and risk a DNF for equipment failure.


I would try putting your hand on the hoods. This will get more of your weight supported by your bars and not flopping down on your saddle. It also makes for a better transition between riding/running/riding if you don't have to move your left hand to different parts of the bar to remount.

I will try this tonight. thanks!!!