tips for a newbie cross pilot

[rollo]

Did my first “Cross” ride Friday. I do this loop sometimes on my hardtail but I thought I’d give it a go on my Commuter/rain bike/now crossbike. Basically a fireroad with a nasty climb at the end then a little easy singletrack back to the roads. I figured out that speed is your friend surfing thru the sandy sections and picked my way thru the rocky parts. The most difficult section was a steep decent on the cobblestones. I can fly down this on the hardtail but found myself going less than half as fast on the roadbike. Any tips on smoothing out the rough sections?

[jfmckenna]

Cobblestone road? That should be fine with the cx bike. But usually in cross you won't have any rock gardens as such so you will have to pick your way through it. In cross if sections become to difficult to ride then you run them.

[Racing Aardvark]

yeah, rock gardens are pretty much a no-no in cross racing, it's not supposed to be MTBing after all. The Monkey Hill cross course had a long uphill cobblestone stretch. As far as going fast down cobblestones, get your weight back, hands on the tops of the bars, power a big gear, and let the bike float over them.