@VeloSix

@brett Very nice article, a worthy read indeed.

>>>  a cyclocross machine would take my further down the rabbit hole of this addiction. <<<

I swear it’s gotta be the meth rush addiction of cycling… a friggen blast

@gaswepass

simply put, cross is like fight club. not for everyone, but once you are there and engaged, well, it takes you to your core.

Every bit of that.

@VeloVita

I’m down for any cycling discipline in which the first item you make sure you pack for race day is your beer cooler…

Indeed !

@anthony

Cross fucking rules, I hate it, Its the worst thing ever and the best…

I’m with ya on that!

Cheers all

Ah, cool!

I’m in A Grade, so you would have missed me.

Roller Coaster was awesome!

Get into it!  Its great fun!

We watched at steps for a while and then headed up to roller coaster bit. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, C grade looks to be about me I think.

Still no CX bike yet………. trying to convince the group I ride with we need to do it.

So, did you make it?

Awesome, awesome parcours.

So exciting to have a purpose built CX venue in Melbourne!

Thanks for the info. Am intending to head out there on the 27th and have a look.

@mouse

Ah ha http://fojcx.blogspot.com.au/

Now I am worried. Do I buy a cheap CX bike and then get upgradeits and blow more money or buy a better one straight up. Alum or carbon? And discs or rim brakes, what is the preference these days.

And what exactly is your bike, hard to tell brand etc from pic.

Thanks

It’s a Specialized Crux. Aluminium from 2012 (I think…)

Depending on how keen you are to spend money, of course, regarding your new bike.

I think you want the lightest bike you can manage.  If you can afford carbon, do that.  If you can manage your own build, do that.

My next bike will be a chinese carbon frame with the best groupset I can get (SRAM) and Chinese carbon 38mm clinchers.  The frame and the wheels alone should be just below the $11-1200 mark.

I’m sticking with Canti’s as they are significantly lighter that disc brakes.

downunder – worm your way into the local cross scene. Wait one year. Buy a used bike from the recently divorced guy who rides 15 races a year and upgrades every off season.

Done. Very excellent cx bike at a great price. Al or Carbone, you choose.

Excellent call. The recently divorced guy (divorced because S-1 could not hold) is a great asset. As is bike shop owner who just has to upgrade because he is the bike shop owner.

I’m down for any cycling discipline in which the first item you make sure you pack for race day is your beer cooler…and truth be told, if someone put a gun to my head and told me I could only have one bike I would definitely pick a cross bike (but only after telling them they may as well just pull the trigger and put me out of my misery as a life lived with only one bike is a life that isn’t worth living)

Holy fack. Wouldn’t that make a great story for the newspaper. “Velominatus Killed After Telling Thief ‘Death Before I Break Rule #4.'”

I’m safe here on Maui, unless some dick starts up a CX series. It would be good to be forced to run occasionally as I am so bad at it. I never got into it on the mainland, where it has been a very serious sport for off-season roadies for decades. We would just go right into MTB riding instead, no racing, just riding in the woods. I do remember being very impressed by running into a CX rider in the woods on the same trails when we had front suspension and he had none and thin CX wheels.

Why am I taunted by Alex Revell’s ‘stache? It says, actually I don’t know what it says but it bugs me. Thank god he is not a professional road racer. If that caught on in the peloton I’d be horrified. It does seem perfect for CX racing though.

“Some dick”…they always have to ruin things for the rest of us…

I’m safe here on Maui, unless some dick starts up a CX series. It would be good to be forced to run occasionally as I am so bad at it. I never got into it on the mainland, where it has been a very serious sport for off-season roadies for decades. We would just go right into MTB riding instead, no racing, just riding in the woods. I do remember being very impressed by running into a CX rider in the woods on the same trails when we had front suspension and he had none and thin CX wheels.

Why am I taunted by Alex Revell’s ‘stache?

LeMan would do cross in the winter because he thought mountain biking allowed you to gear down on hard sections but cross forces you to run over those sections, keeping the engine running as opposed to idling. Also a certain Badger learned cross prior to kicking everyone’s ass at the ’85 tour (more or less). Regardless, both help your float.

And cross allows you time to explore facial hair mistakes. You can race in a costume for Crissakes.

Done. Very excellent cx bike at a great price. Al or carbone, you choose.

Ah ha http://fojcx.blogspot.com.au/

Now I am worried. Do I buy a cheap CX bike and then get upgradeits and blow more money or buy a better one straight up. Alum or carbon? And discs or rim brakes, what is the preference these days.

And what exactly is your bike, hard to tell brand etc from pic.

Thanks

HuttCross #2 was my first cross race, on Jeff’s  loaner bike…. last weekend did it on an MTB, but currently putting a a cross bike together – might be touch and go for round 4 but should be ready for round 5. To paraphrase the article “I’m afraid I’m already addicted” :-o

Stop it. Keep thinking I should get one but how often would one ride it in Melbourne? Plus now have zero skills on the dirt.

Dirty Deeds CX is only 3 events a year as far as I can tell, not sure how many other races are on in Melb / Victoria. I can still remember the old MTB XC races with Fat Tyre Flyers at Rowville or Lysterfield I think it was – talk about blow up and suffer. Crits seem easy compared to that.

What bike do you have Mouse and how often do you get to race it?

Something a bit like this…

Also, FWIW, there is a new 4 race CX race series announced at Essendon Fields called Fields of Joy. First race on 27 June.  No excuses now…

Why am I taunted by Alex Revell’s ‘stache?  It says, actually I don’t know what it says but it bugs me. Thank god he is not a professional road racer. If that caught on in the peloton I’d be horrified. It does seem perfect for CX racing though.

 I was just going to get the gruntiest tread I could find for the least money, to cover all bases…

@Bianchi Denti

Am I mistaken, or does where you’re riding look a little like Moonshine Park?

You are not mistaken. I am the scourge of B-grade in the Hutt Cross series. Are you a local?

We have a few Canadians that fall into that whole, “let’s go to Europe and race cross for race experience.” Unknown provincial and national champions here in Canada, but lapped rock stars in Belgium. Fantastic. I have in my infinite or infantile wisdom, sponsored one of these intrepid souls with a set of carbon tubulars. The most and least I can do from CR right now.

On a personal note, my first race post-A’stan and post PTSD diagnosis, was a cross race. I was riding ok on the road with some fairly good regularity when a riding partner decided to give cross a try. Unbeknownst to myself, I had been avoiding racing and was even mentally sabotaging myself for simple organized events and sportifs. Well I got talked into doing the race with him. I tried to get out of it, but a sponsor stepped up and provided me a bike and a veteran’s organization paid my race fees. During the race, which I claimed the lanterne rouge, because like fuck I was going to quit, I puked 6-7 times. One of the commissaries tried to move me off the finish line as I was vomiting up purple gatorade all over the line and my white bar tape. My buddy duly threatened the commi’s life for me.

Once you cross, you’ll never stop.

What brings me back after all these years (and numerous converts!) is that cyclocross is a distillation of the insanity that is our sport. Condensed suffering, loopy spectators, and of course, beer.

I love CX!

Nicely said @DCR

@teocalli these are the reasons I don’t get involved in Cross. It’s shockingly expensive… Gotta have tires for every condition, two functional and light weight bikes, and cowbells. Just crazy.

I used to have some cowbells somewhere from skiing……..

@teocalli these are the reasons I don’t get involved in Cross.  It’s shockingly expensive… Gotta have tires for every condition, two functional and light weight bikes, and cowbells.  Just crazy.

Dirty Deeds CX is only 3 events a year as far as I can tell, not sure how many other races are on in Melb / Victoria. I can still remember the old MTB XC races with Fat Tyre Flyers at Rowville or Lysterfield I think it was – talk about blow up and suffer. Crits seem easy compared to that.

What bike do you have Mouse and how often do you get to race it?

Am I mistaken, or does where you’re riding look a little like Moonshine Park?

Awesome winter weather.

Have a look at the video attached

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFzSkHBMp8c&sns=em

After spending the last few years “training” and riding longer rides (Belgian Waffle Ride for one), I took the plunge to try Cyclocross this year. I like the appeal of full gas for a short duration and it’s another excuse to buy another bike. I have zero bike skills, but after a few rides on one of the local cross courses, it’s pretty damn fun.

Here is my new bike after first ride, some dialing in still to go. Ritchey Swiss Cross full Campy (of course).

 

Nice bike! I race similar, but with Groupsan for cheaper repairs, and celeste hoods and saddle. I notice you still run a front cantilever – do yourself a favour and replace it with a v-brake to eliminate the fork shudder. And if you haven’tdiscovered that yet, you will very soon. It is not pleasant!

Here is my new bike after first ride, some dialing in still to go.  Ritchey Swiss Cross full Campy (of course).

Yes, I tell the wife (and kids) not to bother with road races although my parents were keen enough once they manned a follow car. Not a bad way to see it really.

Crits, I think, are the closest a club road racer will get to the spectator buzz of CX. The whole family come to watch those which is great because if they see me crash, I get a lot more sympathy.

I’m gonna give it a try, and his story is responsible. You don’t even need a cross bike to race less than A grade at most races, I’m gonna test the water on my MTB first.

It also seems to be better to bring the fam along to watch, as they get to see you blowing your arse out several times within an hour, rather than at the start and finish with a 4-5 hour gap between for a road race (excluding crits of course, which I will never race in!).

As a side note, I think a cross race is one of the few places where drunk folks are cautious when crossing the street (i.e. course). Kinda like the Master’s which is the only place you can get a crowd of drunks to be quiet.

I like cyclocross. Mainly because, if it didn’t exist, you wouldn’t be able to buy full weapons-grade race-spec carbone bikes with sufficient clearance for wide tyres and mudguards for riding to work on shit roads in shit weather.

I wish there was better TV coverage, unless I’m missing something there’s not much in the UK, if there were then I’d probably get addicted too.

I love riding cross as an alternate to road riding. Racing is okay. The biggest drawback for me is: spend a few hours in the car, spend a few hours waiting around, race for 30 minutes, then spend a few hours in the. Goodbye Saturday/Sunday.

I could just go out and ride for 2-3 hours and be back with the entire day ahead of me. I’d rather that more often than not.

Like you, I fear purchasing a cyclocross machine would take my further down the rabbit hole of this addiction.  I tell myself I would use it for other things (urban commuting or some shit like that), but I know that come winter… I’d have to test those frigid waters of what seems to be the more spectator friendly version of bike racing.  I get the feeling however, the spectators are just there to see a bloodbath….not a bike race.