It's sort of a "back to my roots" thing for me, since I rode MTB up until I was around 22, them stopped cycling entirely for over a decade. Had fun getting back into it over this summer. But the bikes are different now and the trails are different too, so some of it is relearning those old skills, and some of it is honing new ones. I have no illusions that I'll be any good at it, but I've always found MTB is better the less seriously you take it.

Late to this, thank you for the extra asteriks in the title, much easier to spot on the main forum, much appreciated!

Guess i'm a nerd since i like seeing new developments in equipment and position, don't want to see TT die off as a specialty.
Thank you in advance for keeping up the best group commentary on pro cycling i know of, best going and I consider it a privilege! Carry on gents, I'll follow with interest.

TT is a dying discipline cause it is hard for us plebes to look at a race/stage that you need a 15-25k dollars of equipment to be competitive.

Throw the TT bike away and do TT on road bikes with skinsuits and helmets if you want and then it would be more of a people sport. Also, the tdf deprioritizing it hasn't help either.

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The entire event (IM) is like "death by 1000 cuts" and the best race is minimizing all those cuts and losing less blood than the other guy. - Dev

Words to live by.

(Formula 1 enters the chat...)

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Tech writer/support on this here site. FIST school instructor and certified bike fitter. Formerly at Diamondback Bikes, LeMond Fitness, FSA, TiCycles, etc.
Coaching and bike fit - http://source-e.net/ Cyclocross blog - https://crosssports.net/ BJJ instruction - https://ballardbjj.com/

touche LOL

perhaps that should deter all the dummies loading up honda civics to race around the city hahahah

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The entire event (IM) is like "death by 1000 cuts" and the best race is minimizing all those cuts and losing less blood than the other guy. - Dev

Boy, do I wish! My neighborhood is dummy central on weekend nights.

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Tech writer/support on this here site. FIST school instructor and certified bike fitter. Formerly at Diamondback Bikes, LeMond Fitness, FSA, TiCycles, etc.
Coaching and bike fit - http://source-e.net/ Cyclocross blog - https://crosssports.net/ BJJ instruction - https://ballardbjj.com/

It's CX Nationals weekend! What are everybody's predictions for The Belgian World Championship and the Dutch Women's World Championship (and all those other races that are also happening)?

Will Eli finally win it?
Can you believe Fem hasn't won the national title as an elite yet? Oh, right... she's still only 21!
Will someone other than VdH or VdP take the Dutch men's title for the first time in a decade?
Is this the year that Sanne finally hands over the Belgian jersey?

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Tech writer/support on this here site. FIST school instructor and certified bike fitter. Formerly at Diamondback Bikes, LeMond Fitness, FSA, TiCycles, etc.
Coaching and bike fit - http://source-e.net/ Cyclocross blog - https://crosssports.net/ BJJ instruction - https://ballardbjj.com/

Belgian:

Cant has come on strong recently, so have a hard time picking Riberolle or Francke for the upset. Though it may be close, as the course appears pretty fast. No deep sand where Cant dominates.

The men is tough. Eli has struggled recently. Vanthourenhout is having a straight-up weird season. I don't know if Sweeck's recent momentum carries it, or if Iserbyt's time off will have him lemony fresh.

I'll call it Sweeck/Cant.

Dutch:

Don't see Fem on the startlist. Such a tough 3-way call between Brand, Pieterse, and Alvarado. But with Alvarado's recent back pain and Brand's nose pain, I'll take Pieterse. Unless Fem ends up on the startline.

For the men, the Lions tag-team of Joris and Pim are where it's at, both having looked better than Lars for weeks now. Tough to call between them. I

Ronhaar/Pieterse. (unless Fem shows up, then Ronhaar/van Empel)

Everything you said makes sense, hard to argue with it. I'll swap Sweeck for Vanthourenhout though.

Solid picks. A lot of this probably hinges on the weather... it's been freezing cold all week, but temps have been dropping and are projected to continue doing so through the weekend. Both Belgian and Dutch courses will change significantly if things unfreeze and get messy.

I'm taking Eli in the Belgian Men's race, with a darkhorse nod to Nys, especially if it's fast. I'm betting that the ground stays hard enough to keep things fast and favor the quicker riders. FWIW, this course makes for awesome racing. The 23 Exact Cross was one of the best races of the season, definitely worth checking out if you haven't seen it -





Women's race, I'd like to see Cant stay on top (and this is a good course for her) but I'm going dark horse with Verdonschot. It just seems about time for that torch to be passed on, and she's been on storming form this season, easily the top Belgian in the UCI rankings.

Dutch men's race, I'll take Nieuwenhuis. He was *so* close last year, I think he's had this one starred on his calendar ever since. VERY dark horse pick is Kamp, who needs a big win more than anyone.
Women's race, who the heck knows. Fem *is* out, which makes Puck the obvious favorite, but Brand and Alvarado might be looking at this as the last chance to grab that jersey for a long, long time.
Still... Puck.
She's just been getting better and better, which definitely isn't the case for Alvarado, and racing with a broken nose isn't super fun, speaking from personal experience.

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Tech writer/support on this here site. FIST school instructor and certified bike fitter. Formerly at Diamondback Bikes, LeMond Fitness, FSA, TiCycles, etc.
Coaching and bike fit - http://source-e.net/ Cyclocross blog - https://crosssports.net/ BJJ instruction - https://ballardbjj.com/

Not to distract from CX but got a question: looking for a 35(ish)c tire for an upcoming build. It’ll be ridden on tarmac and a lot of dirt roads, so I’d like something that rolls well but has strong puncture resistance. Have a separate gravel bike so this won’t need to do anything crazy.

The Conti GP 5000 All Season TR looks pretty good, anyone have experience with it or another tire to recommend?

Not sure if this fits for what you have in mind, and note the gravel bike, but I have a set of Panaracer GravelKing sk’s that are tough, grippy, but still low enough tread to make tarmac to and froms smooth and pleasant. Maybe the Slicks?

No experience with it, but the S-works Mondo comes in 35 and seems to be the sort of tire you're looking for.

perhaps a related Aussie men's road nats question - why was Plapp allowed the win? I didn't get to watch much so I don't know if he was just crushing his teammate or he's new to the team or he has 2 already??

On the watching the racing front - is there a new Go-To option established yet?? I don't know the Omloop or Strade countdown precisely but I do know it's an essential option to have when teaching middle schoolers. to NOT have a race on in the background when teaching participle grammar is teacher-cide (magistericide?). preferably an option that won't be bankrupting da old bike racing fan on teacher money.
Hope springs eternal for some 'Muricans at the pointy end this year - early strade pick of McNulty (Powless/Sheffield/Jorgenson/Kuss/Simmons/Sheehan (too soon?)). Bring on the TDU and Cadel races.

Sheehan at Paris-Tours was eye-opening. But I'd still put him, Cool Hand Luke, and AJ August in the "wait and see" category for big-time World Tour racing. It's been a long time since we've had an American contingent this deep in the World Tour.

That tire is what I’m after but let’s just say I had a suspect incident with that brand this summer…

@Clay - thanks for suggestion.

The Hutchinson Overide probably shades a bit more towards the gravel side than what you're looking for, but they do tune the knobs down a bit on the 35 size.

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Tech writer/support on this here site. FIST school instructor and certified bike fitter. Formerly at Diamondback Bikes, LeMond Fitness, FSA, TiCycles, etc.
Coaching and bike fit - http://source-e.net/ Cyclocross blog - https://crosssports.net/ BJJ instruction - https://ballardbjj.com/

Well, I was 1/4. About typical of my performance in these threads. Thanks, Sanne, for keeping me from a DNF. And also kudos to a brilliant career if the pre-race retirement hints end up being accurate

I'm thinking Luke is going to take some wins at DQS this year.

yep, massive hats off to sanne. that's a hell of a career and what she said about not racing nationals next year to 'protect' the jersey is brilliant.

as for holland, i just assumed puck would walk away with it since her form was looking so dangerous. but she just seemed flat in the lead-up and in interviews afterwards - maybe not her day, or feeling a bit ill or something. but damn - brand winning the tricolor with a broken nose and two black eyes is so bad ass. women's cross is super compelling these days.

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http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

[[/quote] I'm thinking Luke is going to take some wins at DQS this year.[/quote]
It's a small sample size but from what I've observed, he has a punch that is WT worthy. That said, the bunch riding and the intensity of the racing for an American is initially at least, quite intimidating. It will be fun to watch.

Some handy work by Bora to deliver Welsford to line. And quite crafty riding by Narváez to sneak into 5th—he’s going to have a good year.

On the other end, Liggett intones like he’s calling a chess match. If it were any more low energy he’d be napping.

Yeah Narvaez looking fiesty. Been waiting on him to deliver a solid classics campaign for a while, maybe this is the year.

Liggett needs to go. Fortunately I've not had to listen to him much, but when I do he is often confused about riders and just isn't doing a good job. I'm not trying to be cruel, but its gotten quite bad.