Do TT training with jumps and sprints in the middle. A cylcocross race is one big fat TT with some sprints tossed in. If your HR isn't pegged, your not going to be in the hunt.

Great racing, lots of fun and very tough. Skip the long endurance rides and start doing up to 1 hour efforts at LT and beyond.

I second what Russell says. Also, do everything with no/minimum braking. Momentum is everything is cross. Practice cornering with no brakes (do this off road on soft grass). Don't be afraid to crash while learning. No brakes!

I agree with the other two replies. But you're dead wrong if you think cross is "way more steady state than a crit." If you just want to finish it, then it could be true. But if you want to be competitive, then you've got to be able to go all out, then recover at steady state, then repeat many many times. The best book is "Cyclocross" by Simon Burney.

I guess it is all point of view, but some aspects of cross are more difficult to me than mtb racing. I seem to have problems on off camber muddy turns. I can't bunny hop the barriers, and all that has to be done way past redline. I think you are right though, it is easy, time wise to train for cross. I go to the parks after dark and train under the lights sometimes. You don't need a 3-4 hour block to train, and if the weather is ugly the cross is more fun. I train 90% of the time on my singlespeed cross bike, cause it is so easy to keep clean.

The Burney book is a good start if you need some reading material. Get your hands on some video. (World Cycling Productions should have Worlds) A crit is a Sunday roll in comparison. My avg hr is 175+ with spikes into the 190s during a cross race. If you aren't braking for a corner, you are accelarating(sprinting) for one hour. Good luck. Cyclocross is the most fun one can have on a bike, while being anaerobic, and giggling!

If you live in the SF Bay Area, our team puts on a few clinics as the season gets closer. Check out www.Sycip.com for dates in September-ish. I think other teams in Portland, Seattle, Boston and the other cross areas do the same.

check out www.cyclocrossworld.com for: TRANSITION: AN AMERICAN CYCLOCROSS SEASON DVD

June 8, 2005
Now available at CyclocrossWorld - TRANSITION: AN AMERICAN CYCLO-CROSS SEASON, the highly anticipated movie by Sam Smith at Blunt Trauma Productions is now available. Filmed from New Gloucester, Maine to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Portland, Oregon, TRANSITION covers all the major races of the 2004 season including all the U.S. Gran Prix rounds, and the 2004 U.S. Cyclo-Cross National Championships. This movie is not only a comprehensive chronicle of a complete pro season, but also a definitive depiction of cyclo-cross racing as a career, a culture, and a lifestyle.

TRANSITION contains gritty, mud-soaked race action set to cutting-edge music, as well as - sometimes insightful, sometimes outrageous - commentary by today’s top pro men of cross including Ryan Trebon, Geoff Kabush, Barry Wicks, Mark Gullickson, Mark McCormack, Adam Craig, Ben Jacques-Maynes, Ben Turner, and Carl Decker. Find out what they think about cyclo-cross while you watch them burn up courses from coast to coast.

Experience the many transitions of cyclo-cross: from one road or mountain bike season to the next, from riding to running, from one course surface to another – be it grss, pavement, mud or sand, from the hot early autumn to the freezing and treacherous mid winter. The viewer also follows the season of Adam Hodges Myerson who reluctantly makes the transition from high level pro to simply a race participant doing it for fun, as other things start taking priority in his life.

TRANSITION is a thorough exploration of cyclo-cross that is exciting, interesting, and funny. It’s packed with awesome race sections, interviews, and – by the way - has one of the coolest DVD menus you’ll see anywhere. Questions about the movie: contact Sam Smith blunttprod@yahoo.com