I am planning to race CX this year. I have never seen a race. I have seen pictures. I noticed in the pictures no one had a water bottle. Don’t they take water bottles with them? How do they hydrate?
For the longer races (45-60 minutes) people have feeders standing on the course that hand them a bottle as they pass, they take a sip and throw down the bottle that is then retrieved by the feeder.
No room for bottle cages as you carry your bike quite a bit and no time to be reaching down for a bottle anyway. Its tough enough to keep the wheels on the ground in CX without taking your hands off the bars.
And who the heck can drink when your HR is at 110% of max!
Yeah, I should have mentioned the “trying not to puke” factor.
. . and then there’s the muddy bottle factor .
I raced yesterday and rode with a bottle. It was hot and I was very hungover, so I didn’t really see a way around it. But, to Katy’s point, there were very few sections on the course where I had time to reach down, grab the bottle, get a drink, then return the bottle, without it being a bit sketchy.
Edit:
And to Cathy’s point there were many times when I thought I was going to hurl.
About how often do you pass these stations? On average. Is there a cat system in CX?
They aren’t stations. you bring your own feeder, that person finds a good place beside the course to stand. Loops around the course generally take less than 10 minutes.
Yes there is a cat system. A, B, & C. I’m a C girl.
Most crossers generally don’t have cages because it gets in the way of shouldering a bike. I, along with 90% of the guys I race against will carry a bottle in a rear pocket of our jerseys and sip if needed. I generally start with a half full bottle and find a decent recovery section about halfway through the race. I will take one big gulp there and toss my bottle.
Here, check these out.
http://www.cccx.org/2007/race3/index.shtml has some from a couple of weeks ago.
Last year’s nationals: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCRy3GSZ-Ig
Lots more here: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cyclocross&search=tag
They aren’t stations. you bring your own feeder, that person finds a good place beside the course to stand. Loops around the course generally take less than 10 minutes.
Yes there is a cat system. A, B, & C. I’m a C girl.
Check your local rules - I was reprimanded for taking an illegal water feed yesterday; NJ is only inside the pit zone.
There are rules???
Just kidding.
all the races i have done this season didn’t allow for a feeding station, i assume it is to keep it fair for everyone. hydrate before the race (with something other than beer, that is for after) and you’ll be fine. you won’t have time to think about drinking, and like everyone else has noted not a lot of places to drink. hopefully we’ll get some rain here on the east coast to help keep the dust down, i was coughing up dirt for a day after last weekends race. yuk!
categories, yes like road but starting at cat4. you need a USCF or NORBA license to race, you can buy a day license if you want. 'cross is nice and informal, like the old days of tri’s; very welcomed after a long tri season. have fun, try not to puke and wear your HR monitor so you can get your true max HR. 
all the races i have done this season didn’t allow for a feeding station…
No feeding is the UCI rule and it is typically followed at lower levels. Really it’s not necessary except if it is abnormally hot and officials can make exceptions for that sort of case.
all the races i have done this season didn’t allow for a feeding station…
No feeding is the UCI rule and it is typically followed at lower levels. Really it’s not necessary except if it is abnormally hot and officials can make exceptions for that sort of case.
Well, our first race was in the high 90sF.
I attempted my first CX race on Saturday in Livermore. I did not get a chance to look up you or Cathy, but I assumed you were the ladies at the front of the pack.
I thought I was in decent shape coming off a long season of tri’s, but damn, I was really spanked out there. Besides being at 110% of my max heart rate for 45 minutes (yes, my race was only 30 minutes, but it took me 45 minutes to come across the line), I realized my bike handling and cornering skills have sadly deteriorated over the last 10 years of racing triathlon.
I carried a bottle, but then my frame is big enough so that it did not get in the way. I did get a mouth full of mud the first time I tried to drink.
Anyone have any tips for what tire pressure is optimal? I had two veterans give me different views on Saturday. One said to run 80-90 PSI while the other said to run 40-50 PSI. I split the difference and went with 60 PSI. Would I have better control around the corners with lower PSI?
I did not come in last, but I could certainly see it from where I finished.
I attempted my first CX race on Saturday in Livermore. I did not get a chance to look up you or Cathy, but I assumed you were the ladies at the front of the pack.
You assumed wrong (at least in my case, Cathy did make the podium again).
It was fun though. The course was a little different this time. Previously it was a much easier climb once we came out of the sand in the cattle pens. But the stairs were the same. Oh the stairs…
Clinchers or Tubulars?
Either way, I would say 50-60 MAX for cross. I run tubulars, so I can get away with lower pressures, but I am usually around 35 psi front an rear. The trick I got from a few pros was pump up the tire and push down with both thumbs. If you can bottom the tire out, it’s too low. Pump it up so you are just above being able to bottom the tire out when pushing with two thumbs.
Sorry we didn’t meet you!! Yea, isn’t it a total lung buster?
I’ve bee emailing back and forth a lot with an experienced cross dude who comes to the same races we do and he recommends 40-50. I was running higher, but have moved to that range and I think it does help. At least that’s what I’m telling myself.
Next Sunday is the Bella Costume Cross in Santa Cruz (or somewhere down there). Going?
clm
I raced yesterday for the first time this year. Our (Georgia) course had a marked feed zone just after the pit area. In other news, I pretty much sucked, compared with what I'd hoped for. Not sure if it was the first 5k in a couple years that I did on saturday, or the year of doing steady level type tri training. In general I'd say tri training is bad for your AT. Much better coming off of a season of MTB racing.