So, a friend of my wife’s invited me to join a local cyclocross team this fall, and it sounded like so much fun that I decided to do it. Have always wanted to give CX a go, and this group sounds like a lot of fun. The team is The Optimists, sponsored by Spoken Bicycles in Middletown, Ohio. It’s a great little shop that serves beer! I’ll be racing in the Ohio Valley Cyclocross series this fall, with the first race on Sept 9. Got a completely entry level machine from Spoken, and spent some time on Wednesday practicing mounts and dismounts, which look easy but definitely require some practice.
Get ready to race with your heart rate at the redline for the full length of the race!
Yup! Been shortening my Zwift sessions and trying to go close to redline for 30-35 minutes, along with some big efforts thrown in here and there. Glad the Cat 5 races are only 30 minutes!
Welcome to the tribe. It’s the absolute best. The racing, the racers, the skills, the fitness…everything. Love posts like this. Hope you enjoy it as much as I have. A good post on CX specific training buried somewhere here on ST if you get hooked! Get that bike set up tubeless if it’s not already!
Welcome to the tribe. It’s the absolute best. The racing, the racers, the skills, the fitness…everything. Love posts like this. Hope you enjoy it as much as I have. A good post on CX specific training buried somewhere here on ST if you get hooked! Get that bike set up tubeless if it’s not already!
I’d love to go tubeless but my deal with the Ministry of Finance (aka my wife) was that all I needed was the bike. Took my SPD pedals off my ancient mountain bike and using 20 year old mountain bike shoes!
With any luck, it may cost less than you think. Research if your tires and wheels are tubeless ready. TLR is the magic phrase, but other brands have different designators.
If they are TLR, you only need sealant (Stans is ~$20), valve stems (~$15), gorilla tape. Seating the bead with a normal pump may take some time, but if you have access to a compressor, you are set.
(BTW, some tires may not be explicitly TLR, but may still do just fine tubeless. It’d be something to test out. If your wheels are not TLR, don’t even bother!)
So, a friend of my wife’s invited me to join a local cyclocross team this fall, and it sounded like so much fun that I decided to do it. Have always wanted to give CX a go, and this group sounds like a lot of fun. The team is The Optimists, sponsored by Spoken Bicycles in Middletown, Ohio. It’s a great little shop that serves beer! I’ll be racing in the Ohio Valley Cyclocross series this fall, with the first race on Sept 9. Got a completely entry level machine from Spoken, and spent some time on Wednesday practicing mounts and dismounts, which look easy but definitely require some practice.
Welcome to the OVCX! This area is a hotbed for cross, you’re going to love it. Don’t forget the other two series in our area, Cap City out of Columbus and Indy Cross over in Indianapolis. If you want a little bit of a tune up (and some cross points) before the OVCX starts, check out the Lady Gnar race east of you. The Lionhearts will also have a race the week before on the 1st over in Mason. I also highly recommend coming out to the Kings CX TT on Wednesday nights if you can hack it or find some other ‘hot laps’ type of group ride. That’ll give you some good experience before we get going in full earnest.
Don’t miss out on the Red Kite weekend, Cap City on Saturday and OVCX on Sunday. . . beach riding, lots of sand. . . lots of fun!
This will be my 4th year at CX and I’d race every weekend if there were races! Its like running a 10K at your 5K pace : ) And this year I’m going all in and running tubulars! Good luck, hope you love it like the rest of us!
Welcome to the tribe. It’s the absolute best. The racing, the racers, the skills, the fitness…everything. Love posts like this. Hope you enjoy it as much as I have. A good post on CX specific training buried somewhere here on ST if you get hooked! Get that bike set up tubeless if it’s not already!
I’d love to go tubeless but my deal with the Ministry of Finance (aka my wife) was that all I needed was the bike. Took my SPD pedals off my ancient mountain bike and using 20 year old mountain bike shoes!
She won’t notice! Those tires are tubeless compatible. Just take it back and ask them to convert. Maybe 50 bucks?
Canyon’s cyclocross bikes are on sale - I just got one for my wife and I and there is a weekly cyclocross series in town I live in in Alaska. Looks fun. New bike is fantastic to ride (and super cool in ‘lightning yellow’) - actually think it will be good training bike for triathlon too as it is set up pretty aggressively and the roads here are better ridden on big cyclocross tires.
Yeah, i was really hoping to get to several of the King’s CX TT events before the season opener on 9 Sept, but I don’t think I’m going to be able to do any except the one on the 5th. Is the Kings course open any other times? I’d love to just go there and ride.
Yeah, i was really hoping to get to several of the King’s CX TT events before the season opener on 9 Sept, but I don’t think I’m going to be able to do any except the one on the 5th. Is the Kings course open any other times? I’d love to just go there and ride.
Yes it’s open whenever you want. It’s in decent shape even with all the rain though I did get a bit muddy today.
Cyclocross is hella fun. Make sure to train your legs in that zone 4-5 as well as training your liver for copious alcohol consumption (you know, to get the full cyclocross treatment)
