Viewing 28 posts - 1 through 28 (of 28 total)
  • Advice on CX please.
  • fervouredimage
    Free Member

    My wife, who quite rightly gets bored of spending weekends just watching me race DH and gravity enduro has decided she would like to do some competitive cycling herself. She’s a proficient mountain biker, reasonably fit but has never competed in any form of cycling event. After having some time to consider what she’d like to do she has decided that CX pretty much ticks all of the boxes for what she wants out of the competitive element of cycling. I’m likewise keen to get involved and support where I can.

    Neither of us know a great deal about the sport so I said I would do some research and field some opinions from those that do it. So, with that in mind, can fellow CXers offer some info on what to expect from a typical CX race? What she should be aiming towards in terms of fitness and also what bike for budget of a £1000 would be suitable? (Is that budget enough?) and generally what we will need to get through a weekend of racing?

    jonba
    Free Member

    Just turn up on a mtb to one and have a go. Best way to get an idea. Check but they normally let you ride mtbs. You’ll be slower but yo’ll get the idea before spending £1000s on bikes.

    They are fast, very fast at the front. But there is racing at all levels and due to it being laps you don’t get droped or left behind. There will be a battle going on for 50th and for 1st position.

    Fitness, anywhere from where you are now up to pro tour level will be fine. At ours we occasionally have and U23 GB rider – he normally laps me and I’ll be in the top 10.

    loads of bikes in that budget as you are under the c2w limit. Go look at some. Discs are nice as are guard mounts and bottle cage mounts if you are going to not just race on them.

    Focus bikes are nice, I have a kinesis but they are £££ planet x have a good selection.

    plus-one
    Full Member

    Before you commit to new bikes if you have a mtb each have a go on those first … Cx is great fun and no matter whether your up the front or tail end Charlie you’ll always have someone to chase/race.. It’s very very high intensity but very very good fun 🙂

    Bikes and legs are all you need

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    crazy-legs
    Full Member

    Have a look on the British Cycling website for CX events:
    http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/cyclocross

    In terms of bikes, the 2014 Boardman range has just been released and includes a couple of great CX bikes:
    http://road.cc/content/news/95608-boardman-launch-2014-performance-range
    Road.cc also did a round-up of CX bikes from the recent EuroBike show:
    http://road.cc/content/news/94179-cross-great-divide-%E2%80%93-2014-cyclo-cross-round

    Don’t worry about the people there with 2 bikes and 4 sets of wheels – she can ride most CX races on a mountain bike if it’s all she’s got at the moment. It’s very open and welcoming and the rules are very simple:
    try and catch the person in front
    try and drop the person behind

    This applies whether you’re in 2nd place or 42nd. 🙂

    eddie11
    Free Member

    does she not fancy enduros herself?

    as for cross id say yes budget is enough. don’t think of it like a ‘weekend of racing’ though or you might be disappointed. its more ‘a few hours on a sunday you can fit round the other stuff in your life’. at most its an hours sign on and warm up, hours* race, half an hour cool down/faff/pack up.

    british cycling website should have the links to the local league in your area.

    I’ve not really sold it there have I? its good fun but i wouldn’t want it to be the only riding i did.

    *some leagues lump the women in with juniors and vets so she could only be doing 45-50 mins.

    pixelmix
    Free Member

    I started off on a singlespeed MTB with 26″ CX tyres on it – that’ll get you going for the first year.

    I agree with all of the above – good fun as it is close racing so even in the midfield you have people to chase down / chasing you.

    Going forward, £1,000 will get you a decent CX bike. 2014 Giants and Raleigh are good specs for the money. I love my Kinesis Pro6 if you decide to stretch the budget a bit. I probably spent £1,500 on the original build with mostly new bits, and a couple of second hand finishing parts.

    If you have some 29er wheels in the garage, those could tide you over for a while to allow you to build a disc CX bike more cheaply.

    warton
    Free Member

    Start off on an MTB, a lad I know did his first on an Orange 5 last week 🙂

    CX racing is brilliant. You’ll always end up in a bit of a battle with someone, the courses are demanding, you start off full gas, realize your HR is at 90%, and then you stay like that for the whole hour.

    Just turn up and give it a go, best move I ever made on a bike. looking to build a dream machine over next summer, ready for next season….

    stever
    Free Member

    Look at the calendar, turn up, have a go. I’d second the advice above, don’t overthink it for now. You’ll get a fine bike for £1000 if that’s what you want to do. Enjoy!

    MikeWW
    Free Member

    I am sure she will love it.
    I would buy a CX bike right from the start. Yes you can do it on an MTB but its not as much fun and will generally be slower.
    Sounds like she is reasonably fit so should be fine but worth doing some high intensity interval work.
    I’d look for a 2nd hand bike first-look on the web site of the league in your area-where are you? You should be able to get something ready to race for half your budget.

    lemonysam
    Free Member

    The last event I did, someone did it on a Dahon Folder. I was mightily impressed.

    trickydisco
    Free Member

    I love cross!

    I got coaxed into it by Thurman Merman. Turned up on a freezing cold day in ashton court, bristol about 3 years ago. Snow on the ground. Did it on my mountain bike and found i could overtake guys into the singletrack. Hurt like hell but i loved it. Like others have said there’s always someone to race. Always battles

    Last year i bought a cheap frame off ebay (£80) and built up a cross bike. Bought some cheap tubs 2nd hand and gunna try and do the winter league.

    aP
    Free Member

    Look on the BC website and turn up to one that’s local and just give it a go.
    Its still relatively welcoming.
    What region are you? If London/ SE or Central league I and herself will be racing in both leagues and commissairing as well.

    fervouredimage
    Free Member

    Thanks all. Great info. I think her main reason for picking CX is her over bearing lack of confidence so I think she likes the idea that she can hide in the pack unlike DH for example whereby all eyes are on you for your run. But she also wants to build her self confidence so improving her results each time she competes can only be a good thing.

    Frankly I’d be more inclined to opt for the getting a CX bike from the start. Nothing lost if she doesn’t like it. It will be a good tool for our local bridleways.

    Is the women’s class generally well supported? We’d be midlands/East Midlands although more than happy to travel far and wide to do some more exciting courses and soak in some countryside elsewhere. From what I have seen so far it seems a very accessible sport, welcoming of everyone which is nice and quite easy to get into. I assume that as you improve and get into it you can start entering bigger national CX events?

    Might drive to the meeting in Milton Keynes tomorrow and see what it’s all about.

    fervouredimage
    Free Member

    Incidentally looking at the new boardman CX bikes. They look pretty good, coming from a standpoint of no knowledge on the subject at all.

    How does that team model for 899 quid stack up?

    warton
    Free Member

    you tend to find women are in with the vets and Juniors.

    fervouredimage
    Free Member

    you tend to find women are in with the vets and Juniors.

    I don’t think she will mind that. The more in the field the more to mix in with. I’m starting to like the sound of this CX lark myself.

    MikeWW
    Free Member

    I race mainly West Mids web site here WMCCL
    She would be racing with Over 50’s and Juniors. There were 86 that finished the last race
    East Mids (Notts and Derby) also have a good league. Web site here NDCXLand they have really strong fields as well

    aP
    Free Member

    West Mids league has always been good, I used to race in it in 93/94/95 when I was in Black Country Wheelers. I can still fit in the jersey too!
    If its the MK Bowl race just be warned it has a reputation for killing rear mechs…

    LS
    Free Member

    If you come to NDCXL events the women are in the same race as the Vets but set off a short time after the V50s. The women’s fields get bigger year on year, 30+ is commonplace now so she’ll always have someone to race against, and that’s before she starts catching the vets 😀

    Edit – any bike welcome, just no bar ends if it’s an MTB.

    slowjo
    Free Member

    I fancied dipping my toes into CX again, after a huge amount of time off. It seems I have less than no chance of getting a ride so have packed in the idea, at least for this season.

    It seems that Eastern Region races are massively over subscribed with riders being regularly turned away. A mate of mine said that the last one he did had 80 riders sent home disappointed.

    warton
    Free Member

    A mate of mine said that the last one he did had 80 riders sent home disappointed.

    that is crazy. Wait a couple of weeks, the wind rain and cold will soon thin the fields down a bit

    LS
    Free Member

    Heard about that at Eastern league, bit of a bugger for those turned away and don’t know the situation exactly but there is a limit to what venues/judges/organisers can cope with.

    NDCXL events can be pre-entered online and we’ve never had to turn anyone away yet, despite fields totalling up to 500 over the course of the day.

    fervouredimage
    Free Member

    Well, quick update. Wife and I went to take a peek at the meeting at Milton Keynes Bowl on Saturday. I was expecting to be not all that enthralled but obviously am keen for my wife to get into it. Anyway, turns out we both really enjoyed it and now both want to give it a shot.

    So, in terms of bike choice would you generally go for a bike that is a little on the smaller size in relation to typical road bike size choice. Being 6’3 I generally go for big and indeed my road bike is a 59 I think. But even though it’s great for me getting the power down on road I can’t help but think I’d feel a bit ‘perched’ and find it a bit cumbersome if I took a frame that size off road.

    eddie11
    Free Member

    I think the old advice used to be a bit shorter in the top tube but still with a decent sized seat tube carry the frame but less and less courses seem to include carries ( unless that’s just our league?)

    As you probably saw today you still need to pedal effciently so don’t go too far off your road bike size.

    If you are worried about being on top of the bike the American brands are shifting to lower bottom brackets and slacker head angles. Euro brands tend to be higher and steeper.

    rp16v
    Free Member

    did my first cx race last week, flopd it hard but still loved every bit of it i built my tricross for about 500 all in will be back at it again soon no doubt against trickydisco lol

    Dales_rider
    Free Member

    Did my first one today a mechanical had me out for a couple of laps [Thank God] Its all on for 45 to 60 minutes I was k nacked, legs stung tobits by nettles and scratch by brambles but hugely enjoyed the day 🙂

    Built the bike myself from a new frame off Ebay.

    Today I wish I’d had my full suss, the techy bits would have suited it better.

    tobsters
    Free Member

    Just try it! I had my first bash at a race today in the Wessex series. It was really good fun, the atmosphere was friendly, and I didn’t come last. I was in the seniors and my only criticism was that there were an awful lot of really fast guys, and only about four of us ‘normal’ riders. It would have been nicer to have a few more average fitness riders to battle with as won’t be getting much fitter. I was also the only one in the seniors in baggy shorts which meant I was initially quite intimidated by all the lycra on show and almost went home. I can’t wait for the next one though, so recommend that you just turn up and give it a go too.

    oldgit
    Free Member

    OP there was a lady at the Bowl who was going to give her number back after a practice lap just because she was worried she’d hold people up. I told her she’d be fine, not to worry as folk are pretty polite. AFAIK she had a good time and wasn’t the last lady.

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