Why Mountain Bikers Need Cyclocross

Why mountain bikers need cyclocross
Dave Carr, Jul 1997

Here is the kind of situation that used to make me wake up at night in a cold sweat.

A nightmare I'm on a mountain bike ride. I'm ascending a steep pitch, so steep it's barely rideable, when a rut forces me off the bike. Stopped cold, and faced with a long trudge to the top, I make the decision to get back on. I carefully straddle the bike, back up the right pedal, and shove off with a great lunge. As my right foot pushes for dear life, the left flails around wildly searching for the other pedal. In half a second, the right pedal bottoms out and I grind to a halt again. If I'm lucky, I will have to do this only three or four times before I finally get moving. If I'm not lucky I might topple over backwards and tumble off a cliff...
I hate losing sleep like that. Perhaps you're the same way. May I suggest some guided imagery? Picture yourself on that steep hill. Now imagine yourself taking a few quick steps, making a small jump, and like magic, you're in the saddle and riding away-on the first try. If such a dream seems impossible, then perhaps you're unaware that riders in the sport of cyclocross have already been doing it for a long time.
To many mountain bike riders, cyclocross seems like an oddity, an entertaining distraction practiced by European pros in the wintertime. Just look at how it's done. The bike looks funny: like a skinny-tire mountain bike, or a knobby road bike, or something in between. The race looks funny: for about an hour the riders go round and round a short dirt circuit littered with fences, logs, and other obstacles, and-gasp!-they jump off and carry the bike over the obstacles! You're sure this is a fringe sport, maybe something dreamed up by marketing freaks at ESPN.

'Cross and pro MTB The reality is that cyclocross has been around longer than mountain biking has. Many mountain bike pros come from a cyclocross background: Thomas Frischknecht, Don Myrah, Daryl Price, and Shari Kain, to name a few. Watching them in a cyclocross race, it's easy to appreciate the sense of effortless action displayed by these pros. Barely losing speed as they glide over barriers, they somehow smooth out a course designed to be unrideable. There's a reason they ride so well-much of their success can be understood by opening a textbook on 'cross technique.
And you should open that book this winter. Cyclocross has a lot to offer the technically challenged mountain biker, or the elite for that matter. 'Cross features ample tests of skill, without the grueling hours and bare-knuckle descents that may have scared you away from mountain bike racing. With skill-level groups from green to extreme to choose from, you may go as fast-or not as fast-as you wish in the pursuit of fitness, technique, or just plain fun. You'll develop skills which will serve you year-round, in more situations than you might have thought.

Another nightmare I'm in one of my first races as a beginning mountain biker. This course has a big log right at the bottom of a fast hill. Why do they always do that? First comes a sigh of resignation as I spy the dreaded log for the umpteenth time. I apply the brakes, losing all my precious speed. I come to a stop with one foot on the ground, and swing a leg off. Seconds pass. I hoist the bike into the air, step awkwardly over the log, and plant the bike. I'm about ready to start riding again and-wham! here comes some guy who just leaps over at the speed of light, hops back on without breaking stride, and zooms away. Darn cyclocrossers, I think. Straddling the frame again, I engage the pedal and eventually ride off.
What that 'crosser did to go so fast was employ lesson one from the textbook: the cyclocross dismount. In a nutshell, the dismount (and its companion, the re-mount) is a method to get off your bike, or on, while running. By keeping the bike moving, you can get a head-start on that steep hill, or to get across that log or rocky stream-bed without taking half a week to do it.
While the 'cross dismount can make riding more agreeable for anyone, it's in a race that the maneuver really pays off. The more I race, the more I'm convinced that mountain biking is a sport of seconds. Suppose your race has a stream crossing, a big log, and a dry gully: three dismounts per lap, four laps total. An average rider might take ten seconds to stop, get off, hop over the obstacle, then get back on and get up to speed. A 'crosser could do it in five-and continue riding at practically the same speed he arrived with. Add the time savings over the course of the race and the 'crosser is ahead by a whole minute. How far ahead was the rider who placed ahead of you in your last race? Probably less than a minute.
The 'cross dismount is just one example of the skills you'll learn in cyclocross that could help you to enjoy your riding more. The best part is that the local 'cross schedule makes it easy to get involved, with clinics in the early fall and races from the Bay Area to the Sierra Nevada from October to January.
There are many ways to get started, as Bay area resident and two-time national champion Shari Kain did when she just dusted off her mountain bike and jumped in. Look in the Cycle California! calendar for skills clinic dates; most of the local race series feature at least one session, often taught by local champions like national coach Clark Natwick. Check your bike shop for a book on 'cross; VeloNews magazine and the U.S. Cycling Federation both offer detailed manuals. Find someone in your club who has done it and ask them to show you. And most of all-rest easy: cyclocross is a blast.

Go back to the NVV Cyclocross Circuit

	Here is the kind of situation that used to make me wake up at night in a cold sweat.
A nightmare	I'm on a mountain bike ride. I'm ascending a steep pitch, so steep it's barely rideable, when a rut forces me off the bike. Stopped cold, and faced with a long trudge to the top, I make the decision to get back on. I carefully straddle the bike, back up the right pedal, and shove off with a great lunge. As my right foot pushes for dear life, the left flails around wildly searching for the other pedal. In half a second, the right pedal bottoms out and I grind to a halt again. If I'm lucky, I will have to do this only three or four times before I finally get moving. If I'm not lucky I might topple over backwards and tumble off a cliff... I hate losing sleep like that. Perhaps you're the same way. May I suggest some guided imagery? Picture yourself on that steep hill. Now imagine yourself taking a few quick steps, making a small jump, and like magic, you're in the saddle and riding away-on the first try. If such a dream seems impossible, then perhaps you're unaware that riders in the sport of cyclocross have already been doing it for a long time. To many mountain bike riders, cyclocross seems like an oddity, an entertaining distraction practiced by European pros in the wintertime. Just look at how it's done. The bike looks funny: like a skinny-tire mountain bike, or a knobby road bike, or something in between. The race looks funny: for about an hour the riders go round and round a short dirt circuit littered with fences, logs, and other obstacles, and-gasp!-they jump off and carry the bike over the obstacles! You're sure this is a fringe sport, maybe something dreamed up by marketing freaks at ESPN.
'Cross and pro MTB	The reality is that cyclocross has been around longer than mountain biking has. Many mountain bike pros come from a cyclocross background: Thomas Frischknecht, Don Myrah, Daryl Price, and Shari Kain, to name a few. Watching them in a cyclocross race, it's easy to appreciate the sense of effortless action displayed by these pros. Barely losing speed as they glide over barriers, they somehow smooth out a course designed to be unrideable. There's a reason they ride so well-much of their success can be understood by opening a textbook on 'cross technique. And you should open that book this winter. Cyclocross has a lot to offer the technically challenged mountain biker, or the elite for that matter. 'Cross features ample tests of skill, without the grueling hours and bare-knuckle descents that may have scared you away from mountain bike racing. With skill-level groups from green to extreme to choose from, you may go as fast-or not as fast-as you wish in the pursuit of fitness, technique, or just plain fun. You'll develop skills which will serve you year-round, in more situations than you might have thought.
Another nightmare	I'm in one of my first races as a beginning mountain biker. This course has a big log right at the bottom of a fast hill. Why do they always do that? First comes a sigh of resignation as I spy the dreaded log for the umpteenth time. I apply the brakes, losing all my precious speed. I come to a stop with one foot on the ground, and swing a leg off. Seconds pass. I hoist the bike into the air, step awkwardly over the log, and plant the bike. I'm about ready to start riding again and-wham! here comes some guy who just leaps over at the speed of light, hops back on without breaking stride, and zooms away. Darn cyclocrossers, I think. Straddling the frame again, I engage the pedal and eventually ride off. What that 'crosser did to go so fast was employ lesson one from the textbook: the cyclocross dismount. In a nutshell, the dismount (and its companion, the re-mount) is a method to get off your bike, or on, while running. By keeping the bike moving, you can get a head-start on that steep hill, or to get across that log or rocky stream-bed without taking half a week to do it. While the 'cross dismount can make riding more agreeable for anyone, it's in a race that the maneuver really pays off. The more I race, the more I'm convinced that mountain biking is a sport of seconds. Suppose your race has a stream crossing, a big log, and a dry gully: three dismounts per lap, four laps total. An average rider might take ten seconds to stop, get off, hop over the obstacle, then get back on and get up to speed. A 'crosser could do it in five-and continue riding at practically the same speed he arrived with. Add the time savings over the course of the race and the 'crosser is ahead by a whole minute. How far ahead was the rider who placed ahead of you in your last race? Probably less than a minute. The 'cross dismount is just one example of the skills you'll learn in cyclocross that could help you to enjoy your riding more. The best part is that the local 'cross schedule makes it easy to get involved, with clinics in the early fall and races from the Bay Area to the Sierra Nevada from October to January. There are many ways to get started, as Bay area resident and two-time national champion Shari Kain did when she just dusted off her mountain bike and jumped in. Look in the Cycle California! calendar for skills clinic dates; most of the local race series feature at least one session, often taught by local champions like national coach Clark Natwick. Check your bike shop for a book on 'cross; VeloNews magazine and the U.S. Cycling Federation both offer detailed manuals. Find someone in your club who has done it and ask them to show you. And most of all-rest easy: cyclocross is a blast.