The Cyclo-Cross (CX for short) season is well and truly underway. If you’re new to the sport, let us fill you in about it! You might be asking yourself, what is Cyclo-cross?
The short answer:
A dutch road cyclist's favourite alternative winter sport.
The long answer:
A thrill filled, fast pace autumn/winter sport that puts all your bike handling skills to use. Cyclo-cross races are designed to push the riders to their limits. The race course is filled with varying obstacles such as sharp turns, steep banks, hurdles and tree roots. Being capable of quick dismounts between these sections may just determine the winner of the race.
From grass to gravel or mud, the 1-3 km circuits quickly turn into an assault course for bikes. With races lasting 30 to 60 mins, everything is up for grabs making the races unpredictable as the riders slowly fade away.
CX was originally invented in the 20th century by Tour De France cyclists to keep in shape during the off-season. Since then, the sport has expanded its popularity, bringing jaw-dropping action on both domestic and international stages.
While most of the international races are predominantly held in Belgium, the rise in the sports popularity sees the 2022-2023 UCI World Cup Series visiting America, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Czech Republic, France and even Ireland
So now you know a little bit more about the sport, but what about the gear that the riders use? Let’s start with the bike
The Bike
While it’s not too far from a traditional road bike or gravel bike, cyclo-cross bikes sport a unique design. Improving the handling means the geometry of the bike will change. Certain models will sport a shorter reach, allowing navigation through the course’s tight corners that bit easier.
Hopping over hurdles and taking on steep banks is where traditional bikes may arrive at a problem. Cyclo-cross bikes come with raised bottom brackets that help provide clearance. This feature also benefits the conditions that most of these races take place in. Additional clearance to help any muds or debris avoid making contact with the frame/tires is highly welcomed by the riders.
Sporting low gear ratios and knobby tires doesn’t just look cool, it also provides additional grip throughout the technical parts of the course. Most cyclo-cross setups will run tubeless tires to help bring the tire pressure to 15psi down for extra grip during wet races. While normal conditions will opt for 30 psi pressure still much lower than traditional road bike tire pressures.
Bike fit advocates will scoff at some unconventional tactics, such as lowering the seatpost down by 5 to 7 mms. Such tactics however, are applied to garner quicker dismounts around the tricky circuits.
From a more techy view cyclo-cross bikes will feature lower gear ratios that help find a bite when the mud comes out to play. A current trend witnessed in CX is the conversion of your front chain ring from a 2x to a 1x. This seems to keep things cleaner and avoids your chain from getting stuck at the front.
Groupsets and wheelsets are all dependent on personal choice as most of the bikes you will see focus on building the bike from a frameset up. Keeping the weight down is probably your best choice however, as the circuits will tire you out quickly.
So what do the riders wear?
The Gear
Talking about the bits worn at CX races, we have yet to see a rider wear road shoes to one of these races. Most of the gear worn at CX races doesn’t stray too far from the Mountain bike XC (Cross-Country) discipline that being Road jerseys, bib-shorts and fingerless gloves. As for pedal and shoe choices, MTB shoes are your best bet.
Riders may opt for flat pedals as opposed to clip-in MTB pedals. Being clipped in does provide more control over the technical sections of the track. Two sided clip-in pedals will help you keep the gunk and mud out of your clips as you dismount and mount the bike over and over.
