Cyclocross Season Starts

[frankb]

Best of luck to David C and F in the cyclocross this weekend.

[niallomuiri]

Blaze a trail, boys..... 795 Pioneers .....

[BShaugh]

Best of luck lads! I'll deal with those belgians DF...

[Patsymc]

How did it go lads ?

[DavidF]

Thanks lads.

Frank by the time you put up that post last night the first race of the year was over!

This was a one-off race run by the organisers of the Supercross Cup, which I raced last year. It was in conjunction with Rathfarnham Village festival and bound to be good craic. After all the solo trips last year I was delighted to have convinced DC to give it a go this year...

What can I say...it was deadly as usual! Start was a sprint down the main street of Rathfarnham around onto the main rd, down a side lane onto a ramp, down a steep bank then into a wood with some sketchy singletrack (including a drop some mtb'ers would baulk at ), then the obligatory tight turny bits, hurdles and back up then steep bank. Then repeat 6 times. The aerial shot below gives an idea.

hats off to the organisers, great idea, great venue, LOADS of spectators, very family friendly. I was telling DC all last year how he'd love this cyclocross lark and lo and behold he declared to me afterwards that it was the best racing buzz he's had since his first mtb race.

So there ya go. Anyone vaguely interested that can get their hands on a cx bike i'd strongly encourage them. Races are intenese but short, always in family friendly places. If you're in the B race like me you get to stay around and watch the good lads racing. €20 quid entry. The Supercross Cup will probably start around the end of September with a race per month through to January. Go to facebook and 'like' Fixx Supercross Cup

Patsy, I bet some of those Barrow Wheelers have a cx bike you could borrow

As for the results, a familiar look, Mr Stumpy Legs got the better of me again, but I'm off to the golflinks for a months training!

http://www.elitetiming.co.uk/Results/Ra ... esults.pdf
http://www.elitetiming.co.uk/Results/Ra ... esults.pdf

RathCX.jpg (63.02 KiB) Viewed 8955 times

[Patsymc]

Well done lads , might see if I can bum a bike for one of these sometime David.

[DavidF]

here's a nice video of the race, scroll to 3:30 to see me and DC in action

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylbSlci ... e=youtu.be

[DavidC]

DF is right. CX is deadly.
I think it could be a great way to get the MTB and Tri/Roadie lads battling it out on the same stage!
Sort yourselves out with cx bikes lads, you won't regret it. Stay fit during the winter, avoid turbo hell (except for the odd pervert who enjoys it), and improve your bike handling skills. Everyone's a winner.
Still buzzin'

[frankb]

Well done boys - DF even jumped the hurdles to the beat of the banjo!

Links to a decent cyclocross bike please!

[DavidF]

Ok there seems to be some interest in this so here's cyclocross 101.

A cyclocross bike is similar to a road bike, except:
Much greater clearance around frame and fork to accomodate larger tyres (and muck )
Cantilever (crap) or disc (super) brakes
Usually a little shorter than road bikes resulting in a more upright riding position
A little higher bottom bracket
Most cx bikes are also equipped to take mudguards and pannier racks as they are a popular choice for touring

Since 2-3 years ago disc brakes started appearing on cross bikes. The traditional brakes are cantilever - used because they offer better clearance than usual road brakes. So most second hand bikes will have canti brakes. They're ok, but don;t expect to stop quick!

Regarding brakes, beware if you are buying a cross bike as a do-it-all bike - you cannot ride disc brake equipped bikes in open road races eg A4, A3 etc.. Not sure about local leagues. Sportives are ok as far as I know.

Myself and DC recently bought the same bikes (different colour ) In my view, they are by far the best value cx bikes out there. €1200 for a super specced bike
http://www.rosebikes.com/bike/rose-pro- ... aid:692275
bear in mind these bikes have a 5 week build time

This time last year I built up my own cross bike as I didn;t want to spend a pile of money in case I didn;t like it. Details are below of this build. So if i was a new entrant now I would either a) buy a new bike with disc brakes or b) buy or build a second hand canti brake equipped bike. Personally I wouldn;t buy a new bike with canti brakes. Depends on your budget and whether you'll get the use from it.

other decent new bikes:
From Merlin - nice specced bike: http://www.merlincycles.com/drossiger-c ... 62352.html
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/verenti-substan ... sora-2014/ - decent yoke but with much lower spec than Rose bike above and ***steel frame***
Canyon - very nice specced bike similar to the Rose - https://www.canyon.com/_en/roadbikes/bike.html?b=3201

Second hand, expect to see lots of Specialized Tricross and Giant TCX. These are commonly used as 'commuter'bikes
Like this; http://www.donedeal.ie/bicycles-for-sal ... le/7184090
heres a nice enough Ridley; http://www.donedeal.ie/bicycles-for-sal ... ke/7115495

The other option is to build. Not as difficult as it seems. I built a bike last year for about €600 (I had cranks and rear derailleur) and sold it at the beginning of the summer for €550
I bought this frameset: http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Graham-Weigh-48c ... 1c437f86b0
A set of Shimano r500 wheels - less than €100
Second hand shifters - about €80
etc..etc..
You could probably do it for about €700-€750 - cheaper if you have some bits lying around. For eg you could use 9spd mtb derailleur/crank etc..

If anyone is interested in this let me know and I will help all I can

In the meantime feel free to have a go on myself of DC's bike. We'll be in the golflinks regularly so come and have a go!