Category: Cross

The end of the beginning (CX)

So, I’ve wrapped up my first ever cyclocross season! A season I didn’t plan to have until about a week before it started (and, even then, I only thought I’d be doing a handful of races). Warning, this post looks long (and it kinda is) but that’s mostly because of all the pictures – and because I wanted to sum up my season somewhere so I wouldn’t forget!

After starting in Cat 4, I had a forced cat up to Cat 3 mid-season. This meant that I’d race cat 3 for the last four races in CYCLO X series … Continue reading

Falling, sliding, crashing, and winning

Before the Cyclo X series started I headed out for another Wednesday afternoon race in the Back 2 Basics series. This time I entered in the Women’s B field, and found myself starting with about 17 women. It had been windy and rainy during the pre-ride but by the race conditions were pretty great.

Awkwardly trying to hop a barrier at B2B

I managed to finish 6th out of 17 women which I was really happy with! The course had a lot of single track and tight turns which equaled much needed practice for me. The barriers went okay too, … Continue reading

Slip sliding into cross with both feet!

For the past couple years I’ve heard of this sub-sport of cycling called cyclocross. People always describe it as a cross between mountain biking, road biking, and steeplechase, so that’s how I described it too. That is, until recently when someone finally asked me exactly what is steeplechase… to which I mumbled something about horses and barriers and then admitted I wasn’t exactly sure and stopped using that reference.

So what is cyclocross (usually just called “cross” or “CX”)? I’d say it’s a totally ridiculous, fun, and exhausting 25-60min race where you ride your bike as fast as you can … Continue reading