Going the Distance
Ahh, yes. It's finally October, when the thoughts of young men turn to that most manly and wonderful of pursuits, cyclocross. This will be my 6th season racing cyclocross in Northern California. Each year I like it a little more. I no longer fear the late summer MTB burnout. As I start to get slower I just count the weeks until real bike racing starts. I'm getting to the point where I use MTB race season just to stay in shape from February until October. Why am I such a fanatic about cyclocross? I'm glad you asked.
A big part of the reason I don't race on the road anymore is that most roadies are such dicks. There are too many cat III's and IV's who think they're really bad dudes because they placed in some cheesy local crit. If only they knew how much they sucked, perhaps they'd chill and just enjoy the friendly competition. Crossers have much less of this attitude, less even than mountain bikers. At most cross races we don't really have a lot of different categories. Everyone who's serious races A's and the beginners and sissies and really fat, slow guys race B's. There's no question of developing an attitude because every week you can get stomped into the ground by Justin, Damon, and Larry. Just on the off chance that you developed one anyway, every now and then someone who can really ride visits the surf city series. Last year it was Bart Brentjens. Before that it was Thomas Frischknecht, Don Myrah, Dave Wiens, Darryl Price and other big-time international stars. Racing with those guys is a pretty good cure-all for conceit.
It may be that in other parts of the country there's more of a roadie influence in the cross scene. I know the clowns in Seattle are really scared of racing against people on mountain bikes (even though mtb's are slower on anything even resembling a decent cross course). Their coffee sucks too. Maybe the crappy weather up there just makes people hard to get along with. At any rate, NorCal has no such problems. If you come to a cross race, you'll have a good time. I invited my friend Steve to the last dfl race. He had never heard of cross, but it sounded like fun, so he showed up with his brother. You should have seen their grins after the race. They were so stoked! They couldn't believe that there were people who get up and mow their lawns on the weekend instead of crossing. I think they're hooked now.
Obviously that's a lie. What I really mean is that cross takes less time than mtb or road racing (real road racing, not sissy, girlie-man crits). Instead of being prepared to race between 2 and 4 hrs, you only have to go for 60 minutes, or even less if you're sufficiently fat, old or female. When the days get shorter and you can't get in a long ride, don't panic, just ride an hour or so, do one good speed workout during the week, race on weekends, and get fast. Use the extra time to get to know your family, watch football, guzzle beer or visit an s & m club.
Did you ever bring your wife/parents/kids/boyfriend whatever to a mountain bike race? Pretty freakin' dull, eh? Not so with cross. On most courses there are plenty of vantage points where you can see almost all the action. You can watch the race develop and cheer for your favorites. Then, just about the time you're thinking about getting bored, the race ends and you can go lift a brew with your buddies who raced. If you're a sissy, fatass, chick, or really old guy, you can do your race first, then change and get a drink and settle down to watch the big hammers go at it in the A's class. Cross is one of the only forms of cycling that attracts non-participants.
Every year, just about the time I'm sick of riding my mtb, cross season comes along. All through October, November and December I pretty much just commute to work and I race, so I never really have to find motivation to train. When January comes along, all I have to do is start putting in some long miles, and by March I'm fit. I personally find it almost impossible to keep my fitness through the fall without cross. It's just enough different from mountain biking that it feels totally refreshing, but it's enough the same that I can seamlessly slide from one to the other as the seasons change.
Naturally this final point is probably the most important one for me. I do ok on my mountain bike. Every now and then no one fast shows up and I get a podium spot in the Vet class, but I'm pretty much in the middle of the pack. In cross I regularly beat guys I could never, ever touch on a mountain bike. Cross rewards smoothness and good technique more than any other type of bike racing I've done. If you spend the time to learn how to dismount and remount quickly and efficiently, and to study the course during warm-up to find the fastest and most efficient lines, you can make up lots of time on guys who are just fit. I've practiced (and raced) an awful lot in order to be able to dismount at the highest possible speed and get back into my pedals as quickly as possible after remounting. Little things can make a big difference.