cyclocross in vancouver
It's that time of year already. As my weblog celebrates it's first birthday, I find myself posting about (guess what) cycling. In particular, the cyclocross scene in Vancouver.
After buying a Kona Jake the Snake cyclocross bike last year as a replacement for my aging Marinonni winter bike, I decided to try out a few races. It was fun, I got muddy, it was a great way to pass the fall days, and I was hooked. This year, I decided to use cyclocross to reclaim my cycling both mentally and physically after one of the worst summers of my life. My road crash in May took a lot out of me and I struggled with my fitness and my attitude towards being on a bike. Every little crack in the road made me break out in a cold sweat for about the first month back on the road.
So what better way than to hit the dirt (quite literally) and do some cyclocross. Get used to riding at speed through trails, over big rocks, in mud -- an easy way to get rid of any irrational fears of crashing. And crashing itself always helps matters, as I did last weekend, biffing it prior to a barricade at Bayside's Crescent Park course (see photo above). And now that I've got a good rivalry going with a fellow-club member, it makes it even that much more fun.
Here in Vancouver, people like Dave Cressman of Team Wedgewood and Basse Clement of Adobe/Solo and our very own Corky, Stephen Cork of Escape Velocity have been all over cyclocross for a long time. Their enthusiasm, plus our proximity to the cyclocross mecca's of Seattle and Portland are starting to create a bit of a movement here. The first ever BC Cup Cyclocross event is being run this year, with events both in the Lower Mainland as well as on the Island.
For those not in the know, just what the hell is cyclocross anyways? I recently saw it described as "an excuse for a bunch of skinny guys to ride road bikes around in circles in the mud" -- as good a description as any. Courses are typically 2km to 3km long, run as a circuit, last about 1 hour, have sections where the rider has to get off the bike and jump/hurdle over barricades, and even throw their bike over their shoulder and "run-up" a hill. And you're flat-out the whole time. It's an hour of "go as hard as you can" type riding.
The French created this sport, the 1950's were the first time a World Championships were held, it's still very popular in Europe (where they ride in insane snowy conditions in Belgium), is a great spectator sport, and keeps you fit between September and January (or late November, depending on when your cross season ends).
With the large amount of mountain bikers here locally in Vancouver, the competition is pretty stiff. Guys I've raced against on the road and done well against who have a mountain bike background come into their own on these courses. They generally clean up with their technical skills, which include things like turning, riding through mud, riding on trails, hopping over rocks/roots/logs or whathaveyou.
Most of the BC Cup events to date have been quite "mountain bikey" -- traditional cross races run through grass fields, over sandtraps, up muddy run-ups, and over strategically placed barricades are replaced with singletrack trails through local parks.
This weekend marks the first anniversary of my cross bike, as we descend upon Vanier Park courtesy of Krebs Cycle Club, home to Bard on the Beach during the summer months, to ride through the wooded area under the Burrard Bridge and out onto the grass behind the Planetarium. Should be lots of fun. Saturday the action starts at 9:00 AM for those looking for an enjoyable and off-the-beaten-path (pardon the pun) recreational spectating opportunity.
Photo: Greg Descantes
Interested in riding Cross? Check out the Cycling BC website or the newly formed BC Cross Yahoo Group.
Update [19/10/2005]: Ryan has posted that a Learn to Cross clinic starts at 8:00 AM on Saturday at Vanier and Mountain Bikes are okay to ride. He's also got a great little video (4MB, Quicktime) of the A Group men doing dismounts and barricade jumping. Pictures of clearing the barricades (or what happens when you miss) don't quite give you the sense of speed at which this happens. Ryan's video certainly does. The goal is to be as smooth as possible...
After buying a Kona Jake the Snake cyclocross bike last year as a replacement for my aging Marinonni winter bike, I decided to try out a few races. It was fun, I got muddy, it was a great way to pass the fall days, and I was hooked. This year, I decided to use cyclocross to reclaim my cycling both mentally and physically after one of the worst summers of my life. My road crash in May took a lot out of me and I struggled with my fitness and my attitude towards being on a bike. Every little crack in the road made me break out in a cold sweat for about the first month back on the road.
So what better way than to hit the dirt (quite literally) and do some cyclocross. Get used to riding at speed through trails, over big rocks, in mud -- an easy way to get rid of any irrational fears of crashing. And crashing itself always helps matters, as I did last weekend, biffing it prior to a barricade at Bayside's Crescent Park course (see photo above). And now that I've got a good rivalry going with a fellow-club member, it makes it even that much more fun.
Here in Vancouver, people like Dave Cressman of Team Wedgewood and Basse Clement of Adobe/Solo and our very own Corky, Stephen Cork of Escape Velocity have been all over cyclocross for a long time. Their enthusiasm, plus our proximity to the cyclocross mecca's of Seattle and Portland are starting to create a bit of a movement here. The first ever BC Cup Cyclocross event is being run this year, with events both in the Lower Mainland as well as on the Island.
For those not in the know, just what the hell is cyclocross anyways? I recently saw it described as "an excuse for a bunch of skinny guys to ride road bikes around in circles in the mud" -- as good a description as any. Courses are typically 2km to 3km long, run as a circuit, last about 1 hour, have sections where the rider has to get off the bike and jump/hurdle over barricades, and even throw their bike over their shoulder and "run-up" a hill. And you're flat-out the whole time. It's an hour of "go as hard as you can" type riding.
The French created this sport, the 1950's were the first time a World Championships were held, it's still very popular in Europe (where they ride in insane snowy conditions in Belgium), is a great spectator sport, and keeps you fit between September and January (or late November, depending on when your cross season ends).
With the large amount of mountain bikers here locally in Vancouver, the competition is pretty stiff. Guys I've raced against on the road and done well against who have a mountain bike background come into their own on these courses. They generally clean up with their technical skills, which include things like turning, riding through mud, riding on trails, hopping over rocks/roots/logs or whathaveyou.
Most of the BC Cup events to date have been quite "mountain bikey" -- traditional cross races run through grass fields, over sandtraps, up muddy run-ups, and over strategically placed barricades are replaced with singletrack trails through local parks.
This weekend marks the first anniversary of my cross bike, as we descend upon Vanier Park courtesy of Krebs Cycle Club, home to Bard on the Beach during the summer months, to ride through the wooded area under the Burrard Bridge and out onto the grass behind the Planetarium. Should be lots of fun. Saturday the action starts at 9:00 AM for those looking for an enjoyable and off-the-beaten-path (pardon the pun) recreational spectating opportunity.
Photo: Greg Descantes
Interested in riding Cross? Check out the Cycling BC website or the newly formed BC Cross Yahoo Group.
Update [19/10/2005]: Ryan has posted that a Learn to Cross clinic starts at 8:00 AM on Saturday at Vanier and Mountain Bikes are okay to ride. He's also got a great little video (4MB, Quicktime) of the A Group men doing dismounts and barricade jumping. Pictures of clearing the barricades (or what happens when you miss) don't quite give you the sense of speed at which this happens. Ryan's video certainly does. The goal is to be as smooth as possible...
2 Comments:
Nice legs. Is that a bloody lip in the run-up picture?
BS
By
Anonymous, at 1:22 pm
Thanks for the pointer in your update! Looking over those videos again, I think Duncan's run is the most impressive. He seems to lose no speed as he dismounts, and the whole thing is so fast it looks like I sped him up using special effects. (I didn't: like John Frankenheimer, I shoot everything at true speed).
I plan to do some more CX videos next weekend. Should be fun.
PS: It is ON!
By
Ryan, at 2:53 pm
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