Cross Fever

Catch it!

Wasn't that a TV commercial? "<Something> Fever - Catch it!" Only I can't remember what the <something> was. I'm pretty certain it wasn't cyclocross.

I'll admit that I don't know cyclocross from shinola. I haven't ever done a CX race; I haven't built up a CX bike; hell, I don't even own a cowbell. But like a lot of you, I'm finding myself strangely drawn to it. And with good reason - I'm probably a good candidate for the sport. I've been racing mountain bikes since 1991, used to run track in high school, and still own the school record for the 110M hurdles.

But but you know what they say - every action has an equal and opposite reaction. And as strong as the pull is towards CX, there's an equally powerful current in the direction of that nirvana we call "the off season." And the two can't co-exist. If I end up racing CX, I'll approach it with the same drive to finish 8th - 15th that has caused my presence at the line to strike fear in my road racing competitors. There's no middle ground.

So if you're like me and thinking about getting into the sport, or if you're like Indy or K-Blogg or John Brewer and you seem to live for it, here are a couple of resources for you:

• The Unholy Roleur has an excellent DIY guide to building your own CX barriers. Sure, you've probably figured out how to put together some makeshift barriers, but the Roleur's are designed so that no single piece is longer than 24", making it easy to throw them into a backpack and ride out to a practice ground. Plus, they're made from inexpensive PVC tubing, making the total cost for a couple of them only $15.
• The Wrob is organizing Wednesday evening CX practice rides around Silver Spring, Bethesda and DC. Contact him via his blog if'n you're jonesing for something structured on Wednesdays now that Greenbelt and W@W are finished.
• Bookmark this one, of course.
• John Brewer calculates that it will cost him about a grand to race a full season of Cross.
• And finally, there's the Cross Section of the GamJams.net Classifieds, which is looking pretty anemic right now but which more people ought to use to unload some Cross gear. (And there's the Wanted-To-Buy section if you're in the market.)

Comments

[gwadzilla]

funny

I just wrote an article that is in this month's SPOKES magazine that says pretty much that

catch the cross races
race a cross race
hold a mock cross race
cheer at a cross race

don't miss the cross energy

there was some confusion and they failed to post the right photos
but I hope the words carry the tone well enough