This One Time At Cyclocross Camp

By Bill Schieken, Cyclocross Editor

Most people who race cyclocross still spend the bulk of their year riding on the road. So it is always a shock when you roll through your first grassy field of the year on the skinny knobbies. It’s slow going at first. Squishy and laborious. Throw in some shouldering and running and it becomes downright uncomfortable.

That’s why a cyclocross clinic, like the one August 21 and 22 organized by Dan Tille from Fulcrum Coaching, and Chris Mayhew from JBV Coaching, is a great way to kick-off the season and reacquaint yourself with the special kind of pain only ‘cross can inflict.

Chris and Dan brought along Rusty Williford and Marc “Fatmarc” Vettori to help with the coaching duties. And for star power? There was Jeremy “JPows” Powers.

Although the Cannondale/Cyclocrossworld.com rider is finishing up his “off season” racing with the JellyBelly Cycling Team—he will be lining up to race the Tour of Missouri starting September 7—Powers took two days out of his schedule to share his passion for and knowledge of cyclocross.

The clinic officially started Friday evening with a “Cross Talk” event at the Bike Doctor in Waldorf, Maryland. Powers shared racing and training tips and some war stories that had the attendees all revved up to hit the mud the following day.

Saturday, the real fun began. The day cooperated perfectly for ‘cross. The field at Lake Fairfax Park in Reston, Virginia, was a little damp in parts and a little muddy in others. From 9am, when the clinic started, until about 3pm, the skies threatened but didn’t open up. That gave the coaches an opportunity to get in a full day of teaching.

The clinic ended with a couple hot laps of a makeshift course that included some great technical features. And on cue, as soon as the first group started to hit the course for these mini-races, the skies opened up and the rain came down. It was beautiful. A true-to-life cyclocross simulation.

So why attend a clinic? Because there is no substitution for hands-on teaching and professional critique of your skills. It is easy to read a book or watch a video to figure out how to do the basics necessary for the sport. But to really dial it in “the right way,” it is invaluable to have somebody constantly helping you while you are practicing the skill.

“Everyone learned something which was my number one goal with this camp,” Powers told GamJams. “The other coaches and I really made our best effort to get everyone nailing the techniques the correct way. We hit on the fundamentals of cyclo-cross so all the participants had the tools to get a result in their upcoming competitions,” Powers said.

A key technique that is often overlooked at all levels of the sport is how to carry your bike over barriers. Not necessarily how high to carry it—that one is usually self-explanatory after you bang your tires on the planks a couple times—but how far away from your body.

This first image (below) shows Powers carrying the bike with his saddle under the armpit. Chris Mayhew explained why this is wrong. “The problem with keeping it close to your body is that you run out of room from your saddle to the armpit and your wheels to the barrier.” Mayhew added that for shorter riders “there simply isn't room to get the bike over the barriers even with the saddle in the armpit.” He said that “flinging the bike out allows you pick up the bike as much as necessary to clear the barrier.” 

 

Powers demonstrates the wrong way to carry over the barriers.

In the second image you can see Jeremy demonstrating the correct technique:

 

This is the right way. Doesn't it look faster? See also how he's serious, and not smirking?

The proper technique is easy enough to see from the picture. But the benefit of the clinic is having somebody constantly telling you to get your bike out of your armpit. And not just beginners. Hearing the repeated correction is especially effective if this is a skill you have been doing wrong for years.

In cyclocross there is no greater obsession than tire pressure. You will often see riders approaching each other before a race and instead of a traditional greeting, they will instinctively reach down to pinch the other guy’s tire to get a feel for what pressure he or she may be running. This is known as “the cyclocross handshake.” 

 

Under pressure: "place your hand over the thumb and use your hand to push on your thumb."

Newcomers to the sport always want to run higher air pressure than is necessary. The key to ‘cross is to go as low as you can. This is why tubulars are a popular tire choice.

A great tip Powers shared at the clinic is to always use the same pump throughout the year so you can consistently gauge tire pressure. He then showed a technique for accurately testing tire pressure without the pump. Mayhew explained that what Powers is doing in this photo is a two step process. “Step one is to put your thumb over the tire as you would in a cyclocross handshake,” Mayhew said. “Step two is to place your hand over the thumb and use your hand to push on your thumb rather than just using your thumb alone.” Mayhew explained that this results in a more repeatable application of force than the thumb alone.

Mayhew and Tille plan on holding the clinic again next year. For the new racer and the veteran it is well worth the time and money. According to Powers, the best part of the clinic was watching the people who came on Friday night to the Bike Doctor turn the “cross talk” into hands-on instruction. “Watching everything become reality on Saturday at the camp, I felt like I watched people transform into good cyclocrossers in a period of 24 hours and it felt great to be a part of.”

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GamJams Cyclocross Editor Bill Schieken races for Route1Velo/Arrow Bicycle. He is also the editor of In The Crosshairs.