What are /r/cyclocross' favorite Products & Services?

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You're overestimating how big of an impact 80g has. At a 5% grade a 165lb rider on a 17lb or 17.2lb shows no avg wattage difference on this calculator: https://www.omnicalculator.com/sports/cycling-wattage

I'm sure the weight difference it's getting rounded out (it only goes to the nearest tenth as far as I can tell), so the savings is negligible and will have no impact on any of the racers in this sub.

And this doesn't even begin to address the aero gains that drop bars (even not in the drops!) give.

Those cranks tho

I'm getting extremely stoked for the CX season to begin, so I figured I'd see if I could spread the stoke.

Something I've been doing on coach's directive are some long (3+) hour hilly adventure rides in the mountains west of Boulder. This is my main CX bike (I have a singlespeed too) that I've just put wider gearing on. The day I took this photo was the day I rode this route.

Been doing the local short track series to sharpen my cornering and handling skills, as well as to keep the high intensity, short burst efforts in the training mix. This has been really valuable for me, as I started out DFL in the Women's A field in May, and recently have been finishing mid-field, ahead of some legitimately fast people.

What's your late summer / cross prep season shaping up like?

I was using Shimano's PD-M505, which was awful for mud clearance. You can see their XT Pedal has much larger voids for clearing mud.

First race weekend of the season here in austria. Same course on both days. Pretty short (1km) and quite a bit of climbing (24m per lap, 19m on one 13% hill).

Saturday: very nice weather for the first race of the season. Didn't ride all-out, neither in terms of power nor in terms of technique. Wanted to try a few things, like on which parts of the lap can i gain some seconds and mostly how the tubulars perform in race conditions, since this was my first time racing with them. Didn't finish last, didn't crash and felt great :-)

Sunday: after a bit of analyzing saturday night, i knew where i needed to put the hammer down to perform better. So i Z5-ed up this damn hill every lap (17 times, quite mind-crushing) and tried to bring the tubulars more to their limits in the sharp turns. Made the tires slip a couple of times, which was a goal. Finished #25 of 29, which is my best result in cx yet. And since we have no categories here and have to race against former national champs i'm quite satisfied that i only got lapped 3 times by the top 5 :-)

edit: Strava recording from sunday

moar edit: pain face

huh. TIL that my pedals are not the cheapest! :o) i have the PD-M520 which are closer to the XT in appearance, hence my confusion.

but even so, those still get blocked with sticky mud :o(

I was using Shimano's PD-M505, which was awful for mud clearance. You can see their XT Pedal has much larger voids for clearing mud.

A lot has been mentioned already by now, but I’d probably start with the trails in/around Lexington. Maybe start by going from reading across to Burlington’s landlocked forest, then working south through the trails in/around Lexington. I’d check with Ride Studio Cafe if you want a .gpx of the trails out there, they usually make them for the rides they lead. You could also start here: https://www.lexingtonma.gov/sites/lexingtonma/files/uploads/across_brochure_map.pdf. If you want longer, you could connect this to beaver brook and/or the western greenway as well.

Here’s a route I made a while back that covers a lot of that: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/24833547. If you use ridewithgps, play around with the map source it’s pulling from (basically, anything but google maps should find most of the trails).

Yeah you can do it, but get one of these. They have inline ones too now. The RS405 brakeset is about $300 IIRC, but that's 10spd. They have the same pull ratios as 11spd stuff just one fewer click. The 505 levers are $333 on Amazon and the 405 calipers are $35 a piece. Compare that to ~$190 for a pair of 105s most places online and then probably $160ish for some Spyres and...

Similar issue here. The dry cold usually leads me to coughing for the rest of the day.

Personally, I prefer a thin neck gaiter vs. a balaclava. They can offer more coverage (face and up the back of your head, under your helmet) and less coverage (face and neck, or just neck) depending on weather or how hot you're getting. Mostly, for me, it's that it's generally easier to pull it off my nose and mouth when I'm stopped at a light or grinding up a slow climb so that my glasses don't fog up as bad. I'll also pull it down a bit once I've really warmed up, so that it's just covering my nose and mouth. Also easier to eat and drink than having a balaclava. And when you've been breathing through it for a bit, it builds up moisture so that the dry air doesn't hit your throat and lungs so hard. Brush your teeth before a ride, though!

It's hard to find a good one for cycling. Thick fleece gaiters are overkill and won't fit up under your helmet comfortably. Thin, merino wool gaiters (Smartwool, etc) are pretty decent, though they're usually longer than you really need and can be a little spendy. My personal favorite was a freebie from a MTB race that's essentially just a short tube of lycra that was cut into a gaiter. You can find cheap lycra gaiters on amazon. You can get a 2-pack for 11 bucks and have a clean one ready to go whenever.

If it's sub-freezing, they can get kinda nasty, as you'll get breath ice building up on it. They pack small enough that I'll stuff an extra in my jersey for a mid-ride refresh.

Edit: example - https://www.amazon.com/JIUSY-Lightweight-Windproof-Protection-Motorcycle/dp/B079MFCZCK

Here’s the book on Amazon:

The Time-Crunched Cyclist, 2nd Ed.: Fit, Fast, Powerful in 6 Hours a Week (The Time-Crunched Athlete) https://www.amazon.com/dp/193403083X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_WtA6Bb2X4FP21

Hey! I just went through the same thing you are going through right now. The comical string of emails between me and State pretty much made me never want to get one again.

That being said I ended up ordering a different insert (FSA makes another one that is extremely similar - just a larger size of like 54.5 mm in diameter and had a local machine shop turn it down. They are available on Amazon or directly from FSA for like $20. The part number is BB-200C. They dont make the A or B version anymore (I cant remember which one you need).

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017YXG9O6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_nPL-CbNNSE5B8

To watch the UCI upload, you’ll have to use a VPN. Something like TunnelBear. Hola VPN used to be the goto, but avoid that. They were caught doing shady stuff.

I’m in the US and I pay for NBC Sports Gold. It’s $40, and it’s totally worth it to me. However it’s an annual subscription that rolls over right before the Tour de France, so you’ll be paying another $40 in about six months if you want road racing. It has replays of all the World Cup races.

If you’re patient, there will probably be a region free upload to YouTube in a few days. No guarantee on that though.

If you're asking about anecdotal experience, I can tell you that a friend recently broke his when he was just riding along. Not a scratch on his body, and I trust his word, he's a very nice and soft spoken friend. He didn't even realize it was busted until he arrived at work. Only a couple of months old, he averages about 190 miles a week.

However, I have another friend who also has the swiss cross and he loves it. He's had it for at least a year.

Yet another friend with the breakaway, he had it for about 10 years. Loved it. He recently hit a dog at 40mph.

A very user-friendly no-frills VPN is TunnelBear. Since some races on GCN Race Pass are geo-restricted (meaning it's only streamed to select countries) you have to make it look like you are watching from one of those countries. You can select a country via the VPN to make it look like your computer is connected to an internet service provider within the country needed to stream.

I just replaced my stem cap with one that has an integrated Wahoo mount. It’s worked pretty well so far.

There’s loads of them about, but this is the one I picked up in particular. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07YWKDKCC

Until you buy bib shorts and a road jersey, wear athletic shorts and a t-shirt.

Check gearscan.com for hourly deals on gear, and try to at least get padded cycling shorts. If you don't want to wear lycra (tight spandex), they make baggy cycling shorts, but I'd recommend getting bib shorts.

The race is 20 minutes north of town, so if you're interested in minimizing drive time (or considering riding there) the NW neighborhood isn't bad. It gentrified before most of the other neighborhoods, so it has all the nice amenities but is overall quieter and more mature. Something like this would probably balance out what all of your want (so sorry for suggesting airbnb, fellow locals).

As a bonus that area has the best access to Forest Park if you want to do some excellent gravel riding.

>You'll need new shoes though.

Not necessarily true. You might be able to find 2 bolt cleat adapters to use mountain-style cleats

Offenhausen, Austria, third race of the season.

Pretty hard, technical course with a lot of climbing (23m per lap, 1.9km lap-length).

Got stuck behind a few people who lost control over their bikes in the technical parts in the first lap, which probably cost me a few places. Had a few slips and near-crashes myself, thanks to off-camber downhill u-turns. Finally started riding smoother in the 3rd lap and managed to drop a few of my "enemies" (actually friends who are about my level).

Finished #44 of 54.

Lessons learned: better skills and more confidence on the bike would probably catapult me in the upper half, because in terms of fitness i can easily keep up with the better riders.

Strava recording

Pain face from the finish line, right after sprinting away from a club mate :-)

I honestly don't think riding cyclocross bike son singletrack is great training for anything unless you don't own a mountain bike. Boston singletrack is very slow on a cyclocross bike and for the most part very different than racing in New England. It is fun though.

This route covers basically everything you want to ride on your cyclocross bike in Lexington

You could try the OrangeSeal ones. They have a rectangular rubber seal that may work better.

Orange Seal Cycling VersaValve Bicycle Valve Stem Kit https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0777V6RM2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_0RGJRXTR284R0C3FVRN2

I got one of these Orange Mud towels as a podium prize years ago... It's amazing for what it is. It has a clip so won't fall off when changing and the seat cover function is nice too.

https://www.amazon.com/Transition-Seat-Wrap-V2-0-Gray/dp/B07JNVDMJV/ref=sr\_1\_8?dchild=1&keywords=changing+towel&qid=1632959226&sr=8-8

BOX COMPONENTS Two brake post extender black , M10 x 1.25 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0781XX9Z9/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_9CRQ0VFRE4YAADNDNW7Z?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Used these on an old rockhopper that I converted to 700c. I posted it on xbiking if you wanna take a look at it!

Ok, so the review. I got a CX because I'm former cross country and apparently have developed dyslexia, and an AL because I like making Brits say "aluminum". 26 days from order to arrival, from England to Colorado. It's a large (56cm) frame. I'm in the between sizes at 5' 10 3/4". It's comfy but I will put a bit shorter stem on. The wheels are bit on the chunky side, with pedals (older set of XT Shimano SPDs*)* and a milled aluminum cell phone mount, it comes in at 10.5kg (23.14) pounds (w/ stock tires and tubes) . I didn't do anything that resembled climbing this ride. The tires handled the gunky stuff pretty well, we got snow, but the mud riding was pretty limited. It's responsive in turns, it has a good twitchy feel that I like. I wasn't sure I would like the Apex shifting, but I didn't notice it at all. The brakes are good, but I don't get all googly eyed over brakes, every setup I've ever had I've been able to setup for one finger. The front wheel did get knocked a little in shipping, but came back in no problem. The rotors stayed true during shipping. If there is a weak spot, it is the wheels, but I pretty much eat wheels, so that was already going to be a given for me. Everything was put together well, and I didn't really have to tighten or adjust much.

I previously put together a little write-up summarizing all the free and paid streaming options.

I hope it helps you out! Let me know if I’ve missed anything.

GCN is doing a great job this year; they have Jeremy Powers doing commentary and it’s high quality; definitely suggest subscribing to their Race Pass service if you’re into ‘cross.

On the VPN side I subscribe to NordVPN. They have an app for just about every possible device/client and it’s pretty much one click to change locations. If memory serves i paid something like $99 for 36 months.

In terms of specific countries you will find that the publisher (UCI Youtube channel) typically publishes a list of countries for each event.

I am currently not riding on any hard terrain and I got a pretty cheap holder (Amazon). So far I had no issues with it, but I moved back to putting my phone into my jersey pocket, because a) with screen on and additional services the battery died after one hour and b) wiring the cables of my headphones through the jersey was a lot less annoying than having them in front of me.

A good reliable VPN is becoming more of a necessity in general but it also allows you to watch geoblocked content (occasionally paired with a location guard plugin for your browser).

NordVPN, Freedome, and PIA are solid default choices. If your needs are more just to circumvent geoblocks and not so much around privacy, other providers may work out better or cheaper. Never use a free VPN though.

Thanks for the recommendation. I read Simon Burney's book over the holidays which mentioned some basics but will checkout Friel for more details.

I recently picked up a bunch of Control Tech drop bars since Amazon seemed to be clearing them out for $5-15 each.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079LCVL7T/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079L9HYCT/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Might be worth playing with :P

I have been contemplating one of these: https://www.amazon.com/Ergodyne-N-Ferno-6970-Balaclava-Exchanger/dp/B0091CC38A/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1540981943&sr=8-3&keywords=balaclava+heat+exchanger

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I didn't realize this was a rhetorical question that you just wanted folks to agree with you on. If you're that worried - do it right and use a protractor.

http://bikedynamics.co.uk/guidelines.htm

https://www.amazon.com/12-PROTRACTOR-GONIOMETER-SET-AMS/dp/B000MZRQXC

Put your old shoes on measure the angles then put the new shoes on and make adjustments.

As many as it takes to make it hard to get the tire on. With this strategy any rim is tubeless ready. The most I had to use was 10 wraps of this (about equal to 5 wraps of stans in thickness) to get a nice tight seal

Take your car key (or clicker fob) off the ring, lock the doors. Place it in one of these (or similar). Lock it through your car door handle (or roof rack bar, etc.). That's what I do. Problem solved.

https://smile.amazon.com/Master-Lock-5400D-Set-Your-Own-Combination/dp/B0002YP1VC/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1504104694&sr=8-3&keywords=key+lock+box

yes they are. They also wear pretty quickly (I went through a rear in about 750 or so miles) compared to the WTB Nano I have had on my 700c gravel bike.

In the next few weeks I am going to pull the trigger on a set of these as they should be a pretty awesome middle ground.

Schwalbe G-One 650b

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0177ZXVHE/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_16?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A16QDZ1XG7GVFM

Regarding bouncing on your seat, it could be the air pressure in your tires is too low. I found last year when I warmed up on paved roads with my knobby tires at low pressure I'd be bouncing all over. Pumping them up for the warmup, then deflating for the off-road work fixed it.

As for shorts, a simple pair of compression shorts may be all you need. I've not been too bothered by lack of chamois. I like these https://www.amazon.com/Compression-Shorts-Running-Cycling-Basketball/dp/B00FJ1IUKC You can wear any shirt you want... even a t-shirt would be fine. You won't look kitted up, but functionally you won't have any problems.

Or go to Campton Cross and wear a Halloween costume. Good luck at ILR.

>still a 10 speed cassette.

This really doesn't mean much.

What you need, more than anything, is ample room for fenders and breakaway fender mounts. http://www.amazon.com/SKS-Front-Fender-Breakaway-Mount/dp/B001N84RHU

You will benefit from having disc brakes.

Beyond that, find something sold near you that has very standard parts that isn't too special because it should be taking a beating, salt and all.

I have that frameset and just a note about the rotors- the frame and fork are designed for 140's. I have 140 in the rear and it's no issue, but 160 in the front and I needed to get a 20mm post mount adapter for it to work. http://www.amazon.com/Avid-Post-Mount-Brake-Adapter/dp/B00F5I3P5E

Cannondale and All-city bikes seem to be pretty popular amongst the crowd here and at race events from what I have seen.
* Your weight is not an issue at all for the bike. I wouldn't worry about that.

• Not sure about the brake situation between the two models

• I find the Clemente LAS to be a great tire for dry dirt and crushed limestone rides.

• I had considered a Cannondale years ago when I was shopping, but ended up going with a Jamis bike because it felt better. Have you test ridden any yet?

Chances are the gearing you'll want with a chainring and a cassette set up single-speed will make for a pretty terrible chainline. One of these single speed kits will work in a pinch. you can usually get them in varying levels of quality with varying sizes of cogs. easy to install if you've got a cassette tool and the chainline doesn't have to be too precise. As long as you've got horizontal-ish dropouts or have your magic gear figured out, you can just eyeball it and get on just fine.

I ran a pair of Bontrager CX0 38s in a race today at 30/32 front/rear, tubeless on a Belgium Plus. I could probably go lower, but was my first race outing on them.

Previously I was running some Schwalbe Rocket Rons 33s at 28/30 w/ tubes on a 16c rim (never flatted them).

I think you'll be surprised how low you can go. I usually go until I feel the rim 'bump' at least once every lap ... but not flat :) Beware, that there is a point where cornering is compromised. I've had the tire start squirm badly a few times and almost throw me... But the traction on mud/grass is awesome.

I also suggest a good pressure gauge (the 60psi version is better) like this: http://www.amazon.com/Accu-Gage-Bicycle-Gauge-Presta-Valve/dp/B0011W6M4Y. The little button on top lets you bleed pressure off to dial it in. That 1 or 2 psi really will matter.

200lbs and I'm not gentle...

Does it have a regular hole in the fork crown? If so, getting a hanger like this is an option. And actually a better option if you don't want brake shudder with cantis.

Turns out Amazon has them

specialized trigger 35$ a piece. ive been very happy with them so far, cant really comment on their durability (only been running them for a month) but the nearest dirt to me is 2 miles away and i dont really see a point in putting my road tires back on at all. my strava segments on the road that ive used them on are almost par for my road tires. ive used them on some rocky singletrack and they did fine. they slipped in the mud and sand, but that was at 60 psi so i could ride to and from the dirt track. if aired down theyd have done alot better i bet.

i thought they looked pretty gnarly from the pictures online, but after seeing it in person theyre really not. the treads are so many and so small that on the road they dont catch, whereas the kenda kwicks that came on my bike were akin to riding my MTB on the street.

Cyclocross: Training and Technique.

Great book, lots of very good input in there. Not only about training, but everything else too (how to properly prepare on race-day...etc) Also a ready-made training plan for a whole cx-season. Used this last year (was my first season racing cx) and it worked pretty great.