Cylco cross training tips

Redhog14

Last year I bought a CX bike Kinesis CL5 to take part in a C2C adventure race and then failed to take up the intended CX racing.

What tips does anyone have for training for CX racing?
What shoes/pedal combos are recommended? I run flats on my MTB, but have SPD's fitted to my CX bike.
Is there any wisdom about the race conditions that you might want to pass on?

Bike fitness is reasonable - capable of ave 17-18mph over 60-80miles of hilly terrain and last year was doing 10k run in under 50 mins.

Cheers

celbianchi

I don't do any specific CX race training, I do the cross on the back of a full road season and begin the cx season immediatley after the hill climb season, so i think my fitness is where it needs to be.
I usualyy get some reasonable results in the NE cx leagues but I know I am perhaps a little technically less capable than the lads who regularly finish in the top 5. I'd advise brushing up on your technical skills.

CX races are an hour of pretty much full on effort, very little recovery, you need to start hard to get a good position off the line into the first corner, so maybe work on fast standing starts.
My next door neighbour is top 15 national standard and trains solely on the turbo for cx (he is a cx specialist). 10 min warm up, hit the intervals for 40 mins 10 min warm down.

bigpikle

its an hour of flat out hell....so :

short sharp efforts with very limited recovery time
LOTS of technical stuff to learn how to ride a CX bike in mud, sand, over obstacles etc etc
more short hard efforts with very limited recovery time
running with the bike on your shoulder - up steps, banks, in mud etc
fast dismount & remounting practice
even more short hard efforts with limited recovery time
then just practice suffering for 60 mins in the freezing, wet & mud and you should be about ready

bigdaveskinnytyre

The only way to race cross is flat out, it's too short to do anything else.

When I was racing it went like this:

Go flat out from the line to stay at the front (I was normally seeded in the first 2 rows but had to stay in front of the fast starters who would then slow up in any singletrack)
Get to the point where you are about to throw up
Ease off slightly until the bile subsides
Repeat until finish and collapse over the line