How to train for CX racing?

ravey1981

I ride my bikes a lot, on road and mtb, but nothing is close to what I experienced in my first cx race. Non stop accelerating out of corners and up sharp bankings etc is unlike any other riding I've done. Road bike I tend to find a rhythm and stick with it for lots of miles or give it death for an hour, but even then there are opportunites to "rest". Mountain biking can be more intense than road riding but often there are lots of technical sections which don't involve pedaling so its not an effort 100% of the time. CX races it seems to me like there is nowhere to hide...

So how do you train for CX races given that I don't have a cx course in my back garden?

This is a serious(ish) question, there must be a more targeted approach than "just ride more".

On_What

I am by no means fast, but when I train specifically for CX, I ride a 15min warmup usually to the local woods and then ride my known ~2km lap as many times as I can in an hour at race speed. The lap involves everything including running.

bryanm

If anything it's "ride less". You're only racing for an hour. You need short sharp intensity. And lots of bike handling practice!

Simon Burney's "Cyclocross - Training and Technique" is the bible to read.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cyclocross-Trai ... 1934030058

ravey1981

Thanks, just order that book. Bike handling is not so much of a problem, years of mountain biking have seen to that. I was riding sections that most were dismounting for the other night. My heart trying to burst out of my chest...now thats a problem!

I know what you mean about ride less, I have an hour road circuit that I do quite regularly to test myself but even that flat out seems easier than the start/stop/accelerate affair of CX.

tgotb

ravey1981 wrote:

Bike handling is not so much of a problem, years of mountain biking have seen to that. I was riding sections that most were dismounting for the other night.

Don't fall into the MTBers trap of thinking you *should* ride everything that you *can* ride. Keep your mind open to the possibility that it may still be faster to run a particular section of the course, even if it's rideable. If you're overtaking the runners that's great, but few things in 'cross are more satisfying than jumping off your bike and running straight past someone who's still riding. Roadies don't tend to have this problem because we can't ride the technical bits anyway :-)

If you can set up a short circuit in the woods somewhere, that's pretty much ideal, especially if you can do it with friends to put a bit of pressure on each other. A couple of hundred yards will do the job; in fact if there are only a few of you a shorter course keeps everyone together and encourages you to work harder. The most enjoyable exercise we do in our training sessions has up to 20 riders on a loop with 7 corners that probably takes 15-20 seconds a lap. A shorter course will also get more cut up than a longer one, and there's a much lower risk of surprising passers-by. Concentrate on getting every corner perfect, and then set up a different course next week to keep things interesting.

I do most of my fitness training on an urban commute. Nail it away from every set of lights (starting practice), and basically go flat-out wherever it's safe and sensible to do so. Plenty of micro-recovery opportunities, just like you get in a race. Just remember that you're training your fitness not your bike handling. No shooting through narrow gaps and "dark amber" lights; every time you slow down is an opportunity for another hard acceleration :-)

CYCLESPORT1

Are you racing (road) now ? if not start

woolwich

TGOTB wrote:

I do most of my fitness training on an urban commute. Nail it away from every set of lights (starting practice), and basically go flat-out wherever it's safe and sensible to do so.

Something similar here in town and villages, sprint between two street lamps, steady between the next two, repeat for as long as you want, rest repeat. Seems to work well.

mattrixdesign2

Not a regular CX racer (Only done 2, plan to do more). I would say technique is one of the key areas, not just bike handling, but dismounting, running and getting back on are all vital. Running is certainly where I suffer, legs turn to jelly when on foot.

Fitness wise I guess it HITT and short 1hour blasts, would help?

tgotb

mattrixdesign2 wrote:

Not a regular CX racer (Only done 2, plan to do more). I would say technique is one of the key areas, not just bike handling, but dismounting, running and getting back on are all vital. Running is certainly where I suffer, legs turn to jelly when on foot.

I think dismounts/remounts and running are a bit overstated when it comes to beginners; for the vast majority of races at local league level, you're probably going to be getting off the bike once or twice per lap. Even if you really faff around, you're going to struggle to lose more than 5 seconds at a set of hurdles. By contrast, if you're getting lapped in a 40-60 minute race (and we all were, when we started) you're most likely losing 1-2 minutes per lap to the leaders. The only way to make a significant dent in that is to go faster when you're on the bike (in my experience, this is more down to technique than most people expect).

Monty Dog

20 minute warm-up; Tabata protocol intervals - 6 x 20 seconds maximal efforts with 2 minute recoveries, once per week; Recovery.
If you're up for punishment, your local chain gang might be worth a try.
Finding yourself a small circuit in your local park / woods that allow you to practise dismounts and run-ups - 5-6 minutes per lap and thrash yourself for an hour ;-)
Ridden MTBs for 25 years but CX was way better at improving my technical offroad skills - fat tyres and suspension make it easier.

ravey1981

CYCLESPORT1 wrote:

Are you racing (road) now ? if not start

No I don't race on the road, I like the idea of it but I don't like the risk of crashing/injury/wrecked bike...

cyclingsheep

ravey1981 wrote:

CYCLESPORT1 wrote:

Are you racing (road) now ? if not start

No I don't race on the road, I like the idea of it but I don't like the risk of crashing/injury/wrecked bike...

The exact reason CX is exploding in popularity in the more 'mature' classes, that and it's fun to reenact your childhood spent getting muddy on completely inappropriate bikes

CYCLESPORT1

And you want to ride cross !

ravey1981 wrote:

CYCLESPORT1 wrote:

Are you racing (road) now ? if not start

No I don't race on the road, I like the idea of it but I don't like the risk of crashing/injury/wrecked bike...

ravey1981

From my 1 cross race so far I think its awesome. Even though I was lapped I still had people around me to race. With road if you're dropped its all over. Crashes and falls in cross are gererally going to be of the low speed variety rather than the sliding along tarmac losing skin variety.... So yeah, cross is just fine with me

tgotb

ravey1981 wrote:

From my 1 cross race so far I think its awesome. Even though I was lapped I still had people around me to race. With road if you're dropped its all over. Crashes and falls in cross are gererally going to be of the low speed variety rather than the sliding along tarmac losing skin variety.... So yeah, cross is just fine with me

^ This. Great to see a newcomer "getting" cross after just one race.

Crash in a road race, your race is almost certainly over, you're probably going to take a few weeks to recover from the road rash, and you're going to have to fix your bike. If it's a bad one, you could be off work for a week, off the bike for a couple of months, and your bike's probably not worth fixing. Chances are, it was someone else's fault.

Crash in a cross race, and you could lose several places. If it's a really bad one, you may have to run the rest of that lap; if you don't have a pit bike your race may even be over, and you're going to have to fix your bike (it's probably the mech hanger). It was almost certainly your own fault.

And as the OP says, there's always someone to race against in 'cross, regardless of how fast or slow you are.

imposter2.0

ravey1981 wrote:

CYCLESPORT1 wrote:

Are you racing (road) now ? if not start

No I don't race on the road, I like the idea of it but I don't like the risk of crashing/injury/wrecked bike...

Yeah, cos that never happens in CX....

cyclingsheep

Imposter wrote:

ravey1981 wrote:

CYCLESPORT1 wrote:

Are you racing (road) now ? if not start

No I don't race on the road, I like the idea of it but I don't like the risk of crashing/injury/wrecked bike...

Yeah, cos that never happens in CX....

It happens less often. I think the difference seems to be that at the end of a road race the only really smiley person seems to be the guy that won, in CX at the end of the race almost everyone is grinning from ear to ear (well if you can see through the mud), just an observation.