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Photos by Bob Woods
Shawn from King Kog was over in Japan, visiting the home of Kinfolk frames. After visiting Kusaka San, the builder of Kinfolk, he was joined by the Kinfolk Japan team to partake in a cross race. Bob Woods shot some photos of this race, which you can see at his Flickr.
Looks like a fun race!
God, I’d love to race on courses like this!!
“The first World Cup Cyclocross race also meant the first time this year the pro women were broadcast, and that means we can finally premiere the first episode of LIKEAVOS, season two. The World Cup opener took place at Valkenburg in the Netherlands. The course is a brutal one. As you’ll see it rides more like a mountainbike race than a cyclocross race, with many elevation changes and off-camber sections. For this episode we concentrate on a tricky off-camber section, the run-up and descending skills. We also watch Katie Compton deal with adversity and Helen Wyman show great form.”
CX Hairs is killing it.
Photo by Eloy Anzola
Well, you should! Head over to Peloton Magazine now to check out Dan’s US Pro CX circuit reportage.
Cell Bikes is an Australian company who offer up a rather affordable complete cross bike and they made a video showcasing a race from their last season… all I can think is damn, I wish our courses had a pump track in them!
While this is a gallery showcasing the 2014 Cyclocross Scuffle in Elgin, Texas, it’s also a tale of what I believe is one of the best cross courses of the season thus far. Let me preface this by saying most courses in the Austin area are jokingly called “grass crits.” That means, a lot of straight ways, usually 4 – 6, which gives a lot of riders who might not have bike control the upper hand over those who aren’t in prime fitness coming off road season.
As someone who doesn’t race road, but rides a lot of trails on his cross bike, I hate these courses. Even with recent weight loss, I still huff and puff on all the straight aways and tear apart the technical “features.” Meanwhile, it’s the opposite for the fellas who raced road all season and didn’t touch their cross bike all summer…
It takes a bit of convincing for most people, but after you go with a fatter tire on your cross bike, you rarely will want to go back. Since riding the Nano for around 6 months, I’ve fallen in love with the extra cushion provided by a 40c tire and while I love the Nano, I really wanted to give the Surly Knard 41c a go. If, for any other reason than the allure of a smidge in additional width.
Trails, sure! But racing? For some reason, people are apprehensive about racing a 40+c tire – USAC allows it, so why not? My guess is, that age old myth that a “bigger tire is slower”… Oh but the contrary, with the right PSI, you’ll have the upper hand on just about any course.
I spent the weekend racing on my new Knards and have some thoughts below…
This video is from opening weekend here in Texas, at the Six-Shooter. In years past, it’s been a lot of fun. This year, I was out of town at a wedding, so I missed out. There’s lots of mayhem at the barriers in this one. Not to mention Tristan’s barrier beef as the last clip…
Well, it’s Sunday night and that means everyone that races ‘cross probably has at least one day in their legs from the weekend. We had a great time in Austin and you can expect a full gallery tomorrow, but for now, I’m just stoked that ‘cross is here!
Here you go, the second installment of this year’s SVENNESS series from CX Hairs. Just in time to get you stoked on the weekend’s races!
I don’t even know what to say anymore… You’ll just have to go to Manual for Speed to find out for yourself. All I know is Krispy Kreme > Dunkin’ Donuts.
There are many seasoned road cyclists here in Austin and a few of them try their hand at cross racing once their season ends. Michael is one of these dudes. He’s got a big motor and is honing his skills in the dirt. This season, he’s made it out to the Beat the Clock Urbocross series and other USAC-sanctioned races.
If you’ve attended any, you can’t miss him. Or this bike. NY-made Serotta Ti frame, State wheels and Dura Ace, lightened and made more efficient with a Wolf Tooth narrow wide ring. Since Michael’s still getting used to the dirt, he’s taken a few spills, but always gets up, ready to rip. Note the missing faceplate on his right shifter.
I love titanium frames, especially on off-road bikes and this one’s a great example of the quality that Serotta produced.
Free Fun at Urbocross
Photos and words by Gideon Tsang
Cycling is usually fun, often not free and occasionally funny.
Racing a criterium is not free, usually fun and funny only when an armadillo crosses the road during the race. (True story and a problem isolated to racing in Texas.)
A deep tissue massage is not free or fun but funny as fuck when your Kiwi masseuse tells you farting stories. (Also a true story).
Bike camping is alarmingly fun and almost free. Insert naked cliff jumping and/or mushrooms for funny…
Urbocross is a free and fun four week cyclocross series on the urban trails of Austin, TX thrown by Beat the Clock Cycling Club and CycleEast bike shop. The series ended last week straddling the end of our road racing season and the beginning cross season.
Photo by Jim Hicks
I think it’s safe to say, everyone who races cross wants to be able to do this. It shaves seconds off any gap the racer in front of you might have and puts more time between you and the racers behind.
Bunnyhopping barriers isn’t easy by any means, especially when they’re set at USAC’s max height of 40cm and on an uphill, but at yesterday’s race, I put all my skills learned from riding trails on my cross bike, MTB shredding and yes, the old days of FGFS to the test and hopped them every lap of the 50 minute B race. Here’s another angle.
Now that I’ve got my rhythm, I’m feeling even more confident and can’t wait to apply this useful skill to future races…
If you’re in the UK, you should really check out this deal. Kinoko is having a frame blowout sale and one of them is a steal. For £925.0 you can get a Cross Classic frame. That’s frame, fork and matching King headset. The only catch is, it’s a 54cm. Head to Kinoko for more information.
Ohhhh boy. I can hardly wait for a whole season of these videos from CX Hairs. This week, we’re at the 2014 Superprestige Gieten…
Photos by Eric Baumann
Ya know, I was going to paraphrase Marty’s copy from his email to me, but he does such a good job describing his bike, I thought I’d just paste it in. This is by far, one of the best Mudvilles I’ve seen, and you know I love some rain camo on a cross bike!
“The frame paint was done by Rudi Jung. Rudi also came up with the design. When Rudi told me about the idea, I was really excited, as it’s been a few years since I’ve had a new bike. The theme is Rain Camo, mixed with the new 2014 Geekhouse Team Colors, fading from dark teal in the front to bright orange in the rear.
At the last second we got worried it looked a little bit like your fork from Death Spray. We reached out to Death Spray, and his response was “It ain’t no thing, I copied it from the Germans.”
Components on the bike feature Sram’s new CX-1 with Hydro brakes. Enve Rims/Fork, Thomson Stem/Bars Post, and King Headset/Hubs. Wheels we custom built by Luxe Wheelworks. And tires were provided by Challenge.”
See more below!
King Kog’s punk roots come through in their new long sleeve cross shirts. Check out more at King Kog!
I like it when companies take a minute to profile some of their athletes, rather than putting out a pulse-racing video of them riding. Kudos to Kona for this one.
