How hardcore is Cyclo-cross!?

[peetwindhoek]

Wow, was utterly impressed with these riders!

 

 

Edit: Hierdie manne is rof

[peetwindhoek]

And the ladies as well!

[Rocket-Boy]

I know its super popular but I dont see the point really. 

Having done some super muddy mtb races there isnt anything appealing about it to me.

[peetwindhoek]

It is Triathlon! One law chane, your bike has to do everything with you, swimming through the mud, running through the mud/roots, riding through the mud!

 

*Mudathlon* FTW

[Jewbacca]

Having raced CX in the UK and some Europe races as well as in NZ, I is and always will be my favourite type of bike racing. Been lucky enough to do a few 3 peaks as well... 

 

You race hard, you bleed, you fall, you carry your bike and so much more... the spectators are epic, the whole setup is just super fun, cut throat competitive and awesome.

 

It really is such a pity people take themselves way too seriously here for it to bite. Guys don'tknow what they are missing

[bikebloke]

Having raced CX in the UK and some Europe races as well as in NZ, I is and always will be my favourite type of bike racing. Been lucky enough to do a few 3 peaks as well... 

 

You race hard, you bleed, you fall, you carry your bike and so much more... the spectators are epic, the whole setup is just super fun, cut throat competitive and awesome.

 

It really is such a pity people take themselves way too seriously here for it to bite. Guys don'tknow what they are missing

 

THIS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

 

and its a CX not a "gravel" bike ffs  

[SwissVan]

Never done it, watched quite a lot on tv

Reminds me a bit of xco racing

Physically to hard to appeal to the masses from a participation perspective

[arendoog]

I like the idea ! Easy logistics .Hard racing in SAFE enviroment .Different skills needed .Inexspensive equipment .No drafting .No bottleneck singletract situations.Minimal injury if you crash .Course can be set up almost anywhere like a school terrain or park

[gogo@]

Love watching cyclocross and would love to try it but would seriously suck at it too!

[T-Bob]

Used to do cyclo-cross in the UK & europe in the off season from road and I promise it was more hard work than 99% of the tar season and you came into the spring races so strong.

Those top guys are super skilled and hella fit. Lost track of the times I'd freeze my ass off in a race, vomit from the exertions, turn blue and then have my parents wrap me up in everything possible, chuck me in the car race home and thaw me out on a hot bath for hours until I stopped shaking. Bloody loved it. 

[TIB]

I'm old enough to have been employed by PW Botha en Seuns(Pty) Ltd for two years. During that time I crawled through enough mud to last a lifetime...

 

CX is not for me

[NotSoBigBen]

I simply don't have the skills those girls and guys have in their little fingers! They are seriously impressive and must be super strong, I mean check the gear they use to climb those step climbs [emoji50]

 

Sent from my LG-D958 using Tapatalk

[Karman de Lange]

I would love to try it, will suck at it big time, but I can only imagine after a season how your skills and fitness must improve.

 

Really hope someone will try  host one this winter , wil definitely support it.

[Coolspin]

For those conditions its pretty strange that the bikes are derived from road bikes, logic choice would be a light, hardtail Mtb for this.

Have watched some on TV, (before i hoofed Dstv)

Gotta have redonkulous fitness for this i reckon.

[Barend de Arend]

For those conditions its pretty strange that the bikes are derived from road bikes, logic choice would be a light, hardtail Mtb for this.

Have watched some on TV, (before i hoofed Dstv)

Gotta have redonkulous fitness for this i reckon.

 

It pre-dates mountain bikes by a long shot, and was meant as an outdoor alternative to track racing in winter.  That's also why it's short (< 60 minutes), and has some running sections: keep you warm in snow.

 

Anyway, road bikes were commonly used on gravel roads 100 years ago.  What is this hipster gravel bike nonsense?

[Vetplant]

I did a "Mountainbike Race" this weekend in Midvaal, nothing mountain about it. We did 15km out on a provincial dirt road and back, would have probably aced it if I took my Spez Tarmac along. We Saffers really have some weird concepts around what mountainbiking is.

 

Not sure whether we will get people on CX bikes in big numbers, even though we have all the right routes and conditions for it to flourish...

 

PS. Respect to the guy on the Single Speed, flippen almost beat me at the end