Question about 'cross, what, tactics I guess?

[christopherrowe]

I have a question based on a possibly faulty and definitely uneducated observation (as has been said, I just started watching ‘cross this season).

In asking this question, I don’t mean for a moment to suggest that ‘cross riders aren’t riding so hard that their eyeballs bleed from the green light to the finish.

That said, I have noticed—or believe that I’ve noticed—that the riders freewheel more often than I would think they might. If this is even true, it makes me wonder why. Is it because:

(1) The intermittent short, sharp efforts require frequent recovery wherever and whenever they can get it.

(2) Cyclocross bikes are geared lowered than road bikes and so they “top out” frequently.

(3) What I’ll call “micro-topography” (bumps, roots, and holes, the slipperiness of sand and mud, etc.) make it a traction issue.

(4) Two or three of my hypothetical reasons.

(5) Some other reason or reasons entirely.

(6) My observation is faulty and they don’t freewheel any more often (as a percentage of time racing) than cyclists in other disciplines where the machines are equipped to do so.

Cheers,

Christopher

 

[GVFTA]

I have a question based on a possibly faulty and definitely uneducated observation (as has been said, I just started watching ‘cross this season).

In asking this question, I don’t mean for a moment to suggest that ‘cross riders aren’t riding so hard that their eyeballs bleed from the green light to the finish.

That said, I have noticed—or believe that I’ve noticed—that the riders freewheel more often than I would think they might. If this is even true, it makes me wonder why. Is it because:

(1) The intermittent short, sharp efforts require frequent recovery wherever and whenever they can get it.

(2) Cyclocross bikes are geared lowered than road bikes and so they “top out” frequently.

(3) What I’ll call “micro-topography” (bumps, roots, and holes, the slipperiness of sand and mud, etc.) make it a traction issue.

(4) Two or three of my hypothetical reasons.

(5) Some other reason or reasons entirely.

(6) My observation is faulty and they don’t freewheel any more often (as a percentage of time racing) than cyclists in other disciplines where the machines are equipped to do so.

Cheers,

Christopher

Try it for yourself. You'll answer your own questions and have some fun at the same time.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Your observations are probably wrong, in the sense that there is basically only one guy who can afford to start freewheeling at times. The thing you might be overlooking, is that Cyclocross is one obstacle after another, and a lot of those obstacles have to be taken at a slow speed. It's no use to go full speed all the time, because 50 meters down the road, you will need to come to a near full stop to make a 180 turn, run on stairs, jump barriers... So there are sections where it doesn't make any sense to go all out (it might even be dumb to do so, even dangerous). What you will see, is that riders will accelerate fully àfter an obstacle/turn. It's also possible that in the last 2 laps, some guys have given up on trying to catch the guy riding 20 seconds in front of 'm, when they have a 20 second lead on the next guy. In such a case it doesn't really make sense to go all out. When their position is basically fixed anyway.

Basically, it doesn't make sense to go all out all the time, due to the course and terrain.

 

[GVFTA]

Your observations are probably wrong, in the sense that there is basically only one guy who can afford to start freewheeling at times. The thing you might be overlooking, is that Cyclocross is one obstacle after another, and a lot of those obstacles have to be taken at a slow speed. It's no use to go full speed all the time, because 50 meters down the road, you will need to come to a near full stop to make a 180 turn, run on stairs, jump barriers... So there are sections where it doesn't make any sense to go all out (it might even be dumb to do so, even dangerous). What you will see, is that riders will accelerate fully àfter an obstacle/turn. It's also possible that in the last 2 laps, some guys have given up on trying to catch the guy riding 20 seconds in front of 'm, when they have a 20 second lead on the next guy. In such a case it doesn't really make sense to go all out. When their position is basically fixed anyway.

Basically, it doesn't make sense to go all out all the time, due to the course and terrain.

Kind of a long way to say it (although good examples) but you are correct. Efficiency is the name of the game. The most efficient rider completes the course quickest.

 

[christopherrowe]

Try it for yourself. You'll answer your own questions and have some fun at the same time.

Y'know, despite not having anything like the equipment for it, on a lark I rode out to where our local 'cross course is--or used to be--on my old hybrid last weekend. It was indiscernible in the field and woods it once ran through except for a pair of lonely-looking, weed-choked planks. I poked around online and nobody had posted on the local cyclocross Facebook group since September 2018. Maybe all those folks are riding gravel now? I don't know. I need a new road bike before I invest in a bike I wouldn't have many places to ride (maybe local cross-country mountain bike courses?) anyway. I wonder if my bike shop could convert my old LeMond road bike into something that would do for 'cross.