Cyclocross Racing and Training
Cyclo-cross, or just ‘cross’ as it’s known to aficionados, is a form of off-road cycle racing for ‘skinny’ tyre bicycles as opposed to mountain bikes. Cross bikes have more clearance around the wheels to cater for slightly bigger knobbier tyres and accumulated mud, with either disc or cantilever brakes, plus a larger triangle to help with carrying over more difficult obstacles. The courses typically are largely grass but feature natural obstacles like tree roots and hills, but also sandpits and wooden boards to run and jump over. Mounting and dismounting the bike at speed is a key skill as is pedalling hard for an hour on changing terrain on a closed circuit.
Huddersfield Star Wheelers is a member of the Yorkshire Cyclo-Cross Association and hosts both Winter and Summer races. Winter races are often muddier and held at the weekends and provide an excellent safe environment for winter racing, and give you plenty of opportunity to build your strength, stamina, on bike skills, and cleaning skills. Summer races can be drier affairs even in Yorkshire and are held midweek in the early to late evening. All races are time limited rather than by distance or laps and feature mass starts before the field spreads out and a casual observer would have no idea where the start and the end of the field is, with slower riders being lapped.
If you would like to learn more about Cyclocross racing with Huddersfield Star Wheelers and how you can train and race, join us on Facebook!
You can find out more about the Yorkshire Cyclocross Races and what you need to compete in the series at http://yorkshirecyclocross.com/
More information on how to get started in cyclocross can be found on the British Cycling website here: https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/knowledge/article/izn20160210-Get-Started-Get-into–Cyclo-cross-0