here's my classic steel Bontrager CX bike

I bought my Bianchi Volpe so that I could race cyclocross if the bug ever hit. It would certainly take some modification from where it is now as a commuter, but I'd love to give it a shot.

Protorio:I'm building one right now - I've *never* raced a bike - well, I won one neighborhood race on my yellow huffy as a kid. But I'd be stoked to enter the lowest, suckiest class and give it a try next season! Pics to come as I gather the funds for parts.

what frame? if there's one good thing about building a cross bike is that the parts can be fairly low end. they get beat up and Tiagra/Sora components do just fine.

Cyclocross looks like a lot of fun and right up my alley.

Sky probably knows more about this - I've just read stuff. My understanding is that cross bikes have road geometry, and often use drop bars (but whatever works), and room for 30 -35mm or so cross knobbies. Cantilever brakes make that easier.

But cross races seem to be real all-comers affairs.

I run 33mm Jack Browns on my Romulus "road bike" and have been able to take it almost anywhere. Underbiking on road bikes garners some strange looks from most mountain bikers on the same path.

I'm also interested in hearing about routes/trails....

Didn't the velodrome have a short CX season a few years ago? I think it was in November and they used the trails just west of the track.

High bottom brackets! That's a key difference with road bikes. I'm all for the cross-dress rides! ha! never done that before.

Underground CX races would be awesome.

They had one CX race starting at the track this past fall (I think in october). It was pretty fun: you started in the track, then went around the nearby canyon trails. It was a pretty small-scale race in comparison to the socal-cross series (mostly in LA), but it was run well. I can imagine people complaining about that terrain (especially serious racer types), as parts are really too rocky for CX bikes and it would be pretty easy to get hurt. In fact, a guy racing in the 65+ cat basically totaled his bike. But man I was happy just to have a nearby race!

As for the high BB on CX bikes: that trend has turned around (or at least started to), and many manufacturers are now dropping BBs on their cross bikes. I think they should still be a little bit higher on a CX bike as compared to a road bike because of pedal strike. The rough conditions and very tight turns of cyclocross courses invite pedal strike... in fact, i smashed off one wing of my left eggbeater pedal during a race last fall. But yeah, handling suffers.

I can't wait for cross season, I plan on doing the socal series this fall as a complete noob... It looks like so much fun, just wish we had a little mud around here! Here is my current cross bike:


Chris

Cool bike! I have an orange bike too :).

there may be some underground CX races this winter. totally free and probably on a weeknight at about 6pm or so. get your bike ready and get VERY powerful lights. we carry Night Rider lights at the shop (they're a local company in Kearny Mesa).

I only found out about cyclocross last year, when I purchased a 2008 Fuji Cross Comp. Very cool bike. It is my "go everywhere" bike now. I'm going touring with it at the end of this month in Washington. I commute daily on it, go on Century rides on it, go to the store... Lots of fun. I have fun with mountain bikers when I go on single track trails. I have gotten some odd looks, more when I have the rack/pannier setup!

Nov.1- Storm the Beach CX - Camp Pendelton, Las Pulgas exit. Wide tires rule this race with almost a mile of riding on the high tide line.

Dec. 6 - Adams Avenue Bicycles CX - Florida Canyon, start and finish on the Velodrome. I'm Chief Referee for this one.

The Neon Frankenbike started out as a CX bike, but it's looking more like a randonneur machine now. Just added Bluemels Club Special fenders; Ostrich Japanese handlebar bag should be here any day. Maiden voyage Bike the Bay?

.

I'm wondering if it's easier to get my commuter back into it's original CX config or to get my old MTB back into operation. Sounds really fun. @VC, How many lights do you recommend? I've got a NiteRider, but only one, and it's handlebar mounted. Will that suffice, do you think?

anyone know if the voodoo wazoo frame runs small or big?

a buddy just sent this to me:

"I got this press release from Shimano this morning. Cross season has kicked off and the press release announced that the first cross was won by World Champ Niels Albert. Nothing special about that, but he was riding a Dura Ace Di2 equipped bike.

That in itself isn't that weird actually. I mean, last weeks weather has been good and it was more of a road-race than a typicall cross. Though, upon asking if this would be a one-time venture, the Shimano spokesman told me Niels Albert, Sven Nijs and Lars Boom all will ride Shimano´s electronic groupo during the whole CX season...

With this Shimano puts down all the critisism about the Di2 stuff being a gadget (it really shifts faster and more important, constant all the time!) and it would not stand up 'daily' abuse... Guess again, I would think..."

Velo Cult:sometime around October im going to start a once a week Cyclocross series. this will be for fun/training. it'll be totally free and probably on a weeknight.

so, this is a call for you to prepare a CX worthy bike and also to get very powerful lights like Niterider's (we order them in and they are a SD company). the lights are expensive but you need extremely powerful lights for riding at night.

I've been tryign to get a few people together for underground/practice CX races weeknights in SD with limited success!
CX season is here! lets do this! maybe UCSD Eucalyptus Grove, San Clemente Canyon, PQC? lets meet up!

Also really fun race up in Temecula 9/27
http://www.racersandchasers.com/
@Vail Lake Resort CX events will start at 9:30 on Sunday morning and we will be using a ton of the grassy area by the pools

in leaving town in a few minutes here but next week hopefully i can put up the map, directions and parking spots. then again, next week is Interbike so that can be tough. soon i will get it up though or have someone else do it.

Rock on I'm in!

My new 1988 Bianchi Axis entry level cross bike. Drove to Hollywood yesterday to pick it up, needs some tires and love. Can't wait to get it on the trails and into some cyclocross. At 57 undergoing my fourth or fifth childhood, can't remember which. My Nyala is glad to have a fellow countryman in the stable.

Got to love the Owens Valley. My heart lives there, I don't get to visit it often enough.

Nice collection, Sage! Gotta love that Celeste paint job. It's good to see another mid-life guy on the forum. I just turned 53 day before yesterday. Each time I get a new bike I feel like I'm 25 again!

just a reminder that Tomorrow (Monday the 5th) is the first CX training rides at UCSD.

two photos from last night

Uber fun!!!! In the dark def adds some trickyness to it, but can't wait for next week, I smell run up:)

The Underground CX decided to move the ride to Tuesday so that the racers had time to recover after racing on weekends.