Many mountain bikes are race-ready right from the showroom floor. Whether your bike is brand-new or not, t… More
Summary: Learn how to race cyclocross with winning tactics, tips and moves from an expert in this free cyclocross racing tutorial and video lesson.
Mickey Denoncourt received a degree in applied physiology from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. Mickey is a Category 3 road racer, Semi-professional DH mountain bike racer...read more
"MICKEY DENONCOURT: Bicycle racing is a really, really hard sport. You really, really, have to suffer to be good at it. Cross racing is the pinnacle of suffering in bike racing. The races are short, brutal and intense on purpose. It's too gross and nasty outside. You don't want to be outside for five or six hours like you are on a road race in the summer. So everyone is suffering; everyone is feeling bad; everyone is in pain. When you're in pain and when you're really suffering, chances are that means that the people around you are suffering as well. So don't view being in pain as a sign that you need to ease up, view it as a sign that you need to assess if you can go any harder and then maybe if something is coming up it's your strength, that's the time to attack. That's how you're going to get away from people. So for me, my strength is how I descend and how I corner. So if we're going into a section on the course that's a long section of really hard corners, it might be the time for me to really get on my bike, really get hard, put some pressure on it, accelerate, suffer that little bit and try to get that gap."
eHow Article: Tactics for Cyclocross Racing
Comments
jdawkins1 said
on 8/2/2008 "When you are in pain, chances are, so are the people around you..." Thats some -- good advice. I've just started cross racing - there's a lot to learn - Thanks Mickey, there's a lot of useful stuff in these videos.