How to Race in Sand on a Cyclocross Bike

Video Transcript

"MICKEY DENONCOURT: Some regions of the country and of the world have cyclocross races that are full of sand. Sand is really a big feature of a lot of races than other ones, and so people put a lot courses together here in the U.S. with sand. They will run you through like volleyball pits and stuff like that. Riding through sand is pretty hard. It always wants to grab your front wheel and move it around when you're pedaling in a straight line. Cornering in sand can be almost impossible. The things to remember when you're riding through sand is you usually want to ride a slightly lighter gear, move as much of your weight back on your bike as you can. It's like sort of over the back wheel, so your front wheel sort of floats, then you usually want to ride on the tops with your hands super light on the bars. So as you're riding through this deep sand, you just really let your front wheel sort of hydroplane, like on a boat, sort of pick your way through. For sections longer than 15 or 20 yards, it's almost impossible to usually make it through there without a lot of horsepower. Like sometimes you just end up getting off and running through sand. Cornering through sand is--well, I think it's pretty fun. Sand, loose in general, you usually have to stick a foot out to really catch yourself in case you crash. As I come through this corner right here, this is sort of make a left-hand corner right here through this loose dirt, you'll see what I'm talking about. The front wheel ought to slide out as I move my foot. So watch as I come through. So yeah, you know, the sharper the corner is, the more likely you are going to slide. I moved my foot enough that it really pushed my wheels into the ground. But in a loose sandy corner, what you want to do is pick a nice, wide arc through it and usually, just for the sake of safety, you want to take your inside foot off so you stick it out and forward to move your weight through the corner and that usually helps you stay up. And also if your front wheel starts to wash out, so if I'm taking the right-hand corner, take my right foot out, my wheel is likely to wash that way. Being able to put a foot down and sort of push off, keeps you from going down and it keeps your momentum up."