Cyclocross Bikes - Making Me Feel Like a Kid Again

I love riding my cyclocross bike! It sees a lot of road riding with road tires but once I have the 'cross tires on and I'm riding around, whether it's on a trail, in the park or just bombing around the neighborhood I can't seem to wipe the goofy smile from my face. I'm not exactly sure what it is. I ride my bikes a lot and I get close with mountain biking, but I usually push the speed envelope enough that I'm almost as scared as I am having fun. I like the thrill of going fast through the mountains but I know, and have the scars to prove it, that the thrill of speed can end up as the pain of defeat really fast. My wife has just shakes her head now when I show her the bloody wound as the answer to her question of how my ride went.

I think what makes me so happy when I ride my 'cross bike is I feel like a kid again. I grew up in a small farming town and had a choice between fishing for carp and catfish in the slow moving Bear River or riding my freestyle BMX bike around. I saved up my paper route money and bought a blue GT Vertigo freestyle bike. It was the nicest bike in the town and I loved it. All summer my friends and I would roll around town. We'd do sessions at the small dirt jump park we'd built near the river or ride over to the church to use the parking lot for flatland type tricks. We just had a lot of fun goofing off or working on mastering the latest trick. Riding a 'cross bike makes those feelings come back. Just the freedom to ride wherever I want. It's not a heavy or cumbersome bike so I'm not limited to trail riding like my full suspension mountain bike. The larger somewhat knobby tires are much more durable than the road tires I have around so I can hop curbs, ride through parks, do some trail riding, and just go do whatever I want.

I think we've all felt this way about bikes. It's the first real taste of freedom that we got as children. Until then we could walk or run but you couldn't get too far that way and it wasn't fast or very much fun, at least on 5 year old legs. Once you learn to ride that bike, the world opens up, or at least as much as your mom will allow. I still remember finally getting to ride around the block with my friends; I could go fast and jump off of the curbs on my yellow Huffy. This is exactly what bikes were meant for. I still feel that enthusiasm whenever I'm on my cyclocross bike. I feel like I'm not tied down by anything. I'll admit to not following proper cycling protocol. I dart around the road, hop off curbs, blast past the ladies walking in the park, and get odd looks from the mountain bikers when I ride past them on the trails.

Cyclocross is a somewhat old cycling sport, around 100 years old. There is a healthy ongoing discussion about whether or not to allow some modernization. Some of the charm of cyclocross is the antiquated technology used; drop bars, cantilever brakes, narrow tires. The honest truth is that even if some changes were made to allow flat bars, disc brakes and wider tires, 'cross races probably would keep using what they've been using. The historical equipment used has not only been refined but it's lighter and one thing I know cyclocross races don't want is an extra pound of bike to throw up on their shoulder for a steep run-up. When I first started learning about cyclocross I considered these restrictions sort of backward, every other cycling discipline take advantage of new technology. I've since changed my mind. I like that there is, to some degree, a limitation placed on 'cross bikes. Sort of like the various classes of auto racing. There are racing classes that require a car to remain mostly stock. This keeps everyone on the same page and you just accept the challenge to work within the limitations and even have fun with them.

In the local Utah Cyclocross Series you can ride whatever you want, standard 'cross bike, a unicycle, a full suspension mountain bike, whatever. Although there are no limitations I still see most people riding 'cross bikes with standard equipment. Again, I don't know if that's based on a 'cross bike with narrow tires actually being faster than a mountain bike on our single-track heavy courses, or if it's tied to what 'cross should be, but that's what most people seem to like about the sport. You'll see a lot of mountain bikes in the C-class division, a few in the B's but none in the A class. So either they're fully committed to 'cross culture or they know what is indeed the fastest bike to ride. Either way I'm going to stick with my 'cross bike the way it is, even if it does squeal like a school girl every time I tug the brakes.