Emilio700

Old thread but what the hell..

I've been national champion once, 5th and 7th at worlds, masters cyclocross.

1. ~8 weeks or so from CX season, start doing specific drills and intervals. Specificity is the key to cross. It is not a steady power, steady cadence. It is constantly changing cadence with constant decelerations and accelerations. Those accelerations are often at low cadence because the ground is too bumpy to use a high cadence. So interval work should be low cadence, very high power that winds up to speed. You rarely need to accelerate for more than a few seconds in cross so intervals should be short but repeated immediately with very little rest.
One of my favorites is my soccer field sprints. Start near one goal post at corner, accelerate hard for about 5s across width of field to opposite side, then settle to steady state speed. Brake hard, tight U-turn then accelerate hard again for 5s. Repeat until you hurl.
Option is to run across width of field with bike, make u-turn, remount than accelerate for 5s, dismount on other side, U turn then run. Repeat until hurl.

2. Pre ride course until you can memorize it. Practice alternate lines. Never assume the line everyone else is taking is the fastest. Look for areas that have less rolling resistance or more traction. Every tiny bit of speed you find is free watts. I generally walk up run ups in practice to save the legs. But at least once you need to hit each running section at race pace to get a feel for it.

3. Caffeine. Lots

4. When in doubt, lower your pressure. Lowers rolling resistance on the bumpy stuff, adds grip and control.

5. Don't be macho about your gearing. Just because some 22 year old, 6-2", 175 lb elite rider is running a 42x 11-25 doesn't mean you should too. If running an MTB cassette allows you to ride stuff that others in your class bog down on, you have an advantage.

Make friends with pain and you will succeed in cross.