velocipedio

yeah... i rode today, too. it was -5C, with a -15C windchill. but when you gotta ride, you gotta ride.

dobber

Whats the competition, how many times you can repeat the same line of though?

velocipedio

dobber... chill... none of this is real, it's the internet. you're taking it too seriously.

the competition is that i've pointed out the flaws in the argument -- the "loose" definition of cyclo-cross leaves the term meaning nothing -- and daily commuter has pointed out that the "tight" definition is too restrictive to include the activities of most people who consider what they do cyclo-cross.

it's all there. you really should try reading it.

dobber

Ring, ring

Hello Pot

This is kettle

You're black

arctic hawk

My $0.02
Commuting: Don't care what bike I am on as long as you get from point A to point B without a car: home, work, shopping whether through good/bad weather, paved/gravel roads, & trails, if you are so fortunate or unfortunate depening on how you see it

Mountain biking: Any form of riding off-road (organized or for fun) usually with a mountain bike

Cyclocross: strictly racing.
I can't seem to see myself blasting down a street & then jumping off my bike for a quick dismount/run/remount. I have done it the odd times at traffic lights for practice of technique but definitely at very low speeds (toppling over on pavement is not the same as gravel, dirt or mud). Besides, it would be a tad dangerous as drivers would never predict the cyclocross move (dismount/remount) on the streets & that could be bad for me.

From my silly observation, most forms of racing are refered to with a proper noun whether it be down-hill. cross country, time-trial, duathlon/triathlon, & (this subject) cyclocross.
Other than this, riding is fun & the CX bike is the most versatile bike available out there for commuting, touring & racing too. I suppose many come to this forum to talk about their race experiences, the choice of equipment to suit one's needs/wants & to encourage others to try a race (great for beginners from personal experience) or buy the bike (for racing or just for the pleasure of riding)

Phiber

What a bunch of horse dung. I happen to own two bikes at the moment:

A hardtail Mountain Bike and a custom setup Cyclo-cross bike.
I bought the Mountain Bike to haul around to trails and the like or quick jaunts around the neighborhood and even sometimes to the store.

I bought the CX bike for longer treks and to be an all around bike. I feel just as comfortable on roads as I do in construction areas and along dirt paths. It is NOT a road bike. It is NOT a mountain bike. I did not buy either; I bought a CX bike.

When you get over your elitest-prick attitude perhaps you'll come to understand that cycling is not about the sport. Being a roadie is not about racing the tour de france. CX riding is SURE not about jumping over barriers or a hike-a-bike marathon.

Daily Commute

You're wrong when you say that the broader definition means nothing. Off-road riding with dropped handlebars (with the need to dismount through some sections) and racing any kind of bike in a traditional cyclo-cross race is cyclo-cross. That excludes a lot.

But thanks for ackowledging that many people use the term differently than you. As I've noted, even the UCI doesn't use the term "cyclo-cross" to refer only to racing. When even the main sanctioning body isn't on your side, your have a problem.

I also don't think the definitions you provided prove your point. They only show that one aspect of cyclo-cross is racing. They don't prove that racing is the exclusive definition.

ncscott

I'm amazed by the complete uselessness of this post. With that said... I'll add one more post to it. I am a "cyclocross wannabee". I do not have the money to buy my own bike and therefore am a true "cyclocross wannabee". I read this forum because I want someday to be "a person who owns a touring bike but rides it onroad, offroad or combinations of the two". My creds to this point are being a "cyclist" since age 13 (27yrs old currently). I "raced" in my teens and have been in a few "cyclocross races". They were a blast.
Now to the uselessness aspect of this post... To fix the "problem", we need to develope a name for "recreational riders with cyclocross bikes", and add it to the title of this forum category. Therefore, people who are not "true" cyclocrossers can post on this forum and not feel guilty about it.
Continue forth with the uselessness...
"guy who rides a bike and enjoys it" (otherwise known as a "cyclist")

noisebeam

Since I ride a CX bike I thought I'd share some thoughts mainly to waste my own time, but wanted to point out up front I could care less about definitions.
I use it 80-90% for commuting on pavement with road tires. That is my commute, I don't consider myself to be 'cyclocrossing'. But I ride this 9mi commute very hard and actually think of the intervals and intensity as good training for a CX race.
Neither do I think of my coworkers who ride their racing bikes to work as 'road racing' or 'time-trialing' for their commute. One guy rides a touring bike, but it doesn't seem like he is touring very far.
I ride the rest of the time on single track, where no pure road bike could go. I sometimes for major obsticals dismount and remout with CX technique (only for the practice really). My wife took her commuter hybrid on a similar trail, she wasn't mounting biking or road riding. Maybe she was hybriding
(She passed a mtber up a hill which was funny.)

I ride a cyclocross bike.
I am a commuter and trail rider.
I am not a cyclocross racer. I watch racing videos, technique videos and practice technique in the park.
I do not even know what 'cyclocrossing' means. It sounds like some made up term.

Al

jnbacon

Noisebeam

Are you preparing for racing in AZ next season? If so, are you racing on a team or what? I would like to try racing next season, but I have no clue as to how to get into a race, or who organizes them.

gonesh9

Well I'm glad I saw this thread. I have been planning on trying cross racing out this year, but now I realize I'd have to deal with even bigger egos and trivial B.S. than with mountain biking or road riding. I've also learned that my Cross Check is not really a cyclo cross bike, because it's not made to be raced. So basically I'll be the idiot wannabe commuting in the morning and then after work riding my local dirt fireroads on the same useless bike.

ultra-g

Well, I ride my CX bike in NYC traffic, down Queens Boulevard regularly. That's an obtacle course in itself that's gotta be more hardcore than cyclocross racing

roadbuzz

Let's just confuse things a little more....

I rode my commuter, a dead-heavy cheap-o touring bike with moustache (not drop!) bars, in a couple of CX races this year. And any real CX-er would tell you, what I was doing was not CX!!

velocipedio

siiiiiigh... guys... chill out... you're taking it all to seriously. while i do think that cyclo-cross is racing, i'm really not all that wedded to the concept. i just like stirring things up when i have to work on sundays. i did the same thing last sunday in the road forum [https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=89077]. mostly, i like to take a stand and give everyone else a chance to take a stand on something.

call it a troll. i prefer to think of it as an on-line debating society.

people get into the sport in different ways. for me, it was racing, pure and simple; a form of bike racing that allows me to keep my skin on my body and avoid broken bones. i hope you guys do try racing; it's the heart and soul of the sport, and i don't think there's a better way to appreciate the beauty of a cyclo-cross machine than putting it througth the paces in a well-designed course.

but, mostly, i'm just glad there are more people buying cyclo-cross bikes. and... i really enjoyed getting my dander up and getting yours up as well.

manboy

Gray areas, people! Have you all lost your minds??

jfmckenna

While I have never done a mtb race I have done lots of road races and even more cyclocross races. By far there are less ego problems in cyclocross than there are anywhere. I see lots of people out there that race what ever bike they can fit cross tires on and have nothing but a good time. Case in point: https://www.roanoke.com/outdoors%5C15535.html I got a good laugh out of this article but in some ways I think it makes the point. I hope you come out to see for your self wht these events are all about.

roadbuzz

You're a celebrity! And then there's the guy that races on a single speed (it's not a fixie, is it?).

arctic hawk

Great article & nice race! In jeans! Just like we used to ride about when I was a kid...
You are right on about having a good time! I remember my first race, I finally DNFed when I pulled a muscle & was a few laps down already in any event. It was my first race on the bike ever & I think I crashed big at least twice. All this at the age of 35yrs old.
Heck! It made for some good story telling to my friends at home. Kind of like, "you did what???" "Are you crazy..."

dlbcx

Cool article! Hey, whatever it takes to race, even if it has to be jeans! At least, you didn't get stuck wearing a jockstrap and wrestling mask, like one of the local guys did at a Halloween race (El Matador) in NorCal.

Daily Commute

Velocipedio, I guess I'm glad you were just trolling. That said, defining "cyclocross" is an interesting and useful exercise. What I objected to most was your obnoxious tone (if you want an example, just look at the title of the thread). You clearly care about the sport. So it's ironic that your comments probably served to turn people off of cyclocross racing. And worse, you were insulting the very people who were most likely to become fans or participants.

If you want to increase respect for cyclocross, I strongly suggest that you hold your trolling impulses in check.

velocipedio

fair enough... the subject heading was really just intended to be inflamatory, to get people involved in the thread.

the real reason why i love cyclo-cross is because you see things like this at races:

that's mike magur, president of verge sport. seems he lost a bet. the amazing thing is that he got third in his category. i think he won the overall in the men's b in the new england series.

velocipedio

but you had fun, didn't you?

noisebeam

I too want to try some racing. I know there is some stuff going on in Flag and Tuscon, but the phone numbers & email I have come across for contact didn't seem to work. Later I learned of some published races that can be found thru azcycling.com - of course they have passed though.
Al

arctic hawk

You guys are just going to love it! If you have never raced before in your life, you are going to have a blast no matter how you finish. The comeraderie before & after the race is just great!

I met Velocipedio at a race in Oct 2003 & he is quite the nice fellow actually!

Robert Bush

It is amazing to me how elitist people become when labeling for exclusivity or special status. I've lived in Europe & the US. Cyclocross originated as fall/early winter training. At first just throw on wider tires, occasionally different rims & go. End shifters, seats with holes, cantilever brakes, and heavier forks all came later. The same frames Reynolds 631, 853, and aluminum are used for both road & cyclocross, so what's the deal? You're not cyclocrossing ever, unless racing. Do you commute by going cross country, jumping rails, fording streams, running with your bike over your shoulder? If you are not, you are not cyclocrossing. If you're riding your mountain bike on anything but a single track, are you mountain biking? So, to make it simple, ride a cross bike, on trails, towpaths, roads, gravel, even commuting, you are cyclocrossing. Posseurs who wish to say you are not, throw the bike over your shoulder while climbing the steps at work or home, it's cyclocrossing to me. It's just nice to see people who know what it is. In the early 70's, spectators would line the courses in Europe, and when I mentioned cross to US friends in the mid 80's they thought I was nuts. We're all cyclists who own a bike. RGB