Dan515

I just had a random idea come to me: is there such thing as "urban" cyclocross? What I mean by "urban" is that it's not on trails (mainly riding on grass/concrete/asphalt), and people dismount to run up stairs and possibly barriers that are set up on the course and stuff like that.

I know mud is part of cross, but this was just an idea. Maybe there could be areas where people throw water onto the racers just to mess with them

degnaw

Sounds fun - I'm envisioning people racing through a school, up and down stairs and over desks and chairs and such. Though that's not really what you're thinking of.

ShogunMSB

I think it could be done...I'd def go and see a race through downtown san francisco up and down stairs and through the alley ways....biking has unlimited possibilities!

nitropowered

My friends and I have a Urban CX course that rides through a park and runs up two sets of stairs, one of them a monster. It's fun, insanely hard and we don't have to ride far to get to it. Only problem is one of the turns is semi-blind and if the car comes the other way left of center, it won't be too pretty.

Its doable for a few guys but more than that it could get dangerous because of traffic (though there is very little)

same time

Why, yes, there is, and it looks like a lot of fun:

https://www.bilenky.com/Cyclocross_race_08.html

ghettocruiser

It's called 'riding to work'.

Aeroplane

It would be really cool if you could do it officially. The hard part would be getting roads closed.

Dan515

Road closures maybe not, depending on sponsorship I guess. There's a "Tour de Gastown" around here where roadies race around downtown and stuff and so roads have to be closed and it's an annual event. I think it would be more difficult getting the stairwells, narrow alleys, and random obstacles to be set up without people messing about.


I just had the idea of urban cross just because it seems like a way to be able to race cross but not necessarily in the winter.

greenpeppers

also look up aley cat races, they're mainly done by bike messengers, but anyone can participate. They're races done in live traffic, or used to be I don't pay attention that much anymore. And you have to do pit stops at certain stations where you gotta do a crazy doance and sing at the same time or something.
It's kinda like it...just switch the dancing for stairclimbs and hurdling across a line of residential fences! that'd be cool.

DonPenguino

There is this going down in Chicago. Trust me, it'll be brutal.

kennykaos

we have one urban cross race a year here put on by bilenky cycles in their junkyard, its done every december about a week or two before christmas, check out the pictures on their website.

tad

I'd love to get something like that going on in DC...
steps of the monuments, anyone?

iwegian

dan, quick question. is 515 your area code?

bartokomous

A friend of mine sets up an annual CX stage race in Baltimore. I think there are something like 6 short races in one day. Group ride through the city from race to race. Most of the races are in parks, but one was through a construction site this past year. Since lugging barriers around all day is no fun, the courses had to involve staircases, huge runups, and natural barriers to force dismounts. One of the most fun CX days I've had.

Look around your neighborhood. I'm sure there are tons of potential courses.

TK421

In an alley cat, if there is an obstacle like a long set of stairs or what have you, usually we leave our bikes at the bottom of that. I know it's not a cross race but if there were some stipulation to the distance from body to bike, I think alley cats could get interesting. I remember a race we did this last winter involved a lot of train tracks sort of line up like barriers which required a lot of lifting of the bike. That's about as cross as it gets- and it's up to the winner of the last race to plan the next one in Milwaukee so... win races and you could have your Urban CX dream come true!

axcxnj

recently we did a "tracklocross" race, on randalls is in NYC, it was a mix between an alleycat and a CX race...iit had grass, mud, dirt and roads and curbs...lots of fun!

Kotts

Yup...

acorn_user

There's a race in Charlottesville called Urban Cross. It's run around an old silk mill near downtown, and is pretty cool. Good for spectators, and there's food and stuff around.

CliftonGK1

I'm thinking either the stairs from the art building to the music building parking lot, or the stairs up the Jefferson Hill on East Green?