Over The Bars
By Beth Trickett

Crossing Over

Cyclocross. Not your mother's road bike.

I have a confession to make. For the past month I’ve been cheating on my mountain bike. I know, I know, but it wasn’t planned. Like most affairs, I was swept off my feet before I even knew what was happening. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of bike lust.

After getting my ass whooped last year in my first mountain bike race and spending the summer chasing the shadows of my long-legged male riding companions, I knew I had to up the ante. You know it’s time for a change when you could identify the backs of all your riding companions in a line-up. Since doping was out of the question (who has that kind of time? Plus I’m afraid of needles), I decided to start listening to all the spandex-clad, Tour de France-worshipping, bib-wearing, weight-weenies, who’d been chanting the same mantra in my ear since I first fell into cycling fold. But, before running out and dropping my first born on a stick of carbon, I decided to do it on my own terms.

I’d always been strangely intrigued by the sport of cyclocross. It’s all about beer, mud, and cowbells—three things the world can always use more of. These cyclists can pull off spandex while racing a super-light bike through the mud. To me, this is the best of all cycling worlds. I like to get dirty and I need a bike that does too.

Time on the trail is great for developing technical skills and it’s not bad for increasing endurance either. But long spin-sessions on a cross or road bike are the fast ticket to big endurance gains. Train on the road and you’re bound to hit the pedals harder on the trail. The benefit of the cross bike is that it leaves your options open. Throw on some slicks and you can ride curbside. Narrowly get clipped by a door and you can throw on some knobby tires and take to fireroads, gravel, and light singletrack. A cross bike has a wider fork to accommodate these tires, a higher bottom bracket, a slacker headtube angle, and the bars are generally higher (which can be good for larger riders.). Cross bikes are also perfect for trudging through winter conditions as a commuter or to gain some traction on the road when the trails are covered by the white stuff.

For someone who loves riding singletrack, but also wants to dabble with riding on the road (a road bike is best if you’re planning to race), a cross bike is the perfect compromise between mountain biking and road cycling. Go ahead; live it up. Your mountain bike never has to know.

Questions? Comments? Love letters? Send 'em to here.