After posting this admittedly wussy mud shot on Facebook, our readers responded with various levels of mud.
Photo was intended to demonstrate the mud-collecting properties of BB 30 on the new Conquest Team
Luda-Mud-XXXTravaganza
from Steven Lamb
Ripped-the-Derailer-Off Mud
from Wesley Hodgson
Maah Daah Hey Mud
and another from Steven Lamb
Cross Mud
Andrew Mudder
and I said,
next time encase your bike in mud, like Han Solo in carbonite, and set it up as a historic monument in a bike shop.
I can appreciate the mud in these shots, but I can’t really relate to the appeal of cyclocross. Maybe because I live in Los Angeles and mud isn’t a factor unless it’s covering the Pacific Coast Highway and backing up traffic for miles.
I mean, I clearly see how people are jazzed about cyclocross and I think the enthusiasm is great, but what exactly is it that people like about the sport?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWGnM_1ViZA&feature=related
This is a good video to explain the child-like enjoyment of racing cross, the culture that is cross fans, and the fun that is mud. I’m not sure LA has the right culture for that, but it’s pretty well in-line with Portland, Seattle, Chicago, and New England.
I just raced my first cross race last weekend.
I go into more details on this blog post I wrote: http://robmcgarty.com/2010/09/07/first-cyclocross-race/ but long story short is that it not only pushes your cycling ability to the limit, but also your physical ability and it is just a lot of fun and it’s a great group of people to hang out with. Try it, you’ll like it.
It wasn’t too wet for my first race, so I can’t comment on the mud just yet, but it looks like it should be fun.
I just raced my first cross race last weekend.
I go into more details on this blog post I wrote: http://robmcgarty.com/2010/09/07/first-cyclocross-race/ but long story short is that it not only pushes your cycling ability to the limit, but also your physical ability and it is just a lot of fun and it’s a great group of people to hang out with. Try it, you’ll like it.
It wasn’t too wet for my first race, so I can’t comment on the mud just yet, but it looks like it should be fun.
Rob
Mud on bikes is not funny. Getting bikes that muddy means serious trail damage. Access is our number one issue in the MTB community and not respecting the trail only gives ammunition to those who would restrict our access.
I have never understood this aspect of cross - how is it that races are offsetting the damage done to trails? Don’t the areas where the races are organized hold someone accountable for repairing the trails afterwards?
Yes! A comment from the mud lobby!
You should bone up on your facts before talking shit about ‘cross… Races require permits and are usually held in civic park type settings far from precious singletrack and are great places to introduce outsiders into a very insider sport (which surely can’t hurt our efforts for more trail accessibility).
To the defender of mud: As the winner of the mud competition, this occurred in Maah Daah Hey National Grassland where you see maybe 1 other person all day, and about 3,000 cattle. I tried talking to the cows about ripping up the trail, but they just wouldn’t listen.
P.S. We were so f’ing lost, that by that point we weren’t even on the trail.
P.P.S. That is not all mud, given all those cows.
We’re not race promoters, so I can’t speak to what trail mitigation they do, but Cross races in the PNW are ran in City Parks, farms, etc and are done so with permits and permissions. Those parks are usually multi-use on established trails and in grass.