NYC Cyclocross Guide: Driving to Big Races and Getting No Results is What We Live For
Over the years the journal has provided guides for beginners to the sports, weekend race previews, and race recaps. But here, finally, a one-stop-shop ( or rather, two-part series) for everything cyclocross in NYC.
First, let’s get this out of the way. There is no cyclocross in NYC. There is Rainey Park, and you can choose to be one of the many whose cyclocross career is just the annual trip to the starting grid in a little park in Queens. This article is mostly not for you. But, for those of you looking to abandon your loved ones every weekend to stand around in a grass field all day - get in the car, loser. Cross is here.
No idea how you got here? What cyclocross is? Cyclocross is a sport where you a ride a bike that sort of looks like a road bike, in a field where an industrious person has created a sort of obstacle course. The course will force you to dismount your bike, run, and then jump back on your bike while running. Sometimes you run up stairs while carrying your bike. Sometimes you jump over barriers. You also do this while carrying your bike. For 90% of the race you are just riding your bike so hard it feels like dying. This is a dumb sport.
Cross season runs from September (or late August if you truly believe) to December. The beginning of the season can be very hot. The end of the season can be very cold. Sometimes it is very wet. If you are lucky, there will be mud. You have to ride your bike through the mud, as you sometimes have to ride it through sand. You will be tired from racing and driving from standing around all day and you will lose your voice from laughing and loudly heckling your friends. You will have the absolute best time and the most fun.
If you did it right, on Monday mornings, you will nurse your cross hangover as you anxiously refresh crossresults.com, waiting to see the number that will define you as a person until next weekend, when you will do it all again.
The Calendar
Did you navigate to Bikereg and put in “within 50 miles of [zip code in the five boroughs]” and nothing came up? Never fear! It is absolutely possible to to race every single weekend from September to December. Here is a really awesome spreadsheet of all the races within a semi-reasonable driving distance courtesy of Keith from King Kog/Sun and Air CX, who you can meet if you come to cross practice.
Here’s the bad news: the races are all 1.5 hours away. Minimum. None of them are really accessible by any kind of public transit. I’m sorry. This is how it is. You will get to know the mango lady at the entrance to the Holland Tunnel very well. You will miss her when you realize Google is always wrong about taking the Holland, and you should absolutely go through Staten Island.
You can race once a weekend, or fill your calendar with big weekend races. The big weekend races are typically further away, require overnight stays, and much more planning. But they have big pro fields! You get to race on the same course as the pros! They are events. They are spectacles. You can personally heckle your heroes from an uncomfortably close proximity. You should experience at least one.
The major weekend races you can expect to find many other NYC racers at are Charm City, Really Rad, and NoHo. Charm is highly recommended as it falls earlier in the season while the weather is still tolerable and the stoke is extremely high, but if freezing in New England in November is your thing, we’ll see you at NoHo and Really Rad. A new addition later in the season is Croton Cross, a two-day race in Westchester. You can take the train there! Amazing! Finally, Cross Nationals are in Connecticut this year!
Cross is logistics Pro Tips:
Make your own personal calendar and repeat after me: rest weeks.
Register for races early (as in the second reg opens) if you are a cat 4 or 5. Start position is often determined by registration order rather than cross results points. A front row start is important.
Housing for out of town races is either scarce or goes fast. Some of us already booked housing for NoHo in November. Back in August. We should get a life.
All this talk of driving, but maybe you don’t own a car because you are a person who has better things to do than spend three hours a week engaged in the theater of alternate side parking. Congrats! But now you need a ride. Time to make friends with cars! Not here to make friends? Rental cars are also an option and owning your own bike rack is half the battle. A saris bones is a good option. You should probably still make friends to put in the car to help you split the cost of the rental, gas, and tolls. You’re out here trying to race every weekend and the Verrazano is $20!!! Outrageous.
How to get rides to races make friends and get better at cyclocross
The first step to getting rides to races getting involved in the local cyclocross racing scene is to join the NYC Cyclocross Facebook Group. Not only is it where you get updates on whether cross practice is on, it’s also a good place to connect with local racers for carpooling, or to get deals on gear (someone probably has a saris bones looking for a new home). Your second step is to come to cross practice! (7pm, Randall’s Island). Your third step is to come to post practice pizza. Sitting on a curb in Brooklyn for an hour is a surefire way to get rides to races make friends.
The fourth step is to find the NYC tent village at a race. Just come over and say “can I join you?” and the answer will be a resounding yes. Someone will probably offer you a camping chair to sit in and maybe a coke (sorry, I meant a refreshing brew from our sponsors at Athletic Brewing Company), and later when your bike breaks, 7 - 15 overly helpful and very opinionated people will each come over and debate the best way to fix your problem. I cannot guarantee that any of them will solve your problem, but there is a strong likelihood that one of them has a car and is also going to that race you need a ride to next weekend.
Cross is logistics Pro Tips:
Get the most out of cross practice by learning from other people. There are lots of very experienced racers who come to cross practice. Introduce yourself! Get on their wheel and watch them. You thought you were picking great lines? You were wrong.
The NYC village at the race is usually a row made up of some combination of the TBD, KruisCX, BeCX, and King Kog tents. Just look for the blob of all these kits or any familiar faces from cross practice.
You do not need to know how to bunny hop - a thing that pretty much only happens in elite men’s races. It is absolutely very cool. There are other more important skills first.
Attention non-drivers: wherever you live, no matter how close it is, is out of the way in a car within the 5 boroughs. You go to the driver. These are the rules. I will not be taking any questions.
You are not as good at turning as you think you are. Come to cross practice.
Equipment
This is not a gear article and we will not be getting into it, but you need a bike. Can you show up on any bike? Yes, absolutely. The less “right” the bike, the louder everyone will cheer for you. Is it going to be ideal? Not for racing, but yes for getting lovingly heckled. If you’re just trying out cyclocross …just show up. Maybe try to show up on a bike with some kind of knobby tires.
If you already know you love cyclocross and are committing to racing a whole season, you probably need a “cross bike.” Is a gravel bike a cross bike? Many people have raced cross to great success on a gravel bike. Many companies have even decided that a gravel bike is, in fact, a cross bike, (or maybe a cross bike is a gravel bike?) or that there is some sort of one bike to rule them all. What I can say for certain is that a road bike is not a cross bike and a mountain bike is not a cross bike.
Now that we’ve cleared that up, prep for the whole season right away!!! Right now!! Check your equipment. Buy all the tires you need. Buy all the extras of everything you might need. It is already September! What are you waiting for! Cross is here.
Cyclocross is Logistics Pro Tips:
Tires are both the #1 most important piece of gear in cyclocross and the #1 thing to debate (I bet we’ll even debate this!). Here’s a great guide to CX tires, that you can either setup tubeless, or get started gluing tubulars. Follow these guides, your heart, and the farmer’s almanac. I don’t care which tires you get or how they are attached to the rim; we are not debating this here, this is not a gear article. Just do it ASAP. It is September!!!
You should absolutely have on hand at all times: extra brake pads, a rear derailleur hanger, and an extra chain. These are all mechanicals that can (usually) be fixed quickly and in time for you to race, but are sometimes specific enough to your setup that you can’t rely on someone else. While you’re at it, check for anything proprietary. This is still not a gear article.
Are you W/T/F/NB and a new racer or just cross curious? Slide into the DMs. Seriously. Most of us did our first races on loaner bikes.
Ok. Still with us? Take a deep breath, grab some water. You’re probably dehydrated anyway. Now, register for your first race, and then come on over to Part 2: We Really Weren’t Kidding About All The Driving.
