Cyclocross, CX, CCX, cyclo-X, or ‘cross is an adventurous form of bicycle racing. According to Wikipedia there are many stories how ‘cross’ began as a sport. One is that European bike racers would race each other to the next town and during the race would creatively take short cuts through farmers fields, over fences and whatever route would assist them in arriving first.
Lindsey Collins is the co-captain of the Santa Cruz based Cyclocross Team Caletti. Collins prefers the term ‘cross’ when describing the nuances and challenges of her sport. When Collins isn’t racing she teaches environmental studies and writing classes for U.C. Santa Cruz.
SZ: Is Cyclocross a serious sport?
LC: Yeah, the great thing about this sport is that there is the element of a serious sport but it’s not in the Olympics. It’s serious enough that the discussion goes back and forth with cycling unions trying to get it into the Olympics. ‘Cross’ is really big in Europe especially in Belgium where thousands of spectators come out and they have ‘cross’ superstars. Since I began racing back in 2001 it has grown a lot in the U.S. A lot of people were doing ‘cross’ back then as a kind of a fun thing after their mountain bike season ended or as an off season activity before the road racing season. Now ‘cross’ is a primary focus for some racers.
It’s grown quite a bit and there are now top level athletes competing yet there remains a festive atmosphere. In Portland, Oregon there is a huge ‘cross’ scene. I always compete in at least one race a year up there just because the crowds are so fun. In the women’s race there are often sixty racers competing. They have a Halloween race where everyone competes in costume. It’s unique in that you have a really intense competition but people will be competing in a funny costume.
SZ: What’s your role as a racing member of Team Caletti? Do you have a ranking or overall point standing in ‘cross.’
LC: I am co-captain of the team with Jeremiah Kille. The point/standing thing is changing this year. Our governing body will have an additional governing body. There are certain races that are sanctioned through USA Cycling. If you have a license and compete in those races depending on how you finish in the race you receive points.
SZ: What do you mean a license?
LC: A racer buys an annual cycling license through USA Cycling, which is the national governing body. This year there’s going to be a new governing body, the U.S. Cyclocross, it’s called USCX. It’s not clear how it’s going to work exactly but basically some races are informal, you don’t receive points for them. The results are for the series standing. For example, a competitor participates in a series of races and at the end of that particular series a racer may be in 3rd place of all the racers. The results won’t give a racer a national ranking but some races are sponsored by USA Cycling and if a competitor has a license and competes in those races it gives them a certain number of points based on their overall standing that contributes to their ranking.
SZ: Is it tied to any prize money?
LC: Historically women’s pursues haven’t been so great but there are a lot of race sponsors that are trying to make sure at the top levels of ‘cross’ that women’s prize money is the same as the men’s which is great.
SZ: Describe the sport of Cyclocross. How is it different from other bike races such as mountain bike or road racing?
LC: There’s a lot of overlap. A lot of people who compete in ‘cross’ also compete as mountain bikers and road racers. A ‘cross’ bike looks like a road bike but has knobby tires and doesn’t have suspension like a mountain bike. But you can ride off road on a lot of terrain you would ride with a mountain bike. It’s just a bumpier ride.
Races are a lot shorter than a road or mountain bike race. They are only forty-five minutes to an hour but sprinting the whole time. Road and mountain bike races can be two to five hours. In ‘cross,’ riders basically ride full speed the entire time. There’s no resting and recovering or drafting off another rider. One aspect of ‘cross’ I love is that the culture is so different from other cycling events. It’s possible to spend $5k on a bike but it also has a culture of it’s okay to cobble together something and just ride what you have. Team Jortz, an all women’s ‘cross’ team out of Oakland is really great. Jortz is short for jean shorts and they ride in jean shorts to playfully communicate, “You don’t need to have a bunch of fancy bike gear. We’re just out there to have fun and ride.”
SZ: How did you get introduced to ‘cross?’
LC: I entered my first ‘cross’ race when I was living in Durango, CO. after college. Durango is a big mountain bike town and I was into cycling and mountain biking. I started hearing about the sport and back then it was impossible for me, I’m only 5’3,” to find a bike that even fit me. Companies were only making men’s Cyclocross bikes at that point. I eventually found a bike and competed in a race and I was the only person on a ‘cross’ bike. Everyone else was a mountain biker and I came in dead last. But it was so great. I’ve participated every season since then.
SZ: What was the “hook” that inspired you to race in Cyclocross at the level you now compete?
LC: That’s a good question because there’s something about ‘cross,’ It’s such a physically painful sport. I’ve gotten better over the years but the first year I rode a full season I would come home from racing and feel so nauseated I would make myself some tea and get into bed for the rest of the day. It was so physically taxing I wondered why I kept showing up and putting myself through that experience while not doing very well. I think it was one of those things where after the fact I would think back and say, “That was really fun.” Once I got a taste of improving and won my first race I wanted to see how far I could go with this.
SZ: What are the mental challenges of ‘cross’ for you?
LC: There is the mental challenge to maintain the delicate balance of having my fitness remain at a high level for the whole season. If I get sick and am out for two weeks when I return and everyone else kept racing it’s a struggle to get back and be competitive. The challenge for me is to stay healthy over the course of the season which is difficult. If I race on Sunday it often takes until Wednesday to feel pretty good again. Half the week I am still recovering from the weekend. During the race itself the mental challenges are a lot. The physical demands of the race are very intense. Sometimes there are three laps to go and I feel like I am going to heave and my mind begins to wonder what I’m doing. So mentally feeling good during a race and trying to keep my mind in a place where I don’t want to pull off to the side of the course and crawl into a hole is always a challenge to some extent. Over the years I’ve become more experienced and it’s fun to not feel like that. Now I can make strategic decisions about each lap rather than just try and finish the race.
SZ: What are the athletic skills and personality qualities that are useful in being a contender in this sport?
LC: Just as in most cycling sports I think the ability to suffer on a bike and the willingness to hit that point of suffering and just kind of accepting it’s going to be painful. That’s number one. Having some technical abilities is also helpful. The race course is not all on dirt, some parts are on pavement and a lot of road racers have really powerful legs and are really good at sprinting. But when the weather becomes muddy and the bike starts sliding around, having bike handling skills is really helpful.
Another important thing is that if you take yourself too seriously it’s not going to go too well. When you are on a bike that is a hybrid of a road and mountain bike, but it isn’t a road or mountain bike and and it’s not going to handle mud and sloppy conditions as well as a mountain bike you are probably going to fall down. You’re probably going to botch some turns and look silly and that’s part of the fun of it. After the race standing around with people and talking about how you totally screwed up and went through the course tape and had to scramble back, having a sense of humor about yourself and the sport is great.
SZ: If something happens to your bike components during the race can you switch to another bike?
LC: Yeah, there’s usually a designated pit area on the race course. In top races like World Championships and National Championship races competitors will bring a couple of bikes especially when the course is going to be really muddy. In the lower tiers of competition there’s usually spare wheels so if a racer gets a flat they have to run the bike pit for repairs.
SZ: Racers physically pick up the bike and run to the pit?
LC: Yes, exactly. So depending on where the racer gets the flat, it can be a long run.
SZ: What are the types of strategies at play during a race? Does a team ride strategically as in road racing?
LC: It’s pretty independent. It’s not road racing where a team has a designated domestic who is pulling the rider who is going to win the race.
SZ: What are the team dynamics of Team Caletti?
LC: This team is fantastic. I’m so happy to be on this team. John Caletti and his wife Cory are super great people. The team likes hanging out together and we are going to plan some training rides in Santa Barbara in June. We attend races together, watch each other race, give each other tips about riding the course and are each others support team. We have a chef, Ryan Thompson who makes us amazing meals after the races like vegetarian coconut rice burritos with fresh beet juice.
SZ: The ‘cross’ season is Sept-early Jan. How do you prepare for the racing season?
LC: I begin with taking long rides with lots of hills but not sprinting. Just going out to develop nice endurance. Then around June/July I begin incorporating interval training, adding hill repeats and running. I’ll go out for a forty-five minute run and half way during the run I’ll do fifteen hill sprints.
SZ: That’s intense. Cyclocross is an international sport does Team Caletti send riders to compete internationally?
LC: Caletti hasn’t sent any riders internationally just because of the costs. But for the first time the World Championships were held in the U.S. in Louisville, Ky. My co-captain Jeremiah Kille rode in the race which was really cool. A few team members went along to support him as bike mechanics and buddies during the race. It was exciting to be able to send Jeremiah to Kentucky and this year we are talking about going to nationals which is going to be held in Boulder, Co.
SZ: Where do you see the future of Cyclocross going?
LC: Ideally I would love to see more and more women participating. There’s so many incredible women Cyclocross racers in the U.S. who compete internationally. I would love to see more money from sponsors to allow for women to compete more internationally. At the beginners level I would love to see more women entering the sport. I hope that as we expand at the top levels of Cyclocross we don’t lose site of the fact that we have historically been really friendly to newcomers and made the entry level races really acceptable and affordable.
I know that the Olympic committee rules for a winter Olympic sport says it has to be competed on ice or snow. There’s talk of removing that limitation. It doesn’t make sense to have Cyclocross as a summer Olympic sport because ‘cross’ is best when it’s in sloppy, terrible, muddy conditions. I would love to see it in the Olympics and most riders I think would. I didn’t think we’d see a World Championship with all the international racers coming to Kentucky but they did. So I am hopeful that in the next 5-10 years there will be a bigger push to become an Olympic sport. Many cycling Olympians like Georgia Gould, who won a bronze medal in mountain biking in the London 2012 summer Olympics is a top level ‘cross’ racer. I think that as more cycling Olympians compete it’s going to help move our sport forward.
SZ: What would a spectator who comes out to watch Cyclocross for the first time experience?
LC: It’s really spectator friendly because unlike road or mountain bike racing where racers may ride by once and then disappear for an hour during a ‘cross’ race you can see almost the entire race. It’s really family friendly. There is a kids race which is the cutest thing ever. If you come to watch a race you should probably bring some beer and a cow bell. People like to bring noise makers and the audience heckling the riders is another huge part of the culture of the sport. It’s pretty funny and adds to the festive atmosphere.
SZ: Are there training events for Cyclocross open to interested participants?
LC: There are a lot of clinics and those usually begin in August. Caletti offers a weekly clinic skills practice. I didn’t mention this earlier but on the course there are wooden barricades and hills that are too steep to ride so you have to jump off your bike, put it on your shoulder and run over the obstacles and up the hills with your bike. So the training and clinics are really good to teach new riders technique. Also a good resource is Cyclocross Magazine they publish a list of all the races and clinics going on.
SZ: Several times you mentioned the extreme physical and mental challenges associated with Cyclocross. Do you have any favorite quotes, tips or stories that keep your perspective during the tough moments of racing?
LC: I think I take it one lap at a time, and try to think about being smooth. I’m always telling myself I have more energy in the tank, even though I don’t really feel like it.
SZ: Lindsey thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to talk about ‘cross’ and your racing experiences.
*Featured guests are not current nor former clients of Susan Zaro
*This article can also be read @ examiner.
*Photo by Jeff Namba
