- I'm here in Ruddervoorde in Belgium,
which is a pretty small town, to be perfectly honest,
but today, and for one day only,
it's turned into the hotbed of Cyclo-Cross.
And today I'm going to take look around
and check out all the various bits of equipment
that riders are using here.
I'm very excited for it, it's very cold,
let's crack on, let's see what we can find.
Come on.
(electronic music)
I'm here with the bike of Tom Pidcock of TP Racing.
TP Racing of course, standing for Tom Pidcock,
after all he's a former Junior World Cyclo-Cross champion,
as well as Junior World Time Trial Champion on the road.
So, if that's not enough to get a team named after yourself
then well, I don't know what is.
What about his bike then?
Well for this season he's gone to Specialized.
Previously, he was using Trek and also Ridley,
however a new team quite often comes new sponsors.
What about the bike then?
Well first up we've got a Sram Force one bike group set.
Now for this race he's using an 11/32 cassette
and a 42 tooth chain ring there, too.
Pedals, they come from Look,
and then the extract model, which is as possible slightly
more unusual choice, because you do tend to see most riders
using Shimano's SPD, although it does take a very
similar pattern, let's face it.
Wheels wise, well, we got some Visions
and they're topped off nicely with these
challenge Griffo setter extras.
Now, this has got a gold label on these tires,
and that gold is because there's little bit
of silk inside of it.
So that's gonna give you a little bit extra plush
and comfort over rough terrain.
Though admittedly here in Ruddervoorde,
the terrain isn't actually that rough.
Pressure wise in them,
I think it's 1.6 buff from what the mechanic told me,
so that's about 23 to 24 PSI.
So slightly on the higher end actually for Cyclo-Cross.
Finishing kit, we've got FSA carbon K-Force seatpost,
with a nice bit of orange detail in there to mach up
with the frame, I do like that,
reminds me of a Malibu sunset or something like that,
or maybe a fancy cocktail, Dan Lloyd would know.
And then we've got FSA bars and stem on there too.
And then interestingly, and something I think is super cool,
bar end plugs, they're actually attached in,
with little Allen key bolts there too,
so there's no chance of them coming out,
if you were to fall, because of course,
bar end plugs aren't just there for aesthetics,
they're also there for safety too.
Nice looking bike.
(electronic music)
Tire choices for Cyclo-Cross riders are absolutely critical
because a course can deteriorate over a race,
or could actually improve depending on the weather,
so a rider generally has between three or four different
pair of wheels to choose from on any event,
depending, like I said, on the conditions.
For instance if the race is in Cocksider,
which is a really really sandy course,
this tire is actually named after that race course,
it's called the Cocksider, so it's got
a very very fine tread on it,
designed specifically for sand.
And if you had a course that was pretty dry
again with sand, and it's more cornering,
a lot of fast corners well, you could use this.
The June, so a very similar profile,
but on the edges of the tire, you've actually got
these novels on there too and also, the tread does
tend to go a little bit further down
on the side wall of the carcass.
All this blows me away really,
the fine details that riders go into.
I mean it's not just the tire pressures
they're particular about, it's also the treads.
Then you got things like this one here,
the baby Limas, you're got, I think we've got
a Griffo here tucked away, it's absolutely incredible.
Not to mention the fact that some of them,
they nearly start to use in the carcass of the tire,
silk threads instead of cotton,
because that is generally a little bit lighter
and does offer a bit of a better ride, I guess,
that's the easier way to explain it.
There's a little bit more spring in it.
I love this.
(upbeat music)
I'm here with the bikes of Christine Majerus
of Luxenburg and team Boels-Dolman,
a rider who rides on the road all year round,
or virtually around, then goes on to the muddy fields
to ride Cyclo-Cross too, now she is about to actually
go out on the bikes, so I'm gonna have to be as quick
as I can, but, check out that, even got kind of
an emoji style thing going on on the side of her camper.
Ultra cool.
Now about the bike then, well, you can't miss it, can you?
It's kinda like that Malibu sunset, but this one
is amazing I recon, I absolutely love the color schemes
coming out of Specialized this year.
But what do we got then?
Well, we got the Specialized crux,
with these pro Zipp 303's, challenge Baby Lima,
so that's the tire choice.
Zipp finishing kit there, too,
and also, a quirk parameter there,
so before do I Shram.
Got a 38 tooth chain ring,
and it's 11/32 cassette on the rear.
And interestingly you don't see a lot of riders doing this.
We've actually got a mount here for GPS device
on the handle bars, so that's obviously
to get the rider feedback, both the lap times,
as well as for the pair output too.
I do like this one, the colors, they blow me away.
(electronic music)
I'm here with one of the bikes of Matthieu van der Poel,
it's a Canyon named CFS LX.
As you can see, it's slightly different from a normal
going Cyclo-Cross bike because in fact it's got road tires
on there, no, maybe, there's a bit of a story behind this,
because if we look back a couple of years ago,
when Cocksider World Cycross champs were called off
because of extreme wind.
He actually rode all the way back to Antwerp,
or just north of Antwerp, where he lives,
so maybe off the race of that, he's gonna be doing
a little bit extra training, because well,
there's a speed censor there now on the wheel,
there are two, but, nice looking bike, isn't it?
I'm not really a jewelry man, so this is a quite unusual
necklace anyway, but looking at this bike,
check out this, on Van der Poel's chain set.
He's actually got a scuff guard on the side of that,
to help prevent any damage from any possible shoes
rubbing on the cranks, which is a great finishing touch.
Don't really see that from any pros,
certainly I've never seen it.
And then the pedals, little bit of sneak preview here.
Prototype 00 on them, so.
I really have no idea what they are.
Although the do look like a pair of Shimanos
but that is super cool, and that's what's great
about Cyclo-Cross, as you can get up close and personal
with all of the pros' bikes.
Gotta see who else I can find though,
on some of the other riders' bikes too.
One of the coolest things that you can get,
in my opinion anyway, is this,
it's not a cordless drill,
it's a pump, so a mini compressor.
There's even a smaller LCD display screen there
so you can just do that and inflate the tire
to the pressure of your choice.
From my memory, when I tried to find one of these
on Boch's website, it's actually been discontinued now
so if you can find one, you are very lucky,
let me know if you managed to get one,
because I am desperate for one.
A friend of mine's got one, and I've never been able
to sneak it out of his house quite yet.
This one is Matthieu van der Poel's,
I'm not gonna risk taking it.
(electronic music)
I've just managed to grab this Cannondale Supercross
from a bunch of Swedish lads here at Ruddervoorde,
and I absolutely love it.
I just love the paint work on it, it does wonders for me.
What's so special about it then?
Well first up, we got a Shimano Ultegra RX read derailleur,
so those of you who may remember, Oli in fact,
did do some science on one of those a few weeks back,
when he tested to see how well it works,
'cause of course you can lock that ridge railer in place,
to try and help the chain stay in position
just that little bit easier.
Then I had a closer look and they have in fact used wax
on the chain, so in stead of using normal lubricant,
they've coated it in wax, and that actually helps
keep your drive clean, nice and clean,
as well as attracting less dirt,
which is obviously ultra important when riding Cyclo-Cross.
Hydraulic breaks set up, and then, these pedals too.
I haven't seen a pair of these in the flesh
for quite a while, actually.
Pair of blue Anodized XTR SPD's.
Pretty sure they're only available for a select few,
so I'm gonna have to go and check out
which of these riders was that select one.
Now the bars, this is where it's all got really interesting
for me, in fact, at first I thought this was actually
double racked, 'cause it's big.
I don't have pretty big hands but,
well you're struggling to really get quite the grip
I normally go for.
But the pro vibe bar is actually pretty chunky
all the way up to where the leave is mount on,
then they become almost regular thickness.
That is nice, I do like that, especially for a bit
of Cross action.
Hubs, they come from Tune, which for those of you
who aren't aware of that, Tune is a relatively small
manufacturer, I guess you could say,
but artisan products based in Schwarzwald
or the Black Forest, and they're in the Germany.
So those are gonna be ultra light hubs,
and this is a sort of thing which, if you look
really really carefully and closely at things
like the Tour de France, you do see riders going
for the ultra light version of their products.
Let me know what you think of this bike,
down there in the comment section.
I'm here with the biker Yu Takenouchi,
this is his Toyo framed Cyclo-Cross bike.
And it's an absolute beautiful looking bike,
I've gotta say, because, it combines two absolutely
fantastic materials for bikes, in my opinion.
Carbon fiber, so you got carbon fiber top tube,
carbon fiber down tube, carbon fiber fork,
then the rest of it is steel.
Yeah, that's right, so it's combining them
is absolutely brilliant, so it's a loved affair,
as you can see, and I love the red and the chrome,
it looks absolutely beautiful.
Also worth noting is actually, the CNC machine bits
of material, which allow a disc caliper to be mounted
on the inside of the stay, as well as
the rear derailleur hanger which then goes on
to the rear that drop out here.
It's absolutely incredible, it's blowing my mind away
and when speaking to the rider earlier on,
he told me as well, this paint job is about
five to six hundred euros, it's that special,
and it certainly is.
And get this, a good old reliable old fashioned,
yet reliable trusted, tested,
outboard bottom bracket bearings.
No press fail in this one.
So this is Panda.
She's not really pandering to my attention much,
but yeah, how cool is that, a Dalmatian, I absolutely,
Panda, Panda!
Come here, come here.
I absolutely love a dog, especially a Dalmatian.
But she doesn't appear to love me much.
Oh well, back to the bike tech.
A customized kit in Cross is a pretty big affair, I guess,
especially if you're decent.
So in the case of Nikki Brammeier, well,
she's actually got some Zipp wheels,
with both blue logos on, with some orangy red ones too,
so that brings out the color of the frame.
I absolutely love a bit of custom tech.
Especially colors, brings out everything.
(electronic music)
Managed to get the bike of Marianne Vos
and this is a bike I've been keen to take a look at,
because, well, for start, using cue rings down there,
which is pretty unusual, I've got to say,
especially in the case of Cross bikes too.
Now, mounted on to the chains are also, Pioneer power meter
which then, obviously we've got a mount up here too
on the handle bars in order for Marianne
to actually see her power, look at that.
I've never been interrupted before by Marianne
but I have now and well, it's a pleasure.
I'm at a loss of words, don't know what to say.
I've lost my train of thought totally
but interestingly too, not using the new Ultegra RX
rear derailleur or anything like that,
we stick here with a Jaw race two by setup
front and rear, love it.
Other things worth shouting out as well.
Check out these, a pair of Prototype 00 pedals,
so my guess, that's possibly a Shimano pedal,
'cause it looks like it to me.
Yeah.
But, let's not forget though, there's quite the stem
going on there, it's obviously slightly throughout
a small frame but still have the bars in a fairly up right
position there too, but, with the palm arrows of Marianne
I'm not gonna advice her on any sort of bike position,
because well, she lets her legs do the talking.
Now something I've seen on a lot of Sobato bikes,
as well as these release of Marianne Vos, is actually this.
Now this certainly comes into it's own I think,
in a Cyclo-Cross environment.
What is it though, well, we've got the standard seat
climb assembly here.
When I say seat climb assembly, I mean,
where it actually attaches into the frame,
but there is in fact a secondary device and it has
two great functions in my opinion.
Firstly, this really helps if you're transporting the bike
and that seat post is going in and out of the bike
all the time, you know exactly where the saddle has to be
or the seat post rather, in the frame,
because you can just drop it in, and then you know,
you're not gonna be adjusting the saddle hight whatsoever
because this actually climbs onto the seat post
rather than the frame.
Secondly, if that was to fail, the bottom one,
so the main one, maybe this one here,
would actually do a job, certainly for a lap
or half a lap to actually keep the saddle
in the same height.
So, one of the most important things for a mechanic
is obviously to prepare the bikes for the riders
and every rider, they actually like to go and ride
on the race bike, prior to actually racing for the day,
so when they come back, it has to be cleaned up
and then dried off, ready for the actually race,
so here you can see two mechanics here
working ferociously in the background
on Quinten Hermans' bike, they've got an air compressor
so it actually blasts off the water as fast as possible
and also some micro fiber cloths to dry it off too.
I don't envy them today, 'cause it's bitterly cold.
(electronic music)
So I just walked past this Colnago
and I always stop and have a look at a Colnago.
Check out this here, on the outer cable length here,
we've actually got an extra piece of rubber here,
so it's got like a rubber band, which then sits inside
of the frame, and that prevents any grit or water,
anything like that from going back inside
and possibly affecting the shifting performance,
obviously shifting pretty critical in Cyclo-Cross,
you don't wanna be left in the wrong gear
because when the going get tough, the tough gets going
as a band once said.
There's something else which is great
about Cyclo-Cross races, as you get to see
all these weird and wonderful custom tech.
This, I don't know if it's weird or wonderful or what,
but I think it's cool, is a chain guide, so,
traditionally we see these on mountain bikes, don't we,
with those people over on GMBN,
but this one here is actually gonna help the chain
stay in place, if you're riding a really rough terrain
because it's a one buy setup.
I like the look of that.
(electronic music)
So, the race is over for the women and well,
these guys' jobs have just about started in fact,
'cause they've now got the big cleanup.
It does help if you've got a petrol powered
jet washer like they have here.
And also a motor home or a van full of water
with gallons and gallons of this stuff,
because you are gonna get through it across the race.
And also, an air compressor too, to dry off those components
or parts, in this case, shoes,
as quickly as possible, well she's finishing the shoes,
she's too quick for me.
But if you are racing the next day you are gonna want
your components and shoes in that case to be dry and ready.
A mechanic's job isn't that easy when you are on the road.
All this stuff has to be traveling along with you
in the back of a van or a camper van.
(electronic music)
Right there we are a look at some of the tech on display
here in Ruddervoorde in the Cyclo-Cross event.
I absolutely loved it, I could have looked at it all day
and believe me there were riders saying John just go away,
I've got to go and race, so there we are.
Anyway let me know what's your favorite bit of the tech
that I have spotted down there in the comment section
down below and I'm sure as ever to be reading through them
and replying to you, remember as well to like
and share this video with your friends,
or share it with someone who absolutely loves Cyclo-Cross.
And also, don't forget to check the GCN shop
at shop dot global cycling network dot com,
where we have a whole heap of goodies for you to check out.
Now after all this action, I certainly need
some refreshments and also something to eat too,
so there's a hamburger over there,
I'm gonna go grab myself a mineral water, but also,
don't forget to check another video just down here.
Now I'm gonna go in there, bye.
Come on!