- Okay, so you're new to cyclocross,
and you literally have zero local resources.
There's no training race,
there's nowhere to ride,
you don't have a friend to go out with,
so you need to build it,
and how do you build it?
Well today's video is going to tell you
about how to build a cyclocross playground.
The tools you need, and the things to think about
when you're doing it.
First up, you want to make sure
that you're picking an area that isn't home to someone,
meaning like a dog park,
where it's really the dog owners are out there,
they're enjoying time with their dog,
then you're out on the trail,
and you're running into them all the time.
That's not good for anyone.
Like, even like a local swimming hole.
People are coming up, they're toweling off,
they're on the trail, and then ah,
a cyclist rips past them
because you're doing an effort
out on your training course.
Make sure that you pick a place
that's not super congested,
but is close to town that people don't generally use.
Also, you want to make sure that you get land use permission.
You don't want to be on private property,
cutting things down, creating a track.
Don't do that, that's not good for anybody.
Gives everyone a bad name.
Check with the town, make sure they're okay
with you tightening things up,
using some existing trails,
and it should be close to where everyone's living.
That makes it really, really good
and easy for people to be able
to get to the training course.
Last thing is you want to make sure
that the terrain is compelling, right?
You don't want to just go into an open field.
That's not going to give you a lot.
You're going to have a lot of setup,
going to be a lot of course tape.
Nah, go into a forest,
where there's going to be natural features
that you can use and take advantage of.
(light music)
So depending on the area, and the type of terrain,
some of the tools that you could use
would be a shovel, a rake, loppers,
gloves, oh and a bike.
When you get to a new training area,
you want to make sure that you look around
at the terrain.
You want to make sure you know a lay of the land.
Imagine it as just a big square,
and you're starting over here,
and then you want to make sure
that you get over to there,
but you want to make a nice, continuous loop,
looking at what the area has to offer.
So this area as I look out right now,
has this beautiful sloping downhill section
that is going to make a really nice transition
from this side of the course to the other.
So make sure that when you first get to the track,
you take a look around,
you see what natural features are there,
and what you've got to work with.
So now that you know the area,
and you have a general sense of where you're going,
get your loppers out.
It's time to take down these just little trees like this.
You just want to make sure that things
that are going to slap the riders
that come out, in the face or in the arms,
you want to take those down,
because that's not fun for anyone.
You don't want to look like you just got out
of a bar fight, and you just wanted
to go do some cyclocross.
You don't want to have to go home
and explain that to your significant other.
And, I'm not talking about going in here
like a skitter either.
It's not like you've got a chainsaw out,
and you take down all kinds of big trees.
Don't do that, that's not what I'm talking about.
Just little things that are going to slap your arms,
and all that.
Rough out the course, and then you can start
to see which features actually are out there
for you to be able to use.
Okay, so now we're going to start talking
about technical features on the track,
and first up has got to be off cambers.
In cyclocross, you've got to have off cambers,
and you got to have technical sections,
because ideally, if you're racing,
or you're riding around fast,
you're trying to force a mistake,
because it's not just just going up a hill
as hard as you can go.
It's about technical prowess as well.
So we're coming into a section
that my friends from the JAM Fund,
which is a local nonprofit program
that we have here in town
have created over the last year,
and as you can tell, it is super, super narrow.
You definitely have to get your foot out,
maybe even kick a little bit,
because it is so treacherous off camber,
technical, it is a really good feature,
and it's pretty much any course around the globe
is going to have something like this,
and it's just going to make you a much better rider.
(intense music)
Now if you could find some sand or mud on your course,
that would be perfect.
These are regular features in a cyclocross course,
because when you're going through the sand,
obviously it's super, super technical,
and makes it really hard.
Mud is the same.
These things are always moving underneath the tires,
so it's never the same, lap to lap.
So if you have these features,
it makes for a really fun, super challenging track
that the riders that come out are going to really enjoy.
(intense music)
Barricades.
What are you going to do?
You're in the middle of the woods.
I don't want to get my hammer and nails out there,
with a bunch of two by fours, lugging stuff in.
You don't need to do that, not at all.
Go in the woods, when you're out scouting around,
find a log like this,
drag it out into the middle of the course.
Nice open section like this,
where riders can bring some speed in,
get setup, jump off, run over two logs in a row.
That's great.
When you're done with them, real simple.
They're out of the way.
(intense music)
Technical sections are very important,
and they're vast.
They can be anything, really,
but the thing you don't want to do
is have tons of roots like this going across the track.
Big old rock gardens, with rocks,
with pointy sharp heads all over the place,
because cyclocross bikes aren't designed for that.
They don't have any suspension.
Their tires are generally pretty narrow,
and if the riders are doing this,
they're just going to be getting jolted all around.
You really want to do a reroute,
if an area has tons and tons of roots and rocks in it,
because like I said, the bikes aren't designed for it,
and you want to pick the path of least resistance.
You don't want to go into something that's like this,
where you're going to have to take down
all kinds of big trees.
Look for an area that kind of seems like it flows,
maybe an old deer path or something.
That's going to be your ticket.
(light music)
Another nice feature to have out on the course
is a wide open area like this,
where riders can actually take a break
and relax for a second
from all the technical features
that you've included in your course.
It's also a place for the more experienced riders
to be able to lay a lot of power down,
and take some time away from their rivals.
(scream)
Drops.
Drops are a feature on a cross course
that make it really, really challenging.
Probably for your more advanced riders,
but when you're out scouting the course,
if you see a nice embankment,
and the trail's going right above you like this,
meh, just take a right, and send it straight down.
It is a really cool feature to have on your track.
(light music)
Run ups are a classic feature on the cyclocross courses.
Organizers and race designers love them,
because they push the riders cardiovascularly
to the limit, and then they usually follow it up
with a technical section right after,
to hopefully force a mistake,
and make the race more exciting.
For your training course,
it's really, really good to have an A and a B line.
You want to be able to let the riders
that are less experienced go around this section,
but for the riders that are more experienced,
you want to push them to get off their bike,
get up the hill, and then it's nice
on a training course at least
to be able to have a place
for them to remount, so that they're ready
for the next technical section.
(intense music)
One of the last things that you need to think about
is the rhythm or the flow of the track.
How does it go?
You've checked out all of the sections,
you've dug them all out,
you've made all these cool sections.
Now you need to string them together,
to be able to make the flow of it
and the rhythm right.
The last thing you want to do is go down a steep drop,
then have a huge run up right after it,
then go down another steep drop,
and then another run up.
That's not the real flow of a true cyclocross race.
You want to make sure that you string the sections together
with technical stuff, followed by a nice long stretch,
then another technical section, then a drop,
then a barrier.
Make sure that it has a nice flow to it.
Once you get out there and you ride it,
you'll know what works.
(intense music)
You also want to be mindful of the lap time.
You don't riders to be up there for 10, 12 minutes.
Four or five, six minutes, that's great.
A little bit longer than that,
it gives riders the opportunity to spread out.
It allows you to add some more features,
and as the course gets worked in,
if you want to make it a little bit longer,
than you can add a feature here or there,
like I showed you earlier in the video.
So get your friends, tell the riders
that are in your area,
"Hey, we're making a cross course."
Grab those tools, go out there,
and make an afternoon of it,
and then ride this stuff in.
It can be super, super fun.
So I hope you liked the video.
If you guys tag me in some of the stuff that you've done,
I'd love to see your work out there,
and what you're doing.
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