It is amazing to me the selection of cyclocross equipment now. The bicycle industry has really stepped up here, even though a lot of the stuff is never going to make them any money because the sales are always going to be relatively small.

Yesterday the package from TRP brakes arrived in the morning with the new CX 8.4’s. Then yesterday afternoon the box from Belgium showed with the handmade FMB tubulars with Michelin Mud 2 tread. Both of these items are really works of art. They look so nice and hopefully function just as good as they look.

Less than 10 years ago, the selection of equipment was nothing. Back in the 80’s, you had to nearly fabricate your own equipment.

I trained with the Czechoslovakian National Team in the winter of 1985 before the World Championships in Munich. They were the best cyclocross riders in the world, by far. A mechanic from their team made custom cleats that had threaded holes for spikes in them. The spikes were behind the cleats, since we were riding toe clips. The guy told me he would make me some cleats but couldn’t get any aluminum to fabricate them. I thought, what’s the big deal. So I took the train into Prague to get a couple aluminum blocks. I ended up spending two full days there going from business to business and never located enough aluminum to make the cleats. A week later, the mechanic came up to me and presented me with some cleats for Worlds. And they were very much needed in that race. When I think back upon it, that was probably the most memorable part, of nearly a month in Europe, going from shop to shop and meeting up with just regular Czech guys and seeing how commerce worked behind the Iron Curtain.

Anyway, it is always cool to see innovation in equipment. TRP is obviously innovative with their new brakes. FMB is really not innovative, they are making custom tires, which to me seems incredible, no matter what the price is. It is a super cool aspect of cycling.

The TRP brake box.

The tires from FMB.

I took the Michelin tread over to Europe. It is going to be interesting how well these ride. I've never ridden these casings, but the tread is 2nd to none in adverse conditions.

A photo from the Cyclocross World Championships in Munich. Dave Mac is the US rider behind me.

Yesterday I was thinking about how much the equipment has advanced in the sport of cyclo-x. Guys are riding nearly the UCI limit of 6.8 kg (14.99lbs) bikes. That is pretty amazing considering the extra weight of just the tires.

Then I started thinking about how much the sport itself has changed, here in the US, and with that change how much more regulation and monitoring has happened from the UCI and USAC. I’m not sure when this new modern era of cross first started here in the US. Maybe somewhere around 2000, when the Nationals were held in Kansas City the first time. I pick 2000, because when the Nationals were held in the Presideo in S.F., the course was super short, maybe less than 4 minutes, so it would have to still be classified as cross of the past.

It is strange to think about how hardly anyone was into enforcing any type of cyclo-x rules until recently, the last few years.

When I won Cyclo-X Nationals in Santa Cruz, Ned broke off the front of his bike in a muddy bog, left it there and ran to the wheel pit without his bike. He just got relegated a couple slots. No one was really too concerned about the real rules of the sport, even at Nationals.

Or look at the Providence RI Elite Nationals the first year in the snow, 2005. I don’t remember exactly how they were lining us up that year, it might have been the first year that they used UCI points. But, they failed to clear the snow off the road that they were using for the start finish stretch. There was a huge crash on the start because the shoveled area was about 8 feet wide. Probably 1/2 the field either fell down or got caught up in it.

I remember getting into a pretty heated argument with Adam Myerson that evening, after the race, in a hotel lobby. I’m not sure if he was the UCI technical guy already then or just part of the organization putting on the race. I couldn’t understand how the whole park that the race was held in was plowed except for the road the race was using. It was incredibly dangerous and unfair to all the participates. It really didn’t go anywhere since it was after the fact.

Anyway, that never could happen anymore, at least I don’t think it could. The sport has matured enough to make sure the courses are UCI legal, which is mostly a good thing, I guess. That being said, there are a lot of rules that are just stupid. Like the tire width rule. They changed a rule that didn’t need to be screwed with. There was nothing the matter with the 35mm width rule. But, no, they had to lower the width to 33mm, with no real explanation. Stupid. And many others. But, that is just the UCI.

So, there are more rules, but more participates, so maybe the rules aren’t scaring anyone off. A lot of the rules that bother me don’t really apply to the average cyclo-x racer, so in that respect, they aren’t rules that hinder the growth of the sport.

Hopefully we’ll figure out how to keep the forward progression of the sport going. I don’t think they are going to do it by awarding more and more UCI races to just about any promoter that pays for the sanction. There need to be less UCI races in the US with more emphasis on each race. At least that is how I’d do it if I were Czar of scheduling. But, that being said, it is really the competitors that drive the growth of the sport. It is an eclectic sport that attracts eclectic people. And that is a good thing, in general, for the health of cyclocross here in the US.

Elite men’s start in Providence in 2005. The clear road was less than 10 feet wide, not even close to the UCI rule.