CycloCross: Dismount/Run vs Jump?

On Feb 1, 10:41 am, Ryan Cousineau wrote:

I have heard tales of clay-based muds that pack onto every
surface of the bike, never leave, and harden there.

Indeed. The bentonite clay of the Mancos formation that lies exposed
near Durango and large parts of Utah is a prime example. About five
seconds worth of riding through it can stop the bike cold.

"Ryan Cousineau" wrote in message
]...

Very open tread compounds are the key, but all mud is not created equal.
The mud here in the PNW tends to clear from reasonable tires fairly
easily. I have heard tales of clay-based muds that pack onto every
surface of the bike, never leave, and harden there.

That sort of thing might change my attitudes to riding in the mud.

There is a mix of earth types in the Bay Area. While most of the mud is
sticky but loose enough to clear, if you don't have enough clearance a lot
of it will seize your wheels solid. And in case of Garin & Dry Creek Pioneer
in Hayward, the mud is so sticky that two of us were stopped cold only 100
yards up the trail. We had to CARRY the mountain bikes with tons of
clearance back and throw both of them in the lake and let them sit there for
15 minutes and it STILL took scrubbing and pushing that mud off with sticks
to get them to the point where you could ride them again.

Needless to say I've never been back there off-road in the winter again.

On Feb 1, 12:57*pm, Tim McNamara wrote:

A point that should be made is that, as in all sports, there is an
aesthetic and an etiquette. *In cyclo-cross it is the use of a
road-ish bike to do this stuff.

dumbass,

in cross this happens to have been made the case - i.e. that the sport
is defined by the equipment that is allowed to be used, but it makes
more sense to pick the bike to suit the event and define the event by
the type of course.

in the past cross courses (in n.america) tended to be like mtn. bike
courses (singletrack, rocky sections), but the UCI course guidelines
require the course to be at least 3m wide and a wide paved/smooth
start finish. technical descents are also discouraged. so on a well
designed cross course, a 'cross bike would be the fastest bike.

On Feb 1, 12:23*am, Bret wrote:

More generally, lots of MTB folk enter the sport with a MTB or a cross
bike with flat bars and eventually move to a more appropriate drop bar
bike bike when they realize the disadvantage.

dumbass,

a lot of crossers used to use flat bars (look at old videos of
pontoni), but the UCI rules forced the use of drop bars.

Amit Ghosh writes:

On Feb 1, 12:57*pm, Tim McNamara wrote:

A point that should be made is that, as in all sports, there is an
aesthetic and an etiquette. *In cyclo-cross it is the use of a
road-ish bike to do this stuff.

dumbass,

And I am sure that you're a charming fellow yourself. For what reason
did you feel I merited this sobriquet? Or are you just one of the
regular r.b.r. morons who randomly spew useless trash talk at others?
I am always sorry to see threads crossposted to the sad excuse for a
newsgroup that r.b.r. has become.

in cross this happens to have been made the case - i.e. that the sport
is defined by the equipment that is allowed to be used, but it makes
more sense to pick the bike to suit the event and define the event by
the type of course.

Ye-es, that is in agreement with my posts.

in the past cross courses (in n.america) tended to be like mtn. bike
courses (singletrack, rocky sections), but the UCI course guidelines
require the course to be at least 3m wide and a wide paved/smooth
start finish. technical descents are also discouraged. so on a well
designed cross course, a 'cross bike would be the fastest bike.

I have already made those points. Thank you for agreeing.

On Sun, 01 Feb 2009 15:34:10 -0600, Tim McNamara
wrote:

Amit Ghosh writes:

On Feb 1, 12:57*pm, Tim McNamara wrote:

A point that should be made is that, as in all sports, there is an
aesthetic and an etiquette. *In cyclo-cross it is the use of a
road-ish bike to do this stuff.

dumbass,

And I am sure that you're a charming fellow yourself. For what reason
did you feel I merited this sobriquet?

You cross-posted in rec.bicycles.racing. "Dumbass" means "Hello" in
rbr.

JT

Tim McNamara wrote:
I am always sorry to see threads crossposted to the sad excuse for a
newsgroup that r.b.r. has become.

Dumbass,

Hmmm. You say you're always sorry to see threads cross-posted to rbr, but
you did it anyway? And then you complain about it?

In article ,
"Robert Chung" wrote:

Tim McNamara wrote:
I am always sorry to see threads crossposted to the sad excuse for
a newsgroup that r.b.r. has become.

Dumbass,

Hmmm. You say you're always sorry to see threads cross-posted to rbr,
but you did it anyway? And then you complain about it?

Another charming contestant, I see. Perhaps you didn't work out the
basics, which are that I didn't initiate the cross-posting. I did, out
of courtesy for those r.b.r. participants who can converse without
displaying terminal brain rot, include r.b.r. in my reply. The result
was predictable, of course, but you never know. Incivility took over
that newsgroup years ago, it was possible that civility had staged a
comeback. Apparently not, however. Intelligence appears to continue to
shun r.b.r.

Tim McNamara wrote:
I am always sorry to see threads crossposted to the sad excuse for a
newsgroup that r.b.r. has become.

Robert Chung wrote:
Dumbass,
Hmmm. You say you're always sorry to see threads cross-posted to rbr, but
you did it anyway? And then you complain about it?


Horrors.
Tim even omitted the obligatory and ceremonial salutation, 'dumbass'.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Feb 1, 2:00*pm, Amit Ghosh wrote:
On Feb 1, 12:23*am, Bret wrote:

More generally, lots of MTB folk enter the sport with a MTB or a cross
bike with flat bars and eventually move to a more appropriate drop bar
bike bike when they realize the disadvantage.

dumbass,

a lot of crossers used to use flat bars (look at old videos of
pontoni), but the UCI rules forced the use of drop bars.

Only a handful of races in NA are run under UCI rules, and then only
the elite races. I'm surprised you don't know that. You usually seem
to know what you're talking about.

Here's a good example of what a MTB pro will choose outside the UCI
regulations:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/tech.php?...003/news/nov20

"I love the extra cush of the bigger tires and if the UCI didn't know
what was best for me I would probably race this bike in some of the
UCI races."

Note that he used the fat tires because of the "cush" not for the
traction or mud/sand handling reasons mentioned by Chalo

Bret