What Is Cyclocross?

Cyclocross — usually shortened to "cross" or simply CX — is a form of bicycle racing held on short, looping circuits that mix pavement, grass, dirt, sand, mud and short steep pitches. Riders complete as many laps of the closed course as they can within a fixed time, typically somewhere between thirty minutes and an hour depending on the category. It is part road race, part mountain-bike scramble, and part obstacle course, all squeezed into a venue you can usually see most of from a single spot.

The defining feature of cross is that you do not stay on the bike the whole time. Courses are deliberately salted with features that force you off: knee-high wooden planks called barriers, sand pits, steep run-ups, and muddy corners where pedalling is pointless. Racers learn to leap off, shoulder the bike, sprint on foot, and hop back on without breaking stride. That blend of fitness, bike-handling and gymnastic timing is what gives the sport its character.

How a cross race is structured

A cross event is run as a series of separate races throughout the day, grouped by ability and age. Each field starts together in a tight grid, the gun goes, and the clock starts. Rather than a set number of laps, officials usually post the leader's time and count down the remaining laps, so everyone finishes within a few minutes of one another. When the leader crosses the line on the final lap, the race is over for that field.

A backwards season

In most of the cycling world, cross is the autumn-and-winter discipline — it fills the months after the road and mountain-bike seasons end. Races often take place in cold rain, frost and mud, which is part of the sport's hard-bitten reputation. In the desert Southwest the calendar is shifted but the spirit is the same: the season runs through the cooler months when high-desert temperatures finally drop into the comfortable range, giving racers some of the best weather of the year. You can read more about that on our desert scene page.

Who races cross?

One of the genuine joys of cyclocross is how welcoming it is. A single race day will have fields for seasoned experts, weekend riders, single-speed devotees, juniors, and tiny children on balance bikes doing a lap or two on the grass. Spectators stand close enough to hand up encouragement (and, by tradition, the occasional cowbell), and the atmosphere is far more like a festival than a stuffy sporting event. For a sense of how those fields are organised, see how racing works.

Why people get hooked

Cross rewards a wide mix of skills, so almost everyone finds something they are good at — raw power on the open straights, finesse through the off-cambers, or the nerve to ride a section others run. The races are short and intense, the courses change every lap as the ground gets chewed up, and the low-speed crashes are usually more comedic than dangerous. Add a tight-knit, encouraging community and it is easy to see why a single muddy afternoon turns so many curious riders into lifelong cross racers.