Tuesday Night Cyclocross and Short Track Racing Starts September 1
Can you feel it? This weekend it was only in the the mid 90s. Fall is here! If you need some more convincing, Tuesday nights with the Dirt Derby will remind you with the return of the popular cyclocross series now entering its fourth year.
What is Cyclocross?
Cyclocross is a sport developed by road riders to stay in shape and keep fresh during the off season of fall and early winter. I always describe as akin to steeple chase on a bike. Competitors race a course that has both off-road and on-road sections and include a series of barriers that require the racer to dismount and carry their bikes over the barriers. Courses will often include off camber and sharp turns as well as sections of sand or extremely steep short hills that require most riders to dismount. Races are short, between 20-60 minutes, and cover a course short enough to demand multiple loops. I consider it the ultimate family man’s/woman’s cycling event as the races are short enough and spectator friendly enough for those with less race enthusiastic spouses and children to have a good time. It is also a hell of a workout as you are pretty much redlining the whole time to keep up. If you are spectating, try to position yourself near the barriers, sand pits if any, steep hills, or off camber turns. This is where all the crashes will be, and isn’t that part of the joy of watching racing?
You don’t have to have a cyclocross bike, but you will want a bike with mountain bike tires or at least 32 mm, knobby 700c (road bike sized) tires. Mountain bikes, hybrids, 29ers, and touring bikes with cantilever brakes all make decent ‘cross bike substitutes. (Of course, you can always go Xtracycle if you get crazy.) Run your tire pressure low for better traction, no higher than the minimum suggested pressure. Serious racers will run tubulars or tubeless tires for extremely low pressure without risk of pinched flats, but this is unnecessary for your first racing. If you are a total cyclocross newbie, come check out a race at the Dirt Derby or take a look at this great ‘cross tutorial on VeloNews (click on the “How-To” section and scroll down to the cyclocross tutorials.) You can also check out Cyclocross Magazine for some really in depth discussion.
Return of the Dirt Derby
I spoke last week with Ryan Albert with Central Texas Grassroots Cycling, the new organizers of the Derby who take over from the series founder Andrew Stackhouse, about its return and changes for the new year.
First, what remains the same. The Dirty Derby will be held every Tuesday evening at the Austin/Del Valle Motorcross Park (ADVMX) from September 1 through December 15. In addition to cyclocross, the Derby also offers short track mountain bike racing concurrently on with the same start/finish but slightly different course. Registration starts at 6 PM with the B race (30 min) starting at 6:30 and the Beginners, Women’s and Kids race (20 min) at 7:00. The Open, which is the most competitive race, starts at 7:30 and is currently set to only run 30 minutes, though it may be extended to as long as an hour as the season progresses. The ADVMX is completely lighted so no worries on racing as the sun goes down.
The price of the Dirt Derby remains dirt cheap at $10 for the Open and B race and $5 for the Beginners, Women’s and Kids race. It is also $5 if you wish to race a second race, however you may not race the Beginner and Open the same night. Registration is on-site on race day only.
Changes for this year include a course change with improvements made by the ADVMX to their land. This year it will run the opposite direction of last year with the Beginners, Women’s and Kids race run on a separate course in the park. The Dirt Derby will also run four 4 week mini-series similar to the monthly mini-series of The Driveway Crits with awards for the best overall performances in each category over the series. There are also plans to hold cyclcocross clinics later in the season.
Helping make the Dirt Derby great
With new race management, the Dirt Derby is actively looking for race and series sponsors as well as volunteer mechanics to keep everything running smoothly. If you’d like to help made the series a success, contact Ryan Albert for a sponsor packet or to volunteer.
What to know if you go
If you plan to head out keep these things in mind. All bikes are welcome but you are asked to remove mountain bike barends. Helmets are required, and you must sign a waiver to race. This is not a USCF sanctioned event so you don’t have to have a USCF license. You can race any category, but the race organizers ask you to please not sandbag races (don’t be a schmuck and race below your level.)
Finally, while the ADVMX waters the course to keep the dust down, heavy rain can make the course unridable. The organizers may cancel the race if the conditions are not right. They will make this call by 2 PM on race day, so get on their e-mail, Twitter, or Facebook update list or check the Dirt Derby site before you head out.
Dirt Derby
Tuesday evenings
September 1 to December 15, 2009
Four 4-week Mini-Series:
Sept 1 to Sept 22
Sept 29 to Oct 20
Oct 27 to Nov 17
Nov 24 to Dec 15
5:30 PM Gates Open
6:00 PM Registration Opens
6:30 PM B Short Track MTB / Cyclocross (25 min)
Intermediate, Masters & Single Speed classes
7:00 PM Beginner, Women Only & Kids (20 min)
7:30 PM Open Short Track / Cyclocross (30 min)
9:00 PM Gates Close
Registration closes 10 minutes before each race. Cyclocross racers start one minute behind Short Track MTB, use slightly different courses, but everyone finishes on the same lap
Cost: $10, women, beginners and kids only $5. Second race same night $5.
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on Aug 31st, 2009 at 12:19 pm
Great video and sounds like a cool series. Cross is cool ‘cuz you get to see MTBers and roadies racing together! Awesome!
Great advice on spectator placement, too, since we all know the saying, “Crash is King!”
on Sep 1st, 2009 at 2:59 pm
[...] from Austin on Two Wheels did an awesome write-up on the basics of the cyclocross madness and details regarding the Dirty Derby set-up which you [...]