I've been getting my gear together, buying a few tires, and I even put gears on the Surly. Yeah, my outsize ego got the best of me and rather than "being the best rider I can be," Stuart Smalley-style, I decided I'd rather "place as well as my legs will carry me." I took the single speed rear off the Crosscheck, and rigged it with a single chainring (44t) 9 speed setup. I may run single speed if any of the events are truly muddy, but for now I'm looking forward to having major top end advantages over how I rode last year. I don't have many advantages over skinny dudes, but I can lay down major wattage and some good top end speed, an advantage that is totally nullified when I'm turning a 2:1 ratio gear.
Yep, I'm packed and racked, the only thing I'm missing is practice. It's just tough to fit practice into my schedule. Squadra Coppi has a practice or two each week (feel free to join in, if you're so inclined), one at Bluemont Regional Park at 6:30 - 7:00 AM, and the other out at Lake Reston one or two evenings. But I live near Annapolis! Those are hard to make.
So instead of being tied to those practices, I decided to roll my own. There are a few cross riders out this way, and maybe they'd be interested in charting out a little course in Crofton Park or over at the Davidsonville Dog Park (Bell Branch) - we'll see. The key is having the right terrain, and a good set of barriers. I think I've at least got the barriers now.
They aren't hard to make, and only cost about $15 for a set of two. Here's what you need for each barrier (all pipe dimensions are 3/4" PVC pipe):
2x ten foot lengths of pipe
6x 90 degree elbow fittings
3x couplings
2x "T" junctions
Cut the pipe as follows:
6x 24"
2x 16" (this gives you a barrier about 1" higher than UCI standards - train high, feel like you're racing low...)
4x 8"
Here's what it looks like when everything is cut and laid out:
Now for the easy assembly. Couple the 24" sections together, and put a 90 degree fitting on each end of the assembled 48" length.
Now take the T junctions. Put the 8" pieces into the sides of the T junction, then put a 16" piece into the perpendicular part of the fitting.
Now start snapping the segments together in obvious fashion.
Pretty cool, huh? The best part is that nothing is longer than about 25". That means you can cram two barriers into a small backpack, and haul them out to the local park to practice your dismounts. No need to commute to find some cyclocross training - just grab your bag and find a local park with some workable terrain.
6 comments:
Sweet barriers dude. Very nice design.
I think you may find the 44t a bit stiff. General rec is 42t, so it's not like you're that far off. Just something to think about.
Thanks Chris. The design is pretty simple. Just wanted something easily portable out to Crofton Middle or wherever we wind up setting up.
On the gear size - yeah, you're right that's high, but my best (road) climbing is slow turning a big gear. Riding the single speed last year, I was okay on the hills, it was the flats and downhills where I spun out (riding 2:1) and got passed. If a 44 is too high I may throw on a pie plate, which will give me a really low gear.
Never mind the barriers, that's a sweet ride hiding in the final pic. And don't feel bad about the training wheels - with your dedication you'll be on a big boys 2-wheeler before Easter.
When you step on the cross tube in the front, won't the barrier sort of move or else you slip on the cross pipe? The barriers might be just as stable if you get rid of the front cross piece. Or else you could rotate the corner joints and attach short sections that you drive into the ground.
I thought about that, and also about how I wanted it to work if I went lunchbox into it. My thoughts:
1) the front and back tubes are only 9" off center. If your plant foot is going down within a foot of the center of the barrier, you're going to be in trouble anyhow.
2) It doesn't really matter if the barrier moves or is a little slippery. A lot of the barriers you see are in rocky/sandy/slippery locations.
3) I don't want them to be real stable. I want them to tip over and come apart if anybody really piles into them. Anybody who has pranged a 2x10 barrier on a cross course will know exactly why flimsy is good for practice barriers.
Those are my thoughts, anyhow. I expressly rejected the notion of really solid, stable barriers.
Plus, hauling around really solid, stable barriers in your backpack would be a bitch! I say that is a sweet set-up.
I don't doubt you can crank the big gear, but my concern would be on accelerations after slow turns. Getting that beast back up to speed quickly could be tough.
I run a 42T with a 12-27 in the rear. The only time I've run out of gears is on the start at Highland Park (relatively long, flat road section), but the second I got spun out we turned into the grass and all was good.
I've even won a few head-to-head sprints with that gearing. Though Mayhew and the other 5 guys in the group all spanked me last year at Granogue. Though I think that was more the fault of the rider, not the equipment. 8-)
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