Just stumbled upon his channel a few weeks ago & I really enjoy his race videos. Definitely recommend checking them out
I have done two races with around 10 competitors in the P123. I used to race years ago and the fields were more like 20, but that was also in a different region.
I AGREE 
haha. So stoked you were out there!
It’s still a public park and cyclocross venue, we just haven’t had much in the way of racing for a while. Some of the key people that organized races have moved on to other things and life responsibilities, and then Covid happened.
There are weekly Wed. night ‘cross practices, and we still race XCC short track there every summer.
Seems to be all over the place. My race in charm city had about 90 in the field, the race the prior weekend in masters 3/4/5 was like 35. The c1/2 races obviously attract more people than the smaller “community races”. Camaraderie seems equally great regardless of the location, though!
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I’ve done a couple of training sessions with the local team whilst my son has been doing his Go-Ride sessions.
I am struggling with grip – I’m doing it on a gravel bike with completely inappropriate tyres.
If I want to have a go at a race later in the season I can do this on a gravel bike right? If it is a local race (in the UK).
Are there any restrictions on tyres? All I could see was a reference to plugged bar ends.
Either way what all-rounder tyre do people recommend? Gravel Kings are not good on damp grass and will be a nightmare on slippery mud!
You’ll be fine on a gravel bike and there won’t be any tyre width restrictions in a local race in the UK.
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Local league races in the UK have no tyre (or even bike) restrictions, you’ll be fine.
However it is likely to get wetter/muddier as the season goes on, so getting mud tyres is definitively recommended!
What tyres to get depends a bit on your budget, and if you’re tubeless or not.
Also, if you’re struggling with grip in these training sessions, try lowering your tyre pressure. Depending on weight, but 20 psi on a tubeless tyre is not unusual (for a ballpark figure). If you have wider gravel tyres, maybe even lower. Once you can’t go lower, because you bottom out too often (a bit can be ok in cross), but still can’t get grip, you need new tyres.
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Trek pre ride was a blast today! Some small changes to the layout has it ripping fast! Plus, I’m finally feeling confident to ride the larger rock section during races this weekend, even saw @IvyAudrain sessioning it with a group. Love coming to Trek race weekend!
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The amateur course was definitely a bit easier this year. It seems they skipped on of the trickier descents and climbs that was on the course last year. The one just prior to the rocks you have to hop up and over while taking a right hand corner.
Had my first weekend of CX racing this weekend. Ran my Norco Search alloy gravel bike with Baby Limus tires on it, had put a lot of thought into the tires and they seemed to be a pretty popular option for around here, saw quite a few others running Baby Limus and surprisingly noone (that I noticed) on Grifos or anything from challenge other than Baby Limus.
For the Saturday race I made an error at the start of the second lap going the way we started down a straight start stretch instead of ducking into a wooded section, so needed to back track and re-enter the course, which cost me a few positions from where I was from the start and the first lap. I had looked at the lap times from Saturday and saw that my last laps were my fastest, with my last lap being my fastest of the race and then compared my lap times to some other racers to see who I would want to line up with. Chose someone I know from road racing that had ~5 second faster avg lap speed than me on the Saturday but then of course he couldn’t make the Sunday race, so lined up near the back again but near that racers son who was a little faster than his father on the Saturday. The son had a rough start but he did catch up to me and pass me at one point, we passed some other racers that lined up ahead of us or started better than us and eventually I did get by him as well by the second or third last lap. They didn’t release the overall for the Saturday race but did for the Sunday race so it was tougher to compare with different people being in the bottom half of my class each day but for the Sunday race I finished 33rd out of 55, which I was happy with for my first weekend of CX racing. Probably was lining up around 45th each day so in future races may try to position myself closer to the middle than the second or third last row. On the Sunday race once again, my final laps were my fastest with my last lap being my fastest so think I need to push harder off the start and maybe put some more effort into a warm up. In XC racing I start harder, have a couple slower laps and then start getting faster again after starting so hard I have a semi blow-up, not sure if I should be targeting that but seeing my final lap as my fastest make me feel like I should be leaving more out there on the course.
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DO you guys know any cross tires that is “uci legal”? I know Donnelly pdx WC is made for that and I love them, but theyre mud tires… 
Tried Specialized terra (36mm) both new and old, tracer (36mm). It depend on the rims ofc
Vittoria Terreno? The 33s measure true and they come in both wet & dry tread patterns. Found them easy to mount tubeless and durable.
I believe the schwalbe x-one’s are uci race legal. They came stock on my aluminum canyon inflite and are probably not optimal but surely not a limiting factor at my ability level.
Afaik tyres per se aren’t uci legal or not. It’s the measured width of the tyre on the rim that matters - it can’t be over 33mm.
That said, the spesh terra pro are 33mm on my rims.
I’d think both Challange and Dugast make their tyres so that they are below 33mm on most rims.
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Maybe your rims are too wide?
From USA cycling, they updated their tire width rules.
“ Tire Width Rules for Cyclocross
The condensed version is that any tire width is allowed for local USA Cycling-permitted cyclocross races. Yes, this means you can use a gravel bike with 40cm tires at your local cyclocross race.
Maximum tire width regulations start at USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships, where Elite, Junior (17-28), and U23 riders must comply with the 33cm maximum tire width set by the UCI. Masters competitors can use a maximum tire width of 35cm at National Championships, but only 33cm at Masters World Championships. Junior (15-16) riders can use any tire width at US Cyclocross National Championships. Tire width is ‘as measured’, not as marked or advertised by the manufacturer.
At UCI Calendar events, including World Championships, maximum tire width is 33cm.”
I know he was asking about tire size and maybe he’s racing a uci event. I figured I’d share their updated rules because I didn’t know. So only if you fall under strict tire width rules for the certain instances listed you can run anything.
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It’s probably going to come down more to rim ID than tire selection. My Vittoria Terreno tires measure about 39mm even though they’re marked 33mm. However, I’m running a definitely not UCI legal Industry Nine UL250 wheelset.
Ive used different rims but last time I had 19mm and clinchers, they did burp.
21mm has served me well but now I use a old pair of MTB wheels with 23mm. They work very good and is great value if you find used too.
I´ll run my muddies a couple of races more the our season is over.
Missed Trek (never been but really want to get up there one of these days) but I’ll be at Fayetteville/OZCX since it’s close to where I live. I’m “racing” Saturday but I haven’t done a cross race since before covid so I’m keeping my expectations low and just going out to have fun. I also want to see how long it takes me to die going up those steps.
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