In this episode of Bicycling’s Bike Shop, Deputy Editor Tara Seplavy and Senior Photographer Trevor Raab—an elite ’cross racer—explain how cyclocross workouts can improve your handling skills, strength, and power on the bike. Trying cyclocross is easier than you may think; gravel bikes work fine and groups meet in many cities to practice ’cross skills and techniques. Many cyclocross drills are great HIIT workouts and, like core exercises, help improve on-bike stability Plus, it’s a great way to follow some of your favorite pro tour racers in the off-season.
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00:00Say you have a gravel bike, what do you need to get into cross racing?
00:05If you have a gravel bike, you can probably just show up on it.
00:07Unless you have slick tires, you're going to want to put something with a little bit of grip on there.
00:12Here's an example right here of a cyclocross bike with a set of gravel tires.
00:16Right. And that would work just fine just getting started, and eventually you might
00:20find yourself with something like a specialist cyclocross tire that looks a lot like your
00:25gravel tire, but really they're all just cyclocross tires. You could show up on a road bike if you
00:29wanted to. If your road bike fits big enough tires, you can squeeze on some 30 millimeter
00:33knobby tires and go mix it up at the local cross practice.