Biking: Cyclocross on tough terrain in Murrysville
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A cyclocross, a bike-when-you-can, carry-it-when-you-can't form of bicycle racing, will be held tomorrow at the Murrysville Community Park in Murrysville.
"It's a true cyclocross course in Murrysville's beautiful new 300-acre park," said organizer Fred Baldassare. "It was designed by Joe Ruggery, a very experienced cyclocross racer who knows how to design a quality and challenging course."
USA Cycling ranked Ruggery the number one masters road racer in 2006.
A cyclocross course, typically about 1 1/2 to 2 miles in length, usually includes pavement, wooded trails, grass, steep hills and obstacles that require riders to quickly dismount, carry the bike while navigating the obstruction and remount in one motion. The latter maneuver is more difficult than it looks.
Photos and video of racers scrambling up a muddy slope with bikes on their shoulders is the classic image of the sport. For a look, check out the trailer for "Transition: An American Cyclo-Cross Season" on Youtube.
There will be five races ranging in length from 40 minutes to 60 minutes -- four for men and an open category for women. The entry fee is $20-$25, depending on the race. The prizes include merchandise and cash -- up to $400 for the winner of the elite men's race.
The emphasis is on a rider's aerobic endurance and bike-handling skills. Cyclocross bikes are lightweight and feature dropped handlebars. They use knobby-tread tires for traction and cantilever-style brakes for clearance due to muddy conditions.
Racers are permitted to change bikes and receive mechanical assistance during a race. While they are on the course coating their bikes with yet another layer of mud, their respective pit crews work quickly to clean, repair and oil the spares.
Cyclocross racing started in Europe in the early 1900s. According to one account, it began when locals raced one another to the next town in the most direct way possible. That usually meant cutting through farmer's fields, going over fences, fording streams and avoiding any aggravated livestock.
It is said to have received its biggest boost when Octave Lapize attributed his win in the 1910 Tour de France to his off-season training in cyclocross.
While climbing the difficult Col du Tourmalet during the Tour, the highest mountain road pass in the central Pyrenees, Lapize looked at some tour officials along the route and shouted what he thought of the course: "You are murderers! Yes, murderers!"
Lapize, a French fighter pilot during World War I, died shortly after he was shot down June 28, 1917.
Baldassare, the manager of the Freddie Fu Cycling Team who had planned to take a year off from race organization, decided to hold one when he realized "how bleak the Western Pennsylvania cyclocross schedule was."
He said it also helped that the title sponsor, UPMC Sports Medicine, agreed to sign on within 24 hours after receiving the sponsorship proposal. MedExpress, Trek of Pittsburgh, Speedgoat, AGR, Vanderkitten and Better World Club are also principal sponsors.
For more information, go to www.gopolar.com/teamfu/murrysvillecross.pdf.
The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy wants the public to adopt one more tradition during the long Thanksgiving holiday -- a family bike ride.
But where to ride? Although any rail-trail will do, the conservancy selected five "prime pathways" across the country that it wanted families to consider. The Great Allegheny Passage was No. 4 on the list.
It noted that the 150-mile crushed stone pathway from McKeesport to Cumberland, Md., the longest rail-trail on the East Coast, takes trail users on "a delightful tour of historical, geological and architectural landmarks and marvels."
For more information, go to www.railstotrails.org.
First Published November 29, 2008 12:00 am
