The Radavist

For this week’s SVENNESS, CX Hairs takes us to Koppenberg Cross in Oudenaarde, Belgium for some ascending and descending that fabled Flemish pavé and mud.

Small-time frame builders can deviate from their normal M.O. and create more precision machines with very little issue, which is why I think framebuilders will forever offer a better fit to your specific cycling needs.

Agendas aside, this Shand Cycles Stooshie cyclocross race machine is based off a Stoater platform, with a few geometric tweaks, tuned in for CX races… oh and camo never hurt! See more at the Shand Flickr!

This is a great photo and one that speaks a lot about cross racing, to me anyway. See more of Tenspeed Hero’s random photos from this year’s cross photos at the TSH Blog.

If you were there, then this will more than likely induce a Pavlovian-response and if you weren’t, it’ll make you wish you were. Here’s the first video I’ve seen from the 2014 SSCXWC!

Photos by Dan Chabanov

I don’t know why, I but I really love these photos that Dan shot at Richard Sach’s shop. I also love that Team RS works on their own bikes, the night before a weekend of racing to build team dynamic.

See more at Dan’s Flickr.

Leave your city with me and let’s travel to Valkenburg for the first race of the UCI World Cup and episode three of CX Hairs‘ excellent SVENNESS series!

For 2015, Ritte is doing something a little different with their Crossberg this year with a revamped geometry and yes, disc brakes. All wrapped up in a very Ritte paint job, ready to rip.

Check out more specs and photos below and see more at Ritte.

Photos by Bob Woods

Shawn from King Kog was over in Japan, visiting the home of Kinfolk frames. After visiting Kusaka San, the builder of Kinfolk, he was joined by the Kinfolk Japan team to partake in a cross race. Bob Woods shot some photos of this race, which you can see at his Flickr.

Looks like a fun race!

God, I’d love to race on courses like this!!

“The first World Cup Cyclocross race also meant the first time this year the pro women were broadcast, and that means we can finally premiere the first episode of LIKEAVOS, season two. The World Cup opener took place at Valkenburg in the Netherlands. The course is a brutal one. As you’ll see it rides more like a mountainbike race than a cyclocross race, with many elevation changes and off-camber sections. For this episode we concentrate on a tricky off-camber section, the run-up and descending skills. We also watch Katie Compton deal with adversity and Helen Wyman show great form.”

CX Hairs is killing it.

Photo by Eloy Anzola

Well, you should! Head over to Peloton Magazine now to check out Dan’s US Pro CX circuit reportage.

Cell Bikes is an Australian company who offer up a rather affordable complete cross bike and they made a video showcasing a race from their last season… all I can think is damn, I wish our courses had a pump track in them!

It takes a bit of convincing for most people, but after you go with a fatter tire on your cross bike, you rarely will want to go back. Since riding the Nano for around 6 months, I’ve fallen in love with the extra cushion provided by a 40c tire and while I love the Nano, I really wanted to give the Surly Knard 41c a go. If, for any other reason than the allure of a smidge in additional width.

Trails, sure! But racing? For some reason, people are apprehensive about racing a 40+c tire – USAC allows it, so why not? My guess is, that age old myth that a “bigger tire is slower”… Oh but the contrary, with the right PSI, you’ll have the upper hand on just about any course.

I spent the weekend racing on my new Knards and have some thoughts below…

This video is from opening weekend here in Texas, at the Six-Shooter. In years past, it’s been a lot of fun. This year, I was out of town at a wedding, so I missed out. There’s lots of mayhem at the barriers in this one. Not to mention Tristan’s barrier beef as the last clip…

Well, it’s Sunday night and that means everyone that races ‘cross probably has at least one day in their legs from the weekend. We had a great time in Austin and you can expect a full gallery tomorrow, but for now, I’m just stoked that ‘cross is here!

Here you go, the second installment of this year’s SVENNESS series from CX Hairs. Just in time to get you stoked on the weekend’s races!

I don’t even know what to say anymore… You’ll just have to go to Manual for Speed to find out for yourself. All I know is Krispy Kreme > Dunkin’ Donuts.