So my homies and I are discussing this in a fairly heated way. That is, the brake routing debate. Moto style is left brake managing the rear cantis and the right brake managing the front. I suspect anyone reading this site is a cross geek and knows why your do this but or those who don't, I'll explain:

If you dismount on the non drive side and coast into barriers to run through (or run up as it were), having your left hand on the left hood will activate the REAR brakes and theoretically give you superior control of the bike to take the edge off speed you may need to do. You and I know you should not be touching them at all coming into barriers, but there's always that 'sometimes' to correct speed like in the event there is an apex into the first barrier. So if you're Sven Vantourenhout, this all doesn't apply because you dismount drive side and the brakes are logically in the right place.

So what';s the point of the post? Who does this? Maybe purists and traditionalists (and Joe Ball) but all the Belgian heavies I see from Bart-man to Sven (please say NICE) Nijs to others run normal MTB/road style. I've never run it moto style and never had a problem in a decade. Maybe I'm missing something?

Nah.

Evidence:

What did YOU do to get ready for 'cross today?

Check this sheeit out that Molly Cameron sent to me in a post below. Unbelievable. I need to get my Boulder-based bambinos all sorts of 'crossed up soon to compete against this kind of talent!! I guess we have altitude on our side, but this little champ has skeeeewz:

I linked to this through Gwadzilla's site. Thanks man! Awesome video of Ben Turner's Boulder Based TIAA-Cref/Clif Bar cross team. They are having problems getting funding from what I hear folks (will dril in to this more to see what's up) but is the deepest in terms of junior to espoir-level 'cross mentoring we have in thi9s country ) props to Alan and Rad Racing too!).

3 years old and ripping it. Just like his big brother did. Seamus took flight today and isn't looking back. The Like-A-Bike yet again proved its worth for boy No. 2.

I watched him today do this and in all sincerity, and obviously not to sound cheesy but it'll sound the way it'll sound, this affirms why I ride. Just seeing his face creates that instant connection between what he just experienced today and what I have known for the last 32 years of my life since I learned to pedal Ted Stoica's bike...the one he got for his birthday..at HIS birthday party. I can only imagine those pros who take the step towards dope to get faster. This joy in Seamus which they absolutely knew is now the farthest thing from their mind. Somewhere along the way the job and livelihood and overbearing ego penetrated the goodness of it all and totally sullied the experience of what a bike does to transform a human.

So all the sappy doperssuck stuff aside, CHECK THIS OUT! MY BOY'S FREE! HE DID IT! SICK!!!

So Christine's note to me in my post below reminded me to do two things:

a) Ensure I link out to her blog
b) Ensure you know what this tough as nails chiquita is doing over there in the Belgian mud and cobbles

Christine "the PEANUT" Vardaros is an American living the dream over there in Belgie. I was made known of her exploits through Paul and my friends at Rock Lobster, who also supply Christine with her frames for 'cross (at least in years past).

Have a read and learn how un-PRO you really are when you filter through her trials and tribulations.

So I put a post up for my Scott Team CX a while back and have had some inquiries. Here are some photos of the frame, fork and post and a single ring set up with DA cranks I'll throw in. I have the BB too. $5hundy.

The last Boulder Short Track occurred this past Wednesday. It was an absolute throw down. It was "double coupon" night...2x the points for your results so the field was HUGE. The course was the longest of the series with so many tight 180's it looked to suit me and my BMX background. You have to JAM out of those bends to get gaps on folks and it is all about the power output. I lined up next to Sager, Ward and Colby and virtually everyone wanted front row positioning so the front line was like 25 people large (about 15 -20 in the row behind) and all trying to hole shot into a much smaller space.

Becker yelled 3,2,1 go! and it was like a full on motocross start. Braaaaaaaaaaaaaap! Chaos! Dudes bumping, crashing....i literally had my head down and elbows out...not to take people out...but to protect myself! I navigated through the chaos and didn't win the hole shot but was safely in the top 6-8 (I will not be keeping this phat position for long...). Things bottleneck up on 1/2 the first lap into those above mentioned 180 degree sections. Brady Kappius comes flying by me trading paint in this corner and we all back up. I hop off, 'cross style and run as do some other dudes and jump back on. So many dudes on such a tight spot. Crazy! So as the attrition sets in, lap after lap. I am trying to figure out how I feel. I am going SO HARD it is incredible. I am getting near what I put out in CX (not there yet) so am averaging about 172 with spikes at 180. This said, I felt almost sick on the last 2 laps. Literally like "Man, I better stop and sit down" sick. Crazy. If I could graph the night, it's something like this:
So I finished up totally spent, like 24th, worst personal result but still smiling and satisfied where the body is going. Totally different than last year and years prior. I think I was in the mid 20's overall in the A's having done 4 of the 8 races. This husband/daddy/worker can't complain! These mo-fos are FAST!

So as I write this, my reminder pops up like it does every Friday for me at 8AM MST. It makes me smile. It gets my juices flowing for Belgium. My plans are coming together. I got good news yesterday I'll share when 100% confirmed but as it relates to where I'll be staying for the 10 days in Belgium, it'll be total PRO style! Think Transitions2. Dreaming....

OK, possibly the single most bizarre photo sequence I've ever seen. Start by clicking HERE and then follow the sequence by hitting 'next image' at the top. It'll draw a "Huh??" (said like Scooby Doo of course) out of you for sure.

I love Mavic. In fact, with the exception of my FSA's, Mavic is all I use across every one of my my bikes, MTB, road and 'cross. I made a call to our good friend at Mavic and explained the 29'er project being worked on and he graciously said a pair of the allusive CrossMax 29'ers could be sourced to help out. Stoked! I run the 26" version of these for rim brakes on my 1 x 1 and love their performance. Stoke dto have a bigger version.

I believe these are Tubeless which is a concern of mine as I've never run native tubeless or Stans. Moving aside the tubeless versus tubed debate, can anyone recommend a set of Tubeless 29'er tires worth their salt? I run the Hutchinson Python tread (tubed version) on my MTB and think it's about a C+ or maybe B in terms of quality but woudl love something better. Suggestions? I need to check and see if these wheels can run tubed tires as an option. Not clear on this....

Photo by Guitar Ted.

So, I'm thinking I am all that plus tax in designing my little PVC training barriers when I see a google alert sniff out this gem from the lads of BostonCross. Their approach is fairly straightforward but require the need to 'stake' themselves into the ground where mine use a legged approach. You can see the article here on their great 'cross focused site. Or I've JPG'd their freely accessible PDF here:
What did you do today to get ready for 'cross?