What is Cyclo Cross?

Muddy marvellous! Thin tyres, thick mud and some of the most exciting yet safe racing you will ever come across, thats Cyclo-Cross. Cyclo-Cross is an almost exclusively winter sport. Short courses (often less than a mile long) on grass, generally in public parks or on playing fields, are usually tackled on machines which look very similar to Road bikes. Thin tyres have a knobbled tread and powerful brakes and low gears make Cyclo-Cross bikes easy to handle on the rough. Mountain bikes may also be ridden in local events. Massed starts make for fast races which are usually no more than an hour in length, shorter for juniors, women and Veterans. With ice, tree-roots and even man-made obstacles in their way, the best riders are extremely agile at mounting and dismounting whilst keeping forward momentum.

Races have a relaxed, informal atmosphere and entries are usually accepted on the day. There are categories for younger riders, usually with a reduced entry fee. The short lap length means that the better riders often lap some of the slower competitors, but that's not the end of the race, you can still submerge yourself in the action, enjoy your own private battles and forget whether you are first or a hundred and first.

Several Cheltenham & County riders compete every winter in the South West or Midland leagues.