Tips for Riding Light on a Cyclocross Bike

"MICKEY DENONCOURT: One of the keys to these tight corners is, you know, putting the appropriate amount of pressure on the bike, you know, going through the corners. There are times when I'm initiating a corner, when I'm really pushing down hard on my handlebars, you know, I'm weighting my inside handlebar and my outside pedal is really getting my tires to dig in. There are other times, especially, you know, in a cross bike where your tires are so small and skinny and they don't get that much traction that you need to be really light so you can let the bike sort of pop out of, you know, the move that you've initiated and find its own line. So as I ride through this corner, I'm going to take it as a left hander. You know, I'm going to roll around and get some speed come through it. You'll see, like, my hands will almost be popping off the handle bars. Sometimes, I'll be riding so light on the bike to get the line that I want. So, you know, right there I got bogged down by some sand because I was pushing a little bit too hard to try to get myself turned harder around that tree. But it's like one of those things where it's like if I just rode in it a little bit lighter, you know, maybe gone out a little bit wider, I would have made it around that sort of hairpin section a little bit quicker. So I'll ride through it one more time with a little bit less pressure on the bars and we'll see what happens. So, you know, that time, not as much pressure on the bars trying to get around and push my front wheel through and I made it through just fine. So it's like because, you know, the ground is so soft and unpredictable, your tires are so small, you know, they don't have a lot of traction, you have to, you know, you have to be light on the bike through the corners, through the, you know, everywhere else just to keep things upright and not waste energy falling."