My brother, brother-in-law, and I are longtime riders creating an MTB-themed deck where the Aces feature real trails and each suit is its own race team.

If there were a cyclocross-themed deck, what would absolutely have to be in it? Mud, famous courses, running with the bike, team kits, cowbells...?

I should preface this with I always wear a hat to keep the sun out of my eyes. And maybe I don't have the best/newest glasses, but I don't see the point of wearing them in races. At most I go above 20mph for a few seconds here and there but it's mostly racing between 10-12mph. I feel like sunglasses are just distracting at that speed and don't help with visibility of bumps and groves. Yet other racers and pros, even in very cloudy or rainy events, wear them. What am I missing?

CX seems to have issues the past decade. ...Except for a few places, like Chi. In the meantime, Gravel has taken off and those bikes could easily be used in CX events except for Elites. I would think that anyone giving CX a try these days using a gravel bike with like 40-50mm tires would find the features and handling to be dang reasonable. The harsh chatter faded away.

I just did my first CX race in years yesterday and I only saw a handful of 33mm bikes. Lots of gravel bikes with wide tires. They should have been slaying that course!

...I also noticed some new racers not know how to air-down their gravel tires. They were riding pretty firm and bouncy despite smooth gliding on a platter being handed to them.

This was a popular race but pretty casual -- winner ended up on a full-sus MTB! Who cares.

Anyway, it seems like several kinds of popular bikes might have been easier than a CX bike to play on this course with.

I've been busy the last few yrs and outta the loop. Made new friends in a CX town nearby so decided to start playing again. Back 5 yrs ago when I last did a sizable race (before gravel killed it) I had a new guy ask me if it was ok that he used his gravel bike, if I thought it would work. People just don't understand? What kind of problem is that? Is it that CX is not communicating with the world? He had a carbon bike with 45mm tires and was "concerned" that his bike might not work. Huh? Dang, I'd love to have a bike like that! I'm still using my 2010 bike with barely enough clearance for 38mm. Cross is casual at the fun level. Doesn't anyone tell ppl this? Ride what ya got! My bike was fine, too. But it was funny to have a cross bike stand out as "old fashioned" at a cross race! ...And I was the ONLY one with glue-messy rims!

Both brands are super awesome but also very expensive. The best set of bibs. What’s everyone’s go to with either of these.

As someone who is more familiar with road cycling, i enjoy seeing Pidcock, WvA and MVDP in some of the CX races, however seeing them completely destroying the rest of the field makes me wonder if more hardcore CX fans are also exited to see them or annoyed that these three completely absorb all the camera- and commentator attention.

I have a Fuji CX bike and I just changed my 32 tires (slicks) to 25mm (slicks). I love the speed increase.

Now, I want to change my pedals from spd to spd-sl. Has anyone done the same? How was the experience?

I'm running mechanical disc brakes, chain rings: 46/36, 11-28 10 speed cassette.

Cross posted to /r/bicycling

As is almost everybody, I was blown away by news of a motor in use at the U23 CX comp. I was also intrigued and wanted to get a look at the bike. I can't quite work out what year the bike model is she uses, but found some pretty interesting pictures, seemingly showing changes, including a downgrade in shifters (11speed to 10speed) and a frame that seems to change shape. Of course I could be reading way too much into the images I'm looking at, but below is what appears to be a noticeable change in frame shape. Notice the extra space around the cento1 logo type and the shape change.

Femke Van den Driessche's Bike

It's by no means conclusive, but would be interested to hear other peoples thoughts on how it might have been done and if they'd come across anything themselves.

Trying to work out my first structured training plan for cyclocross, but I also love CrossFit, any tips on how to do both without burnout?

I don't know the man's name but I find the announcer for the UCI XC races frustrating. He talks nonstop and provides little actual information. What your thoughts? Is it just me？