ESSENTIAL CYCLOCROSS KIT

If you fancy tearing around on drops and skinny knobbly tyres, here’s some kit that just might help

Cyclo-cross is fundamentally a simple sport. Buy or borrow a suitable bike, find a local race, enter, pin on your number and join loads of like-minded souls for an intensive, action-packed workout. Aside from the bike, you don’t need much in the way of specialist stuff. If you’re a regular road rider, you should have a helmet and some clothing already. Shorts, a jersey and gloves will do, to which you can add different base layers, arm and leg warmers if needed, and thicker socks for cooler days.

Off-road shoes and pedals are items you can’t do without, as you’ll almost certainly have to dismount within the race for an obstacle, and road shoes and cleats just won’t work. Everything else is optional, but we’ve tried to suggest products that could help to make your race days a little more efficient, and hopefully solve a few problems that you don’t yet know exist.

As a winter sport that begins its season in autumn, early races sometimes take place on dry, sunny days, where shorts and t-shirts are all you need, but all too soon the days will be short, dark, cold and damp. Perfect for entertaining racing, but much more of a challenge to keep warm before and after the event. Jackets and legwear that’ll keep the chill and elements off when warming up, cleaning the bike, or getting changed could stave off sense of humour failures.

However your race goes, at the end of the day you’ll face the choice of taking a muddy bike home with you, or cleaning it first and leaving the dirt behind. You’ll need to take your own water along – don’t expect to find a hosepipe at a race – and portable power washers are effective and fairly cheap. Alternatively, a bucket, the right implements and some elbow grease will get the job done and see your steed ready for its next outing.

With some appropriate kit, hopefully you’ll keep coming back for more.