The XC thread

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Feb 2022
7:54pm, 19 Feb 2022
859 posts
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stilldreaming
Eunice has stopped my comeback race as our XC tomorrow has been cancelled due to potential dangers (Woodland Trust own the land and have withdrawn access) :-(
Feb 2022
10:17am, 21 Feb 2022
75,963 posts
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Gobi
sad to hear people got cancelled

Results were good for me I was 35th overall, last Brum League I was 76th. All in all a successful mud season for me be it cyclo cross or cross country. Happy to put away the CX bike and the XC spikes now. Now I focus on the MTB/road and enjoying trails with my dog while looking for road speed be it bike or trainers.

I am a duathlete !
Mar 2022
9:50pm, 15 Mar 2022
164 posts
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Alun
Added some more silverware to a very successful cross country season last Saturday at the British Masters' Cross Country Championships, the Medway & Maidstone M55-64 team took gold from Guildford & Godalming by just 24 seconds.
We'd already defended our Kent Masters' Championships M50-59 gold, taken M55-64 silver at the South of England Masters' Championships (behind G&G) in December and helped the senior men's team to the bronze medal in the Kent cross country championships 12 to score competition.
We also won the M55-64 team gold at the British Masters' Road 10k Championships in November.
We've one more cross country race left this season, the final Kent Fitness League match that was deferred after storm Eunice, the maths is simple, win and our rivals finish third or lower and we retain our title from before the pandemic.
The only certainty is that I will win the M55 age group to add to the M50 age group win in the 2019-20 season.
On Monday my attention will switch to road and track racing until the cross country returns in October!
Sep 2022
9:23am, 28 Sep 2022
1,958 posts
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Steve NordRunner
Do any of you nice people use XC studs (as distinct from spikes)? I have had success with screw-in winter studs for snow and ice, and I notice that the same supplier has studs with a similar diameter but shorter stick-out for use on surfaces like grass, wet timber.

FYI I use best-grip studs. They are Italian in origin but I buy them in Norway. They seem to be obtainable from https://supatracks.com/boot-studs/. I use the models 3000A and 3000B for snow and ice, but they have also model 1000 for XC, fishing, trekking, etc.
rhb
Sep 2022
11:51am, 28 Sep 2022
2,011 posts
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rhb
I just wear x-talon (rubber studs?) Unless it is sloppy mud on a steep hillside day in which case the spikes get the last lot of mud bashed off. Seems to be rarer that the spikes are needed tbh.
Sep 2022
11:59am, 28 Sep 2022
19,108 posts
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larkim
For the properly muddy courses, especially with significant elevation changes, I'd be surprised if they were long enough to be effective. I've regularly used 12 and 15mm spikes and whilst I've not experimented with not using them, I've stayed upright!
Sep 2022
12:01pm, 28 Sep 2022
19,109 posts
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larkim
Nonetheless, interested to hear if anyone has used them successfully. I'm pretty terrified of falling (I don't like getting muddy and I don't like pain!) so I'm not the worlds best descender so maybe those screw in studs in the heels of my XC shoes would work well. Then again, the heel depth may not be deep enough to take the screw.
Sep 2022
1:40pm, 28 Sep 2022
78,005 posts
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Gobi
I wore 12mm front spikes all last year , had value at every race.
Sep 2022
12:01am, 29 Sep 2022
1,963 posts
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Steve NordRunner
In my parts I'm more concerned with rounded smooth granite humps popping up through pine-needles, heather and roots, rather than lots of mud, and some shoes (like Saucony peregrine ST (soft terrain)) are great on the soft stuff but dangerous on any smooth rock with a slight biofilm or any dampness. I've sent off for 10 per shoe anyway and will try them out on the above shoes. I just wondered if they were in anything like common use for these conditions, since I have no fellrunning background from the UK.
Oct 2022
8:20pm, 15 Oct 2022
188 posts
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Alun
First cross country of the season out of the way, pretty firm underfoot due to the lack of rain but absolutely loved it!

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