Run, Ride, Hop: When and How.

How to best tackle a particular obstacle, hill, or barrier section in a cross race is not always clear when pre-riding a race course, most of all, it takes a little experimentation to find the best approach. And if you want even one more option, you could always learn how to bunny hop barriers, if you dare.

When to Run, Ride, or Hop in a Cyclocross Race

This is very subjective, and depends on a lot of factors, including bike setup, gearing, conditions, your ability, and most importantly, your own strengths. Some of the best-laid courses have plenty of options where the rider chooses his/her method to approach different obstacles, using his/her strengths as needed. It’s common even for the pros to employ different approaches to the same section of the course.

Jackson Stewart and Ben Jaques-Maynes each using their respective strengths in 2002 Surf City Finals. photo: Jeff Clark (courtesy of Surf City website)

The simple answer to this is whatever approach is fastest for you, assuming that it doesn't waste too much energy. Most riders like to ride whatever they can, because you can lose a lot of ground slowing down, getting off, and getting back on. This includes hopping barriers, which can be a huge time and energy saver provided you have the skills and the nerve to actually try it in a race situation.

One important thing to remember is that riding a section is not necessarily the best solution, there are occasionally rideable sections that are faster or less risky to run - oftentimes these risks outweigh the benefits.

The best way to decide how to approach a given section of a course, is to pre-ride the course with a friend or teammate that is about the same ability as yourself. Each of you should simultaneously try a different approach to each section and discuss the merits of each, noting if a gap formed, and even if it did, was it worth the energy and risk? Could you do it so easily that you'll be able to do it during the race without screwing up? Ride the section at race speed, multiple times if necessary. Watch other riders tackle the same section, and note what they do. Even mid-race you might notice another rider with a better approach than yours, at which point you might want to change your tactics.

For example, if a course has an uphill stretch with a barrier midway up the hill or is otherwise only partially-rideable, you are faced with the option of getting off at the bottom and running the whole thing, or riding up to the barrier and dismounting just before it. Often in these circumstances it is better to run the whole hill because you may stall while performing a dismount mid-hill – when getting off the bike there is a moment when you not pedaling nor running and if the hill is steep enough by the time you get off you might even be going backwards. Anyhow, try it both ways before you decide, before your race begins. If you find that you can maintain your momentum getting off mid-hill, do that, otherwise it might be wiser to “hoof it”.

Another instance when you might want to consider running over riding is when there is a section of deep but rideable mud. You should weigh your options and decide whether it is worth slopping mud all over your machine (in the drivetrain, brakes, tires, rims, making your bike heavier and slower in the process) and risking getting stuck before you make it out the other side - when you could run with the bike for a distance and avoid the mess altoghether. Also, if you're already off the bike from a barrier or run-up, you might want to get past the really sloppy mud that's been churned up by riders' feet to get on - sometimes when you hop on your bike in mud it has a tendency to stick where you drop it...

Other things to consider on rideable sections:

• Try different lines – often one line is much more rideable than others.
• Speed is key. In order to clear a steep uphill find the best line to maintain your speed, and go into it with an abundance of momentum. Often on a short steep section the bulk of the work is done before the actual hill.
• The consequences of screwing up are usually greater than the consequences of running a barely-rideable section. This especially holds true on the first lap of a race where a mistake (yours or someone else’s) can cost you big time. I’ve seen some excellent riders hung up on their chainring on a barrier or stalled on a steep uphill on the first lap of a race while the rest of the pack was trotting by. When in doubt, especially on lap 1, get off the bike.
• Are there sections between barriers that you can get back on and coast or make a few pedal strokes unclipped instead of running? This can save a lot of energy in the right circumstances. Try it out before the race.
• Watch the pros – often they’ll be doing totally different stuff than the racers that raced earlier, riding completely different lines and what-not. Granted, sometimes this is stuff we could only dream about - like Ben Jacques-Maynes hopping that uphill barrier at Coyote Point 2002 – I would have been dismounting there even if there wasn’t a barrier… 

Bunny Hop Technique

New 11/09/2004 - Speaking of Ben Jacques-Maynes, I added his comments below that he sent in response to my first draft of this article (thanks Ben!). I never realized Ben worked so intensively on his hopping - it shows. He also mentions kissing the barrier (with your front tire not your lips - though I think I saw Ben smooch a barrier with his lips once, too - ouch!) which is good advice and helps your take-off.

First of all, let me say that bunny-hopping in practice is much different than bunny-hopping in a race when you’re going anaerobic and gasping for breath. Justin Robinson says "if you can't do it 10 out of 10 times in practice then don't do it in a race", and I think that is great advice. I learned the technique 3 years ago but only started using it in races on barriers last season, and even then only when the conditions were absolutely ideal for me (read: VERY seldom). In all honesty a very select few riders actually use it to their advantage on real barriers, and these are some of the fittest and best technical riders out there. For the rest of us, we can only hope for the occasional short barrier or log in a race in which to show our hopping prowess. But it is fun to learn and if you can use it to your advantage, consider yourself lucky.

Russ Wright of Abbiorca.com put together a sweet series of shots showing two of the best hoppers out there, Todd Wells and Ben Jacques-Maynes in action. Check it out: http://www.abbiorca.com/bike/cross/special/bunnyhop/index.html

The technique is much different from the two-wheel bunny-hop we all do on our mountain bikes. Here is an explanation of the technique I found on the web:

"Start the bunny hop by crouching down and applying pressure to the front wheel just before the obstacle. As you reach the obstacle, quickly lift up on your handlebars (to lift the front wheel) and then lift up on your pedals (to lift the rear wheel). The key is to lift each wheel in succession, rather than lifting them both at the same time (which is a different type of hop). Practice this one by jumping imaginary obstacles before attempting real ones."

-http://www.freesport-tv.com/web_4.asp

A few things I would add to this:

• Practice on a safe surface, like grass. Wear a helmet.
• Doing it on the bar-tops is the easiest. For this reason bar-top levers are very useful for approaching the barriers confidently in case you need to scrub some speed.
• When you are pulling up on the front, you are not just getting it up to clear the barrier, you are loading the rear wheel with pressure for take-off. Often times you will see photos of riders like Todd Wells hopping a barrier and his front wheel is a good 4 inches *above* the barrier, this loads the rear with even more pressure to slingshot your body and the rear wheel over.
• When your rear wheel approaches the obstacle, launch off of it and thrust the handlebars (and hence the front wheel) forward and downward.
• Make sure take-off and landing are dead-on. Landing with the front wheel even a little turned will result in significant speed loss at best and an endo at worst.
• I learned to do it on my hardtail mountain bike first, crossing small logs. This way I learned to get the technique down without flatting or crashing into a vertical barrier. Also, you get a little more boing out of the bigger tires.
• Think of it as a high jump - you are only trying to clear the bar - so your whole bike needn't clear the barrier, only the part that is directly over it.
• One thing that I find most terrifying is that the faster you go, the bigger you can go. Perhaps it has something to do with converting the forward momentum to upward thrust when you pull back on the handlebars…or maybe it’s just in the timing, but I find I'll knock my rear wheel on a barrier at lower speeds whereas it will clear at higher speeds. To clear a standard 40cm UCI barrier on a flat, it requires a little steam, and also a bit of courage – because if you don't make it the consequences are that much greater. 

Ben's Notes (NEW!):

• at slower speeds, you are going up and over a barrier, which is why you see the near vertical bike. your ability to clear the rear wheel means your hop is effectively much bigger, hence the tall front wheel. on these hops (and multiples too) I usually kiss the tops of the barriers in order to remain stable on the downside. it gives the mental impression that you have never left the ground.
• at higher speeds, it's more like a long jump where someone's put in a vertical marker to show how high you need to get in order to get the right length. fast jumps require a lot more nerve, but I have seen many aborted attempts (usually by me) due to the top levers. you are going too fast to stop in time for the barrier, and you are too close to dismount or do a slow hop. get the nerve up and just do it. soft grass helps, but too soft means it compresses upon liftoff and your hop becomes bigger.
• I work on my fast, slow and multiple hops every week, and I still screw up plenty, usually on reentry. you gotta have a good hour of solid hopping (60-80 hops) every week to remain fresh. I've also raised my bars and shortened my stem in order to make hopping easier...it's all about what you want to get out of it. build yourself 2 barriers, a 12 incher and a 15 incher. make them so they tip over easily, and make them solid (not a frame) so it looks like you're going at something substantial. I used thin plywood and 2X2, with a metal bracket for the feet. don't invest anything in them: they'll be demolished by December. practice on the 12" to get it down, and then go for the 15". when you can clear that, line the two up and go for the double, with the shorter one last.
• on choices: i have found it difficult to make good decisions on the fly during a CX race. if you have never tried something, i guarantee you will get it wrong with your heart rate high and your eyes crossed. practice first, but practice everything. that way you have many tricks to pull out of your bag when it matters. I run as much as the next racer, and do dismount drills and footwork and leg speed drills too, so that if i can't hop anything, i'm not at a disadvantage. If you can hop something, it might help to keep that under wraps until a late race attack where you can get a gap. if others in your group know you've got hops, they may try everything in their power to keep you from using that advantage.
  

When to Hop: Basically whenever there is a distinct advantage over running AND there is little chance of crashing/flatting, which sadly isn't that often. Note that many promoters go out of their way to prevent bunny-hopping, making really tight barriers that force dismounts. There are a lot of opinions on whether bunny-hopping should even be allowed in cyclocross, but I personally think that it's all good.

Anyhow, if you have anything to add to this from your own experience, or anything I haven’t explained satisfactorily, please let me know. Thanks for reading.

-JF