- If you have to go in the pits in cyclocross,
it's not something that you do all the time
and if you've been an amateur cyclocross rider
for a long time, well then you've probably had a husband,
or a wife, a boyfriend, girlfriend, cousin,
brother-in-law, someone has had to go into the pits for you.
It's good to have the skills to be able
to tell your pit crew, although they might be inexperienced,
some tips so you guys have a good day out there.
That is what we are going to do today.
(upbeat music)
One of the unique aspects of cyclocross is bike exchanges
but it's something that you can't do unless
you have a pit crew, which is why I brought my friends,
John and Chris to help me out today.
So, John and Chris have never been in the pits before
so it's important to be able to explain
a couple of things to them before you guys go out there
so that you have a flawless day out on the cross course.
(upbeat music)
So the first thing that you want to do
is get a lay of the land of the course
and make sure that you know where you're coming in
and where your pit crew's going to be.
The worst thing that you can do is come into the pits
and have no idea where your pit crew is.
So you want to make sure that you guys
settle on a location that you're going to be at.
All right guys, so we are in the pit
and the thing that we're going to be doing here
on this course, virtually, we're going to be
coming down the hill here
and then I don't want the bike to be in a super heavy gear
because if I get on the bike
and it's in the biggest gear that I've got
then I got to go back up this hill,
that's not going to be good for anyone.
- Not even with those thighs?
- Hey.
- Yeah, we don't want to sabotage him.
- You guys are going to be great.
When I'm out there doing my pre-ride laps,
then we're going to come through,
we'll check out what gear makes sense,
and then we'll both be on the same page
for when we're out there in race mode.
- [John] Cool, right, I reckon we can nail this.
- Let's do it.
- All right boys, so this is what I'm thinking
I come down here, Chris?
- Yep.
- First thing that you want to do, in theory,
you're going straight to the power washer
with the bike.
- Straight to the lake.
- So I come in, I drop the bike off to you,
voom, bikes gone.
Bikes gone before I even get this from John
and John I'm going to put my hands here
and then I don't want to be grabbing a brick
so I want you to give it just a little nudge, okay?
So just give me a little push so that I'm not
catching a big brick, you know what I mean?
- [John] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [Rider] I don't want to be coming with a ton of speed.
- [John] Just a little bit of momentum right?
- Exactly, just a little momentum
and that is super, super important because
well if you've ever grabbed, tried to grab something
that's standing still while you've got momentum,
it's not a good look.
- No.
- [Together] One, two, three, pit!
- Yeah!
(intense music)
- Okay, so it's really important to have good
communication with your pit crew before the race,
of course after the race as well, but definitely
during the race is key.
You don't want to come into the pits and not have
your mechanics know exactly what the problem
with you bike is, if you have a rear flat,
say, rear flat, if you've got a problem with your
rear derailleur, rear derailleur,
If there's bars are loose, bars are loose,
something very simple.
So, okay.
Boy, boys, boys.
- [John] Okay here he comes.
- What's the problem?
- Rear derailleur, rear derailleur, rear derailleur.
- Derailleur, okay.
- Right, go fix that OP, I've done enough in my time.
(rock music)
- Yo, yo, yo.
- Okay, right, he's signaled, he's got a flat, oh no!
- [Chris] Oh!
- Oh no, your (mumbles) is going to have to change that quick.
- [Chris] All right he's coming in, he's coming in.
- Looks like a problem.
- What's up?
- Forgot (beep).
- Too right, rear derailleur he forgot to let us know,
good job we're experienced.
- So there's some things that you should never
do to your pit crew.
Dropping off a bike without telling them what's wrong,
spiking a bike, tensions usually are high
during the race, there's a lot of adrenalin,
but keeping your cool is one of the most important
things that I can give you guys as a tip.
Don't go in there acting like a hot head, being crazy,
you got to keep your cool, you got to be chill,
let your mechanics know, let them know what's going on,
and never ever spike the bike or drop it or throw it
into a mechanic, not a good look.
- It's okay, next lap is good.
- [John] He's going well today, isn't he?
- [Chris] He's looking good.
- [John] Yeah.
- And that's perfect communication with your pit crew,
I've ditched my bike that's not working correctly,
the pit crew has cleaned it, tuned it up
and now, I'm ready to go.
(rock music)
- Sometimes in a really muddy cross race,
you won't be getting off the bike,
you'll actually be running with it when you go into
the pit, you run into it, off it goes with catcher,
with Chris, John's got the bike by the seat tube
and by the bars, he's got it up in the air for me,
I grab it in the running position and off I go.
- Yeah.
I feel like I want to go for a run with him.
(rock music)
- What I'm worried about is that he's going to come round
and he's going to sort of sling his leg over
into my face, but it's all right.
(rock music)
- Right, so it's been washed, right
you've got to run off to that.
- Coming in, coming in.
- Here he is, here he is, here he is.
Hey, come on, 15 seconds!
See, I've learnt that as well,
you've got to give him just a bit of information,
doesn't matter if it's false or real, but you've
got to just motivate him.
(rock music)
There's a pre next ronda, okay 15 euros on the line.
- Pre next ronda? [Laughs]
- Yeah.
(laughs)
- That's next lap.
- I got the next bit.
- Yeah.
So that is a perfect day in the pits,
I want to to say thank you to you guys,
appreciate the help,
that was amazing, you guys were fantastic
first time pit crew.
If you guys liked this video, please give it a thumbs up.
Leave us a comment below, let us know what you think
of Chris and John, how they did.
If you want to see other how to cyclocross videos,
check those out here, subscribe to GCN, click in the center,
guys, thank you, want to get some beers?
- Lets go.
- Yeah!