Mother Nature has left us quite dry for the start of the 2017/18 Cyclocross Season. With the fast rolling courses and dusty obstacles, we find that every race thus far has delivered a pretty bumpy ride. Without the rain and all too familiar swamp fest racing conditions, I have found that riding with the Kinekt Post has left me wondering why I’ve only recently begun racing on one. While the advantages of riding with Kinekt are clear in all conditions, hitting those dry, compact and abusive features make certain key elements become quite obvious. Cyclocross certainly takes a toll on our bodies (my low back especially) and challenges our performance efficiencies as riders.
Last week at Cascade Cross Bellingham BMX, I learned real quick that I had been missing out on optimizing these efficiencies in the past from both the performance and therapeutic side. I can’t deny the significant reduction in physical stress on my low back and the quicker recovery to follow.
Night and day as I had put it. On to the races!
With a late roll up to the BMX parking lot and a quick chat with Charlie 10 minutes before the race, I hesitantly accepted to swap out my rigid seat post with a soft spring rate Kinekt setup just minutes before the gun went off.
All too often while riding, we set our gaze up at unfamiliar obstacles and inevitably respond by standing on the pedals and stopping our pedal stroke temporarily to absorb the upcoming obstacle. While this is a natural reaction, it doesn’t lend itself to a very efficient riding style. For that optimal performance, we’re looking for a consistent flow of power through each pedal stroke despite deep dips and protruding roots. With that in mind, the Kinekt post will respond to these features by allowing the bike to move freely so you don’t have to stop that pedal stroke.
By keeping my weight back and into the saddle I found the ability to pedal through these features smoothly, maintain a higher speed going into the obstacle and really being able to focus on steering with my hips without the worry of losing traction and crashing.
Your center of gravity remains as low as possible when you can stay in the saddle and really allows for optimal cornering and traction control. I can’t tell you how many times I subconsciously speed check into technical corners due to standing on the pedals with a high center of gravity. Stay in the saddle, keep the hips in charge of cornering with that low center of gravity and feel the confidence boost while maintaining even traction through those questionable corners.
As I stare outside, its quite clear that next week we’ll finally be in for some true soupy pacific northwest conditions. Looking forward to furthering analysis with the Kinekt Post as we approach some true cyclocross conditions. Stay Tuned for the race report from CC#2. Catch the next Cascade Cross race, Woolley Cross #2 on Sunday October 22nd. See you there!
Photographs by Matt Curtis
