Race Cyclocross!

Several weeks ago I spotted this shirt for sale on ebay. It’s now an installation in the race.cx cyclocross museum, sitting right next to the 1st edition hard cover classic of Cyclo-cross by Simon Burney.

So what happened at the 1987 cyclocross nationals? Clark Natwick, coming out of a decade long purple patch, won his final of five national elite titles. A pioneer of cyclocross in the US, Natwick was on the line at the first ever nationals at Tilden Park in Berkeley, California. In later years he would win national titles in 1976 as a junior, and in 1981, 1982, 1986, 1987 as an elite. He podiumed a total of eleven times at nationals. Natwick later went on to race for the Ritchey pro mountain bike team and retired from racing to become an elite level cycling coach.

Want to win five national cross titles? Try follow Natwick’s cyclocross specific training plan. You should have already finished your muscle building weight training and big ring hill climbs. Right now it’s time for high volume, low intensity riding, mixing in some light running or plyometrics.

To keep yourself sane while jogging, try hitting the local MTB trails instead of on the sidewalk around the neighborhood. Remember, trail running is to road running as cyclocross is to road racing.

Clark at left bunny hoping to the 1976 junior national title. Photo by David Reuter.