Episodes
In Episode 3 of Season 6, Neil is joined in the studio by CX talent Alison Kinloch and Alex Forrester. In Crosstalk, the trio unpack their different experiences on Ingleborough, Whernside and Pen Y Ghent, with their thrills and spills... and how they're feeling after a week of recovery. They consider just how many whippersnappers are close on the heels of the Hope block-out of 4 of the 6 individual podium places at the front of the elite race. They also consider the news from Belgium with...
Published 10/04/22
In Episode 2 of Season 6, Neil and Matt are joined by author, rider, and CX guru Alex Forrester. Alex gives us a bit of an insight into his relocation from the South of England back to his Derbyshire roots, and how he is getting his cycling cafe prepped for all weathers. In crosstalk, they chat through some of the team changes that have been posted (if not announced), and tackle the can of worms that is the UCI sticker on a frame. They also wonder whether a 14mm thru axle disqualifies a bike...
Published 09/14/22
In Episode 1 of Season 6, Neil and Matt are back with another season of cross-goodness! This season we say farewell to Bruce Dalton and wish him a happy retirement from the mic as he pursues so many ace projects over the winter. Neil and Matt will be teaming up with guests throughout the season to bring something new to this season's pod. In Episode 1, they look back on what the cross-community have been up to over the summer, focusing on some of those emerging riders who look to be in the...
Published 08/12/22
In Episode 12 of Season 5, Neil Matt and Bruce review the World Champs that came from Fayetteville and gave a new meaning to Dry January, but still delivered some great racing with photo finishes, dominant rides off the front, and drama throughout.  It also delivered a decent haul of GB medals 🤩. They spend some time unpacking Ribblegate, understanding why one of the GB podium favorites needed to borrow bikes from Sven Nys to race at the World Champs after arriving with non-approved...
Published 02/10/22
In Episode 11 of Season 5, Neil Bruce and Matt look back on final round of the National Trophy that came from Broughton, Skipton, that not only gave a tough course, but also a great example of what can be done to make a top tier race happen in the UK if you have the support and expertise from people like those at Hope. It also gave Neil his PB result of the season (😎).  They also look back at the final two rounds of the World Cup from Flamanville and Hoogerheide that delivered some close...
Published 01/26/22
In Episode 10 of Season 5, Neil, Matt and Bruce are just back from what was an excellent National Championships, but they are still far from dried out after the Saturday drenching. In Crosstalk they talk through all the details of what was a challenging and muddy course, but a course that still brought exciting racing.  They reflect on their own experiences of being on the mic as well as on the start line... and Neil also making it to the finish line.  All the UCI races from Sunday are...
Published 01/11/22
In Episode 9 of Season 5, Neil Bruce and Matt bring a bumper show. reflecting on one of the season highlights - the Kerstperiode - the classic series of Christmas races in Belgium which gave loads of discussion points in each race.  Neil managed to travel to Belgium for the Kerste and he brings his view from the pits.   In today's Crosstalk, they review the world cups from Dendermonde and (the real) Hulst... they discuss the SuperPrestige from Zolder... and debate the X2O action from Baal...
Published 01/04/22
In Episode 8 of Season 5, Neil Bruce and Matt are back with a Christmas show packed with action and previews. In Crosstalk, they review the UK UCI double header, with the first running of Clanfield Cross as an international race, and also cover round 5 of the National Trophy that came from Cyclopark, a race that polarised opinions, and a course that changed throughout the weekend.   They review the snowy Val Di Sole and debate whether this is a direction in which cyclocross should move, or...
Published 12/21/21
In Episode 7 of Season 5, Neil and Matt look back on the Cyclocross World Masters Championships that came from Ipswich.  Not only do they give a run down of how the event panned out, but they also attempt to give a synopsis of every race category and key moments that decided who gets to wear the rainbow stripes for the next year. They also look back on a very wet Boom that saw impressive returns from Turner, Pidcock in his magic skinsuit, and of course Wout van Aert who was in a class of his...
Published 12/07/21
In Episode 6 of Season 5 Neil Matt and Bruce look back on Round 4 of the National Trophy from Sunderland, that saw some excellent performances... and not just for the first over the line.  They also get a bit seasonal after the snow that came at some of the UK Regional Champs and hope to see some more... and of course discuss the Crosscast NT total time competition, The Wrath of Chronos (thanks @Iainseye). They wonder whether Iserbyt was sledging (see what we did there!) in his pre-race talk...
Published 12/01/21
In Episode 5 of Season 5 Neil Matt and Bruce go all 2015, covering van der Haar winning the European Champs, and also taking a win in the World Cup.  They review whether this could the pinnacle of a very successful season for van der Haar, even through it has not even started for the World Championship elite men's favourites.   They debate course design at Niel and what they hope to see when elite racing hopefully returns to Col du Vam.  They also talk Tabor, where Brand also kept the race...
Published 11/17/21
In Episode 4 of Season 5 Neil Bruce and Matt review the most recent action from round 3 of the National Trophy that came from Falkirk, a tough course that was highly praised by riders and a venue we hope to return to.  Whilst Carrick-Anderson and Flynn lead the BC National Trophy, they review how close the unofficial Crosscast league standings are, which are led by Field and Manley. Bruce re-lives his on-the-ground experiences from his recent block on the continent,  and the show reviews the...
Published 11/04/21
In Episode 3 of Season 5 Neil, Matt and Bruce go all international with Neil recording in an airport, and Bruce somewhere between races in Ireland and Belgium.  They cover all the action from Milnthorpe, a race where technical features dominated the overall outcomes.  They talk about how small mistakes cost a lot of time for riders across all the fields, and of course update with the official (and our own unofficial) standings. They review the first three rounds of the World Cup that came...
Published 10/20/21
In Episode 2 of Season 5, Matt, Bruce and Neil are joined by Curtis White to preview the upcoming USA World Cups and to review the season start in what is an important year for USCX. They review the first round of the National Trophy that came from Derby... including reviewing the effect of random gridding (smaller than expected to be honest) and also talk about the increasing number of tyre/wheel combinations that are failing the UCI magic measurer 33mm test. The start of the continental...
Published 10/05/21
In Episode 1 of Season 5, Matt, Bruce and Neil are back to preview the new cyclocross season.  They talk through the implications of the bumper World Cup... the 6 round National Trophy... and the Masters' Worlds to be held in the UK later this year. They look back on the highlights of the career of Jolien Vescheuren, who sadly lost her battle with brain cancer over the summer, and they also discuss their thoughts on the failed doping test that ended the career of Katie Compton abruptly. In...
Published 09/14/21
In Episode 11 of Season 4 Neil and Matt say farewell to a season that almost didn't happen for the elite riders and fizzled out for the grass roots scene. However, they agree that despite the disruption, the pro and televised racing has been excellent entertainment, and the season-long narrative the most intriguing for years across all series. They talk through the emotionally charged end of the Superprestige series from Middelkirke where Aerts won the elite men's series despite Sweeck...
Published 02/17/21
In Episode 10 of Season 4 Neil, Bruce, and Matt focus on the thrills and spills, the dreams that came true and the nightmare races, that came from the 2021 World Championships in Ostende. In this strange season with no Dutch National Championships the rest of the world held back to allow the Dutch squad to fight it out and be awarded a clean sweep of rainbow jerseys. The Crosscasters debate whether strategy or body composition had a bigger effect on the racing, and despair at the career...
Published 02/02/21
In Episode 9 of Season 4 Bruce, Matt and Neil review the racing from Hamme and Overijse, the last test of the legs before the World Champs next week. The close racing at the front of the men's elite with a 1-1 score draw between Van Aert and Van der Poel, and 2-0 for Alvarado but a very timely and consistent rise to form for Bakker. And was Overijse worthy of being a world cup course?... (spoiler: yes it was flippin awesome). And finally in crosstalk, Neil expresses his angst at the...
Published 01/26/21
In Episode 8 of Season 4 Matt and Neil look back over 5 days of New Year racing that contained 4 races, including 4 wins (or was it 5?) for Mathieu Van Der Poel (and David), and career best wins for Vas finishing on the top step twice. They talk about how lessons in sprints and lunges are in order after top positions being decided in the final few cm three times over. At Bredene they applaud the have-a-go attitudes of White and Franck; at Baal they disagree on how similar the conditions...
Published 01/06/21
In Episode 7 of Season 4, Neil and Matt update on the latest big races of the Kerstperiode - Zolder and Dendermonde. A contrasting pair of races with Zolder keeping to a classic course with another fast and flowing event, and Dendermonde being visited for the first time. They debate exactly how we got to having a World Cup on such a quagmire as Dendermonde, but recognise some fantastic performances from the likes of Pieterse, Honsinger, Turner and Mein. They also discuss course design in...
Published 12/29/20
In Episode 6 of Season 4 Matt and Neil give a brief update and review of the recent series of cyclocross races on the continent, a series that has had ace race after ace race. They talk about the fabulous racing at Namur, who was riding like a machine at robotland, and the heeby jeeby drops at Herentals. And of course they mark a key result where van Aert won ahead of van der Poel for the first time since the Valkenburg world champs in Feb 2018. Looking forwards they give as much info as...
Published 12/24/20
A Christmas special! In Episode 5 of Season 4 friend of the show and The Cyclocross Bible author Alex Forrester dives into the pits for an in-depth interview with Trinity Racing's Cameron Mason. We have had the show waiting for a few weeks and it was recorded just between Cam's European Championships' U23 podium, and his broken collarbone collected at Merksplas: twitter.com/camerooney_/status/1330557887987519490?s=20 Don't forget to follow Alex at The Cyclocross Bible...
Published 12/23/20
In Episode 4 of Season 4 Neil and Matt come back after a break from recording to review what has been an exciting season so far in the European pro-ranks, but decimated elsewhere. Neil gives his impressions of Tabor, after making the most complicated trip of his life in order to be at the race as tech support for two of the GB squad. They talk through who has class this year across all categories, not only including the winners of Pidcock, Bäckstedt, Mein, and Brand, but also quality...
Published 12/19/20
The Crosscast S4E03 - Muddy Milnthorpe wishing for a washer All the cyclocross news including reviews of the latest races, guests in the pits and previews of all the upcoming action from the other side of the tape. In Episode 3 of Season 4 Matt is fresh back from commentating on the World Champs MTB and is clearly still buzzing from an uncharacteristically muddy edition. Neil is clearly buzzing from his excel wizardry on getting the first ever CVV standings calculated. Most importantly they...
Published 10/16/20
In Episode 2 of Season 4, Neil, Matt and Bruce start to look forward to the 2020-2021 cyclocross season, as it stood on 11 September. They look back at how the cx riders have been doing over the summer, including Wout van Aert winning more stages of the Tour de France than he won cx races last season... and Tom Pidcock winning more stages of the Baby Grio than he won cx races last season (as well as the overall). They talk updates on teams that they can discuss, like Trek Factory Racing's...
Published 09/13/20