The Art of the CycloCross Warm-Up

Cyclocross is a short high intensity endurance event that starts with an all out effort and includes explosive movements such as mounting the bike, jumping over barriers, and difficult run-ups. Throw in extreme weather and cold temperatures and it becomes imperative that athletes allow for enough time to warm-up and pay close attention to how they do it (Boynton, 2011). 

After some digging I found some excellent articles that might be helpful as you develop your own cyclocross warm-up routine. Frank Overton of FasCat Coaching in Boulder CO suggests the model below (read the entire article here):

1. Course Inspection: 10 – 30 minutes
2. Stationary Trainer: 30 minutes with a Tempo effort, then a Sub-Threshold effort, then 2 x 30 secs ON HARD 1 minute OFF 
3. End Warm-Up: 10 – 15 minutes prior to the start (Overton, 2010)

Image: Frank Overton - http://303cycling.com/CycloCross-Warm-Up-Protocol-fascat-coaching

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Dynamic Stretching: Before heading off to the cyclocross course or upon arrival, consider doing some dynamic stretching (not to be confused with static stretching, which is best left to be done after your race), before starting your cardio warm-up. Dynamic stretching takes joints through the ranges of motion that will be experienced during the coming race and provides a great foundation for the muscle activation that occurs during cardio warm-ups, like the one mentioned above. 

Check out these great articles for more info:

Cyclocross Warm Up Protocol (303Cycling.com)

http://303cycling.com/CycloCross-Warm-Up-Protocol-fascat-coaching

Racing Cyclocross in the Cold: The Warm-Up (boyntoncoaching.com)

http://www.boyntoncoaching.com/2011/12/28/racing-cyclocross-in-the-cold-the-warm-up/

Sources

Boynton, J. (2011, December 28). Boynton Coaching. Retrieved October 15, 2014, 
from http://www.boyntoncoaching.com/2011/12/28/racing-cyclocross-in-the-cold-the-warm-up/

Overton, Frank. (2010, September 20). Retrieved October 15, 2014, 
from http://303cycling.com/CycloCross-Warm-Up-Protocol-fascat-coaching