What’s a handup?
Forget electrolytes and fancy gel packs, bacon and beer will keep you going! Especially during those cold months at the end of the season when cyclocross season happens.
If you’ve ever been to a cyclocross race before, you’ll know that the on-track participation is only half of the fun. All along the course, you’ll find loud and vocal fans cheering and heckling the racers. In fact, at a local ‘Learn to Cyclocross’ clinic, one of the skill stations was “heckling”!
The second stage of spectating involves teasing and tempting riders with ‘handups’. It could be a dollar bill stuck to a barrier, or a swig of beer handed across, but the ultimate (in our mind anyways) is a nice slice of crispy bacon. Nothing fuels and motivates a slow, struggling cyclocrosser more than that! A video can explain the appropriate atmosphere better, so here’s one from YouTube…