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Find a CX group practice or take a clinic to practice some basic techniques and skills: dismounts, remounts, barriers, run-ups. Practice handling skills: tight turns, riding up steel pitches, riding in sand and mud. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Having some basic form with some fitness makes up a lot over the course of a race and can often win over someone with fitness but no form.

It's okay to start racing cross on a mountain bike. With the evolution of the larger (29er) wheel, the equity of gear ratios has come closer, and oftentimes the mountain bike can have an advantage. As you grow to appreciate the sport more, you'll eventually want to race cross on a cross bike, but don't let it stop you from trying the most fun sport on the planet!

Find a cross team to join so you have someone to work the bike pit for you and vice versa. Although cyclocross is an individual effort, having someone there to hand you off a bike and fix any issue you might have can redeem your mechanical problem and get you back in the game. Teams might have spare equipment so you don't have to have a second bike when you're just starting out. Added tip: the MTB can be your second bike when you finally get that CX bike.

Don't worry about getting all the fancy carbon stuff when you start. When I started racing, I used to pull parts off my bikes to assemble my CX bike. Also, with all the new carbon frames and disc brakes entering the market, there are lots of really good alloy bikes and frames and non-disc wheel sets on the market at clearance prices.

The cross season is a great time to cross-train! Being a year-round racer, I loved taking it down a notch and laid off the road and mountain bike rides day in and day out to share time with my trail-running shoes and hit the gym. Build up your core strength, get the plyometrics to lift yourself up the hills and over the barriers. Get some time in running flat, then uphills just for a short window to get your cycling muscles ready. When I did that, I became much stronger on both the run and the bike. Honestly, it was refreshing to get on the cross bike and do skills practice and still think I was riding a bike!

Find the coolest socks and costume. Cyclocross is fun! Cyclocross takes place during the holiday season - Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's - so dress up and show up!

Get a training plan for the season based on your current fitness and goals. If you've raced bicycles all season, there stands a good chance that your are cooked. The cross season is the time for you to get off the weekday hammer sessions and focus on your CX skills and weaknesses. Get used to your CX bike, so ride it for fun. Take the time to practice form over and over. Work on your upper body and core strength if you are weak in those areas. If you have not been riding much at all, focus on base endurance and then power, working in higher-end intervals so you can peak at the right time for the CX season. Too much year-round riding and hammering without a break will toast you. If you are in it for fun, there are usually categories for everyone, so find the right race for you. I prefer single-speed nowadays.

Watching CX videos on YouTube is a great way to study good form and race strategies. Better yet, have a pre-season social with friends for quality time together. Remember, keep it fun!

Wheels and tire choices are a good investment strategy. I was lucky enough to get in the sport before the superlight carbon tubulars became the norm. If you really get into the sport and want to go fast and have the best chance for traction in all-weather conditions, then carbon tubular wheels are worth the investment. Also, running tubular tires allows for super-low pressure; sometimes psi in the 20's can keep you upright and rolling forward most efficiently. However, I always say that a rider's set of skills takes precedence over having all of the Gucci equipment; so train first, race a lot and then see about investing in the wheels.

I personally believe that cyclocross is the most amazingly fun and all-around skills sport there is that can also make you a better rider on all bicycles, whether road or mountain. Cross skills even improve the skills needed for commuting by bicycle on the always-turbulent streets. It is truly a cross-training sport to improve on during the rest of the year. Cyclocross blends so many different types of riders who come together in this short fall/winter time to have fun. It's a one-of-a-kind pleasure-, pain-, and fun-filled, serious, wacky carnival known as cyclocross.