I was lucky to co-pilot an RV to southern Ohio for the
Cinci3 Cx racing over the Halloween weekend.
Racing started on Friday. The
fields were large with 4 or 5 categories making up a wave with a total of 100 –
125 riders per wave. They do a
mix-category mass start with call-ups based on your Cylocrossresutls.com
ranking. It was quite a different
experience than the WCA races.
Friday racing was in a cold rain with the course quickly
turning into liquid mud during my race.
The mud was the best feature turning a “good” course into a challenging
super- fun course. Each day the
race venue changes to a different park.
Saturday was windy and cold and the course was nearly
dry. Racing started in the afternoon and
finished in the dark with the pro-women and men. It was a power course with three short
steep climbs - the kind where they put a U-turn at the bottom and you grunt
your way up most of it, then repeat 3 times.
On the 6th lap you are really wondering if your legs are going to fall
off or not. It also featured a long sand pit that was ride able for some but
running at least ½ of it was faster for types like me.
Sunday’s course was one of the best CX courses I’ve
ridden. It had some extreme off camber
sections that had wet grass and usually a couple bikes and bodies sprawled
across them. I saw guys fall and slide
right under the tape and off the course.
Couple of serious steep climbs that were run ups for most but a few
could ride them. The worse was a 15-20
foot wall of a climb. The only one a saw
pre-ride it was Matt Shiver. I hear the
top 10 pros were riding it. The pro
course also featured a gnarly downhill section we didn’t have to do – thank
god.
I had some good results in my category a 1st on Friday, and 2nd both Friday and
Saturday. I was chasing Tom Price all
weekend again. (Finished 2nd to him both days at the Trek Cup. ) Only managed to pass him on Friday after he
crashed a bunch in the mud.
Thanks for reading,
Mike M
