Cinci3 CX Road Trip

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