Nowak Report: Cross is On!

Hey all,
Welcome to another wonderful year of cyclocross!!!

Yesterday was the first race in the Chicago Cross Cup Series.  Every new ‘cross season brings apprehension (did I do enough high end training?), concern (are the new tubies glued on properly?), and excitement (Yea BABY CROSS!!!).

xXx is the promoter of this particular race and as always Greg Heck does a great job changing up the course and making it challenging.  This year’s course had a nice mix of power, speed, and skill.  About 75% of the course was viewable from the registration area and the crowds were huge.  Half-Acre brought out the bus and put couches next to one of the technical turn areas.  The bullhorns were out and cowbells were loud!  The crowd was loud and for the sections by the registration crowd area, it was like a tunnel of sound (I can almost appreciate what it is like going up the Alpe!).

I decided to double up doing the Masters 40+ and then the Cat 3 race after.  The 40+ race went well.  The start wasn’t too good, but I was able to continue to move up throughout the race and ended up racing with two others for the day.  The good part was that many of the guys that I raced round last year were behind me, so my fitness must be pretty good.  After the 1st 45 minute race, I quickly grabbed a drink and got into the Cat 3 race.  Gina Kenny and Sue S. were in the Women’s 1-2-3 who started behind us.  I started at the back of the Cat 3 race, stopped to fix some tape in a 180 degree turn, and then jumped in behind the 50+.  I pushed hard for the first 30 minutes, and then fatigue and cramping started to set in but still managed to finish.

In terms of placing, the 40+ and Cat 3 were still not posted online, as they were pretty messed up, but we felt like were were in top 10 in the 40+ race.  There were over 400 racers at JP, which set a CCC series record for numbers.  Having pre-reg. on BikeReg.com was awesome and made the registration process go quick and smoothly.  There are still issues, like with scoring, but in the 15 years of racing/promoting ‘cross, this was definitely a highlight.  I am really looking forward to the remaining 9 races (can’t believe I’m saying that!).

Hope to see more ABD’ers out there.

DeKalb is in 2 weeks.  The course there should be more open and fast.  Also, keep Oct. 25th open for our race.  Look for an official email coming out soon requesting volunteers.

Thanks for reading,
Jim