I entered this race not really knowing what to expect. It was billed as a cyclocross race but the venue and course description sounded more like a mountain bike race. There was also a good mix of mountain bikers racing. I would say 15% of the people racing were on mountain bikes. In my category we did 2 laps and each lap was described as being around 10 miles. Here is a brief description of the course:
We are very excited to use a new course which encircles the entire Bear Creek Lake Park. The course is approximately 10 miles in length and features a taste of all types of terrain, with one big climb, rolling hills, lots of singletrack and exciting descents. This will not be just another mountain bike race, as there will be barriers, dismounts and run ups throughout the course. There will be a neutral support feed zone at the end of each lap. The Start/Finish venue will be at Coyote Crossing.
To give a little more detail on the course there were 2 sand pits, 1 river crossing, a tiny bit of pavement, 1 relatively long double-track climb and 1 long run up. This course had a little of everything and was a blast! It was refreshing change to a typical cyclocross course. The purists would probably hate this course but for me the fun meter was pegged.
I pre-registered so I was committed. I woke up Saturday morning and there was 4 inches of new snow on the ground and the temperature was a balmy 15 degrees. I got to the state park about an hour before my start and started to get ready. It was extremely difficult to warmup with such cold temps and I had not thrown my trainer in the car.
Since the laps were so long I was racing the course completely blind. The race started and within maybe 100 meters of the start there was a sand pit, a small bit of singletrack and then a long semi rocky decent. The course then became more typical with twisty single and double track.
The overall race ended up being quite a bit longer than a typical cyclocross race but when I finished there was a small fire going and hot chocolate. I will definetely be back next year for this race!
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Moutain Flyer Article
Here is a Mountain Flyer article about the race.
I agree
This race was a blast. While I'm totally cool with how cyclocross racing has evolved, it was great to do something a little different. This race makes me think of how cross used to be in Europe in the early days, where racers rode from town to town, jumping farm fences (or so I've heard it described:). It's cool to do something other than the high-speed hamster circles, so I will definitely be back next year.
Results Numbers Correct?
76 Starts/75 Finishers? Is that right? Weather to bad for crossers or just the format?
http://results.americancycling.org/results/cx.php?eventId=375&resultsetI...
Way over 400 at the Boulder Cross race the next day.
There is no way that they
There is no way that they had 76 starters and 75 finishers. I registered about 5 minutes before the start of the A and B races and there were 8 racers registered for the A race and 20 for the B race. Of the 8 A racers, 4 finished and of the 20 B racers, 15 finished.
Hearty souls all of them. Out there for more than 2 hours. Wet feet. Few spectators. Harsh conditions.
Low Turnout
I think the low turnout was a combination of things. The weather, the format and the race being a non BCR race.
I raced Veldrijden too -- it
I raced Veldrijden too -- it was an atypical CX race but I raced on my usual CX setup and did fine, no flats or other mechanical issues, and I had a total blast. I hope the organizers run it again next year; it was fun to do a CX race with such a different format.
Setup
I also ran a typical cyclocross setup and I believe it was faster than a mountain bike. I wish there were events similar to this one. Still looking for the results though.
the top three guys in the
the top three guys in the "A" all rode MTB. Winner in the "B" also did.
I got hypothermia because of the f*** river crossing and couldn't warm up....seriously! 19degrees and they left the river crossing for a 2+hr race...not safe! and there was no way to tell anyone (no one was anywhere on the course!) i wish i didn't get so cold cause it would have been a fun/cold/mtb race.