Cyclocross Worlds.

     So I haven't posted anything in a bit.  Reason being is there hasn't been anything exciting going on.  Work and riding...  But this past weekend is definitely worth a new post!  For full race coverage, visit CX Magazine!


     If you saw any of my postings on Facebook, you'll know that Chris and I made it out to Louisville, KY to be witness to the Cyclocross World Championships.  It was EPIC!

Cross Worlds or bust!

 The first time the event has been out of Europe, and although there weren't 60,000 people showing up like in Belgium, we still had over 9,000 people show up to Eva Bandman Park in the middle of Louisville.  Definitely the largest cyclocross race I have ever experienced.  By a long shot.


     We decided to rent a car and drive, and the 10 hours behind the wheel and in the passenger seat was not too terrible.

Our rental car on Saturday morning before heading to the course...

Neither of us have driven through WV (driven to Snowshoe) nor have either of us driven in KY.  The landscape was breathtaking.  The mountains seem taller than in VA, and instead of skirting the sides of them, there was obviously quite a bit of blasting in the mountains to lay the route for I64.

WVA

We arrived at the hotel around 10:00pm (still EST), checked in, and like good little cyclists, went straight to the fitness room so we could get an hour in on the trainer/rollers.


     We woke up Saturday to perfect CX conditions.  About an inch of snow had fallen overnight, and it was still falling pretty steadily.

Good morning Louisville!

We couldn't wait to get to the course (plus we didn't want to deal with parking but so much), so we opted out of eating breakfast at the hotel.  I would wish later that we had taken a few more minutes to grab a good meal.  But we left with my Camelbak full of water, half a Gatorade, and about 5 or 6 protein bars.  And layers upon layers of clothing!


   Parking was just as annoying as we had expected.  We ended up parking at least a mile, if not more, away from the course.  Slipping and sliding on the sidewalk, we finally make it to the entrance of the park.  They corral us past the Team Parking, where everybody gets to see some of the Juniors, U23, and Women warming up.  Some of the teams were out of sight, hiding inside they're heated, modular units.

US Juniors warming up before they're start.

Heated modular units...think they'll bring those to MABRA/VACX next year???

Snapping a few shots of the Team Parking area, we keep sliding around on the snow towards the ticket tent.

Tickets please!

     All the weeks getting this trip together, we finally made it.  It was very surreal.  I've never experienced anything like it and it was AWESOME!  Seeing the best crossers in the world warming up on that course was unbelievable.  I couldn't take it in fast enough.  We walked around, to see everything.  The Start/Finish, the pit, the flyover, and on our way over to the vendor tents, the national anthem came over the loud speaker.  You can't help but feeling a sense of pride when such a huge event comes over from Europe for the first time in history.


     With the Juniors race opening the day, the crowds weren't too large just yet.  We could walk from one place to the next and get good views at any vantage point.  We got to see Logan Owen put a hurtin' on some of the Europeans, pulling out a fourth place despite having a mechanical late in the race.


     The Women's race was great.  Honestly, my favorite race of the day.  Getting to see Katie Compton come back from a not-so-great start, and get second to Marianne Vos was unbelievable. 

Katie "F" Compton charging after Marianne Vos

Of course we all wanted Katie to win on her home turf, but this outcome was just as awesome.  Chris and I ran around the course trying to find the best vantage point, and got to see a lot of the technical spots, as well as the flyover, run-up, and the finish.

Helen Wyman had great support from the American spectators (she told me herself!!!).

I was still in disbelief that I was watching the most talented women in the sport competing to be the best.


     For the U23 race, Zach McDonald put a strong showing in for the US men.  It was great seeing the course change throughout the day.  The U23 race was when we really started seeing the more technical spots get very technical.  The snow was pretty much gone, and even just running around the park as a spectator, our boots were getting sucked into the mud.  There were people slipping and falling just walking around.  It was way worse on two wheels trying to ride the hills that spectators couldn't even walk!


     Between races we got to peruse the vendor tents.  Pushing our way into the food tent, I couldn't see anything but a sea of people.  No lines, and according to Chris (since I couldn't see anything), they were only serving food at one side of the tent.  Maybe it was a good thing there were only 9,000 people that showed up as spectators.   There probably would've been a bit more in revenue had they planned that aspect a little better.  Since I couldn't see myself waiting in line, and neither could Chris (especially since they probably didn't have anything that he would eat anyway), we decided against trying to push our way to the front of the "line" and settled for our protein bars as breakfast and lunch.  Poor Chris never got his coffee!  Maybe a beer?  But along with the food tent, there were two other tents that served only beer.  Seeing as this is a cyclocross race (and at cyclocross races you drink beer), the line for beer was slightly unbearable also...

Too long of a line for a Sierra Nevada brew...

There were more exciting aspects of the vendor tents, however.  Chris got an awesome new cowbell from Re-Geared.  He'll be the talk of VACX with the massive sound this bell makes.  We made our way to the Challenge Tires tent just to look at some of the product when Helen Wyman walks up behind us!  Chris grabs her attention before she got pulled away and we ask for a photo op which she gladly grants.

Helen Wyman takes a moment for a photo op with me!

Walking along we made our way past a few more vendors.  Mark Monnett and the guys at SRAM hooked us up with VIP tickets for their shindig later that evening.

We're sombody!

Passing by the Trek tent, Katie Compton was on her way out to find a good vantage point to view the Men's Elite race.  Once again, Chris piped up before she walked away and offered Katie "F" Compton the opportunity to take a picture with one of the only black cyclocrossers at the race...

Chris with Katie "F" Compton!

And his girlfriend...

Myself with Katie "F" Compton!

After walking around the vendors, we found a spot near the run-up to watch the Men's race.  From that point, we could see the starting sprint, the end of the run-up, the flyover, and a good portion of the technical parts of the race.


     The crowd for the Elite Men's race was unbelievable.  After seeing the crowd at the beginning of the day, we couldn't have pictured how large it would get.  American Cross definitely turned up for the main event!

A portion of the crowd during the Elite Men's race.

The snow started falling again, progressively becoming heavier throughout the race.  The start was chaotic.  The entire field came through the run-up and around the corner we were camped at.  The US team was barely discernible with everybody still vying for position.

Page and J-Pow shortly after the start.

The Belgiums, however, stuck out at the front and occupied four of the first five positions.  The lead was held by Frenchman Francis Mourey.  But that lead would slowly be pulled back by the ever charging Sven Nys and Klas Vantornout.  We watched as Jonathan Page held a top 15 position before dropping a chain and flatting.  And while Ryan Trebon crashed and his efforts led him to a DNF.  Tim Johnson ended up as the highest placed American crossing the line in 19th.

Tim Johnson

But just because they're on US soil, doesn't mean the European's won't come over and ride as well as they always do!


This weekend was definitely worth 20 total hours of driving.  This is an experience that I will never forget and hopefully one I will get to re-live again in the future.  The World Road Race Championship is coming to Richmond...I know.  But its not CROSS!

Marianne Vos, Katie Compton, Lucie Chainel-Lefevre: 2013 World Cyclocross Elite Women's Podium

 

Sven Nys, Klaas Vantornout, Lars Van der Haar: 2013 World Cyclocross Elite Men's Podium

And I leave you with this...

 

Congratulations Sven Nys.  2013 Cyclocross Men's Elite World Champion.

Your fans follow you across the world.