Hasta la Vista! Round 3 of the Pride Incorporated Cyclocross Series at La Vista Park was the toughest course so far. Overall the circuit was SOFT due to the 2.5 inches of rain we had in the days leading up to the event. From the paved starting line riders made a left turn into the grass leading along a ridge which put them into the front section of the course covered in zoysia grass. This was difficult, to say the least. After a few switchbacks in the front we went through an opening in the tree line which led into an uphill across the pavement and into an open field of freshly mown grass on top of, what seemed like, a waterbed. Into the run up / barrier section left down the grass highway and a u-turn onto the slightly up hill pavement toward the finish.

A tough course and tough competitors. Women’s classes were stacked at this round! We had ladies from Team Revolution, Velo Force, Mock Orange Bikes, The Hub and Wild Trak Bikes. The Women’s open class joined the Men’s B race on the starting line to make up our largest group of the day. Spirited competition was a positive outcome of the event! Everyone  that participated came away feeling proud to finish. Spectators were gathered on the bleachers near the finish line cheering as riders went past, if they weren’t chasing their favorite rider around the course to give encouragement.

The youth run and youth CX were quite a hit. We had 6 runners in the quarter mile run (4-6 year olds) who gave it their all. The half milers (7-9 year olds) were represented well also. Each race was close, even the Youth CX race which had two competitiors being chased / encouraged around the track by their “coaches”. The 5k run was three complete laps on the challenging cross country course.

Thanks again to all that came out and helped put this event on. Having my entry form filled out at sign up, from being a past competitor, was the biggest help and made me feel more welcome. Thanks to Pride volunteers. Laying out the course we had a Village of Godfrey employee follow us around on a lawn mower to cut our lanes out of the open field grass. After the legs and lungs heal we hope everyone had a good time.

The final round of the 4 race Pride CX Series will be a beautiful course in an open setting on November 7th at Gordon Moore Park  http://riverbender.com/entertainment/index.cfm?redir=details&ad=311&cat=40&scat=0&srchby=b&pg=1

Link to Pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/eville.mike.d/20091024PICXIIILaVistaPark?feat=directlink#

Is this a Sponsorship?

 Wild Trak Bikes night’ers made a strong showing in the dark. Riders participating were: Mark, Andy, Hannon, Scooter, Justin H, and JJ.

The next day, Sunday, was round 2. We had a different group of day’ers, along with another strong heckling section in the barriers. Course was longer (Thanks to the set up crew) with two paved sections, a wooded area, and a tight technical section before the finish. Thanks to all that helped put this event on.

A water bottle cage? In 'cross? Apparently even Scooter gets thirsty

We sure had fun!

Link to pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gopate/collections/ , http://www.ficksphotos.com/ficks.fp?Selection=viewGalleryList&catSelected=105&year=112

Link to event schedule: http://bigshark.com/page.cfm?pageid=700

Round two of the Pride inc CX series: http://www.prideincorporated.org/PICX2_New.pdf was another successful event! Wild Trak Bikes Course Setup Team dealt with adverse weather conditions on Friday before the event while setting stakes and stringing rope. It had rained the three days before the event, which made marshmallows out of the ground we were to be racing on. City of Godfrey took great care of us. They had a 20 x 20 tent for us to use, paint to mark start and finish, volunteers brought us the stakes and made sure we had all that was necessary to put on a good race. Thanks to them.

The course was in an area about the size of three soccer fields. We really had to pack the lanes tight to fit the 1 mile course in the field we had to work with. This made for a tight, technical, fun course that was a joy to race on. Included were plenty of switchbacks, 180 degree turns, sweeping corners, a roomy start / finish straight, a turning barrier section and a nice paved path to relax on.

Turnout was great! Almost 100 participants showed up to duke it out. This was the first venue to host a children’s run and a youth CX race. These two youth events will be gaining popularity and be included in the next two events starting at 11:00am. We had drawn spectators from the soccer games and the corn maze to the race which made for a nice cheering section. This also spread the word to our community about cyclocross and just cycling in general. The turnouts will continue to grow and racers will continue to be challenged by our innovative course designs. Thanks to all that came out and participated.

Round 3 will be October 24, 2009 at La Vista Park: http://riverbender.com/entertainment/index.cfm?redir=details&ad=306&cat=40&scat=28&srchby=b&pg=1

Link to Pics: http://www.ficksphotos.com/ficks.fp?Selection=viewGalleryList&catSelected=105&year=112

Link to Results: http://www.wildtrakbikesracing.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=345&start=10