Jingle Cross

Jingle Cross. My favorite race in the United States! I've been coming to this race for seven years and it is one of the most challenging courses in the U.S. With the world cup being awarded they took the difficulty to a whole new level.

Photo: Jeff Corcoran

Friday I went to school in the morning and then drove the three hours to Iowa City with my Dad. When we got there the course was an absolute cow pen. Thick peanut butter mud coated everything and ripped people's bike to shreds. I did one pre-ride lap and it just about killed my pit bike. Thanks to the heat I didn't need much of a warm up before going to the start. When they blew the whistle I was third into the first corner before everyone had to dismount and run and off-camber muddy section. I felt super sluggish and dropped back to tenth place or so. I then gained two spots back, but I made the mistake of not going into pit #1 and taking a fresh bike. That would have been much faster than grinding through the mud so I lost the progress I'd made. I started to move back up through the front of field and by the time I was back onto the pavement going into the second lap I was in the lead.

Photo: Ken B. Sherman

Part way through that lap Tyler Clark, a junior from Canada, came around me and started to pull away. I tried to stick with him and managed to close the gap a fair bit on the last lap, but I just didn't quite have it. Gunnar Holmgren, also a junior from Canada, was 3rd.

Saturday my bikes stayed in the hotel rooms and I watched a World Cup live for the first time. It was pretty incredible to watch the very best in the world battle it out on what feels like my home course, especially with 10,000 screaming American fans. Huge huge props to John Meehan and the whole Jingle Cross crew for putting on such a fantastic event!

Sunday the rain held off and the course was super nice and tacky. In addition we were racing the exact same course as the World Cup the day before. This course was hard... seriously hard, a huge amount of running and climbing with tons of difficult sections made for some gnarly racing. 

After getting my equipment dialed and my lines down I did my warm up and went to the start. This time I was first off the line and took the hole-shot. I stayed in second place through the long "South Pole" running section but Holmgren was in first started to ride me off his wheel and I dropped back to third.

Photo: Ken B. Sherman

First place put some serious time into us and got a good gap. I held onto second place's wheel for another lap but was feeling really sluggish again and couldn't focus. I lost more time each lap until I was about 25 seconds off of second place. 

Photo: Paul Buchanan

As I was coming onto the pavement going into the final lap I came by Holmgren who had been in first place. He had rolled his tubular tire off the rim and I was now in second! Realizing I could still win snapped me out of my funk and put a fire in my belly. I hit that last lap with everything I had, I sprinted up Mt. Krumpit and crushed the climb. Coming into the finish I closed three bike lengths on first and started to come around him in the last 300 yards. Unfortunately just as I was a wheel length ahead I was forced to take a bad line and got bogged down in softer mud, losing the sprint by inches.

Although overall my race wasn't great I was still pleased with my final effort, which turned out to be the fastest amateur lap of the day and about thirty seconds faster than my other laps. On top of that I was the most consistent throughout the weekend and won the Category 1/2 Men overall jersey! It was a great weekend full of  fantastic racing and I can't wait for next year. Next up, KMC Cylocross Festival!

As all ways big big thanks to my coach Joseph Maloney, my family, and my team, Trek Cyclocross Collective for all the support! Also huge thanks to my sponsors Trek Bicycles, Bontrager, Sram, Englewood Grass Fed Beef,  Mike's Mix and Honey Stinger for all their awesome support! 

Trek CXC Cup

Trek CXC Cup! Finally, it was time for the Trek Cyclocross Collective Cup. I first started riding the course back in July during Trek World and went out a couple of times since then to help work on the course. I also did an on-course practice the Thursday before the race. Last year the course was fun, but this year the Trek family and race volunteers blew it out of the water. Lots of brand new, challenging features with a whole new lay out made it a perfect test of technical ability and strength.

Photo: SnowyMountain Photography

In addition to the new course, this is one of my favorite weekends of racing because almost the whole Trek CXC squad comes to race! Most of the crew went out to pre-ride in the rain Friday evening but I opted for some leg openers at home since I had already gotten plenty of time on the course. Since I raced at 5:00 PM I went for an early morning spin with my team mate Andy Dietz from North Carolina to wake the legs up. After that I had a big pancake breakfast at home before heading out to Waterloo to watch the pro races.

It was pretty awesome to see the whole Telenet Fidea team rip up the course during pre-ride but before I knew it, it was time to get dressed and start warming up. After my warm I went to the start, lined up and listened for the whistle. Straight off the line I took the hole shot and started laying down the power. I started to get a gap and as I pushed the pace through an off camber section a crash happened behind me giving me more of a gap. I came through at the end of the first lap with a 7 second gap and built on it each lap after that. I hit it out of every corner, railed the technical sections and opened it up on every fast section.

Riding the logs on the final lap. Photo: SnowyMountain Photography

After six fun fast laps off the front I rolled through the finish with almost a minute gap on my team mate Dillon Mcneill who took second. Unfortunately Tyler Reynolds crashed hard on the last lap pushing him from 1st to 3rd in the cat 3s and Andy Dietz rolled a tubular taking him out of the top 10 in the twos.

Sunday morning started off with another early morning spin and arrival at the course around noon. Once again it was pretty incredible to watch the world's best square off on my home course! After staying in the shade for five hours it was time to kit up and do my own lap on the course. This time things were starting to get a little dry and dusty, making turns slippery.

Photo: Anthony James

When they blew the whistle I missed my pedal and didn't get the hole shot, but by the time we came past the pit for the first time I was in the lead and attacked over the flyover. I started to open up a gap but Dillon kept it under 10 seconds through the second lap. I kept up the pace and it started to grow for the rest of the race to finish with a 55 second lead.

Photo: Gary Smits @XTR Photo

It was a fantastic weekend of racing at the Trek Headquarters from the whole CXC crew and it goes without saying that Renee Callaway, the promoter, along with all of the volunteers and sponsors, and everyone at Trek did an incredible job with the race. The addition of live online coverage and the opportunity to connect with so many friends, made it one of the best events I have attended. Next up, Jingle Cross!

Finally huge thanks to my coach Joseph Maloney, my family, and my team, Trek Cyclocross Collective for all the support! Also huge thanks to my sponsors Trek Bicycles, Bontrager, Sram, Englewood Grass Fed Beef,  Mike's Mix and Honey Stinger for all their awesome support! 

LaBagh Woods CCC #1

CX is here! After almost a month off from racing it was time to get back to the start line and kick off the season! My dad and I made the drive down to Chicago the morning of and I hopped right on the course. It was a pretty basic with one set of barriers, two logs, no elevation change and mostly consisted of tons of turns.

I started front row and when they blew the whistle I was first off the start line and through the finish area. I settled in at fourth wheel and tried to hang on. Fellow Wisconsinite Dan Teaters went straight to the front and pulled away and stayed away the entire 60-minute race. Michael Dutczak and David Reyes slowly drifted away from me as well and I soon found myself trying to chase back on. It was very difficult to make up time through the very twisty, loose, circuit but luckily Jordan Roessingh caught up to me and took over the chase.We stayed together until the start of the fifth lap when he flicked his elbow signaling me to take the lead. I hammered down the start straight trying to make up time on third place and accidentally rode Jordan off my wheel.

Thanks to Snow Mountain Photography for these rad photos!

 I realized that I had actually made up some time on Reyes so on every open section after that I gave it everything I had. I brought the gap down from 20 to 8 seconds over the next three laps but felt my strength start to fade and I saw that I was loosing time to Reyes again. Going into the 8th lap Jordan caught back up after dangling for the past three laps. In the last two lap Jordan came around me and I just couldn't quite stay with him. I stayed focused and was sure to make no mistakes in order to cross the line in fifth place.

In retrospect I really should have waited for a few seconds and let Jordan catch back up sooner. If we had worked together we definitely would have been able to catch Reyes and maybe even Dutczak. It's always hard to make sure you play your cards right in the middle of the race and since it was the first race of the season I won't beat myself up too much for it!

After the race it was pretty awesome to talk with multi-time World Champion, Sven Nys again! He remembered me from the CXC team clinic he did for us at Trek World. After that he got a full dose of American amateur cyclocross by giving donut and cup cake hand ups to the Cat 4/5 (beginner) racers! He was in town for a CX clinic and to meet the Telenet Fidea team before heading up to the Trek CXC Cup. Speaking of Trek CXC Cup that is this weekend! Here is a link to a little course preview video I made last week, get stoked people!

Lastly big big thanks to my coach Joseph Maloney, my family, and my team, Trek Cyclocross Collective for all the support! Also huge thanks to my sponsors Trek Bicycles, Bontrager, Sram, Englewood Grass Fed Beef,  Mike's Mix and Honey Stinger for all their awesome support!