Jingle Cross

It's the most wonderful time of the year... the Kerstperiode of the Midwest. Trek CX Cup followed by Jingle Cross. After a hiatus last year I was stoked to be heading back to Iowa City, Iowa for my 8th year.

After our physics class, Emma and I loaded up the car and trekked the five hours to Iowa. I got kitted up while she set my tire pressure. The course was just like I remembered, hard, technical, euro and the mud felt like home.

The start went off clean and I moved up the left side on the long finish straight sneaking up a few spots in the first few slalom corners. When we came through pit one I was in sixth place and moved into fifth place before going into the second lap. Along the start straight I moved into third position following a French rider and then into second place going past pit one.

On the third lap our group of six had a sizable gap on the field and I felt comfortable in fifth. On the fourth lap Diether Sweeck lit it up shattering our group. I pulled away from Gunnar Holmgren on the runup and finished off the last few laps solo to take fifth as the top American, my best UCI finish yet.

Check out the video below for a post-race interview with Wisconsin friend and Cyclocross Magazine writer/videographer/cx coverage extraordinaire Zach Schuster.

Also be sure to check out this amazing race coverage video by Bill Schieken from In the Crosshairs!

On Saturday it was all about Emma. I rode in the morning and headed to the race just in time to catch the last few laps of the men's race.

WVA

Then the women took to the course. Emma had a solid start and was in the low twenties for the first lap or so.

As the rain kept falling and the race got harder Emma continued to move up.

In the final descent on the last lap the u23 rider in front of her took a tumble(I watched this happen and was jumping up and down because I was so anxious) and Emma was home free to finish 16th overall in a World Cup and was the second u23!

I sprinted to the finish line and worked my way over to the podium tent anxious to find her. Eventually, she came out so I could hug her and a few minutes I got to watch my big sister stand on World Cup podium for the first time.

On Sunday it was time for the C1. I had a rough start almost getting caught behind a crash in the first corner.  I started to work my way up but plateaued in the first race hovering in the low twenties. Around the halfway point Jamey Driscoll came around me and I hopped on his wheel. He set a hard consistent pace that made me suffer but brought us into the top twenty. With two laps to go he dropped me.

In the final lap I passed Eric Thompson and finished half a wheel behind Gage Hecht. The picture above is me helping Gage up after he took a spill in a deep rut after crossing the line. In the end I finished 17th overall and was happy to snag the third step of the u23 podium with Gage and Brannan Fix.

Overall I'm pretty thrilled with how the weekend went. Took home my best results yet in a C1 and C2 and am happy with how I raced and felt. Cyclocross is so incredibly fun and I cannot wait for the next four months of racing!

As always big thanks to my team, Linear Sport RT and our sponsors: Trek, Bontrager, Wheel & Sprocket, Styled Aesthetic, Kettle Moraine Preservation and Restoration, and David Hobbs Honda.
Thank you as well to Trek Race Shop, Englewood Grass Farm, Honey Stinger, Mike's Mix, and Sram. Thank you all for reading and be sure to follow along on my social media @cswartzz. Next up, Collegiate MTB Regionals in Copper Harbor, Michigan!