Cyclocross Nationals

I had a good ending to the 'cross season this past weekend at the Cyclocross National Championships in Kansas City. I headed down to Kansas last Wednesday through the aftermath of the midwest ice storms. The first day of racing took place on an ice-cube covered course. The sun then came out on Friday, melting the ice and turning the course into a massive mud pit (i really wanted to race that day!). Friday night saw cold temperatures and snow which turned the course into a path of frozen ruts on Saturday. The course remained frozen and grooved for my races on sunday. I've raced on lots of surfaces this cross season: mud, snow, dirt, sand, but frozen grooves was a new one for me.

Collegiate Nationals were up first at 9 am on Sunday morning. I had a good spot on the starting line and when the gun went off I was up the paved climb in the front group. Then we hit the ice grooves... its tough riding your bike when the course grabs your wheels and throws you every which way. People went down all over the place. I'm sure it was quite a sight to watch. I held strong during the brief straightaways where short paths of smoothness had formed, but had some troubles around the tight rutted turns and sections of ice fields. Maneuvering became even more difficult as I began to lose feeling in my hands (it was 9 degrees out!), but I remained focused and stayed mostly upright. I was getting much better at riding in the ruts by the end and finished for a fourth place podium finish.

After the race, I had two hours to thaw out and get ready for race number two of the day in the elite women's field. By the time the race started, the sun had come out and melted just enough of the ice to create a slick muddy covering on the ice rutted course. I was ready for another round of fun! Unfortunately my start wasn't nearly as successful in this race. I found myself boxed in and being passed on all sides up the initial climb (oh no!). I hit the ice quite a ways back and had my work cut out for me. It wasn't easy to pass people given the course, but it was a good challenge and I was able to make up ground for most of the race. I took a few wipeouts in the process, lost my chain a couple times, and fell right on top of my bike once (ouch!), but I still had a blast and avoided getting lapped by the leaders. Thanks to all the IL/Wisc crew for cheering me on out on the course and to Aspen for running half the course with me in the process of cheering. 'Cross has super fans who create a great racing atmosphere.

Overall, I had a fun cross season and am sad that it is over. I know that it wouldn't have been nearly as fun or successful without all the support I have received over the season. Thanks to Get A Grip for the team support and for keeping my bike in one piece. A whole cross season with no mechanicals! No wonder the shop is known as Chicago's best. Thanks to my teammates for cheering me on at the races and being supportive all season. And another big thanks to my coach, Brian Conant, for making my first year of racing so successful. I've come a long way over the year with my super training program.

I can't wait until the racing starts again next year!!

Haskell Earns A Midwestern Hat Trick

Devon Haskell, the team's Fall and Winter news maker, led wire-to-wire at this past weekends Illinois State Championship to take a gold medal and another champions jersey. This win, combined with victories in the Indiana and Wisconsin State Championships, gives Haskell a Midwestern hat trick of State Championship Cyclocross wins.

Haskell now heads to Kansas City to compete in the Collegiate and Elite Women's National Championships of Cyclocross. She will be accompanied by rising cyclocross power house Aspen Gorry, also a gold medalist at the Illinois Championships and a future member of Team Get A Grip Cycles. Expect Gorry to leap-frog categories and race in the Pro/1/2 division next year.

We would like to extend a special thanks to all the sponsors and organizers of this year's Chicago Cross Cup. Since its inception in 2004, the series has grown in size and quality with each edition. We wish it even more success in the future.

"My first UCI Points and Another State Championship Victory": Devon Reports on Iowa's Jingle Cross and the WI State Cyclocross Championship Race

Jingle Cross (Thanksgiving Weekend, 2007)

I had my most exciting Cross race of the season yet. I have been doing a lot of local races this season, and usually the race ends up being a battle with one or two others. This weekend, there was a huge field of strong riders to race against. It was a two-day UCI event. The first day had a long muddy run-up, followed by an off-camber downhill... a weave through the fairground barns (one with sand), some long flat sections and then a long climb followed by a scarily steep downhill. Day two had a similar course, but backwards. This time we went up the off-camber hill followed closely by a run-up on the super steep hill... then some flats, and twisty sections through the barns. It was a fun course overall, but I do need to work on my downhills and tight turns.

I got off to a terrible start on Day 1... I think I was last shortly after the gun went off. I then got caught behind two wipe outs within the first minute. The leaders were gone by then and I had quite a few gaps to work on. I moved my way up slowly throughout the first lap and ended up in the middle of the pack. I slowly closed in on the 4th and 5th place riders throughout the race and got pretty close to catching up when my chain fell off going over a barrier (doh!). I lost a bit of ground and was then hanging on for 7th with two chasers close behind. I got caught by one on the crazy-steep downhill (we don't have these in Chicago). But I managed to finish 8th for the day.

Day 2 did not start much better than Day 1, but I moved up more quickly this time. While the top three riders had quite a lead, I was in the next pack of 3 working with them for most of the race. It was hard climbing the hills for a second day in a row, but there were a ton of great fans who cheered us on up the difficult run-up and the riders I was with made me keep going strong. I struggled to hang on on the last lap, but came in just behind 4&5 for a 6th place finish, an improvement on Day 1! Overall, it was a fun experience to ride with such a strong field of riders.

Wisconsin State Championships (Sunday, December 2, 2007)

Despite the rain, sleet, and snow conditions this weekend, I couldn't pass up a cross race (there are only two more weeks of cross left :( ). Aspen and I headed up to Milwaukee yesterday and arrived to a snow-covered park for the race. By the time I raced, it had rained a bit and lots of other races had gone so there was a muddy/slushy rut the whole way around the course. There were two run ups, a hill climb, a frozen sandpit (which is a lot easier to ride through than a non-frozen one), a huge puddle (brrr), two bridges, and lots of slick muddy turns around trees.

I was lucky to get a starting spot right along the muddy groove and for once I had a good start and was in front from the whistle. The course was tough... you had to keep peddling to get through the slush and no matter how hard you pedaled, you weren't going anywhere very fast. I had one girl on my tail for the first lap... I just kept focussed on staying upright and moving... and tried to chase down the 35+ guys ahead of me. Soon I had opened a pretty good sized gap but I kept going hard because I knew I had a lot of strong riders behind me. I also had to hope my bike wasn't going to break down on me from being completely covered in snow and mud. My bike proved to be sturdy (thanks to all the Get a Grip Cycles crew and to Saj for fixing it up last week) and I was able to get the win. The atmosphere was great - lots of people embracing the messy conditions, cheering loudly, and having a good time. Makes me love cross even more. Two more weeks left... .and then a long long wait until next season.

The last race of the Chicago series is next weekend so one more chance for you all to get out on the bike and race before spring!