Cross Crusade Race 1

by Briana Illingworth

Over the long weekend, I was visiting family in Portland, Oregon. A new bike purchase on Saturday meant one thing: racing on Sunday. What better place to break in a new bike than at a race in a city that appears to be completely cross crazy?

The opening event of Portland’s River City Bicycles Cross Crusade was held at Alpenrose Dairy, and the weather on Sunday was perfect: overcast, about 14ºC. It had rained the night before, but by early afternoon conditions were dry. The first clue that this would be a new experience was pulling into the parking lot and having trouble finding a spot. Running late, I registered easily thanks to a large team running the show and quickly realized I wouldn’t have a chance to pre-ride the course because the race schedule is solidly packed from 9am on. Instead of pre-riding I had to settle for watching the 12:00 single speed race piecing together the course from the sidelines. After a quick warm up it was time to head to the start area for staging. My next clue about what an experience this would be – 160 women at the start, divided into 6 categories, starting at 30 second intervals.

The course made excellent use of a number of features – pastures, a racing track, paved roads and the velodrome were all incorporated into a fun course. From the start, it was up and around some dairy buildings on the road, followed by a sharp left over gravel onto grass. A long grassy downhill took the racers along the backside of the velodrome and was followed by a couple of short climbs and turns through the trees. Next was an out and back alongside the parking lot with some climbing up to a hairpin left, leading to another out and back that included a natural rock barrier. Coming back alongside the baseball diamonds there was a short and fast paved section, with an enthusiastic crowd cheering the racers on. Back onto the grass, there were a few turns heading past the pit area and ending with a short run up to the pavement on the backside of the velodrome. The section inside the velodrome made good use of the infield, dividing it into two sections testing both cornering and handling. The first section, leading to the finish line, had a double barrier before a couple of turns that spit the racers onto the paved apron. Exiting the velodrome, a short climb and off-camber decent led to a dusty dirt field where more flat, technical corners and a set of 6 barriers were waiting. This section finished on the pavement, with a straight out-and-back past an Expo/Vendor area, around a cone, and up a split staircase onto a grassy area that followed around a racing track, joining up on the road near the start line.

It was fun to be racing in such a large field, as there were always people around to race with and to try catching. Forty-five minutes and five laps later, I finished 19th in the Women’s B race.

In addition to the experience of riding a new course and racing with such a large field, it was amazing to see what an event this was. Despite the size, with a record 1,078 participants throughout the day, it didn’t lose any of the friendly “grassroots” atmosphere that we enjoy in Southern Ontario. As the first race, I saw tonnes of people catching up with friends from last season; people saw BC plates on my car, and wanted to find out what I was doing in Oregon.

The Oregon Bicycle Racing Association and the Cross Crusade organizers clearly do some things to encourage participation at all levels. They have a policy of not pulling lapped riders – everyone finishes on the same lap, but everyone has a chance to race the full 45 minutes of their race. There are categories for just about
every level and every type of racing you could think of – if you want to race a unicycle, you are welcome to toe the line with the 5 others who elected to do so at Alpenrose. Similar to Southern Ontario, they are running ability-based categories. It seems that the first few races have people moving around a lot, but the groups tend to work themselves out, though this is certainly helped by people calling out sandbaggers on the series website forums! It’s hard to pick out exactly how they have grown the Cross Crusade series to its current size. Having sponsors, lots of prize money and cohesion between race organizers seem to be important elements.

One last highlight: the day after, my sister is buying new ski boots and the clerks helping her are trading stories about their races the day before - even in the city, you felt like most people at least know what cyclocross is, if they weren’t actually at the race, cowbell in hand. Coming from Toronto, where mentioning cross often results in a blank stare, it was really nice.

CrossCrusade.com
Some photos from the Men’s A race
Results