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Weather, hilly course on elite racers' minds in KC
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Two things were topics of discussion at the cyclocross nationals' host hotel breakfast buffet Sunday morning: the weather and The Hill.
Sunday
7:00 A.M. Course open
8:00 A.M. Single speed 45 mins.
9:00 A.M. Collegiate men D2 45 mins.
10:00 A.M Collegiate women 45 mins.
11:00 A.M Collegiate M D1 45 mins.
11:45 A.M. Course open
12:30 P.M. Elite women 40 mins.
1:30 P.M. Elite men 60 mins.
2:30 P.M. Awards
Kansas City woke up to balmy, breezy conditions — it was 62 degrees at 9 a.m. as the collegiate men started. But the forecast called for an approaching cold front during the day, which could bring in bitter temperatures, perhaps before or during the elite races in the early afternoon. The forecasts were frustrating in their lack of specificity, however. The NOAA issued a hazardous-weather outlook Sunday morning:
PERSONS SHOULD PREPARE FOR A SUDDEN DROP IN TEMPERATURE ON THE ORDER OF 20 TO 30 DEGREES
Sure enough, by 11 a.m. VeloNews.com web editor Steve Frothingham was reporting that the cold front seemed to have arrived — conditions were "chilly, breezy and gray," he said, with temps in the upper 40s but feeling colder than that.
Besides the weather, many racers and fans were talking about the course's rather large hill, which looms over the start finish area, making the venue resemble a 1980's style NORBA cross-country race at a ski area.
"They say Kansas is flat, but it really doesn't take much to make a 'cross race hilly," Jamis' Jesse Anthony told VeloNews Sunday morning. Anthony said the hill will make the mens race selective from the start.
"It's going to be obvious who is having a good day," he said. "You will really need to gauge your effort on that hill — if you put in an attack at the bottom, you'll have to have some serious gas to take it all the way to the top."
Luna's Georgia Gould said the course includes "the most climbing I've ever seen in a 'cross race" — about 80 feet total from the start/finish to its highest point, according to Frothingham's Avocet altimeter, with switchbacks on the way up and the way down. With her typical enthusiasm, Gould said it looked "really fun."
Rachel Lloyd (California Giant Berry) was second at the nationals in Kansas City last year in brutal cold and icy conditions. She said the cold front could not arrive too soon to suit her Sunday.
"Anytime I've raced in ice and snow, I've done well," Lloyd said. A former downhill racer and the current women's Super D national champ, Lloyd said she doesn't always have the fitness to stay with top riders, but depends on her technical skills in difficult conditions to stay in contention. If it stays dry and warm, it could be a difficult day for her.
"This is certainly a tough man's course: that hill is big," she said.
