The Season Opener

The kick off to the regions cyclocross season started today on our home turf up at MB Johnson Park in North Moorhead. Our local club, Great Plains Cycling were the organizers. We all knew that the racer numbers were going to be down on account of numerous other events going on in the area. Plus, there is a big CX race going on down in Madison that a lot of Minneapolis racers are attending. We make the trip down to Mpls all of the time, but it seems to be tough to draw numbers from Mpls north. In my opinion, the course and venue at Johnson Park is top notch and well worth the effort required to not only help with the race, but more racers should attend.

Dan Seymour and Jeremy Christianson working on the course pre-race. Lots of stakes and tape required to make the course safe and professional looking.
Ben is always there to help and did so today for sure. Ben not only helped with the course he also worked at handing water to me during the race and took photos too.
Assa from Great Northern Cycles sporting a seriously cool mustache, wax and the whole deal. I asked him what's with the stache?, his reasponse "It's cyclocross season and I plan on not shaving until I get married in two months" - sounds like a plan to me. Assa ripped it up in the C race by dropping the field. Nice work Assa.
There are three barriers on the course, the set of doubles above and a single at the base of the one and only run up. I have not worked hard enough at practicing my dismounts this early in the season, ouch. I have the remount side of things figured out, but being smooth over the barriers on both sides is crucial.
Benny took this shot while holding out a water bottle at I was coming through the the finish/lap line. 13 total riders in the B race.
Just like last week at Chequamegon, Linda Cooper was super STRONG again today in the women's field, I mean the whole field. LC is definitely fit right now, I am predicting a great season for her.

Spent the whole day at the park and had a great time. With the low numbers today, who knows what next year will bring. Lots of talk about trying different things to bring the local riders in. There are a lot of bike riders in the area, no reason we could not get our numbers up with people that only have a short distance to travel.

Matt was down in Apple Valley, MN for a cross country event for North High. I will learn more details as they come in and report.