Do they typically wet the course down on purpose to create all the mud? It seems like every single cyclocross photo on cyclingnews.com has the racers covered in mud only to have crystal clear blue sky’s in the background, what gives?
Dave in VA
No, but that is typically the weather. Most of ours around here have been dry and fast until yesterday … I was covered by lap 3. Remember, you might only have 2 or 3 muddy sections, but you are going through them fast, hopefully with others, and multiple times (laps) so you end up looking much worse than the course actually is.
Nope. Typically to get riders covered in mud you need a day or two of rain but you don’t need rain on race day. Dunno about clear blue skies. The pics from USGP this weekend didn’t look clear.
UCI rules specifically forbid the wetting of courses or having portions of the course that are prone to flooding (think creek crossings)
Are you coming to either of the two races outside DC this weekend?
I have some photos from the past two or three years in Northern California and very few have mud. It depends on the weather where the race is! 
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=cyclocross&w=90784314%40N00&ss=2&ct=6&s=int