Is it worth a 90 minute drive to watch the elite men? I’ve never really seen a cross race and I imagine it would be great spectating. I’m also fortunate to live close enough to be able to go. My question is if it were you and you didn’t have any plans on a Saturday, would you drive 90 min both ways just to watch?
See if there is a map layout of the race course on the event web site. Then, try to determine if you can see the field for the entire loop. The loops are usually about 1.8 miles. If the route goes off into the woods and you only see the riders for a few seconds, its not worth it, but some cyclocross races are setup so you can see the entire course. Those are fun to watch and it would be well worth it to drive 90 minutes to see. If the race venue is setup like with an infield, you should be able to see the entire race by standing in the infield and watching like its a NASCAR event. You’ll enjoy it.
CX is a hoot to watch. Try to get there to watch some of the other classes, or you won’t be able to appreciate how fast the Elites are. CX courses are almost always spectator friendly, and if the weather turns bad like last year (well maybe not that bad) it would be very entertaining.
Absolutely! I almost headed up from NJ to watch. Visit the beer tent, put out a beer can preem for the guys ($5bill in a beer bottle inside the course tape that the racers lean over to pick up. Put out $20 on the bell lap), and head out for dinner afterwards. Apparently a great time, and hey, you don’t have any other plans.
Cross rocks! I had considered racing, but RI is too far away, and my (Masters 35-39) race is later today so it would have meant time off work, etc. The growth at nationals is amazing, of course, I dont’ know how I would feel travelling all the way out there to race, and sitting on the line with 250 guys and having the leaders be on my wheel before I even cross the starting line. I was hoping they would have call-ups for State Champions, but alas, they didn’t.
blake, let’s not undersell the Noise Brigade… from the invitation:
"The idea of an organized battalion of loud collegiate racers at Nationals has come up many times, and I think it needs to be done. A Noise Brigade, if you will, bringing the high energy and screaming of a collegiate race weekend to nationals, to show those losers from the west what we’re all about. And to hopefully get into VeloNews…
And I’m serious about this, folks. We need to be loud. I, for one, know I will be loud.
And bring some sort of an instrument. I’m bringing a bugle. Josh Austin is bringing two trash can lids to smash together. I think someone from Rutgers is bringing a trombone. If we could get a drumset (Which I have seen in use at the Vermont GP earlier this year…). I will also have my lungs, computer speakers powered by a car battery, hopefully a megaphone, and lots of Foreigner on an iPod.
–on appropriate behavior
“the tech guide says ‘Riders are expected to behave appropriately at all times’. However, it doesn’t say anything about being loud. Or playing a bugle. Or beating an old frame with a piece of steel.”
OK you crazy people, you’ve convinced me it’ll be a good time so I’ll be there. It’s too bad I didn’t read these posts before I left work because I have 2 megaphones at work I could’ve snagged for this “noise brigade”, whatever the hell that means.
Hell yeah it’s worth a 90 min drive! Trust me, you will want to start racing…beware!! It is fun and you can really get into “cheering”!! I am originally from Ohio and unfortunately will be moving across the border into Michigan (ouch) soon, so I am only familiar with the Michigan series. This was my first year as a spectator as my fiance just took up Cyclocross this season. I get so into to it, my frickin throat hurts from screaming! The races in Michigan were all fantastic! My # one fan is Jeff Weinert!!! Jon Card (Ohio man) is frickin fast as well! The Cane Creek Team ROCKS!!
Take a COWBELL (very popular) at CX races!!! Enjoy and look forward to hearing what you think!
Holy crap was that fun! Not to mention 50 degree temps and bright sunshine (NOT normal for Providence at this time). I was jealous I wasn’t out there racing against them. I was mostly impressed with their bike handling skills and dismount/mount skills. What an amazingly technical sport. The winners were flawless. I took some great video clips but just realized they are too large and will take forever to upload on tinypic. Does anyone know of a way to shrink a video filesize to make it quick to upload/download?
Heck yeah Eric!!! I was cheering you on as well at the State Champs (it was frickin COLD)! Great race!! Now you have to get my Dad to race (Jim D.)! My parents were planning on coming to Bloomer, but something came up. We are definitely heading to Nationals next year to be a spectator…CHEER!!
