'Cross and beer just go together - Nov 27th in Eau Claire

[bschwartz]

You've done the turkey dinner. You or your spouse has done Black Friday. You've spent a lot of time with your family and in-laws. Maybe too much time. You need to get out.

So you should get out.

http://www.overdrivecycling.com/?p=434
http://www.facebook.com/events/155082181256972/

Reasons to get out...
- We will feed you. OK, maybe if you've been eating too much that's not a reason.
- All entrants get a beer mug. Complete with a beer (or soda) installed.
- No late fee.
- No license fee.
- $10 Junior entry. Yes, they get a mug. With a soda.

One of the cool things about the venue is it is very spectator friendly. The restaurant has a lot of glass and you can see much of the course while enjoying a beer and staying warm. If you can dig deep into your suitcase of courage and watch from the deck you can see most of the course and your beer will stay cold.

Some of you will be in Iowa. Most of you won't. Do you really want to spend more time with your in-laws and family? Maybe you should get out.

[bschwartz]

OK, you've eaten too much. You've watched the Packer win. Come Sunday the Vikings will likely not win.

It's 4 lanes almost all the way here. Beer (or soda), keep the mug. Food. $10 youth entry. You're not exposed to the weather. You can see a lot of the course from inside.

This is a much better bet than the Vikings. At least I think so.

[mmlinar]

Anyone left behind going?

[M_Petersen]

In.

[ctsmith]

Thanks to the promoters for a fun race!

[jrients]

I second that. Great race with a great little after party.

The drive home got a bit long with the 10 mile traffic jam. Anyone else enjoy that part?

[Koeneman]

Yes, big fun in Eau Claire. A nice course and after party. Took the back roads, Jesse, and got around the jam.
Is there a most improved cross award? I vote for Jake!
BK

[M_Petersen]

Thanks from me too to the organizers and the hosts. Good work putting on the race.

And some exploration of the back roads on the way back for me too.

[mmlinar]

Anytime you can race on a golf course you get two thumbs up. It was fun and the food and beer was a bonus. For the jam, i did a u-turn and drove the old 12 route for a while.

[bschwartz]

Well, I was right about the Vikings.

Thanks to everyone that came out. We had a sponsor pick up our expenses (even the beer, how cool is that) so all proceeds went to the local food pantry.

Results are here: http://www.overdrivecycling.com/

It wasn't until later but I remember Jake's first CX race now, it's here. His dad used to ride with the club:
http://www.cvccbike.com/?q=node/15

There were a number of people with cameras and stuff is showing up on facebook, this is a good set from the "A" race:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 826a6fbc48

Nathan Lille was doing 6 minute laps in the singlespeed race, Jesse and Trevor Koss dropped the lap times to about 5:30 in the "A" race and got a quick separation. Trevor is a local guy and is very good technically. He rode aggressively but couldn't quite take the amp to 11 and lost contact with Jesse at about 45 minutes.

The best shots of the facebook album are at the bottom. That's where you see Smithers and Koeneman go for the sprint with Smithers taking it by less than half a wheel.

I was really pretty happy with how things turned out. We ran our first CX race in over a decade last fall and while it certainly had some rough edges the amount of interest that cropped up has been fun to watch. The golf course worked well and is a great venue for spectating, good enough that one of the things to work on next year is to better manage parking. The course manager at one time rode as a Cat 3 so we had something of an organizational tailwind there.

Dunno yet about next year's race. Anything in Wisconsin that involves beer on a Sunday has to take the Packer schedule into account. But the parking lot was full at a time when it would otherwise be totally empty so I'm sure we'll get something to happen.