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Saturday, September 14, 2024

2024 Greene Acres CX Classic

The 2024 Wisconsin Cycling Association cyclocross series opened today at a new venue, Nathanael Greene Park in St. Francis. The course featured open grassy straightaways, a short sand pit, some off-camber descents, singletrack through the woods on the park’s west side, and more elevation change than you would expect. It was a course that suited me pretty well. My results probably are an accurate reflection of my fitness and ability at this moment, but in both of my races this morning I was delayed more than once by riders who crashed or stalled in front of me.

I turned 59 in June, which is 60 in cyclocross years. That’s because USA Cycling calculates “racing age” as the age you will be on December 31 in the year in which the world championships take place in your chosen discipline. Got it? The world championships for the 2024-2025 season will be held in France, January 31 through February 2. I will turn 60 in 2025, so my racing age for this season is 60. That puts me in a new division, and today I did OK in the Masters Cat 4/5 60+ race. I placed 5th out of 19.

In the open Cat 4 race—not age-restricted—I placed 28th out of 44. If you could break that race down by age, then I would have been 3rd of 10 in the 60+ group. So, both of today’s results give me some hope that this season I could find myself on a Masters Cat 4/5 60+ podium or two.

When I wasn’t racing, I was shaking a lot of hands. It was good to reconnect with so many friends in the cycling community. It also was good to see the results of the guys from the Royal Oaks practice series and to hear from them the ways practice converted to success today. Finally, it was super gratifying to receive several compliments from people who know me as the current President of the Wisconsin Cycling Association. We’ve done some really good things this year to move the organization forward, and there’s more to come before my term runs out in December.

But now it’s time for me to run back to Pennsylvania. If all goes as planned, then my next race reports will come from there. I should be back in Wisconsin in time for Field of Riches CX, right here in Washington County, on October 12.

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