Two UCI Cyclocross World Cups within the span of less than a week

While race day in Fayetteville devolved into a sloppy mudfest ...

... Iowa City basked in sunshine and temps in the mid-70s

It was quite a tour de force, for the athletes, the officials, and especially the carnies who had to set up three different UCI Cyclocross World Cup venues within less than 10 days. The opening event of the 2021/2022 'cross series had been on October 10 in Waterloo, Wisconsin—a race that I had worked in the past but that was covered by my colleague Linda this year. I left Lubbock one day later, on Monday the 11th, and flew to Fayetteville, Arkansas, for the second stop of the campaign. The race date was Wednesday, an unusual but not unheard-of mid-week date for such an important international event. While the entire race entourage moved on from Arkansas to Iowa City (some flying, some driving), I flew home on Thursday, only to get back on a plane on Friday and fly to Iowa for the third stop of the series on American soil. A week after my initial departure from Lubbock I made it back home the following Monday, on October 18.

The day before the Fayetteville race, the sun shone during the official course inspection

This amazing bike wash area was later set up with almost
a dozen power washers that saw non-stop action

Who would have ever thought that we'd see banners for a
Belgian frites sauce manufacturer?

The entire Fayetteville race course had been built for this
event—and the 'cross World Championships at the end of January 2022

As many if not most of my readers know, Arkansas is home of Walmart, and Fayetteville is just a few miles away from Bentonville, where Walmart has its headquarters. Among my cycling friends it is common knowledge that two of the Sam Walton heirs, namely Tom and Steuart [sic] who are Sam's grandsons, are complete cycling aficionados. They now own boutique clothing manufacturer Rapha, and Allied Cycle Works, a high-end carbon bike manufacturer, is also majority owned by Wally-World money. Northwest Arkansas has become a mecca for mountain bikes, thanks to money from the Walton Foundation that has established trails and put this part of the world essentially dead center on the cycling map. Attracting the World Cup was the last stepping stone to Fayetteville's hosting the UCI Cyclocross World Championships at the end of January 2022.

It's amazing what money can do. To see this brand-new venue, created in a relatively flat park that is tied into surrounding mountain bike trails (do I think there may be a mountain bike World Cup in Fayetteville's future? You bet!), attract dozens of European riders and teams is simply astonishing. The flyovers, the tunnels, the earth-moving work and stone embellishments are shear amazing. One of my old friends, Hogan—who used to run the Angel Fire, NM, bike park—had much input into the design and execution of this venue. He is now living with his family in Fayetteville and is the soft surface designer at NWA Trailblazers, with close ties to OzTrails. It was one of many highlights to reconnect during the course inspection with Hogan, after all those years.

In preparation for the upcoming UCI 'Cross World Championships a brand new
Welcome Center is being built in what is still a large construction zone

A Dutch newspaper is one of the various European sponsors of the series

Representatives from the UCI, USA Cycling, and Medalist Sports
all participated in the course inspection on Tuesday

Twenty-four hours later the Finish Line area was all decked out,
with beer tent, VIP area, and media stalls

For the Fayetteville race, Medalist Sports was the company that provided all the race infrastructure in the form of trusses, barricades, tents, and everything else that such an event requires. I had worked with Medalist on various occasions before (AMGEN Tour of California, Tour of Utah, Tour of Alberta, Colorado Classic, etc.), and they are a class outfit that is professional to the last detail. Before such races I contact the organizer and we discuss my transportation and housing needs as well as the details of my work. I know Medalist, Medalist knows me, and there are never surprises. Wwhen I arrived at XNA (Northwest Arkansas), an Avis rental car in the form of a sweet Land Rover was waiting for me, and I had a room on the 10th floor of the Fayetteville Graduate, a quirky, college-themed hotel where most of the entourage was housed. Being in downtown Fayetteville meant that outside of my work hours it was easy to stroll to one of the various micro-breweries without having to use the car. You see why I like these races?

The decorations in my room in the graduate were definitely
unusual; former student ID replicas serve as room keys

Yep, this razorback was watching over my sleep

Tuesday's gorgeous fall weather was pushed out of the area during the night, and the forecast promised rain chances at 100% by the time the two races, the 50-minute Elite Women and the 60-minute Elite Men, were going to start around midday. Why midday? Simple: That's prime time for TV viewing of cyclocross races in Belgium and the Netherlands!

Forget the sunshine and bring out the rubber boots. The freshly sodded grass soon disintegrated and the park became a muddy quagmire. But that's what cyclocross is all about of course: the muddier and the nastier, the better! And that's also the reason why those races are so relatively short. It is a cycling discipline that originated in Europe as a way to continue racing in the winter, by setting up a short course in a park and racing for an hour before the toes and fingers froze off. Cyclocross is still a relative newcomer to the US, and if you look at the results lists for these races 85% of the top ten riders will have their nationality listed as BEL or NED.

It was such a pleasure to run into my friend Rebecca from El Paso

The commissaires huddle before the first start

Because of the nature of my work I was able to take just a few pics during the race, and these photos do not reflect in any way the muddy conditions out on the course. I'd suggest you watch on YouTube a short summary of either the men's or women's races to get a true idea of how tough this profession is. I was stationed in an RV close to the finish line, staying dry and relatively mud-free; I wonder whether Medalist had to pay extra cleaning fees upon the return of the rental vehicle! I've never seen in person racers caked in mud like on that day.

So, that was the first part of my week. As I said, Thursday morning I flew back to Lubbock, got home in the afternoon, unpacked, repacked, ate, slept, and left for the airport the next morning. Just as an aside, of my eight flights, six were upgrade 100 hours before the flight—only the two flights from DFW back to Lubbock never cleared, for whatever reason. Oh well, no biggie. Flying in First makes things much nicer, though, even on these puddle jumpers that serve LBB, XNA, and CID, which is the airport for both Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. Another rental car was waiting for me, and on the way to my hotel in North Liberty (a non-memorable Sleep Inn) I took in a bit of the local scenery and stopped for a pint at House Divided Brewery in Ely. Nope, it's not a religious reference but has something to do with football.

Back in pre-pandemic 2019 I had worked Jingle Cross the first time, an event that singlehandedly was built into a World Cup-worthy race by John Meehan, a local physician who loves cycling just as much as his community. While the Fayetteville event didn't have any other races than the two Elite UCI contests, Jingle Cross is a long weekend of cycling activities, with food vendors, a huge beer garden, and dozens of cycling industry exhibitors hawking their wares. There are USAC races for all categories of amateur racers, events for the kids, and even a separate UCI C1 and C2 events on Friday and Saturday (for which I had no responsibilities). In other words, this is a true festival, for the racers, for the spectators, and for the community. And all this is John's making. I have a lot of respect for this true gentleman.

John told me that since its inception in 2004 as a small one-day race in December (thus the name and certain allusions to Christmas time) the weather had never been as nice as it was this past weekend. It was perfect fall weather—certainly not Belgian 'cross weather! The course was dry and fast, people drank beer as if there was no tomorrow, and all those who had come out to the Johnson County Fairgrounds had a smile on their faces. 

My Saturday was relatively open after I had checked out my work area and supplies, and so I was able to go on a little sightseeing trip in Iowa City's vicinity. I drove out to Kalona, a small Mennonite town maybe 20 miles away. There are quaint stores featuring local products, there's a Mennonite-run dairy, and there's even a nice micro-brewery. The sweeping cornfields and grain silos make it amply clear that this is the Midwest, and the horse-drawn buggies and coaches are another sign that this is a special part of rural America. I made good use of Saturday afternoon before getting to work on Sunday for the two Elite races, which once again were dominated by the European riders.

Kalona Brewing Company

Backpocket Brewing In Coralville

Both races were wickedly fast, and the riders were fairly dehydrated. I talked to some of them about their travel plans, and let me tell you, it's not easy to be a Pro. Some of them were going to drive with their teams four hours that evening to Chicago to catch a flight to Europe the next day, with another race scheduled for Wednesday, just a day after getting back to Europe. Others were going to fly out the next morning and try to connect to their home bases; the organizer had arranged for COVID tests for all those who needed them to return to Europe. Some of the US riders were also going to leave for Europe; after all, these had been just the first three races of the 16 that comprise the entire series. Man, that's rough! When do they actually get a chance to train with all that travel?

Martijn Swinkles, the Dutch UCI PCP of all three
Cyclocross World Cups on US soil this year

My way home was way less complicated and simply involved another night in the Sleep Inn, a short drive to the CID airport, and then two relatively short flights home. In DFW, while in the Admiral's Club, I experienced some pangs of good old Fernweh when I saw the jets ready to depart for Europe, but it's just a question of time until that part of my life starts being revived again.

My next trip is less than a week away, and even if it doesn't take me to Europe it will take me out of the country. Until then I have a few days of home cooking, four or five 35-mile bike rides, and maybe even a Moderna booster shot to look forward to.

Jürgen