National junior men’s cyclocross champion keeps winning
Carter Woods of Cumberland, B.C., puts in another strong performance in Peterborough, Ont.
National junior men’s cyclocross champion Carter Woods notched his second win of a weekend of racing in Peterborough, Ont. On Saturday, Woods of Naked Factory Racing won the maple-leaf jersey. On Sunday, he wore the red-and-white as he took on other junior men.
Woods has been on a bit of a tear, which comes as no surprise to cyclocross racers from Vancouver Island. The Cumberland, B.C. native has been putting on strong performances in the Cross on the Rock series. At the Pan Am championships this past weekend, Woods finished sixth behind such riders as Magnus Sheffield and Nick Carter at the Silver Goose C2 race. Then, the next day in the Pan Am championship race for junior men, only those two U.S. riders finished ahead of Woods, who took bronze.
With such results, Woods was one of the favourites for Saturday’s national cyclocross championship race. He took the win over Conor Martin and Dylan Kerr. On Sunday, during the C2-level Lift Lock Cross, Woods faced off against those same riders. He led from the gun, but ran into some trouble on the section called Hecklers’ Hill. Woods, like many of his competitors, went down. Later in the race, another mistake allowed Martin to pull ahead of Woods.
“I had a little crash at the bottom of the course, and then Conor passed me,” Woods said. “We’re both gunning for it. Later, he bent down to do something with his shoe and I went for it.”
On the second last lap, Woods passed Martin at the top of the final run-up. The Cumberland rider then put some distance between himself and the Tag Cycling Team rider through the finishing stretch. Through the final lap, Woods held his lead for his second win in two days.
While both days of racing were muddy, the muck seemed a bit slicker on Sunday. Woods commented that even though he’s faced mud on Vancouver Island, it doesn’t seem as sticky as the stuff that weighed down his steel-frame Naked bike in Peterborough. “Luckily, my mechanic had the bike so mint that it was good for both days,” Woods said.
Woods said he might race cyclocross in Europe during the Christmas season. He’s not totally sure about that plan yet. But he is sure that he’ll be preparing for the 2019 mountain bike season in the months ahead.
