Riders size up course and competition at the CX championships

One question dominated Friday’s training session at the  national championships cyclocross course in Surrey, B.C.: how would the predicted heavy rain affect the course?

“It wasn’t a complete waste of time to pre-ride today,” said defending elite men’s champion Chris Sheppard (Rocky Mountain). “But it’s going to be a completely different course tomorrow.”

Whatever the conditions, most of the riders checking out course in South Surrey Athletic Park liked what they saw.

The 3.2-km lap starts with a long, uphill drag on pavement and features plenty of tight corners and off-camber sections, a boggy trip through a dirt jump track, a very fast trail through a forest and a couple of quick hard-packed downhills.

“Even if it doesn’t rain, it’s a tough, technical course,” said defending under-23 champion Evan McNeely (Specialized Canada).

“It’s going to be a physical course,” said 2004 and 2010 champion Geoff Kabush (Scott-3 Rox Racing). “There’s a bunch of tough sections stacked up—false flats where you have to put out the power.”

What the course doesn’t offer are sections for recovering, which means the race is likely to blow apart pretty quickly.

“It’s not going to be a course where you hang onto a wheel,” Kabush said, predicting small groups of no more than two or three riders, and with selection being made more by the riders who make mistakes than by who is strongest.

Tire tread and pressure will also play a key role in the outcome. With so much cornering, a low-pressure setup will be key to getting grip, but a scattering of rocks on the course means it’s important not to let too much air out.

Regardless, both the men’s and women’s races should be very competitive. There are 26 elite women registered to race—the biggest turnout on record for a Canadian championship—and the list includes some very big names.

“I think with the Worlds being in the States, the women’s field is pretty stacked this year,” said defending champion Emily Batty, who said she didn’t care much for the course when she first rode it but admitted: “It’s growing on me.”

Batty, who competed in the cross-country race at the London Olympics this summer, will have to fend off the likes of five-time champion Wendy Simms (Kona), fellow Olympian Catharine Pendrel (Luna), last year’s silver medallist Pepper Harlton (Juventus) and bronze medallist Mical Dyck (Stan’s No Tubes).

“It’s going to be a good show tomorrow for the women,” said Simms, who skipped last year’s event due to work pressures and caring for her two children, who are one and three years old.

“My speed’s not the same as it used to be,” said Simms, who still expects to put up a good fight but tipped Harlton as the favourite.

On the men’s side, Sheppard and Kabush can be expected to deliver a good battle, with riders like Derrick St. John (Stevens Racing powered by The Cyclery), Aaron Schooler (Norco-Sri Importing) and Mike Garrigan (Stage Race-Blackmith Cycle) all in the mix for podium spots as well.

“I’m going to give Kabush a run for his money, but there’s other guys to watch for,” said Sheppard. “I’m nervous, like when I was 15.”

Race Notes

• This is going to be one of the bigger national championships in terms of attendance, with 232 riders registered across all categories. In the UCI classes, there are 18 junior men, 26 elite women, 14 under-23 men and 33 elite men.
• A controversy has blown up on social media about whether women should be given the same amount of prize money as the men in Sunday’s UCI race. Nanaimo race organizer Norm Thibault has offered the championships organizers, Cycling B.C., money to make up the difference, which they initially turned down. It appears a resolution has been made and Cycling B.C. is expected to put out an announcement on the subject later in the evening.