From the back of the pack: Silver Goose Pan Am cyclocross championships

Canadian Cycling Magazine November 8, 2018

By now, we’ve all seen video of Michael van den Ham’s incredible sprint against Curtis White at the Silver Goose Pan-American cyclocross championships. While van den Ham, Maghalie Rochette, Ellen Noble and the other pros made the Midland, Ont. course look like a walk in the park, if a very fast walk in the park, racing was a little different mid-pack.

OK… back of the pack.

Canadian Cycling Magazine sent our web editor Terry McKall out to race the elite men’s Pan-American championships at Silver Goose to try provide some perspective on just how fast the pros were going compared to the Joes, and what it’s like rubbing elbows when the group hits the first grass corner just shy of 50 km/h. Not anyone can sign up for the race, you need a UCI elite license, and Terry can usually hit the top-10 in a local elite field. Pan Ams, though, is a whole different game.

Follow Terry as he tries to stay ahead of the “80% rule” cutoff and finish the race. Then go watch the highlights from the elite race to see how fast the top pros were hitting the same sections of the Silver Goose course.

Van den Ham and Rochette will be back in action this weekend at Peterborough, Ont. for Canadian cyclocross national championships. Tune in live on Saturday, Nov. 10 to Canadian Cycling Magazine’s live stream as the country’s best battle for the right to wear the maple leaf jersey of national champion throughout the next year of cyclocross racing.