It’s sort of an off weekend in NYC cyclocross, with not much going on within a reasonable driving distance of the city. The UCI calendar is off in Indiana, and not much is going on in the Philly area. There is, however, a sleeper favorite going on in the middle-ish of Connecticut: Cheshire Cross.

I’ve never been, but I’ve been around long enough to know that Cheshire is A Thing. Everyone who has ever done it loves it. It’s got lots of different kind of features, and a significant portion of the race happens in the woods. Because it often falls around Halloween (this year on the day itself), it involves racing in costumes.

WEATHER

The weather is throwing us a bit of a curveball this weekend. It rained a good 3-4 inches this past week, and we are looking at another 3/4 to an inch of rain tomorrow in Connecticut. It is looking to be low 60s and sunny on Sunday—perfect spectating weather—but it’s unclear how the prior precipitation is going to leave the course. The course is usually heavy on rooty singletrack that could potentially be a minefield if it’s muddy, but there really is plenty of time for the ground to drain if the rain lets up overnight. In all but the worst draining of parks, that probably means a tacky race. However, there’s a possibility of real mud conditions.

COURSE

Having never actually raced before, let’s just say that this description is going to be somewhat ignorant. However, I’ve deeply researched prior years of gopro footage on YouTube and I’m hyyyyyyped for this race. Here are your big features: Sand. Turns in sand. Single track-ish woods. Trees that come out of nowhere. A BIG hill. Possible options on this hill for an A line to run or a B line to ride. More woods. In some years, there has been a bridge. No word on logs.

Colin Reuter once said of the woods part of the course: “It’s too wide to call single track and too smooth to be gnarly, but you put a cross bike on it and it’s sufficiently challenging.” (His best advice in this video: “Don’t look at the tree,” which is similar to what TBD’s Boston correspondent Clark Fredricksen told me about this course earlier today.)

In all the YouTube videos i’ve watched, the #1 above-all-else feature of the course is the big hill, largely because the spectators seem to congregate here and it’s a huge party atmosphere.

HANGS

Man rides uphill being chased — Screenshot from the below linked Dirtwire TV Men’s 1/2/3 highlights from 2016 Cheshire.

In this 2016 Dirtwire TV highlights reel, a racer is being chased up the hill by both a man offering a beer AND some sort of becostumed heckler playing the steel bike fork. I don’t really think there’s that much more to say.

Also did I mention mid-60s and sunny?

GEAR

Every time I try to give advice on gear people seem to take it, and then I turn out to be a little bit wrong and then people complain to me. Let me say this: bring it all. It’s the time of year where the weather is going to feel drastically different between 8am and 2pm, and also maybe depending on whether there’s a cloud over the sun, and whether you’re in the shade or standing out in the open. Bring it all. Short sleeves. Long sleeves. A jacket. A tshirt. AT LEAST TWO PAIRS OF SOCKS. Honestly bring two of everything just in case it is muddy.

Bring your mud tires, but also maybe pack your grifos if that’s an option because I really think it’s possible that it will be hero dirt rather than full mud.

Oh! Also! It’s Halloween! Bring your costume. I’ll bring the candy corn. :)

P.S. Huge shoutout to Dirtwire TV’s extensive 2016 videos from this race, which provided me 90% of the information in this post. Check them out.