HPCX, the best race within an hour of NYC (ex. Rainey Park, duh), is finally upon us! This race put on by the Rutgers cycling team has been going on forever, has had unseasonably terrible weather more times than I can remember, and still is somehow one of the most reliably fun races on the calendar year after year.

Let’s get into what it’s going to be like this year:

WEATHER

The past two years HPCX has been dominated by the weather, with heavy rain turning the course into a sloppy mudfest that was barely rideable in most parts. The sun will come out tomorrow, however. An overnight thunderstorm looks like it’s going to dampen the course, but the weather apps are only predicting a quarter inch of rain or so, so it’s likely to drain away. As always, the early races may have dew on the ground, but it’s unlikely there will be more than a couple of patches of mud.

Even more exciting: it will finally be cold! After enduring 6 weeks of racing in relentless heat and humidity, the cross weather is finally going to come. The low in Jamesburg is 49, meaning it’ll be long sleeve skinsuit weather for the early races, and the high is in the mid-60s, so it will feel pleasantly like October in the Northeast for most of the day.

It’s looking to be a little bit windy, with 15mph winds coming from the west, so factor that in when considering your race strategy.

COURSE

This course slaps. If you’ve never done it, you may have heard it’s hilly. That’s sort of true, the park has quite a bit of elevation and the course designers make the most of it, but they also throw in so much else that even a person who despises climbing (me) can have a great time and do well at this race.

In recent years, the start has been at the bottom of the park/hill, near the lake. A fast, paved start spits you right into the sand. The thing to know about this sand is that it’s eminently rideable, but on the first lap people will screw it up. Look where you’re going, not at the people crashing, and keep your feet moving. Then, in recent years there’s been a grass 180, then back into sand going much slower. (Keep the feet moving!) Another 180, and either you’re on grass on a flat power section, or there are two more sand sections, wish I could remember.

After that you start snaking slightly uphill. The first half of the lap has a little elevation change but nothing really significant. There's some wide turns, some off camber, some power sections. Barriers have been in the flat power section in this part of the lap the last two years, though prior to that they were on a slight incline after a 180 later in the lap, forcing more running and a remount on off-camber. Let’s assume they’ll be on a flat section by the parking lot, though. This is a good place to heckle your friends.

Then you start going up. Up, up, up. There’s one long climb that is a grind but not super steep. The last two years the stairs were mid-climb, making them not really rideable. I don’t want to brag, but I may have convinced someone from Rutgers to move them this year (no idea if that actually happened, but thanks if so!).

Once you get to the top of the hill there are some extremely wide downhill grass turns that you will want to brake on, but you should not. There will likely be acorns, and you should ignore them and driiiiiift and your tires will hook up again and it will be awesome.

Then there are more 180s with a little elevation change, and hopefully the stairs are in this section again. Again some uphill but this time on the road, into more fast off camber downhill turns. This is where the barriers were before 2018. A few more flatter power sections, more wide downhill turns into the start/finish, then you hit the sand again.

I can’t say enough good things about this course. The terrain is varied, they really use every good bit of the park, and you can go so fast if you just trust your tires.

HANGS

What can I say? Everyone is going to be there. Bring a jacket and a hat and plan to hang out all day. I have it on good authority the Shore Shake will be there in the afternoon.

GEAR

Every time I try to predict what tire you should be riding this season before the day of I mess it up. Again, I don’t think it’s going to rain enough to really make it muddy. However, is it going to be soft or is going to be dry as heck? No idea. As always, the best option is going to be to start with a mid-tread tire and if you have options possibly change them out once you’ve been on the course. It really could be a file tread day later in the afternoon but you probably shouldn’t bet on it.

Again, it’s going to be cold, bring your layers! Bring your towel, make sure you change out of your wet, sweaty clothes as soon as you can after your race so you’re not freezing for the rest of the day.