With all due respect to the many people who are treating this weekend as a cap on their road racing season (including my many teammates traveling to the Green Mountain Stage Race, and those doing the Tour of Somerville), Cross Is Here.

Lucia and I (plus KruisCX friends Diane and Elizabeth) are headed up to Hydra Cross in Holyoke, Mass this weekend for the first test of our legs this season. If you’re coming, here’s what the situation is looking like:

WEATHER

As of Thursday evening, AccuWeather is giving a forecasted high of 70 degrees in Holyoke on Sunday. Conditions are looking to be partly sunny with a chance of scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon.

In other words, it will be perfect September cross weather, with a small chance of mud in the elite race just to keep things spicy. Just in case, bring a tent or make new friends on tent row.

COURSE

I’ve never done this course before, but have studied the video of the 2019 course on YouTube, as well as looked at the 2019 lap profile on Strava. It’s a pretty short course at a little over a mile, and has about 50 feet of elevation per lap. The top men did laps of under 5 minutes, and the top women were between 5 and 6 minutes per lap.

Given Hurricane Ida, it’s possible that this course is going to be a lot more soggy than the forecast indicates, but by Sunday there will be a good four days of nice weather between us and the Flooding Beast, so we’ll see. I’m starting on the assumption that this course is relatively well-drained.

Based on my three full viewings of this video, the course appears to be somewhat of a “grass crit,” with a fair amount of pavement. But it also looks like the organizers have maximized what they have to work with in the park. There are some tricky turns that utilize the elevation change that is available, made a lot of turns on changing surfaces, inserted a few chicanes, etc.

I’m interested to see if this quadruple barrier situation is back for 2021, as it seems awful.

There also seem to be a couple of small but steep little hills with U-turns that seem rideable when dry but could be running features if those afternoon thunderstorms hit. Multiple seem to flatten out at the bottom allowing for an easy turn, but at least one forces an off-camber turn.

All-in-all, it seems like a fun little local course that I, quite honestly, could not be more thrilled to be driving three hours each way to race, because I’m that desperate for cross.

GEAR

The event description notes that “file treads (if dry) and all-around tires will work well for most riders.” Having watched the video, a file tread with knobs on the side seem like the move if you are confident your race is going to be dry. Then again, it has not stopped raining in the Northeast in weeks, so the ground could be soggy even if it’s “dry.” That favors more of a mix tire.

There’s a lot of pavement, but on the other hand there seems to be some pretty steep off-camber that you will want a little tread on. Given my race is in the afternoon, I’m likely to put my MXP tires on, but bring a wheelset with a mud tire just in case there’s a downpour right before my race.

As this is my first race in two seasons, the real gear question for me is whether I remember what it even is I need to bring to a cross race. I rarely forget my helmet, and it’s been a good six months since I forgot to bring bike shoes somewhere important. I’m making a note to bring a hat, because it looks to be pretty sunny for hanging around all day. I’m also going to try to dig a cowbell out of some drawer somewhere.

HANGS

The hangs forecast is looking good, particularly because many I personally know seem to be signed up. In all seriousness, there are about 275 people pre-registered as of 9am Friday, with a few hours left to go before reg closes. “Who’s Registered?” forecasts a high chance of New England-based pros showing up, and there’s only one spot left on tent row. Not bad for a local race on Labor Day weekend.

The race has a Covid-19 policy, and those rules include: no touching(!), no spitting or snot rockets, keep your distance in line, and wear a mask if you’re not vaccinated. However, importantly distinct from some events in the spring, the rules do not say no hanging out. I am thrilled to be able to see people in person