Cyclocross is finally here. I know there have been races going on throughout the Northeast since before Labor Day, but neither I nor most of TBD could make it to any of them so the real start of cross season in our opinion is this coming weekend, with the new-location Whirlybird CX/Pineapple CX double header.

Whirlybird is first up, on Saturday September 14. It’s a favorite PACX early-season race that has grown a lot from its early years of being mostly a very large flat pinwheel near a baseball field. This year, they’ve moved it to Twining Valley Park, a super bike-friendly public park in Dresher, PA, that has hosted at least one cyclocross race every year since 2021, and has only gotten better as its gone on.

Let’s get into what this coming weekend has in store…

Weather

The weather is looking sunny, dry, and HOT, with highs in the mid-80s (weather.com says 86, while Accuweathr says only 83, but neither are my favorite temperature). There also doesn’t look to be much rain in the coming week, so the course will be dry, hard, and by the end of the day probably quite dusty. It will be a day to bring out the ice socks and roll on your lowest profile tread.

Course

I’ve only done this course once, in its first year. Twining Valley Park is a newish, bike-friendly public park that is as far as I can tell still a bit of a work in progress. At least part of it was once a golf course, so if you’ve ever looked at the sculpted lawns of your local fairway and thought “damn it would be fun to ride cross there,” this is your chance. Because of the golf thing, there are a lot of small elevation changes and swoopy flow in sections. There is also, as I can remember, a very annoying hill. This is what last year’s course looked like (from Alltrails).

I also vaguely remember that it has Slow Grass, that annoyingly tough flora that just seems to resist you rolling forward no matter how hard you push—and my views from the 2023 race on Youtube seem to back that up. It has other stuff too: dirt (hard, as I remember it), bumpiness, berms (!), some woods, a bit of gravel, and a lot of flow. Sadly, the Youtube video also spurs my memory that this course has been very narrowly taped in the past, which can impede a good flow if you can’t get around people who love to ride their brakes when it’s totally unnecessary. So make a note of narrow spots when you pre-ride, and be sure to sprint around your frenemies before you get there.

You can see all that here:

Gear

Ice, ice baby. I used to hate racing in the heat, but since I’ve started dialing my hot race-day routine, I find that I do a lot better than I used to on those days. If you’re racing after about 10:30am, I can’t underline how much keeping hydrated and a decent core body temperature can give you an advantage in the second half of the race on a hot day.

Here’s how you prep for a hot CX race: Bring a cooler or cooler bag. Get a bag of ice at the store or gas station. Use it throughout the morning for regular cooler-type stuff, but also put your race jersey in their (and your headband and your sports bra if you really want to go all in). Bring some panty hose or an extra sock and fill that with ice. Just before heading to the start line, put on your cold jersey, throw the ice sock in the back pocket or between your jersey and your upper back. KEEP THAT BOTTLE CAGE ON, and race with a full bottle of water or hydration mix. If you don’t drink naturally, try to remember to drink as you past the start/finish every lap.

As for the rest of the stuff, put on your file treads or your mixes, depending on what your comfort level is, and send it.

Hangs

The hangs are going to be great no matter what because this is one of the first races of the season for the PA/NY/NJ set of racers, and lots of people are going to be coming in with HYPE. As I remember this, there is plenty of room for tents—and people are going to need them—and a fair amount of spectating space from near the parking lot, which sort of looks out over some of the race. There were also indoor bathrooms (!!) the year that I went.

The important part is going to be not hanging out in the parking lot, which because of its then-proximity to the start/finish is something that people did the year that I raced the course. There are much better spots to get into the action and heckle your friends.

You can sign up for this year’s Whirlybird in Bikereg here. A Pineapple CX preview will be published later this week.