Wonderland Cyclocross and The Iron Cross VI...

Last Saturday, November 22nd, I competed in the Cat C (Beginner) race at Wonderland Cyclocross in Lancaster, PA. The weather provided nearly perfect cyclocross conditions; as it was in the mid-20s, snowing, with fast changing cloud cover, and a windchill factor making it feel like it was in the 'teens. I say near perfect, because the temperature caused parts of the course to freeze (the sandpit and a number of corners that could have been really fun and mucky) making those areas far too easy to negotiate. Apparently the conditions favored me, because much to my surprise when I checked the posted results on Tuesday I discovered that I had placed 4th.


Ami and Zoe accompanied me to the race. Zoe got cold and started shivering, so Ami had to put her back in the car before I finished. However, that did give Ami a chance to take one photo of me on the course. Unfortunately, I neglected to point out to her that I had mounted a zoom lens on the camera and did not demonstrate its operation to her. The fact that we arrived at the course about 10 minutes before the start really was not very helpful in our preparation - I was unable to review the camera with her, warm up, or use the restroom after the 2 and 1/2 hour drive north. No, I do not believe that needing to use the restroom helped my finish and I do not plan on using that as a technique in the future. I've highlighted myself in the race photo; I'm just remounting my bike after one of the post barrier run-ups on the course.


While writing this post, it occurred to me that I neglected to write anything about the Iron Cross VI race that I competed in back on October 12th. I had been waiting on getting together some photos from the race and then I guess I just got distracted with all of the other things we have going on (baby preparations, job search, etc.).





The Iron Cross was definitely the most exciting race that I had the fortune to participate in this year. It is the longest cyclocross race held in the United States at 62+ miles and it covers the trails and roads up, down, and around the mountains/big hills of Michaux State Forest in Gardners, PA - about 25 miles north of Gettysburg.




The race promoters bill the race as 62+ miles because, although they go to very respectable lengths to prevent such disasters, it is still somewhat easy to get stupid and find yourself off the course and lost in the woods or Amish Country. I personally added about 10 miles to the distance I covered after touring some rustic cabins at the top of one of the hills and then later took a detour to race the horse buggys down at the bottom of another mountain.











This is a topo map of the race.












I think the best part of the course is a "run-up" called Wigwam Hill. This consists of a portion of a rocky hiking trail that ascends about 500 feet over the course of about a tenth of a mile, necessitating that your bike be carried as you use your free hand to staedy yourself while climbing the hill. There were also loose, rocky descents that necessitated the carrying of my bike.








Although I finshed 98th out of 105 in my category at 6:51:06 (some who finished ahead of me had actually been behind me when they had been forced to take a shorter, easier road route back to the finish after failing to make it to the final checkpoint before the cut-off time) I still had a blast and hope to ride the race
again in the future. Here are the results and more info about the race.





I would like to extend a special thanks to Element of the Eye Photography and Judy Allison for their great photos of the race.