As everyone is gearing up for another muddy trip to CX natz in Portland, John asked me to provide a short preview. Ironically I won't be attending this year to try for another top-10 in masters since I have had that nasty bug that just won't let go and I missed five weeks of racing this month. So good luck to the rest of you and stay warm.
If you have spent the last twelve months replaying last years natz, forget about it - there is a new course this year. It's still at the Portland International Raceway but on the front side of the venue. There will be real parking this time and looks like a better site all around.
Here is a map of the new course superimposed on an aerial photo, with a description of the course included. And for perspective here is a map of the whole venue showing last year’s and this year’s sites. To orient you last year’s start and finish locations are indicated. Another aerial view (looking from east to west) is here. Last year’s is at the upper right of this image, this year’s at the left.
Judging from the photos there will be more elevation gain than last year though it is still essentially a flat venue so it will be mostly a string of ups and downs. The course starts on the track like last year for a big windup before hitting the dirt, moves onto a motocross track (cool), and then will wind around through the trees and back through the expo area. The pit is a double pit at the center of the course per UCI rules. For the promoter’s description check here.
As an aside, reports are that the UCI will be sending one of their chief technical guys out to see the race and talk to the USCF guys about a possible future World Cup stop or even Worlds in the USA, as has been reported on velonews.com. How cool is that.
As to the mud, I have been working in Portland this fall and I would say it has been a drier fall than usual, of course the race day conditions will depend greatly on the weather. If you have been checking the weather reports, rain is forecast for this whole week so you can count on conditions much like last year, somewhere on the upper end of the Mud Index.
For really detailed, geeked-out, up-to-the-minute forecasts I like to check the National Weather Service forecast discussion. Here is an excerpt from today's commentary: "MIDDLE PART OF THE WEEK (WED AND THU) STILL LOOKING QUITE OMINOUS... NEARLY ALL MEDIUM RANGE MODELS ADVERTISING STRONG WEST FLOW ALOFT INTO THE PAC NW WITH A LONG FETCH OF MOISTURE. BASED ON LATEST QPF ESTIMATES A COUPLE OF CENTRAL COAST RIVERS COULD GET TO FLOOD WED OR WED NIGHT... ALL IN ALL IT LOOKS LIKE MORE OF A TYPICAL PAC NW PATTERN...UNLIKE THE DRY NOVEMBER."
An important note for those of you who are racing age groups (especially Masters). The UCI age rule will apply to ALL racers this year, including masters. As posted on the site: "To be clear – all racing ages for the 2004 USCF Cyclo–cross National Championships will be based on a riders 2005 racing age. "
One more thing I want to mention is that Brian Vernor is going to be screening his new CX film "Pure Sweet Hell" at Natz. If you have seen the trailer on the pilarcitos.com site you can see this will be a very cool flick.
The red carpet premiere is on Saturday December 11, 2004, screenings at 4:30, 6:30 & 8:30. Overton Room @ the Doubletree Jantzen Beach (race host hotel). Any questions contact Brian at redcowboy66@yahoo.com .
That's about it...For additional last minute race info be sure to check the crosscrusade.com website and also look at their forums - they have a discussion group for Natz.
Finally...for an additional bit of trivia (amazing what google will turn up) it may interest you to know that the PIR is actually on the site of a former housing development from WWII. When was the last time you heard of houses being converted to a race venue, not vice versa? Caution: The reason the site was converted is that the Columbia flooded and washed the old town away…it could happen again…
Good luck everyone and have fun.
--Dave Carr