A lot of people weren't ready to go GNCC racing...
Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2023 11:25 am
When they start a race at the Grand National Cross Country series, the announcer will yell out to the crowd "Are you ready to go GNCC racing!", followed by the ten second call for the front row.
Well, this year I don't think a lot of the riders in the Sunday bike races were quite ready for what the weather had laid out for them.
I don't race much anymore, but I do still like to get out to the Grand National Cross Country race that stops in my neck of the woods each spring. It's a multi day event that can have vastly different conditions day to day, particularly in the spring when cold/dry and warm/wet air masses are fighting for dominance. This year the eMountain Bikes, micros, and quads couldn't have had a more perfect day, sunny in the upper 60's, but the bikes couldn't have had much worse of a day as rain moved in early on already kind of soft ground (also had rained all day Friday), and turned all 13 miles of the course into "peanut butter" and "soup". I posted a bunch of videos and images I took with my phone in this folder. I have more in go-pro clips of where I tried to assist, but I don't have an editor to trim them down. I didn't assist the bikes much, other than trying to spot a line that was passable in one of the lower areas.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1povUjN5sxp-7vMt4PCUFOf-Y7dh6ZTIV?usp=share_link
A good comparison is this progression of images of the same spot on the track throughout the weeknd:
Friday Afternoon
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tXqLnP4jp5YLanxMyjCpi178P5z0kwRl/view?usp=share_link
Saturday Morning
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sjcK0vN1xrii3a_PVGQhf_mLIA-HbvH4/view?usp=share_link
Saturday Afternoon
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1s3GPWUG1LPttHqj9j8v26BLcqpPP6u5P/view?usp=share_link
Sunday Morning
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r6zW2xnyW1mH2Z6pUSeYIIDmABlgVfx0/view?usp=share_link
Sunday Afternoon
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qUdpu9Z9bD_Hk0c20ait7r6AdzMBefAl/view?usp=share_link
Well, this year I don't think a lot of the riders in the Sunday bike races were quite ready for what the weather had laid out for them.
I don't race much anymore, but I do still like to get out to the Grand National Cross Country race that stops in my neck of the woods each spring. It's a multi day event that can have vastly different conditions day to day, particularly in the spring when cold/dry and warm/wet air masses are fighting for dominance. This year the eMountain Bikes, micros, and quads couldn't have had a more perfect day, sunny in the upper 60's, but the bikes couldn't have had much worse of a day as rain moved in early on already kind of soft ground (also had rained all day Friday), and turned all 13 miles of the course into "peanut butter" and "soup". I posted a bunch of videos and images I took with my phone in this folder. I have more in go-pro clips of where I tried to assist, but I don't have an editor to trim them down. I didn't assist the bikes much, other than trying to spot a line that was passable in one of the lower areas.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1povUjN5sxp-7vMt4PCUFOf-Y7dh6ZTIV?usp=share_link
A good comparison is this progression of images of the same spot on the track throughout the weeknd:
Friday Afternoon
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tXqLnP4jp5YLanxMyjCpi178P5z0kwRl/view?usp=share_link
Saturday Morning
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sjcK0vN1xrii3a_PVGQhf_mLIA-HbvH4/view?usp=share_link
Saturday Afternoon
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1s3GPWUG1LPttHqj9j8v26BLcqpPP6u5P/view?usp=share_link
Sunday Morning
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r6zW2xnyW1mH2Z6pUSeYIIDmABlgVfx0/view?usp=share_link
Sunday Afternoon
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qUdpu9Z9bD_Hk0c20ait7r6AdzMBefAl/view?usp=share_link