Small Group Discussion: Rochester Rockets!
Plus CX results from Hyattsville, Hidden Valley, Carpenter, West Hill, and HenBIKEo
500 miles north of Roanoke, VA, on the banks of the Erie Canal in Rochester NY, racers arrived for the second stop of the USCX series. It might have been 10 degrees cooler, but the racing was every bit as hot as it was at Go Cross. With early season nerves out of the way and left far behind, the vibe check felt “serious” as riders prepped for action under team tents. If Go Cross felt like the first day back at school, Rochester CX was definitely the end to any ice-breaking fun and games.
Elite Men Day 1
In the opening lap, Comp Edge racers set the pace as Dylan Zakrjsek and Cody Scott led the way into the “Jungle” section of the Rochester CX’s Genesee Valley Park course.
Past the swamp, and over what The Report’s kid dubbed “The Ogre’s Teeth,” through the rock garden and up the run-up, riders held steady waiting for better opportunities to pass.
And better opportunities would come. The north end of the course on the grassy flats leading into fast and flowing off camber ups and downs, was almost the perfect place to make decisive passes. Of course, this year the seemingly smooth grass was was anything BUT. Truly jarring lumps and bumps ensured that no part of the Rochester CX was “easy.” After early race pace-setting by his teammates, 7 riders including Tyler Clark (Caledon Hills Armada), Kerry Werner (Velo Mafia p/b Bike Flights) and Andrew Strohmeyer (Trek CXD Bikes) started to pull away from the rest. And about 20 minutes into the 63 minute race, Eric Brunner (Competitive Edge Racing) dialed up the intensity even more when he lead the way through “Double Trouble” ahead of the “Northern Flats.”
Brunner reported in a post-race interview with the race announcers, that he got his race-winning gap on Strohmeyer on the last run-up. Brunner held onto that gap and emerged onto the grassy flats for the last lap with a 5-second lead that grew to 11 seconds by the time he crossed the finish line for his first UCI win of the season.
Elite Men Day 1 Results
Eric Brunner (Competitive Edge Racing)
Eric Strohmeyer (CXD Trek Bikes)
Tyler Clark (Caledon Hills Armada)
Cody Scott (Competitive Edge Racing)
Kerry Werner (Velo Mafia p/b Bike Flights)
Elite Women Day 1
When Maghalie Rochette (SRAM/Seeker) took two consecutive and decisive wins at GoCross, it made us wonder if perhaps the USCX series was “over.” Enter day 1 in Rochester where Mannon Bakker (Crelon-Corendon) looked every bit the 11th best cross racer in the world.
After another fast start from Caroline Mani’s (Velo Mafia), Bakker took control on the steep climb heading into the jungle’s roller coaster ride. The dusty, rooty and narrow off-camber forced everyone off their bike on lap one.
From here, Bakker puts in the fastest lap of the day with a 7:47 and never needed to look back. Behind Bakker, Rochette and Sidney McGill (Lastig Off Road Racing) were locked into chase mode with seemingly fixed 18-ish second gaps between each other. Add in Mani chasing a little further back in 4th place, and after the first couple of laps, Day 1’s race was an individual time trial to the finish.
Rochette offered some clarity on the day’s action in her own substack blog reporting that she got tangled up in an opening corner crash that put her in chase mode for much of the race.
Fortunately, thanks to Lauren Zoerner (Competitive Edge Racing) and Raylyn Nuss (Steve Tilford Foundation Racing), fans were also treated to a wheel-to-wheel battle photo finishing sprint for 5th place. And fortunately for YOU, we were there to capture (most of) it on video.
Elite Women Day 1 Results:
Manon Bakker (Crelon-Corendon)
Maghalie Rochetter (SRAM/Seeker)
Sidney McGill (Lastig Off Road Racing)
Caroline Mani (Velo Mafia)
Lauren Zoerner (Competitive Edge Racing)
Day 2 at Rochester is one of The Northeast CX Report’s favorite to race. Race Director Scott Page has created a reversible course with a prologue opening loop that takes in all of the challenges from day 1 by routing racers through the northern grassy flats before dumping them into Double Trouble. Get the fields there too soon and it’s a race-ending bottle neck. But this opening loop gives racers around 3 minutes of wide open lanes and line choices to get to where they want to be before the more severe technical challenges come into play. In a sport that can often be unforgiving, the start of day 2 feels notably fair and honest.
Day 2 Elite Men
After riders funneled through Double Trouble they hit the paved Empire State bike path before they dismounted for the run-up which served as the entrance to day 2’s race through the jungle. Bagpipers and fans were ready!
And then into the half-pipes which at least some riders seemed to agree had better flow on day 2.
And by the second lap, Brunner and Strohmeyer were pulling away from the rest in familiar ways. And for a while we expected the “usual” back and forth battle of attacks and counter-attacks, the Pan Am Champ had other ideas. Brunner put in a 6:48 4th lap that was a full 10 seconds faster than Strohmeyer’s 4th lap and followed it up with four consecutive sub-7 minute laps that extended his gap lap after lap ultimately leading to a 43-second win over Strohmeyer.
Meanwhile the race for third was FIRE. It featured Kerry Werner (Velo Mafia p/b Bike Flights), Tyler Clark (Caledon Hills Armada), Jules Van Kempen (Team Winston Salem-Flow), and Tofik Beshir (CXD Trek Bikes). The group would arrive one more time together onto the Northern Flats with Werner in the lead.
Werner ripped off a blisteringly fast 6:53 LAST LAP that was enough to keep his competitors from coming around him in the very exciting finish to take 3rd place. Leading out a sprint from 2 minutes away from the finish line is a bold choice, but you can’t argue with the results! Werner’s LAST lap tied Strohmeyer and Brunner’s OPENING laps for “fastest lap of the day.” This is Kerry’s second bronze medal finish in the USCX series.
Elite Men Day 2 Results
Eric Brunner (Competitive Edge Racing)
Andrew Strohmeyer (CXD Trek Bikes)
Kerry Werner (Velo Mafia p/b Bike Flights)
Jules Van Kempen (Team Winston Salem - Flow)
Tyler Clark (Caledon Hills Armada)
And in other regional cyclocross racing action…
Hyattsville CX, Hyattsville MD. With an impressive 566 race registrations, someone clearly forgot to tell the the mid-Atlantic cyclocrossers that “cyclocross is dead.” Course designer and friend of The Northeast CX Report, Sam Brummitt was on the ground, taking pictures offering up his reports of the action.
Women’s Cat 1/2/3:
Jessica Conley (Sweet Spot Cycling)
Olivia Shoemaker (National Capital Velo Club)
Erin Silliman (Sweet Spot Cycling)
Men’s Cat 1/2/3:
Brummitt reported that “Gray Steves (Treadstone/Bike Doctor Racing), had a commanding lead throughout the race and took his second elite CX win after winning the inaugural TacoCross the week before. Aaron Seip (Down Tube Shifters Cycling Club) overcame a crash in the first few turns of the race to take second. And Brent Sturlaugson (PMA Velo) fought his way back after a dropped chain to claim the third spot.”
Gray Steves (Treadstone/Bike Doctor Racing)
Aaron Seip (Down Tube Shifters Cycling Club)
Brent Sturlaugson (PMA Velo)
Hidden Valley CX, New Haven, CT. Just 2 races into the PMCX series and there’s no telling who’s going to take the overall win in the Women’s 1/2/3 category. Emma Betuel (ROR NYC) and Abby Cole (Competitive Edge Racing) have one win apiece and are currently tied for 1st. 3rd and 4th place are also tied, just 8 points behind the leaders. Donny Green (1 PVD Cycling) has a little more breathing room at the top of the leaderboard with 28 points advantage over Derek Jakoboski (Stedman's Bicycles).
Women’s Cat 1/2/3:
Emma Betuel (ROR NYC)
Tori Svatek (Velocious Sport)
Emily Singleton (ROR NYC)
Men’s Cat 1/2/3:
Donny Green (1 PVD Cycling)
Noah Peduzzi (545 Velo)
Alex Popescu (Yale University)
Carpenter Cross, Horsham, PA moving to a new location didn’t stop over 200 racers from showing up to take on the latest version of Carpenter Cross. Organizers reported on their Facebook page, “We’re still buzzing from how incredible our one-off Carpenter Cross cyclocross race was at Lukens Park! Perfect weather, amazing racing, and an electric atmosphere made it a day to remember.” Also apparently there was ice cream. Highly underrated as a post race snack!
Men’s Cat 1/2/3:
Andrew Wulfkuhle (Team Rock Lobster International)
Trevor Raab (Hoff Cycles)
Aidan Liston (Shark River Devo)
Women’s Cat 1/2/3:
Emma Beutel (unattached)
Elizabeth Bonilla (Team Eps P/b Brielle Cyclery)
Christina Hosenfeld (Sad Oatmeal)
West Hill Cyclocross, Putney, VT marked the 1/2 point of the River Valley CX Series. With just two more races to go, it looks like Emily Curley (Fast Splits) has edged ahead of Ellen Noble (Jam Fund/NCC) by just 8 points. Noble scored two top 10s in the UCI Elites this weekend at Rochester CX so she wasn’t there to defend her series lead in Vermont. Mark Hewitt (Green Line Velo) may have “lost the battle” this weekend, but is still “winning the war” with a substantial 20 point lead in the series over Brendan Ronan (West Hill Shop).
Men’s Cat 1/2/3:
William Rhatigan (West Hill Shop)
Brendan Ronan (West Hill Shop)
Mark Hewitt (Green Line Velo)
Women’s Cat 1/2/3:
Kaitlyn Agnew (unattached)
Daniela Bronk (Green Mountain Cyclocross)
Emily Curley (Fast Splits)
HenBIKEo, Glen Allen, VA.
Women’s Cat 1/2/3:
Erin Wittwer (Sweet Spot Cycling)
Denelle Grant (WWWR|WeeWheel Women's Racing)
Jessica Conley (Sweet Spot Cycling)
Men’s Cat 1/2/3:
Sam Pearson (Outpost Richmond)
Max Rudolph (Dak's Bicycle Den & Car6on Racing)
(only two competitors listed in the results from this race)
This coming weekend the USCX heads to Baltimore. Charm City typically draws among the most competitors of any race of the year and local series action may reflect that reality. Stay tuned to the newsletter for a preview of this race and all the region’s other cyclocross action as well.