Wednesday, December 07, 2016

Racing Update: CXLA and More


After a strong first half of the season in both Cross and Collegiate Mountain, Team Clif Bar hopes to continue performing and out performing those results for the second half of the season. Since the last race update the bulk of the cross season is now behind us and during that the time team has been busy competing all over the United States



Picking up from the Early Season race update was Pan American Championships in Cincinnati. In the U23 Field Garrett Gerchar came in 14th and Anders Nystrom came in 17th. The course was the same as it has been for the past few years but this year unlike last it was a bit dryer and warmer. Also the race was held on Saturday instead of Sunday giving the racers fresh legs as Kings CX was not the night before.

Just one day after Pan Ams was Kings CX. The race started out in the dry but a rain storm quickly moved in forcing the entire field to do a pit change on the same lap. With these crazy conditions Anders came in 35th and Garrett 46th competing in the Elite Men’s field with 60 starters.

The only rider to compete in Louisville Kentucky was Anders. He raced for Marian in the Collegiate men race and ended up second after having a few mechanicals along the way. Anders also raced the elite men and ended up 32nd.  




CXLA came just a few weeks after Derby City. This was a big one for the U23 men as it was a double weekend with valuable UCI points up for grabs each day. CXLA is important event  for us U23s because both days had UCI U23 specific fields. On day one the conditions were warm and dry in classics southern California fashion. Garrett lead the team with a 5th place finish followed by Anders in 10th. Liam came in 12th after having a few mechanicals on the first lap. Finally, Cormac came in 13th. On day two of CXLA the weather took an unexpended turn and the first half of the race was downpour after the rain stopped the course became slick and wet. Garrett ended up coming in 7th, Anders in 8th, Liam in 10th and Cormac in 12th.



The next and final stop for Clif Devo Cross Team is Hertford Connecticut. Liam and Anders will be racing on Wednesday morning in the D1 Collegiate championships, racing for Colorado Mesa University and Marian University respectively. Also on Wednesday Garrett will be racing in the D2 colligate championships for University of Colorado Boulder. On Sunday Juniors Nic Jenkins and Alex Campbell will be racing in the Junior men’s field. While Liam, Cormac, Anders and Garrett will be racing in the U23 men’s race. Stay tuned for more updates.



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