Moo-ving and Grooving Our Way Up the Ranks in the Land of Cows

Over the weekend Waterloo, Wisconsin hosted three days of racing including Friday’s C2 and the opening round of the 2023/2024 World Cup series on Sunday. The team arrived on Thursday for pre-ride with the rain starting to drizzle making some muddy sections begin to develop. The course was very similar to years past with lots of swooping corners, log stairs, rock walls, flyovers, and a pass through the ‘secret bar’. On Friday the rain came dumping down before Kaya and Jules raced the C2. Through our team tent setup there was a river flowing and the course was getting properly muddy and slick. It was epic cyclocross conditions with a lot of the previously ridable sections turning into runs. The racers were coming across the line completely covered in mud, all the kits were now brown. Both Kaya and Jules had good battles and fought hard in the mud for 9th and 14th place finishes! Saturday the crew took a day to reset and went for a group ride on the road to avoid “riding” (would have been mostly running) another lap on the course which had become even muddier and stickier. Saturday evening I watched part of the Legends race consisting of costumes and many beer hand ups. There were so many sections on course that were unrideable most racers abandoned the race and gathered in the secret bar instead. They cheered and offered help to the few remaining racers fighting their way up the hill in mud so sticky it was pulling off their shoes. I sent some photos to inform the team what we were in for the next day but luckily conditions changed! On Sunday morning we got our first look at three World Cup-only sections in pre-ride. The course had been widened in many sections to make it more rideable after the previous day's carnage. The sun also came out, quickly drying sections of the course and causing a lot of questions around tire choice. Kaya and I ended up using some mud tires, although by the time the men’s race rolled around the course had dried even more and Jules settled on riding Grifo’s. Jules’ put up a great battle in a very strong field. During the race Jules was moving quick but unfortunately on the rock wall (that was growing race-to-race with dirt at the entrance getting kicked away) he twisted his ankle pretty hard. The adrenaline kicked in fast and it didn’t slow him down but it needed some ice to calm the swelling after! Jules worked hard, earned valuable UCI and World Cup points, and had an amazing start to the World Cup season finishing his race in 25th overall and 6th out of the U23s! After confusion and a false start due to malfunctioning lights the elite women got going. Kaya’s start was the star of the day with her passing most of the field in corner three, shooting up the right side and getting on the first couple wheels! My race started strong with a solid first lap and positioning although I slowly faded in laps two and three and ended up in 12th position. The course was strange conditions with a weird mix of muddy and dry, and lines forming very differently to how we had pre ridden. The spectators at Waterloo are always amazing and it was fun to hear some hecklers giving us the gears while trying to ride the slippery climbs! Kaya ended her first ever elite World Cup race with an awesome 20th position overall and 8th out of the U23s! The spectators at Waterloo are always amazing, I love hearing the hecklers giving us the gears while trying to ride the slippery climbs! The team has now split again with Chris and Charlie heading to support racers next weekend in Cincinnati and Jules, Kaya, and I taking a weekend at home. I am happy to be back in Canada for the first time since the beginning of the season, and am ready for a little recovery. I might stop by a race in Quebec before the team reunites for the final USCX races of the year in Falmouth at Really Rad Festival! (Fun fact- Jules, Kaya, and I all matched our finish positions to our race numbers Sunday! 25th, 20th, and 12th!)