‘Cross is coming is a phrase that gets repeated a lot by those that are passionate about cyclo-cross. As of Saturday 9/24/2022 ‘Cross is here for the Kansas City/Lawrence area.
The opening race is Joules Cross, a beloved event that’s been on the calendar for a number of years. But rather than two consecutive days of CX, the Sunday event morphs into a mountain bike race at nearby Perry Lake. Changes.
Local cycling events are still suffering the effects of a pandemic/post-pandemic world and are adapting to some new normal.
The 2019 Season, the last of the ‘Before Times’, featured 15 race days. For 2022 we have six currently scheduled. Behind the scenes there are promoters hoping to add some last minute events, but we are sympathetic to the difficulties.
As we’ve noted in other articles, even prior to the pandemic, USAC racing in most disciplines was either flat or losing participants. Gravel events on the other hand were (and are) on an upswing.
We’ve been involved in several discussions speculating on whether a ‘bleed over’ from gravel racing will boost local cyclo-cross. Adam Myerson recently opined on Velonews that he’s seeing evidence of it happening on the East Coast. And yes, there is some evidence of an effect here. The KCOI/BLVD team sponsored a series of August and September Women’s clinics and mid-week training sessions. Both brought out newbies…on gravel bikes. We can be optimistic that the sport that brings us spiral shaped features may well be spinning back up, rather than down.
Here’s the link to the KCA page with this season’s events and results.