Nebraska Cycling News

Steve Tilford (HRRC) at the KLM Marketing UCI Cyclocross race in 2006. Photo John Peterson

The Jingle Cross Rock race in Iowa City has been around a few years and has turned out to be a great success. Last year, 500 participants raised $15,000 for The Iowa City Children's Hospital. In attendance were road racing pros Jason McCartney (Discovery Channel) and Chris Horner (Predictor-Lotto), who are expected to return this year. Of course, the obvious theme for this race is Christmas. And to bring out the Christmas theme there are some special features on the course, including “Mount Krumpit” and the “Grinch's Lair.”

Kansas City will host Cyclocross Nationals for the second time since 2000. This is awesome! The course is rated to be one of the toughest cyclocross courses around. It will be held in Wyandotte County Park in Kansas City, Kan., which is where the KLM Marketing UCI event has been held the last two years. This has enabled Race Director Bill Marshall to make this a great race course. Last year's race was bitterly cold – much like the last time Nationals were in Kansas City (blizzard-like conditions). So be prepared for some rough weather. 

But even before these big events, there are a lot of great races locally and regionally. The Nebraska Cyclocross Series is a great series. The first two races are held at Swanson Park in Bellevue and the last two in Pioneers Park in Lincoln. Swanson Park is the series opener on the weekend of Oct. 20-21. Most, if not all mountain bikers should be familiar with this park since the Psycowpath MTB Series held two of its races there. It's a fast course with a lot sections to go flat out, a barrier section, and a section of cross switchbacks.

Daniel Kelley cheering as Kevin Burke gets to the top of Hooligan Hill at the 2006 Nebraska Cyclocross Series in Lincoln Nebraska.

When registering for a cyclocross race, one thing you should know is your racing age. Racing age for cyclocross is what your racing age will be on Jan. 1. So, if your 2007 license says that your racing age is 17, you are 18 for cyclocross. (Rule 1A16.)

Let’s move on to category. For cyclocross, Category 4 is the beginner category. So if you kicked everyone’s butt last season, you should be upgrading.  Doing this is as easy as logging onto the USAC website, or by contacting your upgrade coordinator. In Nebraska, that would be Kevin Burke. The other thing to realize when if you are standing in line at registration is that there are no more half-price licenses.  However, if you buy your license in December, it will be a 2008 (yellow colored) license. Then that license will have your correct racing age on it. 

Lincoln, NE -- Cyclo-cross season is upon us and the Nebraska Cyclo-cross Series returns with four races over two weekends in both Omaha and Lincoln.