In The Crosshairs

Steevo clearing the Charm City natural barrier.

The seventh running of the Charm City Cross happens this weekend in Baltimore’s Druid Hill Park. What started as a one day event with around 300 total riders has quickly grown into one of the premier East Coast events with two days of UCI and non-UCI racing and over 1000 cyclocrossers pinning on numbers. We stopped by race sponsor, Twenty20 Cycling Co., last night to record a course preview with Twenty20 co-owner and C3 bossman, Kris Auer, and C3 stalwart Bad Andy Wulfkuhle.

The preview covers the Saturday race, which according to Bad Andy, will be set up “as close to last year as we can manage, in the dark, at 4 a.m. on race day.” Sunday’s race will be the traditional Charm City course in reverse. Crazy! I know. Keep in mind it is not 100 percent backwards. You will not climb down the steps and the finishing straight will remain the same as last year, absent the asphalt climb.

So you can follow along while watching, here is a rough map of Saturday’s course (click on map for large view).

Saturday's Charm City Course

And here is the video commentary with Kris and Bad Andy.

 

This is what you are looking at for Sunday’s race (click on map for large view).

Sunday's Charm City Course

To get an idea of the set up for Sunday, here is last year’s course commentary with Fulcrum Coaching‘s Dan Tille and JBV Coaching‘s Chris Mayhew. Keep in mind THE COURSE WILL BE REVERSED.

 

Thanks for watching and we will see you at the races.

P.S.-if you see me this weekend and want the super sweet In The Crosshairs SwiftWick socks, recently donned by Jeremy Powers, don’t be shy. Ask. I have PLENTY. They will also be available at the Team Money ‘n’ Stuff tent.

[ed. note.: Frequent masters category podium finisher Jay Morali was kind enough to pen the following column for 'In The Crosshairs.' Think you could do the same? Drop me a note at cxhairs@gmail.com.]

“Cyclocross is a drug! Cyclocross is addictive. It consumes you. It’s a good thing that the season is only a few months long otherwise I might not get anything accomplished around the house or at work.”

-Quote from a local cross racer

Jay Morali just might be ... a little bit crazy. Photo by Demoncats Photography.

Am I crazy? Has racing cyclocross in all this mud messed up my brain? I am only in my second season of racing cross and I have already upgraded most of my equipment. I am riding the new all-carbon Blue Norcross frame with some sweet carbon Easton EC90 Aero tubular wheels. My cyclocross bike is more expensive and lighter than my road bike! Does that make any sense? Cross is a short season and we live in an area where you never really have to get off your road bike during the winter months. Yet, I still can’t get over the fact that I am only running Shimano Ultegra shifters on the cross bike. I wonder if I can convince the wife to let me upgrade to DA?

Am I crazy? My daily schedule is based on the date and time registration opens for local MABRA and MAC races. My desk calendar has the season laid out and my iPhone provides the morning reminder. For an upcoming race, I actually cancelled an important business meeting just so I could be in front of my computer, ready to pull the trigger, as soon as the registration window opened. And tell me I am not the only person who has screamed at their monitor because a slow computer is costing you valuable starting positions! Continue reading »