Round 4 of River City Bicycles Cross Crusade at the Flying M Ranch Dark. So terribly dark. From such pitchy shadows seeps a sound as would be the dry scrape of rusted razor across tender throats held tightly under baleful glare of an ever mute Diana. Fears blend with dream and soon enough comes the wicker-men half-glimpsed out of the corner of the eye, and burning jack-o-lanterns smiling mocking smiles of knowing what makes ones heartbeat skip and pulse... PORTLAND, Ore. So starts the spooky promotional flyer for this coming weekend's annual River City Bicycles Cross Crusade Halloween Festival and cyclocross race, October 29-30, at the Flying M Ranch in Yamhill County. More than 500 cyclocross racers many riding in costumes ranging from the ridiculous to the, well, more ridiculous are expected to scare up some fun for Round 4 of the Cross Crusade, the largest participatory cyclocross series in the world. Read the entire race flyer: www.crosscrusade.com/flyers/2005/october_29.html Festivities start on Saturday with an all-day (and all-night) Halloween Festival. Sunday is race day, with competition starting at 9 a.m. and continuing all day, with the Women's Category A race at 1:10 p.m., and the Men's Category A race at 2 p.m. The Flying M Ranch is located at 23029 NW Flying M Rd., in Yamhill, Ore. Saturday's Cross Crusade Halloween Festival includes such not-to-be-missed activities as pumpkin lobotomies, a bicycle petting zoo, a "poker" ride (starting around 3 p.m.), a clunker bike race, and a Halloween costume party in the Flying M's Sawtooth Lounge (9 p.m. to 2 a.m.), with costume contest, food-and-drink specials and live music. Participation in this year's River City Bicycles Cross Crusade has set records, most notably the Crusade's Cannondale Stumptown Cyclocross Classic at Alpenrose Dairy that drew an astounding turnout of 760 racers, making it the biggest cyclocross race ever held on U.S. soil. Entries for the two other Crusade races have topped 600. The long-running success of the River City Bicycles Cross Crusade this is its 14th year has firmly established the Northwest as the country's most popular region for cyclocross. Each round of the Cross Crusade offers 16 classes of competition, from elite men and women to masters and junior categories. Races vary from 30 to 60 minutes, depending on the class. The series, sanctioned by the Oregon Bicycle Racing Association, will pay out more than $20,000 in prize money plus merchandise. Cyclocross bike racing is a specialized form of cycling competition, one that requires riders to race on a closed-loop circuit, over grass, pavement, gravel, and mud, with barriers and steep run-ups mixed in for additional challenges. Cyclocross requires special techniques and fitness dismounting the bike at speed, running, carrying the bike over barriers, shouldering it up hills, and maintaining speed through turns and over uneven, muddy terrain. Plus, the pace is frenetic, with little time to rest and less opportunity for "slipstreaming," as in road races. The remaining River City Cross Crusade schedule is as follows: Race 4 - October 30, Halloween Cross Festival, Flying M Ranch; Race 5 - November 13, Barton Park; Race 6 - November 20, District Cyclocross Championships, Estacada Timber Park. The Cross Crusade is organized and promoted by Club Vivo, 4409 SW Dosch Road, Portland, OR 97201, 503-806-6943. For complete information on the River City Cross Crusade, visit www.crosscrusade.com. Racers can register in advance at www.athleteslounge.com. Learn more about the Cross Crusade and all types of bicycle racing in Oregon at www.obra.org, site of the Oregon Bicycle Racing Association. |
