Knoxify

Photo of this entry’s author cour­tesy knoxvil­le­cy­cling user “Trentkc”

Col­lege foot­ball sea­son is over. You’re broke from Christ­mas shop­ping. And there’s noth­ing to do in Knoxville dur­ing the winter.

Or is there?

This past Sat­ur­day marked the first race of the 2008 Knox­iecross cyclocross series, with races held at three dif­fer­ent parks in the Knoxville area (results are avail­able).

High­land Adven­tures Guide Ser­vice has man­aged the series in its incep­tion sev­eral years ago.

Cyclocross, which I’ve writ­ten about on my per­sonal Web site, can be described as:

…a style of rac­ing using [what amount to] mod­i­fied road bikes off-road usu­ally in the fall to win­ter months. Races last from 30 min­utes to one hour, and often require rid­ers to dis­mount their bikes to nego­ti­ate hur­dles and other obsta­cles around the course.

Cyclocross rac­ing is very intense. Most rac­ers are anaer­o­bic dur­ing the entire race.

The races are usu­ally held in parks or other closed-circuit venues with plenty of room for spectators.

And because cyclocross sea­son lasts from Octo­ber to Feb­ru­ary, the weather can be unpre­dictable. The chance for rain or snow makes for chal­leng­ing courses.

The Knox­iecross series is only one of sev­eral cyclocross series in East Ten­nessee. Prob­a­bly one of the most-attended is the Mud, Sweat and Gears series held at venues two hours east in John­son City and Bristol.

North Car­olina also as an excel­lent series that fea­tures some estab­lished competition.

Sat­ur­day was my first time rac­ing the Knox­iecross series, which marked its start at Morn­ing­side Park near down­town. About 60 rac­ers par­tic­i­pated in the race.

The next race in the series will be held at Vic­tor Ashe Park on Jan­u­ary 27. The final two races will be at Melton Hill Park in Hardin Valley.

If you’re look­ing to expe­ri­ence some­thing new in Knoxville this win­ter, I encour­age you to come watch a cyclocross race. And don’t for­get your cow­bell!