Touted as the largest one-day amateur cyclocross race in the world, Oregon Bicycle Racing Association reported 1,497 racers at series opener last sunday. Held at Alpenrose Dairy in bike-frenzied Portland, Oregon, racers ranged from ages 11 to 68 (excluding a few dozen rippers in the Kiddie Cross). The quintessential course had competitors zipping over grass, asphalt, single track and gravel; blasting up a full flight of stairs; and finishing in the historic velodrome, build in 1962. The classic PNW weather, was cloudy with just enough drizzle to make the course interesting, as in muddy.
Mountain View Cycles Race Team, Hood River, OR, photo by David Mackintosh