Hey, if you are anywhere in the Dallas Metro area, I’m doing a cross clinic tomorrow afternoon (Sunday) at 1 pm at the WNX course on Renner Road in Richardson. It’s a free skills clinic for women only. They’ve been having a great turnout of new women cross racers and thought it would be a benefit to the new riders to learn the some of the skills early. Here is a Facebook link to the specifics and directions. This is advertised as a women’s only event, but it really isn’t. I just talked to Jeff Lucido, event organizer, and he said that a lot of guys have shown some interest, so if you are a guy and interested, maybe give the girls a couple hours of early instruction and show up a little later, after 3-4pm and then everyone can participate. So, if you’re around, come on by for a few hours of cyclocross skills and training. Texas’s cross scene is raging, so come on out and see what it’s all about.
Steve, I hope the clinic went well.
Your readers might be interested in a little history of the sport. The first US CX National Championships took place on 10/20/63, 50 years ago today in Palo Park, IL, near Chicago. The sport has come a long way since then.
Some of us older riders know that lists of US National Champions used to appear in the back of the hard copy rulebook that everyone got. The first national championship listed was the 1975 race in Berkeley, CA. For many years the rulebook was edited by a USCF official from the Bay area, who zealously guarded that race’s status as the first championship. As a result few people know of the earlier championships run from 1963-1969 before being discontinued.
In 1989 a successful effort allowed those races to be recognized as legitimate national championships, their winners were listed in the rulebook for one year before the practice was discontinued.
Tyger Johnson from Rockford was the first winner. I called Tyger a couple of years ago and got him to send me some documentation about the race. Everything he sent me is here:
http://cvccbike.com/50th_Anniversary_US_CX/The%201963%20US%20Cyclocross%20Championships.html
It’s a lot of classic stuff from early days of the sport. To me the best part is the three page handwritten letter that Tyger sent to USCF staff in 1989. It is written from the heart, and everyone that races will be moved by it.
Those early riders deserve their 15 minutes of fame. Thanks.