Englewood Open CX Preview

North American UCI cyclocross season kicks off in Fall River, Wisconsin

Sep 07, 2024

We have beautiful cyclocross weather this weekend in Fall River, Wisconsin, for the opening weekend of the North American UCI cyclocross calendar. With a high of 64 Fahrenheit and no rain in the forecast, it’s shaping up to be a beautiful weekend for racing bikes.

The Course

The Englewood Open venue is on cattle fields owned by the race promoter. The cows were kind enough to pack up and move to a different field for the event. In the summer, the same venue hosts a UCI MTB cross-country event.

Early feedback from riders is the course if fun to ride and should set up for some good racing. The whole front side of the track seems like a false flat demanding a good amount of power. The second half has more technical elements. There are some quick descents and a nice power climb right after the farthest point from the finish line on the course.

The most sessioned features in practice were the two uphill log obstacles. They are ridable in theory. We will see what happens in the race. There is also a set of planks early in the lap and the chance of a bottleneck at the entrance of pit 1. Wooded paths nicely offset the grass sections.

Here is a POV lap of the course captured by Miles Mattern (CXD Trek Bikes) that gives you a better idea of what I tried to explain in the paragraphs above.

The Competition

After things looked a little bleak a week or so out, registration picked up in the final days, and we have some decent-looking elite fields. Here’s how things stack up according to the Crossresults Race Predictor:

Elite Women

Elite Men

One name not on the start list but worth mentioning after our blind speculation in the rider survey posts a few days ago is Eric Brunner. It looks like we will be seeing our National Champ between the tape this year, after all.

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I’m off to the venue but will return with results and race reports later this weekend.