The first time I raced CX in Devon, I loved it. Last year I was injured beforehand so it turned out to be my worst race of the season, but it was still such a good course it was hard to really be down on it. This year I wasn’t hurt and just came in to have a good time. Running the sand.1

Part of what makes Devon a fun course is the variety of terrain. Races at Capilano are grass grass grass (with a few roots on the 50m of singletrack), but at Voyageur Park you’ve got grass and dirt and pavement and a beach and sand, all in the leaves changing colour, so it’s nice. Different terrain also forces the racers into different choices. I was watching the Sport Men mostly from the sand pit while kibitzing with a few more experienced racers. There was a choice to make there over whether to try riding the sand or to pick up your bike and run. When I was watching most people were running it. I tried to ride it on my preride, but with the hairpin coming in, it just wasn’t worth it. If you could stay on, you’d have a better chance of also riding up the short uphill right after the pit, but more people I saw put their bikes down then rode up after smoother remounts than I’m capable of.

Choosing a line.2

Another choice was the downhill pictured above. There was – to my view – a choice between two lines from the top (which you reached via a steep runup): a) straight down the steep dirt with a sharp right-hander on the paved bike path at the bottom, or b) turning right on the dirt about a quarter way down to ride a narrower chute that came straight out onto the bike path. In pre-ride I took the straight down path because of a root in the middle of the descent and I felt it was more manageable. But once I was actually chasing people, I went for the right hand path even though we were starting to tear up the ground making it more treacherous to get into it. In the end I managed it all right (and also cut off one of my competitors going into it, which got me a gap), which was so much better than last year’s panic attack at the top of that hill3.

Later in the course there was another choice between a steeper and a slightly more roundabout climb. I took the less steep way, mostly to get a bit of recovery. But all in all the number of choices available are what make this course my favourite. Next year I’ll try and arrange my time so I do both races of the weekend instead of just one.

results

Podia

Open Women

  1. Christiane BILODEAU4
  2. Annie SCOTT
  3. Shantel KOENIG

Open Men

  1. Finn BORSTMAYER
  2. Ryan MACLEAN5
  3. Sean GERMAINE

Expert Men

  1. Aaron STAGG
  2. Ryan ARYCHUK
  3. Quinten MACKLEM

Sport Women

  1. Anna EGGERS6
  2. Emily YOUNG
  3. Hayley DEGAUST

Sport Men

  1. Colin WEIR CHABA
  2. Michael STOLARZ
  3. Eton KOHLENBERG

Novice Men

  1. Lucas DONAGHY7
  2. Aiden SANDMAIER
  3. Timothy UTTING

my results

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  1. Running the sand. - Photo by me. ↩︎

  2. Choosing a line. - Photo by me. ↩︎

  3. Afterwards, my clubmate and Expert Men ‘crosser Jason told me I should have taken the grass over for the entirely straight shot through to the right. I had been following the dirt path, but as Franky told me, “anything between the tape is fair game for riding over.” That would have been a smoother line and easier. But now I know for next year. ↩︎

  4. Second place in 2023. ↩︎

  5. First place in 2023. ↩︎

  6. I’m not sure Anna should have been racing Sport Women, since she won the two races last week, but whatever. ↩︎

  7. I met Lucas at the Fat Tire Tuesdays earlier this year. He chatted with Sidney McGill who encouraged him to try ‘cross. This was his first ABA race, though I’ve seen him at a few Wednesday Night Worlds. ↩︎