KMS Cycling tackles the midwestern heat at CX races
The KMS Cycling Team just returned from a trip to the midwest where athletes competed on essentially the same courses on which World Cup Cyclocross races were held during the same span of days!
Starting off at “Jingle Cross” in Iowa City, the cyclists had to conquer Mount Crumpet, steep fly-overs, long sand sections, and many technical grassy and off-camber turns as they made their way around each lap of the course.
On day 1, Aliza Tobias led off taking the third spot on the podium in the Women’s Cat 4 Race, while Leo Kirkpatrick-Baird took the top spot in the Men’s Junior 16-18 Race. Moving on to day 2, Aliza moved up to the second spot on the Women’s 4 Podium, while Leo swept the weekend in the Men's Junior field, again taking the top spot on the podium. The weekend also provided some great experience for Turner Ramsay and Johannes Stromski, both of whom raced among the top pros in the world in the UCI races Friday and Saturday leading up to the World Cup Races on Sunday.
As the course in Iowa City was being rolled up, the team spent the week training in the Iowa City area, taking advantage of the quiet dirt roads and topographic features in the yard where they were lodging to work on skills and conditioning for the Wisconsin Races.
New in 2017, World Cup Races were held on the grounds of the Trek Factory in Waterloo, Wisconsin, and the team headed there to again compete in the UCI races leading up to the World Cups. The course had a nice mix of steep run-ups, woods sections, off-camber turns, and power sections.
Turner Ramsay and Johannes Stromski, again picked up some great experience racing in the elite fields among some of the top riders from around the world who traveled to Waterloo for the World Cup events.
KMS Cyclist Tyler Clark, just back from XC Mountain Bike Junior World Championships representing Team Canada, rejoined the team for his first Cyclocross Race of the season on Saturday. He made the switch from MTB to CX look easy, finishing his first race of the season in sixth place in the Men’s Pro-Cat 1-2 field. Leo followed up with a nice eighth place finish in the Men’s Junior field, and Johannes tested the Single-Speed waters with a nice mid-pack finish.
Moving on to Sunday, everyone improved upon their results of the previous day. Leo finished fourth among the Men’s Junior field, Aliza took fifth in the Women’s C4 race, Turner cracked the top 20 in her Pro-1-2 field, and Tyler took second in the Men’s Pro-1-2 field!
The trip was awesome and a great opportunity to mix it up with some of the best in the world.
Getting home Tuesday night, the team jumped in the bus for a prep-school MTB Race Wednesday afternoon. They were joined by a number of snow-sport athletes who jumped into their first MTB Races with enthusiasm and reported that they were surprised at how much fun it was! Notable results were Turner taking first in the Women’s A field, and Mazie Hayden taking second in the Women’s B field with Aliza Tobias close behind.
The squad heads for Thompson Connecticut this weekend for more UCI racing, and the first UCI Junior Men’s race of the season. Best of luck to everyone!
