Face Plants and Frito Pies at the Crash Nationals Night Race
Photos by Gideon Tsang, Kevin Sparrow, Chris Lee and John Watson
Words by John Watson

When the 2015 Cyclocross National Championships (R.I.P.) were announced here in Austin, our local club, Beat the Clock Cycling and I decided to throw a bandit race out in the woods on the far East side of town, away from all the sanctioned races on Thursday night. We wanted it to be technical and tough, and best of all, at night.

For the weeks leading up to the event, it had been sunny and warm, with a few rain showers here and there, so you can imagine our dismay when the temperatures dropped to freezing and the rain continued to dump for days on end. The forecast said it would be 30º that night, but it would at least be dry. Then it started sleeting.

Since we had no idea how big the event would be, we decided to meet at the Radavist HQ, as an impromptu open house. From there, we split the group into spectators and racers, pedaling through the gridlock traffic and over to some trails, where the course had been groomed, marked and taped.

50 people signed up to race and around 50 people spectated in the freezing weather. Four laps totaled around an hour of racing. At the end, Scott from Rock Lobster won for the men’s and Amanda from Caletti for the women’s.

The afterparty went down at Yellow Jacket, where the racer’s entry fee of $5 went to a bar tab that lasted until shortly after midnight. Towards the end of the evening, Amanda and Scott threw a mad game of rock, paper, scissors to decide the winner of the All-City Macho Disc…

At the end of it all, people were stoked to get out and race on a trail system unknown to many Austinites, only one person got injured and we estimate around ten flat tires for the evening.

Many thanks to those who showed up and thanks to Beat the Clock Cycling for all their help!

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