6 days 'til Charm City 'Cross

Charm City 'Cross pre-reg is up to 164 nearly a week before race day. Even Dieter has pre-reg'd! That could be a first.

Wow...the pressure is on to pull off a good event.

As a promoter there's a lot of stress to deal with in the weeks leading up to the race. But at least our event is early and we can spend the rest of the season just racing!

We did some course scouting yesterday.

The laps were too long last year so we're shortening up the loop by taking out the paver stone out-and-back. That eliminates a road crossing too, freeing up course marshalls. We're also taking out the small set of stairs. They were too narrow and potentially slick if it's wet. A shorter loop will make for better spectating and more exciting racing. We should still have 4 dismounts per lap.

Here's a quick tour of the track (subject to change!):
1. Same road start, up the hill, round the bend to the right and down the finishing straight
2. Transition off the road & onto the grass
3. Off-camber left bend out to a wide sweeper of a U-turn
4. Up the gradual slope & into the freshly tilled sand. Tight turn in the sand forces a dismount
5. Traversing down the hill and out to a tighter U-turn
6. Off-camber dip and tight turn back up the slope between some trees
7. Across the grass and up a short climb by Columbus Pavilion heading to the Pit
8. Down the slope & across the road to the open field
9. Grinding power sections in the grass with a tricky set of barriers before heading up the hill
10. A fun off-camber turn on a grassy knoll before a fast descent to the bottom of the hill
11. Across the road & up the hill by the Pit before a dismount over a natural obstacle & U-turn around a tree.
12. Down the hill into a slightly off-camber right and back up the hill
13. Grassy false flat up to a left bend and a double set of barriers parallel to the start/finish.
14. A twisty downhill section dumping you back onto the road by the start line.

The grass hadn't been mowed and there were a lot of tree branches on the ground so the course was bumpy and not rolling all that well. Plus, I had my tires at 60psi. The grass should be cut at the end of this week and we'll be out there on Saturday cleaning things up. It'll be better on race day. Even so, I'll be running the tires on the low side to roll better on the grass.