What would draw dozens of bicyclists of all ages to a Falmouth farm on a recent chilly Sunday? It’s a type of bike racing called cyclocross. It’s a steeplechase race, sending bikers up hills and through mud puddles, with plenty of loud music and spectators cheering.
At Coonamessett Farm in Hatchville, it was barely above freezing, but cyclists from around New England had gathered for the fifteenth running of the cyclocross race called the Ecocross. A tower of speakers pumped out music as the first race of the day—the men’s open race—set off.
The all-day event took over the entire farm for most of the weekend, but the chickens didn’t seem to mind, and farm owner Ron Smalowitz was perfectly happy about it.
“Who cannot be thrilled by seeing all these people in spandex flying by you?” Smolowitz said. “Just like watching the Kentucky Derby, but without the fancy hats. They’re going over mud and dirt and hills and paddocks, and they crash on occasion, so it’s just as exciting as Nascar.”
“You gotta have a couple of screws loose probably to want to do this,” said Paul Nixon, He used to race cyclocross, but today he was here as the announcer. “Bike racing itself is not for everybody. It’s painful and difficult and takes a huge time for training. And then you get into the subdiscipline of cyclocross, and you’re talking about an even smaller group of people that are generally even more dedicated.”
Mimi Kupar teaches French at Barnstable High School. She’s 58 years old, and she says she’s a relative newcomer to cyclocross. “This is only my third year actually, and I’m hooked,” Kupar said. “I just love it. I do about fifteen or sixteen races locally and around New England, so it’s great. And we race till mid-December, so we might have to tackle some snow or ice.”
The races were divided into seven different categories and started in waves—each 30 to 40 minutes long. At the start line for the women’s race, about 14 riders lined up.
Cyclocross bikes are especially light so that riders can pick them up and carry them over mud and up hills.
Cyclocross started out as an off-season sport for competitive bike racers, and it was all about having fun. The Ecocross race didn’t figure very importantly in the sport’s competitive standings, but it did provide a lot of fun. Maybe that’s why so many kids were there—not just watching, but racing.
Tyler Abrams was racing that day. He identified himself as eight years old, “going on nine this month,” and he said it was his seventh race.
The New England Grand Prix of cyclocross is coming up December 1st in Rhode Island, and riders from all over North America will be there to compete.
