MadCross presents Jonathan Page's Planet Bike Cup

It was the best of times . . . it was the worst of times. Oh wait, that sounds a little too cliche.

Okay, first off I would like to say that Jonathan Page's Planet Bike Cup kicked *ss!! I can't quite remember the first time that the words "UCI, Wisconsin, and Cyclocross" first rolled off my tongue but I'm not sure I really thought it would happen. Yet somehow those words kept coming out of my mouth and others were saying those words too and then it was all happening with an application filled out last December and our race showed up on the UCI calendar come spring and it was a go.

I won't deny that there were some rough moments, some crises of faith and lots of ideas that had to be discarded. However, in the end the event was a huge success. Much more than I even imagined would be possible in year one. If you had told me last December that Jonathan Page, Todd Wells, Tim Johnson, and Troy Wells would all be at the race I would have laughed. However, not only did they come but so did a whole bunch of other really fast people from all over.

Sometimes it is hard to really savor the event when you're dealing with big and little problems that have a way of occuring. However, on Sunday when we closed down registration and I took time to watch the end of the women's race and most of the men's race it was cool to see what we created. There were all the Wisco racers joined by people from around the region coming out to watch some of the best racers in the World and everyone was having such a fun time. It's totally worth it when you see that. It's also totally worth it to get the word out about our cross scene here. It's not the biggest nor the wildest but we do have competitive racers and our own brand of cyclocross craziness.

I really think that one of my original motivations to have a UCI race here was so that our top riders could compete for points at home without picking up and going to the east coast (like Tristan did a couple of years ago). It seemed so unfair and certainly wasn't going to motivate a lot of others here to try and reach that level. So it was cool to see our top riders mixing it up and bringing home some points.

Anyway, lots to do for next year but I won't post about all the problems or things that didn't happen right now as this is my happy post! I'm putting problems, issues, crises and such behind me to think about how cool it all ended up being. I would also like to say how super nice all the pros who came were. I didn't get a chance to chat very long with everyone but those I did were super friendly. It's been cool through this whole process to get to know Jonathan Page who is sooooo nice and friendly. I also had the opportunity to chat with Tim Johnson on Saturday since he wasn't racing. Once again super, super, super nice! He told me on Sunday when he picked up his prize money that he wished he could have put on more of a show. (Food poisoning contracted in Vegas doesn't lend itself to stellar racing). He seemed genuine in saying he would be back next year and said he was going to bring Jeremy Powers.

I think it was quite the kick off to the season!

Thanks to all the many people who worked so hard to make this happen. It really does take a Village!!! Thanks to our sponsors without them it would have been impossible. And lastly thanks to everyone who came out.