Blog

For the second year in row the US Cyclocross Nationals have been held in Verona, and KS Energy/ Team Wisconsin took part and made a solid statement. Nationals kicked off on Wednesday the 9th with spring like temperatures making for a muddy and slick course, and for some exciting days of racing. This years course was all about staying upright as it was all covered with a layers of ice and mud, making some corners very slippery to ride.

In the team’s first race at Nationals, Alex Martin showed off the team colors as he rolled in for an 11th place finish in the men’s single speed race. That same day in the non-championships 40-99 category, Tyson Hausdoerffer showed his strength as he crossed the line in a second place finish.

On Thursday, Dave Eckel, riding his trusted Kona, placed 8th in the master’s 50-54 category, earning him a front row start at next year’s nationals in Boulder, Co. Tedd Jacobson got 15th in that same race in only his second race for Team Wisconsin.
On Friday, it was the junior’s turn to ride the course, freshly saturated with a night’s rainfall. Harrison Winkel rolled in for 32nd after riding in his first ever mud-fest race, and losing track of how many times he fell. Also on Friday, more masters raced with Tom Winkel getting 44th in the master’s 45-49 in his second national championships.

As the weekend rolled around, spring was still in the air as temperatures rose above 50 degrees on Saturday. Tyson seemed to like racing in the mud so much, he couldn’t get enough, so he came back on Saturday to race the master’s 40-44 getting 24th. Now what about Monster Maloney you may ask? On Sunday Joe and Alex switched out their team kit for UW Madison’s, and raced in the division 1 collegiate race.

That same day Mother Nature decided to bring winter back with temperatures hovering just below 20, which made the course hard, icy, and difficult to maneuver. Joe hung on to get 6th place finish and Alex, after a couple of crashes and mechanicals, got 18th. Team Wisconsin also provided much needed support in the elite women’s race with a few of our guys proudly shivering as they cheered Katie Compton to the win.

After five months of intense cross racing and many hand-ups taken, the Wisconsin cyclocross season has come to an end for most of us. But for those two brave souls who can’t accept the fact that the season is over in Wisconsin, they decided to venture south to the UCI Master’s World Championships in Louisville, Kentucky. Good luck to Eck and Tyson as they represent KS Energy/ Team Wisconsin at worlds, and face off against the fastest masters in the world.

Lastly, we would like to say thanks to all of our great sponsors especially KS Energy, Emery’s, Trek, and Enzos for making this year’s cyclocross season a great, and a warm one. Next year the red train will be back, ready to dominate and endure more pain as we steam toward our next cyclocross endeavor.