AusCycling Cyclocross National Series Rounds 1 & 2: The Course
The opening two rounds of the 2021 AusCycling Cyclocross National Series is taking place in Adelaide this weekend, with racing due to take place at a course in the parklands surrounding the Adelaide Superdrome in Gepps Cross.
Here’s the map of the course that Port Adelaide Cycling Club have in store:
In case the image above doesn’t make it clear, the race start on day 1 will be in the top right-hand corner (at the green flag), with riders travelling around the course anti-clockwise, with the course direction (excepting the staircase) to be reversed for Round 2 on Sunday. Here’s what the Sunday course will look like:
For the Saturday course, this will mean a sprint on tarmac through the Superdrome carpark to start the race, with riders then whistling up a small grassy hill past the team tents before negotiating some tight turns and a long straight into the barriers. After remounting, riders will continue along a straight next to the fenceline before taking a right-hand turn into Foresters’ Forest, riding past the pits and turning right again onto a hard-packed dirt path through the parklands.
Riders should be able to gain some speed on the dirt path before a left-hand turn on grass, then a quick gravel section and a left-hand turn onto a long straight on top of a levee bank, again on hard-packed dirt.
Riders will drop off the bank and face some turns through the grass before coming to the Stairway to Heaven, a staircase installed just this week by the hardworking folks at Port Adelaide CC.
(You can check out a video of the staircase here, but we grabbed this screencap on the left to give you an idea of what it looks like).
After turning right at the top of the staircase, riders will quickly negotiate a couple of off-camber turns across the levee bank before riding back along the top for around 250m.
At this point the course turns left for what is marked as a long sand section through Foresters' Forest - probably 300-400m in total. Depending on the depth and consistency of the sand in the forest, this could be a hard slog with significant running sections or a relatively painless pedal where maintaining speed will be the biggest concern.
After turning right off the sand section, racers will be able to get back up to speed along a long straight section of grass. After a gentle right-hand bend through a creek bed and another grassy straight of roughly 50m, riders will take on a double left-hand bend back onto a hard-packed gravel track which should be wide enough to make passes provided you can lay down the power.
Passing here is a good idea, as the next section is a series of corners weaving through a series of trees, meaning the course is unlikely to be much wider than the 3 metre minimum, and overhanging branches are likely to be plentiful.
After the forest section, riders will face one final dip through the creek bed, which precedes a left-hand turn onto a long, slightly downhill straight back to the start/finish line.
It all sounds well and good in theory, but what will the course actually look like?
Thanks to YouTube user @nielkmit, we have some idea. This on-bike video was taken from the most recent race previously held at the venue - the first round of the 2020 Crossfire Cup.
There have been a couple of major changes to the course that was used in 2020, but there are a few notes that could be useful knowledge for those competing this weekend. We asked the folks at Port Adelaide CC about any major changes from the video above, and their response indicated that the main difference would be that the long grass would be cut much shorter for race day.
The start straight in the video above is the straight that will hold the barriers in this weekend’s racing. After the race in the video begins, the first minute or so matches the planned route for the Cyclocross National Series.
The first deviation is at roughly 1:19 in the video, when the Crossfire Cup course continues following the path to the right while the National Series course deviates off to the left, before re-joining at about 1:28.
The section along the levee bank from 1:45-2:20 seems to be the same for both courses, though the National Series course will potentially drop off the levee bank earlier in order to incorporate a few grassy corners and the Stairway to Heaven.
The next similarity seems to be from 3:16-3:45, when riders ride back along the top of the levee bank in the opposite direction and head back into Foresters Forest. After this the National Series course turns right and heads along a gravel path before tackling the sand section from south to north, whereas the Crossfire Cup course continues on straight before making a right turn and tackling the sand from north to south.
The next area where the two courses seem to be the same is from 5:30-6:10, where both courses ride along a grassy path that features a dogleg turn to the right through a creek bed before heading for a stand of trees.
After the National Series course twists and turns around a couple of stands of trees, both courses come together for a cambered left-hand turn and a long straight from 6:25-6:54. This is where the Crossfire Cup course continues straight on, while the National Series course appears to deviate through a gate to the right.
The last similarity in the two courses are from 7:15-7:52, as riders negotiate a series of grassy corners close to the Superdrome building. Of course, on race day for the National Series these corners will actually be the first ones to confront the riders.
What are your thoughts on the prospective course for the Adelaide rounds of the 2021 AusCycling Cyclocross National Series? Any features that you’re excited for?