Jingle Cross Day 1: Meisen’s Iowa City Trip is All-Business, Out-Runs Americans

The 2016 Jingle Cross weekend offers three levels of UCI racing for Elite cyclocross racers, with Friday night's C2 event, the World Cup on Saturday (watch live here) and a C1 on Sunday. The question was, who would race on Friday, and risk using up energy, or crashing, before Saturday's World Cup?

Points, Practice and Promotion

Racers making the trip to Iowa City varied in their approach to the three days of racing. Some coveted a chance to bag C2 points, get in an "opener" for the World Cup, or just reward the promoter and fans for hosting three straight days of racing. Newly retired Ryan Trebon is a fan of this approach:

However, a quick glance at the start list or results reveals that most of America's top racers, including Jeremy Powers, Stephen Hyde, and Jamey Driscoll, opted to stay clean, dry and rested heading into the second U.S. World Cup. In the men's race, Curtis White (Cannondale p/b CyclocrossWorld), teammates Danny Summerhill and Travis Livermon (Maxxis Shimano) and the ageless Jonathan Page (Fuji) all took to the start despite the heavy conditions.

The decision to rest or "open" the legs depended on whose legs were in question, and also perhaps a rider's desire to reacquaint himself with mud. Summerhill explained his rationale, "I don’t even think that my legs were fresh to begin with so I figured I may as well try open them up tonight and hold on for dear life tomorrow basically and see what Sunday brings. It could have gone two ways, use today as a rest day but...coming from [Tour of] Alberta, I’m on this fine line of just being real tired. I’m already fairly tired so once this weekend is over, I think next week is just going to be sleeping the whole time, trying to recover that way. I didn’t want to be here and be in my room wishing ‘hey why aren’t I racing tonight.’ So I’m glad that Travis and I obviously raced and just got a feel for mud again. I haven’t raced mud in a long time."

"I didn’t want to be here and be in my room wishing ‘hey why aren’t I racing tonight.’ So I’m glad that Travis and I obviously raced and just got a feel for mud again. I haven’t raced mud in a long time" -Summerhill on his decision to race Friday's UCI C2 event.

At 40 years old, some might think Page would value recovery time after racing CrossVegas and before Saturday's World Cup, but the upside of competing on Friday was a good chance of landing in the UCI points, as he did in 2015.

Some could argue the same about White, that being just 21 years old, he shouldn't be burned out with a ton of volume. White and his team had an opposite view. "I’m young, I’m developing as a rider and I want to race as much as possible," White explained. He also hinted at sharing former teammate Trebon's philosophy. "It was a fantastic race. Why not? The atmosphere under the lights...you don’t get to do that very often."

"I’m young, I’m developing as a rider and I want to race as much as possible." -White

Of course, a bit of prize money never hurt for motivation for any racer not expecting to contest for overall World Cup placings, but most European racers stayed indoors on Friday night, with just ninth-placed Antonin Marcecaille from France being the other European race to take the start. All but three of the 41-rider field were from North America.

Fighting for a Sloppy Second

All four Americans' decision and risk taking paid off, as all landed in the top five, but on Friday night, they were upstaged by a similarly-risk-taking German in Marcel Meisen (Steylaerts-Verona). Meisen is no stranger to top-level cyclocross, racing World Cups, winning the German National Championship, finishing ninth overall in the Superprestige series in 2013 and (perhaps his least-known claim to fame) was the most consistent racer of the entire men's field in Tabor at the 2015 Cyclocross World Championships.

Meisen, unlike the Americans giving chase, did not race CrossVegas, and made the trip from Germany just for the Jingle Cross event. The German wanted to get his money's worth, and it showed early on in the race. The German pressed forward up Mt. Krumpit and through the heavy, muddy course, putting 30 seconds into most of his competitors with only White, Summerhill and 2016 Junior National Champion Gage Hecht keeping him within sight. Just one lap down, Page and Livermon were a whopping 34 seconds in arrears.

On lap two, Meisen, warmed up from his first lap effort, put on an impressive display to distance the rest, and in the process set the fastest lap of the day and showed everyone his Iowa City trip was serious business. It quickly became a race for second.

Behind, White and Summerhill were locked into a battle for the silver medal, while Hecht would slowly fade. Summerhill put together some impressive lap times, passing White on the fourth of seven laps, looked to have second locked up until White found his second win with two to go and reconnect.

"Marcel was kind of another level today, above us," White recalled. "I know that I would kind of implode if I tried to stick with him too long so he went up the road. Danny came up to me and he ended up passing me with about four to go. I just tried to ride my own race, it’s one of those courses that you need to ride within yourself. He started getting away from me for a bit and I brought him back on the last lap, caught him just by the pits. He and I had a couple quick exchanges, and then I attacked going up Mt Krumpit and I think that was the gap all the way to the finish."

Summerhill did his best to hold his position, but he was taking on water and used any means necessary to stay above White. "I don’t think [Curtis] saw what I did to him coming into the pits because he lit me up, like a bat out of hell on the straights before the pit, and I knew that if he got much space on me, he was going to hold it to the finish," Summerhill admitted. "So I surged and totally chopped him going into the pit like a motocross race and that was fun for sure. Curtis is a good guy and I know that he knew that it was racing. At that point, we were having fun, we were both on the podium. Rubbin' is racing."

"So I surged and totally chopped him going into the pit like a motocross race and that was fun for sure...Rubbin' is racing." -Summerhill on his battle with White

A Race for Youth, and Mechanics

The race was also an opportunity for non-World Cup racers like Gage Hecht (Alpha Bicycle / Vista Subaru) to strut his stuff.

The first-year U23 racer showed his maturation, with a fast start and consistent race until the last lap, when the young racer would be passed by Yannick Eckmann (Boulder Cycle Sport/Yogaglo) and Livermon.

In the pits, the competition for power washers was fierce as well. Many racers were pitting every half lap, making for repeated sprint workouts for the pit crew.

Full photo gallery below the results.

2016 Jingle Cross Day 1 UCI C2 Results - Elite Men

Place	Bib	Last	First	Team	Nat	Racing Age	Time	Gap
1	2	MEISEN	Marcel	Steylaerts-Verona	GER	28	1:02:49
2	3	WHITE	Curtis	Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.	USA	22	1:03:04	15
3	6	SUMMERHILL	Daniel	Maxxis-Shimano	USA	28	1:03:48	59
4	7	PAGE	Jonathan	Fuji	USA	41	1:05:26	2:37
5	5	LIVERMON	Travis	Maxxis-Shimano Pro Cyclocross	USA	29	1:05:27	2:38
6	11	ECKMANN	Yannick	Boulder Cycle Sport/ Yogaglo	USA	24	1:05:34	2:45
7	41	HECHT	Gage	Alpha Bicycle Company - Vista S	USA	19	1:06:22	3:33
8	8	LINDINE	Justin	Apex / NBX / Trek	USA	33	1:06:27	3:38
9	19	MARECAILLE	Antonin	AVC aix en provence	FRA	25	1:06:45	3:56
10	14	MATTER	Brian	Team Wisconsin	USA	39	1:09:10	6:21
11	13	HAIDET	Lance	Raliegh Clement	USA	20	1:09:30	6:41
12	22	HILDEBRANDT	Casey	The Underground Project	USA	23	1:10:45	7:56
13	25	DRUMMOND	Chris	SPCX p/b RK Black	USA	35	1:11:26	8:37
14	18	FIX	Brannan	Alpha Bicycle Company - Vista S	USA	20	1:11:56	9:07
15	15	KAISER	Cody	LangeTwins / Specialized	USA	25	@2Laps
16	63	LEMKE	Nicholas	Kona/HiFi/Cycle-Smart	USA	34	@2Laps
17	23	THOMPSON	Eric	HED p/b Molten Speed Wax	USA	28	@2Laps
18	20	LASLEY	Jacob	SPCX pb RK Black	USA	40	@3Laps
19	54	POSTIER	Dylan	Renewed Professional Cyclocross	USA	26	@3Laps
20	43	SELANDER	Bjorn	Borah Teamwear	USA	29	@3Laps
21	10	AITKEN	Christopher	Focus Attaquer CX Team	AUS	23	@3Laps
22	48	CLOUTIER	Tyler	Renewed Professional Cyclocross	USA	28	@3Laps
23	64	MCCONNELL	Kevin	Iowa City Cycling Club	USA	36	@3Laps
24	47	BAUMHOVER	Brian	University of Iowa Heart and Va	usa	32	@3Laps
25	49	DUTCZAK	Michael	The Pony Shop	USA	24	@3Laps
26	59	REYES	David	Ten Speed Hero	USA	33	@3Laps
27	42	SENKERIK	Ben	Team Extreme	USA	24	@4Laps
28	16	BRADFORD-PARISH	Kevin	SET/coaching Giro ScratchLabs	USA	35	@4Laps
29	61	TURNER	Andrew	Synergy	USA	30	@4Laps
30	24	MACKEY	Skyler	KCCX Elite Cyclocross Team	USA	22	@4Laps
31	60	THOMPSON	Caleb	CRC-SCOTT-2ND AVE SPORTS	USA	34	@4Laps
32	57	SUNDQUIST	Christian	The Hub Cycling Team	USA	25	@4Laps
33	52	DILGER	Connor	Above and Beyond Cancer Cycling	USA	23	@4Laps
34	62	RUSS	Kyle	Brazen Dropouts Cycling Team	USA	31	@4Laps
35	44	REEVES	Matthew	Cyclesmart Grassroots Team	USA	31	@5Laps
36	55	GLASS	Elwood	ALL-CITY x BLACK HAND COFFEE CO	USA	32	@5Laps
37	51	BICKMORE	Cade	MARIAN UNIVERSITY CYCLING TEAM	USA	19	@5Laps
38	45	WALKER	Jason	Peet's Coffee Racing	USA	46	@5Laps
DNF	46	LOUDER	Stu	ALL-CITY x BLACK HAND COFFEE C	USA	32
DNF	17	CHAPMAN	Tom	Focus Attaquer CX	AUS	22
DNF	21	O'DONNELL	Trevor	Real Deal D'Ornellas p/b Garnea	CAN	21
DNS	4	VANDEKINDEREN	Jens	Kalas-H.Essers-Nnof cycling tea	BEL	24
DNS	9	HELMIG	Christian		LUX	36
DNS	12	MCCONNELL	Mark	Hot Sauce Cycling x Garneau	CAN	29
DNS	50	TALERICO	Dominic	Foundry Cycles	USA	34
DNS	53	KLUCK	Jeff	Queen City Cycling	USA	37
DNS	56	REIMANN	Andrew	Jalapeno Cycling	USA	34

2016 Jingle Cross Day 1 Photo Gallery - Elite Men