A lot of people weren't ready to go GNCC racing...

[HS-YZ250]

When they start a race at the Grand National Cross Country series, the announcer will yell out to the crowd "Are you ready to go GNCC racing!", followed by the ten second call for the front row.

Well, this year I don't think a lot of the riders in the Sunday bike races were quite ready for what the weather had laid out for them.

I don't race much anymore, but I do still like to get out to the Grand National Cross Country race that stops in my neck of the woods each spring. It's a multi day event that can have vastly different conditions day to day, particularly in the spring when cold/dry and warm/wet air masses are fighting for dominance. This year the eMountain Bikes, micros, and quads couldn't have had a more perfect day, sunny in the upper 60's, but the bikes couldn't have had much worse of a day as rain moved in early on already kind of soft ground (also had rained all day Friday), and turned all 13 miles of the course into "peanut butter" and "soup". I posted a bunch of videos and images I took with my phone in this folder. I have more in go-pro clips of where I tried to assist, but I don't have an editor to trim them down. I didn't assist the bikes much, other than trying to spot a line that was passable in one of the lower areas.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1povUjN5sxp-7vMt4PCUFOf-Y7dh6ZTIV?usp=share_link

A good comparison is this progression of images of the same spot on the track throughout the weeknd:

Friday Afternoon
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tXqLnP4jp5YLanxMyjCpi178P5z0kwRl/view?usp=share_link

Saturday Morning
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sjcK0vN1xrii3a_PVGQhf_mLIA-HbvH4/view?usp=share_link

Saturday Afternoon
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1s3GPWUG1LPttHqj9j8v26BLcqpPP6u5P/view?usp=share_link

Sunday Morning
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r6zW2xnyW1mH2Z6pUSeYIIDmABlgVfx0/view?usp=share_link

Sunday Afternoon
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qUdpu9Z9bD_Hk0c20ait7r6AdzMBefAl/view?usp=share_link

[HS-YZ250]

BTW, if any of you are interested in seeing this in person, here's the schedule: https://gnccracing.com/events

It's a pretty great grass roots series that's relatively cheap to attend at $25-$35 a head, depending on the venue and when you're getting there, and MOST events have free primitive camping. Between all the peewee, youth, amateur, and pro races, there are about 8 races throughout the weekend, and they're starting to add Saturday night entertainment at some events as well.