Lindine and Anthony Get Rad in Falmouth: Really Rad Festival of Cyclocross Day 1 Report, Results

FALMOUTH, Mass.—Autumnal colors were aglow Falmouth, Mass., but the story was blustery, wet weather. The Really Rad Festival of Cyclocross made its inaugural entry on USA Cycling’s Pro Cyclocross Calendar (ProCX) for the first of two days of UCI Category 2 elite races on Saturday.

Smith leads the men off the line. 2018 Really Rad Festival of Cyclocross Day 1. © Angelica Dixon

Conquering strong fields and gale force winds at the Cape Cod Fairgrounds, Crystal Anthony (Newbury Park, Calif./Liv Cycling) took the top step in the Elite Women’s race and Justin Lindine (N. Ogden, Utah/Hyperthreads/Apex Pro Cycling) escaped early for a dominating solo victory for Elite Men. Both are former residents of New England.

Anthony Wins in the Wind

In the Elite Women’s race, there were swift punches in early laps by Anthony, Arley Kemmerer (Palmerton, Penn./Fearless Femme Racing), and Regina Legge (Salem, N.H./Trek Cyclocross Collective). The trio would cause the field to thin out quickly at the front on a course made muddy from overnight and morning rain.

“I think there was a pretty big group the first lap,” said Anthony, who noted the three broke away and would race together for [much of] the five-lap race. “[It came down to] thousands of small decisions during the race I think. It was a race of attrition.”

With two laps to go, Anthony blew the lead apart, pulling away from Kemmerer and Legge. She would continue to push through steady winds of 24 to 30 miles per hour and gain more time on the final lap, finishing in 46 minutes, 9 seconds.

“There were some pretty bad lines you could take out there, and some better lines, and some impossible. It was definitely challenging,” said Anthony, who is originally from Beverly, Mass. It was her second ProCX victory of the season.

Kemmerer, who used to live in Massachusetts, would finish second, 14 seconds behind Anthony. She laughed about the wind and said it was a major factor in the race. She noted that a week prior to the race she thought the challenges would be roots and sand. With gusts of up to 60 mph, there was no relief on this course above the turf.

“The wind took up any recovery that might have existed. So it wasn’t really advantageous to be going super hard. I think the expectation was that it was going to be an attrition race,” she noted. “I would say that the wind was, for me, the bigger factor [than mud or lines] because a few places where you would be able to sort of chill, you couldn’t. Riding into the barriers there was a very strong headwind. It felt like you were going to come to a stop. And crosswinds too. That was an added factor today, pretty challenging for sure.”

Anthony leads Legge on Day 1 of the 2018 Really Rad Festival of Cyclocross. © Angelica Dixon

With three laps to go, Legge began to fall off the pace set by Anthony and Kemmerer. She would hold on for third, 16 seconds behind Kemmerer.

L to R: Legge, Anthony, Kemmerer. 2018 Really Rad Festival of Cyclocross Day 1. © Angelica Dixon

“There was one technical downhill, you turn into an uphill. I just couldn’t figure that out. Arley was just repeatedly getting away from me and building that gap. I would close it, and then she would open it back up,” said Legge. “The wind made it really hard. Especially coming into the barriers, it was just a dead headwind. Obviously, the wet conditions make it a little more challenging. It did start to dry up, you could find some better lines and they got beat out a little more rather than being so soupy.”

Lindine Breezes to Blustery Win

For the Elite Men, Lindine made his move early in the race by taking the lead at the start of the second of eight laps. He started with a group of four other riders, but broke free quickly. The group included Kevin Bradford-Parish (Spokane, Wash./Setcoaching p/b FSA), Scott Smith (Westhampton, Mass./Dirt League), Tyler Cloutier (Dallas, Texas/TCCX), and Merwin Davis (Star City, W.V./Cycle-Smart), who took the holeshot.

“There was a heavy muddy section a few minutes into the course, over by the bleachers, and I kind of got a good line through it and managed to make my way to the front. I knew with the wind and the mud, it was a day that I wanted to be in front, and maybe have a little bit of a gap. It frees you up to be able to make mistakes, if you make them, and pick your own lines. From there I just tried to keep the gap,” said Lindine, who won both ProCX races at HPCX in Jamesburg, N.J. last weekend.

Justin Lindine added to his win total at the 2018 Really Rad Festival of Cyclocross Day 1. © Angelica Dixon

For several laps, Bradford-Parish kept the pressure on Lindine by riding in second and kept the leader in his sights. Lindine would distance himself out front and ride alone for seven full laps.

“Kevin Bradford-Parish was keeping really close, you know, eight, nine seconds behind me, for the first few laps. So I wasn’t super confident he was going to stick the whole time,” said Lindine. “But I think he had a mechanical or something. I started making some cleaner lines three laps in. I had some dumb, unforced mistakes. I just tried to over-drive some corners. You know, you get it in your head that you can maybe take this corner five percent faster than you were, and you can’t.”

Lindine would gain a victory against the wind and 34 other riders in a time of 1 hour, 37 seconds.

“It was a bit of a gamble [riding out front alone]. It was really windy,” said Lindine, who attended school at the University of Massachusetts – Amherst. “It’s kind of like a catch-22, it’s nice sometimes if you can get a gap, if you are confident in your ability to pedal that hard for the hour then the wind works in your favor because nobody wants to chase in it [the wind] either.”

With four laps remaining, Smith caught and overtook Bradford-Parish. He would finish second behind Lindine.

“I started more conservatively,” said Smith. “A group of guys went out hard, and I just didn’t think that we could do that for an hour. At least I couldn’t do that for an hour. And so I was riding about fifth for the first lap. Halfway through the second lap I kind of hit it out of that group. At that point, Lindine and Kevin [Bradford-Parish] were already gone. But I was able to hold steady in third and I had a pretty big gap to fourth. So I was pretty content with rolling around for third.”

Smith said he saw Bradford-Parish’s wheel catch something, which would allow Smith to catch him. The bobble would ultimately cost Bradford-Parish, who finish third, 42 seconds behind Smith.

“We rode together for about a lap. Then I attacked him through the off camber as hard as I could. I kind of heard him unclip, so I hit it just as hard as I could,” said Smith. “I found a line on the stairs that I could ride. I rode those and put a pretty good gap into him going into two and one to go, and held that out to the finish.”

L to R: Bradford-Parish, Lindine, Smith. 2018 Really Rad Festival of Cyclocross Day 1. © Angelica Dixon

From the early lead group, Davis would roll across the line in fifth, 3 minutes, 22 seconds out of first. Cloutier would finish ninth, more than 4 minutes back.

The event is a continuation of the Plymouth Festival of Cyclocross, which was started as the Plymouth Cyclo-Cross in 1977 at the Plymouth-Carver High School. One of the first cyclocross races in the Northeast, the event was host to the 1984 and 1986 USCF Cyclocross National Championships. In 2015, it was rebranded as the Really Rad Festival of Cyclocross, with a focus to attract both beginners and seasoned professionals.

Stay tuned for full coverage from Day 2 of the Really Rad Festival of Cyclocross.

2018 Really Rad Festival of Cyclocross Day 1 Results: Elite Women

2018 Really Rad Festival of Cyclocross Day 1 Results: Elite Men