2012 Raleigh Midsummer Night CX Course Preview: A Challenging, Bumpy Ride Through Deer Valley

After a successful trial in 2011 at the Suncadia Resort in Central Washington, Raleigh has brought back its Midsummer Night Cyclocross Race, but has raised the stakes. The 2012 event boasts a deeper, stacked field and a higher-altitude location in Deer Valley, Utah. Spectators and participants will expand from last year’s Raleigh dealers and contract-hungry racers to include the hundreds of Lifeboat Dealer Camp attendees. All these signs point to a bigger and better 2012 event. The one constant from the 2011 event? The infamous bumps that kept racers’ first cyclocross race of the season from being a smooth affair.

The bumpy course should not really be unexpected but certainly adds to the challenge. Cut a brand new cyclocross course in a field in the middle of a hot, dry summer, and the ground will be hard. At Suncadia in 2011, the bumps “were killing” Zach McDonald’s wrists, and the 2012 course offers plenty more of the same. A powerful rider with good line choice and low tire pressure should excel, if flat tires don’t play a factor in the race. There are plenty of other features to offer challenges to racers, including off-camber corners and climbs, a steep run-up that should be rideable by the top pros, three barriers, one set of stairs and a good mix of cut field grass, loose dirt, three sections of pavement and a few mud puddles.

Check out the course preview photo gallery below and on our Facebook Page, and stay tuned right here and on Twitter for race updates and reports.

2012 Raleigh Midsummer Night Cyclocross Race Course Preview: