The U.S. Cyclocross Nationals are an annual occasion for the country's cyclocross community to come together, race bikes and swap stories about the sport. For cyclocross tech fans, it is also a great opportunity to check out the myriad types of bikes and builds amateur athletes from across the country are riding.
So far this season, we have gotten the opportunity to gawk at a number of Elite riders' builds, including Wout van Aert's Felt FRDx, Tobin Ortenblad's Santa Cruz Stigmata and Caroline Mani's Van Dessel Full Tilt Boogie, among others. However, these athletes have access to the latest and greatest, while the majority of us are forced to take a more "run what ya brung" approach.
With Nationals racing less than a week away, we wanted to take this Throwback Thursday to look at some of the unique builds from the past nine years of Cyclocross Magazine's coverage of U.S. Cyclocross Nationals. When placed against the backdrop of our profile of Jeremy Powers' SRAM eTap-equipped Focus Mares, the profiles also provide a great opportunity to see how cyclocross bikes have and have not changed over the years.
We hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane.
For living in the now, check out our already-growing compilation of coverage of the 2018 U.S. Cyclocross Nationals in Reno.
Zachary Schuster and Andrew Yee contributed to this throwback.
Use the slider to see each bike profile.
Jonathan Page’s Mystery Bike – 2013 (Verona)
As Jonathan Page closes out his career in Reno for one last Nationals, it’s worth remembering the time he won Nationals in 2013 in Verona, Wisconsin on a “mystery” bike with its branding covered in tape. While the bike and build weren’t incredibly unique — much of it was similar to other Euro-based cyclocross pros — Page’s checkered, duct tape-covered bike represented unusual circumstances for a four-time National Champion and America’s only Elite Male to medal at Worlds.
Jonathan Page powered Shimano’s top-shelf 7900 10-speed crankset, in 172.5mm length, with 46/39 chainrings. 2013 Cyclocross National Championships. © Focal Flame Photography
Page’s previous bike sponsorship had just ended, and he lined up at the January Nationals flying the colors of Planet Bike but without another bike sponsor lined up. So he kept his 2012 bike and components and covered up the logos to let it be known he was no longer associated with the company and was in the hunt for a new one. After the race, he wasn’t too keen on a lot of bike exposure, and it was whisked away before we could grab a full side profile glamor shot.
After winning Nationals, Page would go on to sign with Fuji, and ride its Altamira CX platform (profiled here) until this final season. Page is closing out his career on KindHuman’s bikes (see our profile of his cantilever and Dura-Ace-equipped KindHuman Kudu here), the same brand Helen Wyman just hopped aboard.
Take a look at Jonathan Page’s Shimano Dura-Ace 7970 Di2-equipped “mystery” bike here.
Page wasn’t the only one to have an interesting 2013 Nats-winning bike. Katie Compton kept up her winning streak on a new custom aluminum Trek instead of Trek’s flagship carbon Ion, and her bike featured some unique elements including a gram-adding rim treatment, mismatched tires and her trademark long cranks.
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