Divine Providence

Near the top of any US crosser's list for checking the box on historic, classic and challenging courses where the weather can deliver anything from snow, to rain and mud, or simply perfect early fall crisp conditions, is Divine Providence/ KMC CX Festival at Roger Williams Park in Providence, RI. It is arguably THE race weekend of the year as it closes out what's referred to as Holy Week, where over ten days, six races are run across four classic venues in New England with top racers from all over the country participating in search of early-season UCI and USA Cycling’s season-long Pro CX series points.

Having grown up on in the Northeast but never raced there, Josh had long wanted to make a trip out to race these courses and this year the stars finally aligned to make it all happen. While Hurricane Joaquin threatened to reek havoc up along the Eastern seaboard a few days prior to the weekend, the mudder that could have been was only slightly wet and cold on Saturday and fast and dry by Sunday. The racing was, as expected, super competitive with huge 80+ rider fields and without any UCI, Josh lined up both days at the back of the bus, 10 rows deep. But with some great encouragement and cheering from his family, he managed to chase down half the field and finish top 40 and had a fantastic time railing the rolling, flowing and dynamic course that featured 3 flyovers, a massively steep run-up and/or chute descent and at least on Saturday, dreamy perfectly damp dirt.

It was a dream trip come true.

Easily my biggest fan on the day, cousin Sophie with a well timed photobomb by Daimo of NoosaCX. 

Team Cannondale's Hyde and White blew the field apart on Day 2, flying down the chute. Photo cred: © 2015 John Kavouris from CXHairs.com

Dreamy course conditions on Saturday. Cold, soft, slick and fun!

The run up on the first lap of Saturday, if you weren't in the top 10 here you were chit-chatting your way up this thing, getting banged in the head with wheels and pedals from all sides and had a lot of work to do.