This Weekend: CXLA and Cross After Dark

This is going to be big. Two days of Cross, including the finale of the Cross After Dark series,  the Los Angeles Bicycle Coalition's Tour de Taste, Sierra Nevada Brewfest and, to kick things off, a whole slew of Black Friday events including rides, bike swap, and partying.

If you are unfamiliar, Cross After Dark is a four race series which began with CrossVegas in, Las Vegas of all places, during Interbike on September 18. That first race was won by World Champion Sven Nys, and multi-talented (road, mountain, and cx) Czech racer, Katerina Nash. The second race of the series came at the St. Louis's Gateway Cross Cup where former Belgian racer, Ben Berden won the men's race, taking over as series leader in the process. Amanda Miller won the women's race, making for a tie atop the overall standings. Cincinnati hosted the third round, the Lionhearts International Cross. There, Katie Compton (who has been racing like mad over in Europe lately) and Tim Johnson took respective wins. Katerina Nash finished second and solidified her series lead; meanwhile Berden finished fourth, enough to maintain his overall lead, heading into the finale at Los Angeles. Don't forget, that is just Cross After Dark; there is also the rest of the racing action - two full days - including UCI races for Juniors 17-18, Women, and Men. As I said, there is no way around it, it's going to be big. Get all the important information here.