To borrow that tired line about Mark Twain’s exaggerated death, a doubleheader weekend of cyclocross races put a similar spin on such reports.
Anyone in the orbit of 33-millimeter tires has heard these unpopular refrains, too. Gravel killed cross. The economy killed cross. Or was it the pandemic? The price/payoff simply isn’t there for some, while the sheer difficulty weeded out the weak and left nothing but long-time die-hards.
Is any of this true? Is all of it true? And do we – the 60-minute masochists – even care? This piece is not a refute nor a rebuttal; it’s a reflection in response to 48 hours of regional action. To make sense of those blasphemous rumors slandering a sacred sport, the 2026 state championship rounds for Pennsylvania and New Jersey felt as good a place as any to ask for answers.
‘It’s not 2014 Anymore’
Seated under a park pavilion and peering out at a panorama of racers readying themselves in the fall chill under an ash gray sky, Crossasaurus Awesome promoter Mike Festa was asked why the Philadelphia Ciclismo crew keeps doing this to themselves? “Because it’s fun and it makes people happy and we all really enjoy the sport,” the multi-discipline racer said.
Now in its roughly 20th year, the 2026 edition of Crossasaurus Awesome saw just about 300 entries and that figure was “above our break-even point,” Festa said. While he thinks that grassroots-level CX events are doing alright, “it’s not 2014 anymore” when there were both more racers… and more races for them to attend. For those seeking the numbers-based nitty gritty, the well-researched examinations of sport health can be found in this deep-dive from CXHAIRS and this statistical look at PACX stats.
‘Because it’s fun and it makes people happy and we all really enjoy the sport.’
Crossasaurus has continued to evolve thanks, in part, to great relationships with neighbors and Upper Salford Township’s local government. A banked berm, rhythm section of a half-dozen whoops followed by a tabletop were recent additions supplied by the municipal maintenance crew. What’s more, the town has been able to tout their status as host of a well-attended bicycle race when promoting community cohesion and healthy living. So long as everything gets cleaned up once the sun sets in Upper Salford, the burned-in racing line gets re-seeded and nobody parked on the grass, then the fruitful relationship continues and with it, the venue for this event.
In the Flat Field
There was just enough time to hose Pennsylvania dirt out of the tire treads and return to “normal” life for a few hours before loading the van up again as the sun rose on Race Day #2.
Cooper River Cyclocross, now well into its second decade of competition in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, saw about 240 entries for 2026. Jovian Yoh, who took over the reins as promoter in recent years, is also the owner/operator of bike and ski shop Aistriu in nearby Evesham Township. While turnout was comparatively lower, Yoh noted, he took time inside the starting grid of the 40-plus open class to thank everyone for coming out: “The sport of cyclocross appreciates it.” To his point, there were 71 entries for the category 4/5 class in 2019 (my second-ever race) and that’s a stacked shoulder-to-shoulder starting line.
Adverse weather and scheduling conflicts made the 2026 calendar a bit more sparse than it should have been. Yoh said that heavy rain presents a diverging path through the woods. Parks departments don’t want their public grounds torn up by hours upon hours of bike tires while racers seek that true cross weather. Sometimes it’s a total impasse and grass seed simply isn’t going to fix the damage done. So it goes, and those who’ve staked out a course would know. Volunteers turn up after dawn, tape gets strung out, debris raked up and barriers dug in as a flat field that’s generally full of rude geese is transformed into a twisting and turning affair for all of eight hours before it disappears into the night. It is, in this writer’s view, the sport’s most astonishing accomplishment with property that’s never our own.
“It’s the bright side of retail,” a seated Yoh said between the three races he often subjects himself to. “These are the feel-good moments. Seeing the smiles on people’s faces when you put together an event and everyone, for the most part, is having some type of fun.” Moreover, his wedding anniversary often falls near the CRCX date. “Every time we put this event on, this race is like putting on a wedding,” he joked. From the planning and lead-up to the on-the-fly logistical work and all the costs coming and going: “You just hope that people had fun.”
No Rest for the Weary
Piotr Bilik, who commuted down from Bergen County, New Jersey, to Upper Salford, has been racing cyclocross for over a decade now. He hoped to hit 11 events this year and at the height of his competition schedule, had done 14 in a single season. “I just want to be active,” the open age competitor said, adding that it’s better for his health than “sitting on the couch or computer.” His doctor agrees.
Asked about the atmosphere over those 10 past years, “I’ve seen it change. A decline, yes.” Gravel racing has done the sport no favors, he said. Bilik has worked gravel events as a sweep rider, but felt no urge to actually participate as a competitor having seen what it entails. So he checked BikeReg again while at Crossasaurus to figure out exactly when the whistle would blow on 40-plus Masters at Cooper River.
Maybe that’s the real take-away here. We all survey the season schedule from home and figure out which events best fit our own requirements, be it Sly Fox CX’s barn-burner Belgian vacation or the slow-motion military campaign that is weekly competition at Fifth Street Cross.
Combined, well north of 500 racers turned out to these two regional events in mid-October with plenty of familiar faces between them. There were the die-hards and the long-timers, yes, but the schedule also entices with reduced fees for certain “first timer,” youth and women’s fields. It’s one way to boost the registration numbers, Yoh said, because our steeple chase is still searching for that next all-important lighthouse of a landmark.
Is it the mid-2010s glory days that some in this piece hearkened back to? No. But cyclocross dead…? Hardly – at least for 48 hours in this little corner of the world. So long as a few hundred folks turn up to torture themselves for a financial loss, and then turn around to subject themselves to the same penance again the following day, any word of an early grave is as blasphemous as Twain’s rumor.
- If you enjoyed this article: My debut non-fiction book, Twilight of the Gods: Vintage Motorcycling’s Race Against Time, investigates classic motorcycle culture in a contemporary setting as it faces changing demographics, harsh economics and rapidly advancing technology.
