BIKEIOWA's Flagship event will not take place in 2016.
Night Cap Cross, Iowa's second largest cyclocross race has been building steam for 6 years now. Night Cap has become well-known for it's urban super tight-n-twisty race course "down by the river" where hundreds of beer-can-holdin' spectators line the course to heckle while local jam bands play inches from the racers.... AT NIGHT.
BIKEIOWA Cycling Team Organizers are disappointed that they must cancel Night Cap Cross from the 2016 calendar, but there are VERY good reasons why....
While we are sad to see Night Cap not happen this year, we can also take a breather and set the stage for something special in 2017. The BIKEIOWA Cycling Team loves to dream up unique events at unique venues for unique causes.
Will Night Cap Cross be back? Or is it time for the next unique event? Time will tell...
WHY?
This year, the largest Cyclocross Race in Iowa, Jingle Cross, became a World Cup Race. This is a BIG DEAL in the world of Cylocross!
In
2016, there are only TWO World Cup Races in the USA. Jingle Cross and Cross Vegas. There are only
NINE World Cup Races in the World.
Cross Vegas is on Wed Sept 21st (coincides with interbike) and Jingle Cross will be Sept 22-25. The races are close so all the Europeans can race both races.
A UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup is a season-long competition in cyclo-cross, organized by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). First held in the 1993–1994 season, there are currently four awards, tailored to the different categories of riders:
elite men, U23 men, junior men and elite women.
Why couldn't Night Cap Cross be moved to another weekend?
The Cyclocross calendar is always really full. We could have taken Jingle Cross' December weekend, but with the cold temps, the spectator experience and live music are compromised.
So
for the sport of Iowa Cyclocross with a world-wide audience, we will gladly cancel Night Cap Cross for 2016. We ask that you support Jingle Cross and all the other local cyclocross races this year.
About Night Cap Cross
Cap Cross was the brain-child of Rob Versteegh. He and a few others brought cyclocross to Iowa years ago and he always wanted a night race. As the BIKEIOWA Cycling Team grew, so did our creative juices and Night
Cap Cross was spawned.
The first Night Cap was in 2010 where 185 Racers from 6 different states rocked it by the river on a Friday night.
The event has since grown to two days of racing, one on Saturday night and the other one Sunday morning. the 2015 event brought 310 racers from
10 states on Saturday night and 225 stayed around for Sunday.
Night Cap has always been held at
Mullets, an urban riverside roadhouse with a
two-tiered patio with great views of downtown Des Moines. The BIKEIOWA crew squeezed every bit of green space from this small unique venue.
Click here to view past Night Cap Events, photos and video.
THANKS
We
thank Scheels, Oakley, Mullets, Iowa Beverage, Primal Wear, Baker Electric and all our other
sponsors for their support these past years. You can bet we are already
planning for 2017 !