The races we’re missing: Barton Park
Published 2020-11-15
These late season races are definitely my favorites. I love the cold, the mud, the filth, the crashes, the slogging, the suffering. I love getting dry and ordering French Fries and watching my kids and buddies in later races. I love getting back into the car. I love driving home and having a beer.
I love this race. I love that it’s in a gravel quarry (although I don’t love what gravel does to my bike’s finish). I love the industrial vibe. I loved the old course that routed through the campground and then up a muddy trail. I love the new course around a swamp and onto a gravel access road. I love the infinitely long runup that foolish riders believe they can ride up. (And a few do! But at what cost?) I love the singletrack along the top of the dike. the white-knuckle drop off the dike, that inevitably sends at least one racer to the hospital.
This was the second venue I ever raced, but I remember it better than my first. I didn’t know how to dismount or remount in motion and had to stop my bike every time.
It was Orion’s first kiddie kross. OPB was on hand filming a segment for Oregon Field Guide. This was approximately at the peak of cyclocross’ popularity in Oregon. Orion and I are briefly onscreen in this documentary around the twenty-five minute mark.
In 2013 Iris staged but did not race kiddie Kross. She had an epic hangry meltdown instead. Brad Ross bought us French Fries and gave us a bunch of stickers and a Cross Crusade cowbell. I have somehow lost all my Cross Crusade cowbells, a loss I feel very acutely now.
How are my results here? Meh. This race is not about results.
There are a few weekends this year where I have to remind myself: “oh yeah we probably would have been racing...but which race was it again?” and I have to check last year’s calendar. Not this weekend. On Sunday I knew, almost instinctively, that we’d be out at Barton Park, getting gritty.
| Year | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Beginner Men | 42/105 |
| 2011 | Masters 35+ C | 26/156 |
| 2013 | Masters 35+ C | 29/146 |
| 2018 | Masters 35+ Category 3 | 47/78 |
| 2019 | Masters 35+ Cat 3 | 48/52 |
Videos
- Cyclocross on Oregon Field Guide, 2011 — Orion and I are briefly onscreen around 25:00
- Cyclocross Crusade #8 - 2014 Barton Park by Kevin Dickson
- Cyclocross Crusade - Barton 2017 by Kevin Dickson )
Orion, number 184, 2010
Staging for Kiddie Kross, 2010
Orions race face, 2010
Car ride home, 2010
Paul on the massive runup, 2011
Ada eats a French Fry, 2013
Iris at Barton, 2013
Orion on the runup, 2018
Orion at the barrier on the top of the runup, 2019