I'll never understand why cross is popular before mid-September, really. 70 degrees and a high sun are a recipe to bake during a high-intensity, low speed (virtually no cooling breeze) race. Not to mention that dry, firm turf really make the cross races around here more like grass crits than cross. But, whatever keeps people happy, I guess.

I don't really mind a front-loaded schedule. I'm plenty content at the late-season ABD races. The new team competition at the Fall Fling this year made it the most fun I had all season.

The local races scheduling all over themselves in the early months doesn't make sense, though. A light turnout in August will likely not be remedied by putting your race in June if there is another race or two going on within a decent distance.

And, it REALLY doesn't make sense if both Glencoe and O'Fallon end up as State Championship races this year. As much as organizers pick and choose their own scheduling, the ICA has a say in who gets championships. I thought making Glencoe the state crit was a bad idea last year, making it the state crit would be a doubly bad idea this year. Maybe that race should go back to Peoria, or Cobb Park, or Dixon or something that could use the extra "something" to get one or two extra riders in a field.

Really, though, there is no better way to diminish a state championship than to schedule them both on top of each other (says the State Champion of a fairly marginal State Championship).