Halloween Horror Story: you compete in this sport with lots of mud, sharp inclines, technical descents, and surfaces so unreliable you occasionally have to run them…but then you get asked to compete at it on a manicured grass soccer field, in the middle of the desert, on the other side of the world, half-a-year before the World Championships! Mwahahahaha!
Seriously, though—this year’s Cross Vegas showed that just because a course is fast and open doesn’t necessarily mean it’s gonna be a road race. There are seconds to be had around every bend, and the best ‘cross racers don’t need a mud bog to suss them out.