2024 Quarry Cross at The Forge Preview
November 21, 2024
- The second annual Quarry Cross at The Forge is hosted by EMC2 / Elmhurst Masters and the DuPage Cycling Foundation Sunday November 24th.
- Saturday, November 23rd: Open Practice 10am-4pm. The course will be fully set up. A great chance to familiarize yourself and practice the unique features.
- Race flyer and website at elmhurstcyclingclassic.com
- Venue provided by The Forge forgeparks.com
- Online pre-registration on BikeReg is open until midnight Friday.
- Preliminary Staging will be posted here Saturday morning.
- The Forge Zip Line Park will be open for normal operations. The Kids Adventure Zone adjacent to the race is $20 for an all-day pass.
- Team tents Due to landscaping, last years’ reserved space is no longer available. Team tent space is very limited. However, The Forge has three huge permanent tents that can host up to 500 people. If there is one race to not haul your team tent to, this will be the one.
- Directions: Please use 227 Heritage Quarries Drive in your GPS. Follow signs from there to the main parking lots. Please obey the 10mph speed limit on the mile plus drive in.
- Parking: There is plenty of parking, please park in designated lots and do not block entry/exit roadways.
- No vehicles are allowed to drive across the bridge. This is per the The Forge’s insurance policy. Also, please do not ride bikes on the fenced-in, re-seeded areas in front of the main stage. Let’s not jeopardize our welcome at this great venue.
- Prizes:
– All podium finishers will receive park vouchers compliments of The Forge.
– Age Group and Category Winners will receive THE GOLDEN CROWN OF CHAMPIONS provided by Walden Florist of Downers Grove.
– Juniors that make it to the Candy Podium will receive Thanksgiving Swag. - The winner of the Cat 5 race will win the second annual Golden Turkey Trophy sponsored by Honey Acre Woods.
- All racers 21 and older will receive a ticket for a free beer provided by Pollyanna Brewing of Lemont. The tap is in The Foundry on site, where you can also find The Creamery where they sell concessions.
- Food: Big Ed’s Shed BBQ & Grilling of Lemont. Award winning Texas Chili and Vegetarian Black Bean and Corn Chili.
- Tacomotora of Chicago. The best Mexican Tacos. “Full Stop!”.
- Racers will have access to a hospitality tent for stretching/massage before or after races courtesy of Rehabit Concierge Physical Therapy
- The noon local event is a Adaptive Cycling Demonstration Race, in cooperation with The Shirley Ryan Ability Lab. If you pre-ride at this time, remember these riders have the right-away!
- The Course: Runs counter clockwise. The course has developed, for the better. Gone are the the gravel turns and haybales! Every elevated wood feature has a optional bypass line. If the boards are deemed too slick, the “B” line will be the only option. The pit is accessible twice per lap.
– The Runway = a long gravel start
– The Bedrock Pond = a long off camber challenge
– The Range = a series of turns on loose mulch
– NEW BELGIAN STAIRS RUN-UP
– The Arena + tree slalom.
– The North Shore = A & B line singletrack choices ending with three wood plank banked turns.
– The FINISH is now on a long straightaway. - Click here to see the course in Google Maps.
Do we still need to bring heaters for this shared tent space?
MESSAGE FROM RD:
Just to clarify : Team tents are welcome, you just may have to get a little creative with a spot to set it up. (Although the forecast says lower 50ies) I understand and we will accommodate any team that wants it set up their own tent with walls and heaters. There is space for tents by the consession building, lower legde. Bedrock…. Staking is very hard everywhere here, weights recommended.
Community tents will run any heaters we find, and Ziggy zaggy, ziggy zaggy oí oí oí !
Jostein
Thank you for the clarification Jostein! Looking forward to the race!
Hey the pre-reg link got messed up again
Corrected, thanks.
Yeah…
Should be:
https://www.bikereg.com/quarrycross24#Register
This was my favorite 2023 course and it sounds like it’s going to be even better for 2024. Looking forward to seeing you all Sunday!
Hope everyone gets a 25% refund since you pulled almost all of us 7-10 minutes early. One of the absolute dumbest things I’ve ever seen.
Thank you to EMC2, our officials, and Kenny for putting on an awesome race, yesterday. Super fun course. Lots of great racing.
Thanks for a great race everyone! Lots of fun!
Men’s 3-4 Race Video; right behind the pump track crash – hope you are both feeling OK this morning!
https://youtu.be/5e0U5B_nN4w?si=pywwGFgogIFoJSdS
I’m not a fan of the BMX park but the course in general was much improved from last year. Thanks for listening.
55+ First Lap: https://youtu.be/wVq47i7YUMc?si=DuHP3EFz1k9dCHmv
55+ Full Race: https://youtu.be/21zQR5fXBM4?si=Tk8qHHMmZDAz7ybs
Course was fun! Great job on the stairs, and I also love the woodchips because I am just a tractor pull kinda guy 🙂
It me. I’m sorry to everyone caught up. I thought I knew what I was doing but I did not.
Bike and body injured but will recover.
are you ok Ben? what happened? I did the same Saturday and I’m donked up
I saw a few hard crashes on the plank banked turns, myself included. Its fun, but I would reconsider riding this course in the future with this feature….
Did anyone happen to come across a Feedback Sports trainer in the parking lot. Ugh.
I would love to see the 1/2/3 races lengthened for next year. At least 50 minutes! It’s a huge disservice to the local talent pool and puts young racers at a disadvantage when they race in other series. Wicx runs their elite races at 55 mins and it seems like a sweet spot.
Also attaching a gender expansive category to an existing time slot would be a very cool move for our series.
Men’s 1/2/3 race – bonked HARD, so I for one was OK with my race being shortened, but last year I was definitely been in the “wishing it was longer” boat as well:
https://youtu.be/AkfCdZMXAjo?si=IMV0slZXqgBJqZSP
@Banged up, the berms are getting taken out and moved to Big Marsh. It’s my first cross season and I’m super bummed to be out with a broken hand, I know another cat 5 rider who’s out and needs surgery as well, same berm crash.
Oh, do you know anything more about The Forge taking out the berms? It makes sense for Big Marsh to use them, but it’s surprising to hear since they seem integral to the Forge’s pump track/skills park…
This week’s video compilation from Quarry Cross. Enjoyed the course a lot more this year than last year. Other races from the year on my IG page as well. See you all at Montrose!
https://www.instagram.com/share/_e7GrAjUN
@Fewtch they are replacing berms with a mini golf course
Well, I look forward to riding between the spinning blades of a windmill for the requisite amount of danger next Quarry Cross, thanks for the info Meg (sorry about your hand)
Props to organizers for improving the course this year. But glad to see the BMX berms go away.
55+ First Lap: https://youtu.be/wVq47i7YUMc?si=DuHP3EFz1k9dCHmv
55+ Full Race: https://youtu.be/21zQR5fXBM4?si=Tk8qHHMmZDAz7ybs
I don’t know where the idea of those berms being moved to Big Marsh Park came from. They cant be relocated, it’s a permanent installation that takes heavy demolition to remove. There are concrete footings and a steel frame that are designed specifically for the specific site.
I don’t know where the idea of those berms being moved to Big Marsh Park came from. They cant be relocated, it’s a permanent installation that takes heavy demolition to remove. There are concrete footings and a steel frame that are designed specifically for that site.