When you’re putting together your cross calendar, October seems so far away, leaving you tons of time to train, prep, and get ready for that first big cross weekend of the year. But September goes by quickly when you’re racing every weekend, and suddenly, staring you in the face, is Charm City, the third race in the USCX series, and in our humble opinion, the best.

Let’s get the practical things out of the way.

Weather

Last year, we all drove through a tropical storm to race in said tropical storm, and learned that the paint on the New Jersey Turnpike really leaves something to be desired in inclement weather. After a weekend of PA racing in a tropical storm, I watched multiple weather reports as I cleaned the mud off my bike, to assure myself that we would have a dry and dusty Charm.

On Sunday night, the forecast seemed so bright. I was assured by professional meteorologists that no storm was abrewin’ that would threaten the mid-Atlantic coast.

And guess what! It’s Wednesday and things are still looking great, folks! High 70s! Sunshine! Heck, you might even want to race with a bottle!

Gear

It’s not raining! Throw everything away! All you need is a skinsuit and your bike. Race in a t-shirt! It’s not raining! But seriously, a dry Charm City is typically a dusty Charm City. (I’m still coughing up 2021 Charm dust.) Even with the rainfall of the last few days, and what seems to be a little rain over Baltimore on Friday night, I think it’s fair to plan for a dry course, even if the rain may have tamped down the dust a bit. Some fast file treads are your friend this weekend.

The Course

Charm is known for two iconic features: a large flyover boasting a long flight of stairs, and the big off camber on Mansion Hill. The flyover never decides the race. Yes, it hurts to run up those stairs 3, 4, 5 times (however many times it takes for you to get lapped by that fast junior who is too young to race UCI), but it’s not make or break. The stairs do make the choice about whether to carry a bottle harder, because you’ll have to shoulder your bike. For those of us with teeny tiny triangles, the choice is unfortunately made for us. Enjoy your water, talls.

The off-camber at Mansion Hill is a different story. There was a time when you could hop off your bike and run (if perhaps, this was your third cross race ever and that thing seemed terrifying or in the event of a first lap traffic jam), but the addition of a steep and fast downhill at the end means you are really rewarded for staying on your bike. It is not easy to run down that hill, nor is it easy to remount on the off camber. The hardest part of this section is getting yourself on to the rideable ledge of the off camber. Leave some space in case the person in front of you bobbles, put in a hard pedal stroke or two, and when you get on that ledge keep your eyes up. Up up up. Look at where you want to end up, not at what’s right in front of you. Then send it down the hill. But not too much send because you have to turn right pretty quickly.

Otherwise, this course is half uphill slog and half twisty turny flat and downhill. If you’re a climber, use the long straight uphill to Mansion Hill to make up spots, or if you’re good at turning, get yourself ahead as you descend, and take the lead into the twistier second half of the course.   

Hangs

Time to get serious here. We would be remiss to talk about hangs at Charm City without acknowledging our friends who won’t be at this race because the UCI has chosen fear and transphobia over true fairness and inclusion. In June, the UCI changed their policy on trans women, banning their participation in women’s fields and thereby, effectively, banning trans women from racing. (No, racing in the men’s field is not an option because trans women are women, and creating a separate field is not equality, in case you missed that day in U.S. History class).

The UCI’s about-face was “justified” by a new study that contradicted one by the very same author from barely a year ago. In 2022, the UCI’s medical director concluded that “testosterone levels do not predict athletic performance or overall athleticism” and “lung capacity, bone density, and hip-to-knee joint angle do not correlate with competitive advantage.” The UCI’s new policy decision was justified by a lack of information, and absolutely no additional studies, tests, or statistics of any kind, by the very same doctor concluding that it was “impossible to confirm that at least 2 years of gender-affirming hormone treatments . . . are sufficient to completely eliminate the advantages associated with the increase in testosterone during puberty in males.”

The choice to exclude based on a lack of information is a fear-based one, plain and simple. The UCI did not base its decision on facts, science, or even consulting the women’s peloton. The loudest voices banging their keyboards, and shouting that tansgender athletes must be banned to protect fairness in sport, are utterly silent when it comes to equal pay, safety, and opportunities for young women. (As a reminder, the two most popular race series in NYC only saw the return of women’s field in the last few years).

The UCI’s policy stands in contradiction to the IOC guidelines, which encourage inclusion, regardless of gender identity. The “practice of sport is a human right” and trans rights are human rights. This ban is transphobia and nothing else.   

It has been disheartening, to say the least, to watch the GCN broadcasts from Go Cross and Rochester and hear commentators announce the absence of athletes without giving voice to the cause or casting blame on the UCI. To hear absolutely no acknowledgment that these women have been cast out from a sport that was not only a hobby that brought them joy, but in some cases, their actual livelihood.

I am not here to tell anyone how to react or protest this decision, but echoing the deafening silence of the GCN broadcasts is certainly not the way. They can do better. We can do better. There are so many ways to be an ally that don’t require huge actions (not everyone is able or ready for that), but you can hold a sign, grab a ride wristband, wear a patch on your kit, hang a trans inclusion flag on your team tent. These actions may seem small, but they can be huge – they help create a safe and inclusive space, in a world that isn’t, a world that is violent towards the LGBTQIA+ community and trans people specifically, in a society that is actively targeting bodily autonomy from every angle.

USAC, fortunately, kept the status quo for now, which means this ban doesn’t apply to amateur or junior fields. So somewhere at Charm, there’s almost certainly a trans or queer young person who will see that wristband or that flag and think “I belong here.” And maybe, just maybe, by the time they are old enough to race the UCI field, they’ll get to hear the announcer proudly call them into the start grid, right where they belong.