Announcing: The All-New "CX Bike Indy," Host of the '25 OBRA CX Championships

Please watch/revisit this space in the build up to race day! More information will be added as it’s confirmed!

To our CX-racing and -loving community and, I hope, beyond, I'd like to introduce "CX Bike Indy"—the 2025 OBRA Cyclocross Championships on Sunday, November 9.

Thanks to the City of Independence and Sellwood Cycle Repair & Team S&M—and, of course, on behalf of and by collaboration with OBRA—we have a brand new venue: Downtown Independence and their beautiful Riverview Park, Dog Park and Riverside Natural Area! (It took me three years to land this venue. I'm deeply grateful for my team with the City of Independence: they even visited BridgeCityCX in 2022 as part of their due diligence. I am truly excited and committed to do right my them!)

This event will benefit Bike Indy Oregon, the Ella Curran Food Bank, and The Northwest Hub. We are receiving excellent support from The Independence Hotel, West Side Taphouse, Otto's Sausage Kitchen, Parallel 45 Brewing, Castelli Cycling, Skratch Labs, Puff Coffee, Steeplejack Brewing Co., and more local businesses—and, of course, the City of Independence, Bike Indy Oregon, OBRA, and all of you!

Below are some preliminary notes:

Registration is open online at OBRA.org. The categories are unique for this champs event, and so is the race day schedule. It's compact with large, open course windows between start times. The intention is two-fold: first, to optimize opportunities for riders to "double-up"—to both "race their age" and "race their category" and-or some combination thereof; second, to get more riders on the course per start time, as our current participation numbers have made necessary.
The complete race-day schedule is listed below!
We will be using your cloth OBRA annual numbers. If you don’t have one for 2025, we’ll have some available on site.
The 9-10 and 11-12 young Juniors and all Beginners will race for free! The 13-14, 15-16, and 17-18 older Juniors will be $15. (The older juniors may also race their categories, such as 4, 3, or 1-2.) All other categories will be $35. (Most riders qualify for more than one category!) A second or third race will be $15. On-site registration will include an additional $10 fee for the first race. Online registration closes at 5pm on Saturday Nov. 8.
Join us Saturday afternoon 11/8 and even stay overnight before you race! The course will be open 4-5pm Saturday for inspection. Plus, we're hosting a pre-party, raffle, and registration packet pick-up in town that night at Parallel 45 Brewing, 5:30-8:30pm! If you’re utilizing free van-camping at the venue Saturday night, please pre-register your vehicle info via this form by Friday 11/7 at 9pm, though we can also collect info at the pre-party on Saturday night with a $20 fee.
Saturday night raffle prizes will include: outerwear from Castelli (men’s and women’s high-end item), a carbon tubular wheelset newly glued and race ready with Challenge Team Edition tires from Sellwood Cycle Repair & HiFi Sound Cycling Components, coffee & gear from Puff Coffee, nutrition kits from Skratch Labs, and possibly more! You get 1 raffle ticket as a pre-registered racer; you buy more for $3 each, or $10 for four tickets; and/or you get 1 ticket for every donation of two non-perishable food items to the Ella Curran Food Bank!
If you’d like to donate to the Ella Curran Food Bank, either for raffle tickets on Saturday night or for a good cause throughout the weekend, please bring non-perishable items. From the Food Bank: “We currently are low on: jelly, peanut butter, canned fruit, chili, canned milk, soup.”
Day-of parking is free & paved—as is van-camping the night before, as long as you pre-register! At this time only Saturday night camping is available. If you’re planning on camping, we will need you to register your vehicle information with us online via this form by Friday 11/7 at 9pm!
Lodging: The Independence Hotel right on course has graciously offered a discount for attendees staying the night on Sunday Nov. 9—use code “CXBIKE” and book online! They are currently sold out for the night of Saturday Nov. 8 at this time. Other excellent and fun places to stay in the area include MaMere's Guest House in Monmouth and the Holman Riverfont Park Hotel in Salem.
On race day, the all-ages food and drink garden will be situated on the race course in downtown. Expect beer and cider on draft, wine by the glass, soda and NA beer in cans, and more, thanks to the West Side Taphouse & also Steeplejack Beer. Expect grilled sausages from Ottos Sausage Kitchen as well as vegetarian and vegan options. Plus, we're in the heart of the city, so food and drink options abound. Our friends at Puff Coffee & Castelli Cycling will be teaming up to provide coffee on site, and our friends at Skratch Labs will have hot apple cider hydration at the ready! Cash/card donations will be gladly accepted at all of these stations and distributed to the event beneficiaries, as mentioned above.
Team tents can be set up directly inside of Riverview Park—there is a paved circle and additional lane directly in the middle for tents and excellent spectating.
Important venue rules, please help us by respecting them: No bikes on the sodded grass Riverview Park interior -- this is inside the park perimeter marked by black posts and chain. No alcohol except inside the beer garden perimeter.
If you need more reasons to come on down this weekend, the weather is looking great for the weekend—60 and dry after a week of rain! And we'll have multiple strong bike wash stations available. As it should be!
Independence is an amazing place! It’s a 70 minute drive from central Portland, 30 minutes from Corvallis, 70 minutes from Eugene, 2:45 from Bend, a skosh under 4 hours from Ashland, and less than 4 hours from Seattle! We hope this central location will encourage as many folks as possible to join us for the 2025 OBRA CX Championships at #CXBikeIndy!