Nash cleans up in icy cold Bend

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Katerina Nash ended her 2013 cyclo-cross season with another win Sunday during the final race of the Cross Crusade series in Bend. The Luna Pro Team rider had taken the Deschutes Brewery Cup UCI C1 race in zero-degree the day before and stuck around for the non-UCI Cross Crusade closer.

"I traveled to Oregon, so it makes sense to do it," Nash said of the Cross Crusade, which is sanctioned by the Oregon Bicycle Racing Association rather than USA Cycling. "You have to appreciate that the organizers put on races for us, and I wanted to say thank you by showing up and racing."

While Nash soloed to another convincing win on Sunday, Bend's Serena Bishop Gordon (All Access Racing) finished fourth on the day and secured her third consecutive Cross Crusade overall title.

"To see these sort of conditions on the finale race was just rad," Bishop Gordon said of the snow and cold temperatures. "I wanted it to be epic, and I think it was. And to have all these national-caliber racers here in Oregon seeing the type of organization Cross Crusade does, it's awesome."

Temperatures climbed into double digits Sunday after Saturday's arctic episode, but the warmer temperatures actually made the track around Deschutes Brewery even slipperier. Nash, the multi-time Czech national champion, sailed into the lead after chasing down California Giant-Specialized rider Rachel Lloyd on the first lap.

"It was a little warmer but a lot more slippery out there," Nash said. "I've never done a Cross Crusade, and it was just super fun riding with tons of people out there, picking the right lines."

The elite women shared the course with the elite men and masters during the race, which was scheduled for 60 minutes but shortened to 45 because of the weather. Nash said she had no problem making it through the lapped traffic as the different groups started to co-mingle.

"A lot of the guys were really cool," she said. "When people were cheering for me, they knew I was coming and they would move out of the way."

Once Nash had the lead, she put it in cruise control and fought off a chase from Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld's Kaitlin Antonneau and Elle Anderson, the Cal Giant rider who is currently leading the US Pro CX Calendar.

Antonneau eventually finished second, escorted across the line by teammate Tim Johnson from the men's race. Anderson was next, followed by Bishop Gordon and Meredith Miller (California Giant-Specialized) to round out the top five.

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