Cyclocross

I had heard of it and finally this year I experienced it first hand. Two weeks ago I met some other Team Ethos riders and competed in the Boss Cross Race in Parkville, MO. I liked the pain enough to do my second race today, the Boulevard Cup at Wyandotte County Park.

Cyclocross works like this. Take a road bike, make it capable of dropping loading docks and monster trucking over a ball of human and bicycle, slap some knobby tires on it, and be ready to ride this machine to the verge of technicolor yawning all down your jersey. It is usually held at a park on a twisty turvy coarse marked off by police type tape between wooden stakes in the ground, with occasional obstacles that require you to dismount and go over them on foot. The race consists of getting as many laps in a 30 minute period for intermediate riders, and 50 minutes for the advanced riders. Basically it is the most fun you can have on a bicycle in the absence of roots, rocks and benchcuts. The other huge perk is that after you are done racing there is hoards of warm food and cold beer all while watching other groups race. Because it is held in a park the course is very compact and makes for a great spectator sport unlike most cycling events.

Today brought beautiful weather, a very technical course and great friends to cheer on. Second race of the day had Travis Donn, Kevin Winters, Jamie Jeffries and myself duking it out with 90 other riders in a combined group of Cat 4, Cat 4 40+, and Junior Boys and Girls. The start was mayheim with several wrecks within the first 1000 yds. I redlined for 4 long laps having a great time with only one little tumble to get 19th out of 50 riders in my class. Travis Donn ran away with 1st winning by a comfortable margin. Kevin made his goal for the day by not DFL'in (dead fucking last).

Two other Ethos stallions Garet and Cameron raced in the single speed category with Cameron putting the hurt on his fellow racers grabbing 1st with Garet finishing ultrastrong in 3rd. We all had a great time cheering on everyone and drinking the Tank 7 provided by Boulevard, that stuff is the bomb.com. pics to come soon.

Travis justifying all the money spent on his bike!

Jamie schooling the police tape.