What would prompt someone to take a perfectly good road bike and pilot it off-road? And, what would compel normal people to come out and stand by barriers, course tape, in wheel pits and freeze extremities? Belgians, blame it on the cycling mad hordes of Belgians.
Somehow we have imported waffles, beer, cycling, and craziness from a country in Northern Europe. It has taken us quite a while to get to where we are with CX, don't get me wrong we are no where near the stature of our drunken forefathers. We have come a long way baby, and the road is long and paved with cobbles, mud, sand, barriers, off-camber turns, stairs, and sand.
CX is blowing up all over the country. CX in the states has been an odd assortment of MTB racers and Roadies that had bastard children. We are talking about a freakshow of which no one wanted to claim. Now that CX is becoming "mainstream" (as mainstream as it can be), people (MTB & Roadies) actually claim to race CX. We even have an American racing in the mud in Europe. Jonathan Page. Represent.
Today I found myself standing on the side of a CX course yelling insults, heckling, and passing up water bottles to racing teammates. Oh yeah, did I mention that it was 35 degrees? Why? Because I am crazy for CX, and I love to support my teammates and this growing sport we call Cyclo-Cross.
Great post. It is awesome to see CX blow up!
ReplyDeleteEven though it was freezing out there I enjoyed cheering (etc) our teammates and others on and snapping some photos. Awesome time and congrats to our guys (and gal) who raced.