Today was the Oklahoma State CX Championships. I raced. One, because I like to race. Two, because it was on my home turf. I watched the CX Champs last year from the other side of the tape. It was cold and I had a blast watching, but I also felt drawn to this fantastic thing that we call Cyclo-cross. It is not right taking a road bike and racing it off-road. That is what mountain bikes are for, off-road. Everything about CX is like a dare. It is done off road, in horrible conditions, with an every-man-for-himself approach to racing, and this all happens at what we like to call "full-gas".
My first experience with racing the CX bike came at a practice race. It hurt like nothing I had experienced in quite a while. Something along the lines of riding a trainer and doing 40min super-high intensity, except this trainer was bumpy, dusty, hot and had riders in front and behind. I questioned why I had to have a CX bike? I did two more practice races and then drove to OKC with some friends for my first "real" race. I made it a lap and almost a half when I had a flat. Not the best start. And that lap and a half hurt, it hurt a lot. I was kind of glad that I got the flat and did not have to continue to suffer. Yeah, don't tell anybody that, I have a rep to maintain. Once again I questioned the validity of owning a CX bike.
I did some practice riding of my own on Turkey Mountain. I had a blast rocking the CX bike on mtb trails. I took the rig to Texas with me and rode it from my parents house down to the Canyon. This was so much fun. During the ride down to the Canyon, I watched all the cars with their mtbs on racks headed to the same trails that I was going. I actually was stopped in the Canyon by a couple that asked if I was "that guy riding the road down here?" Yep, that was me. Owning a CX bike was starting to be kinda cool.
More practicing, some racing and more rides. I bought a helmet light to ride now that the sun is nowhere to be found after 5:00, and the first usage came in the rain one night and I reached for the CX. This was fun, and I was starting to realize more and more what owning a CX bike meant to me. It became the Swiss Army knife hanging in the garage, appropriately between the MTB and the Road Bike. This is the bike that begs to be ridden in the mud, rocks, grass, sand, fire, brick-walls, German razor wire, snow, bullets, and pave.
Today was the last CX race that I will do this season, but I do hope that it is not my last CX race. I have struggled with the question of, "is racing Cross fun?" I am not sure I can answer that. What I can say is that it hurts. I have grown to love riding my CX bike anywhere and everywhere. Heck if this were easy, everyone would do it, and I probably would not want to do it anymore.
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