The blast furnace that we call Summer is dying down. This can only mean one thing. Well actually more than one, but let's face it... I like the dramatic. Cycling. You say, "but we haven't stopped cycling". Exactly. I'm talking about more cycling, cycling that involves dirt. It is CX season. Time to air up the knobbies and head to the parks to run and jump over stuff. I've been riding the CX bike a lot lately, and I'm loving it. "If you have the means, I highly recommend you get one." -That is a Ferris Bueller quote.
I love the mindset that the CX bike puts me in, it's like a search and destroy riding style. This bike has a mind of it's own. Hop curbs, cut through lawns, carve knolls, and well whatever you can handle. Pavement -yes, Dirt -yes, Snow -yes, Rocks -yes, what else you got? YES!
If you are reading this and have not witnessed Cyclocross or CX then you need to do some googling. Get to work! If riding a CX bike is not for you, then maybe you like to drink beer and swear? Well then, CX spectating is for you. One of the best things about CX is heckling. Heckling? You say? YES, it's crazy fun and totally acceptable. Motivation through degradation. Forget all the positive bull crap that people preach, I'm talking about good old trash talk. The worse the better. See where I'm going here? Oh, man is it fun. Come out sometime and try it, it is good for the soul. Get all that negative energy out and hurl it at someone or someone(s). It helps you and it helps the CX racer. True story.
Let's face it, people who race Cross are not right in the head. Take a perfectly good road bike and "modify" it to ride it off road -that's what mountain bikes are for, Right? Now let's find the worst conditions to ride in, add in some sand, barriers, gravel, roots, grass, dirt, mud, and just about anything you can think of -now you have CX. Heck yeah, people! They deserve to be verbally ridiculed on a lap by lap basis. Ah, Cross how we love the.
I can't wait to feel the burn of embro on the skin, cold air piercing my lungs, and frozen appendages. I long for the feeling of sand turning my bike into a slithering snake. The feel of rims bottoming out on rocks and roots. The pure satisfaction of just finishing is sometimes greater than the joy of winning. (paraphrased from Pete Smith of MadAlchemy)
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