Woodstock 'Cross Report

Photo: J. Wryzca

If conditions were always as they've been the past two weekends, I'd LOVE cyclocross. Unfortunately the mild weather is more of a freak thing so my love/hate relationship with 'cross endures... We had most excellent weather for Sunday's race in Woodstock - sunny skies, minimal wind, and no mud except for a few soft places here and there. I was hating a little bit before warming up but chose to HTFU, get on the bike, suffer through warm up and head to the starting area.

The Woodstock course is very straightforward - 2 miles or so with lots of bumpy grass, some short, punchy hills, a nice dirt singletrack downhill, some off-camber stuff, a double barrier obstacle, single barrier run-up, and one of those stupid-as-hell swirly goat rodeo thingys. I can't really describe it any other way - a course feature where we sort of go in smaller and smaller circles, change direction and corkscrew our way back out. Stupid!! To those who design courses, please...STOP IT!!

I lined up with about 12 women for 45min of fantastic fun. I got the hole shot off the line and managed to get a gap that I held all the way to the end, adding time as I went. We ended up doing 5 laps which was just about enough for me. It was very cool to have a bunch of cheering friends everywhere on the course - seems to take the edge off the suffering just a bit. Special thanks to Brian Akers who lives nearby and came out to say hi and supply much-needed post-race Snickers bars. Thank you Brian!!

The Roscoe Village Bikes Crew

Special thanks also to whomever it was that handed up a bunch of turkey jerky on the run up...ick. That was kind of gross. Note to hecklers: those of us who race early also appreciate quality handups like beer, dog smooches, spam and twinkies - don't just save it all for the later races, okay?

To all my RVB teammates who raced yesterday - well done! You guys are the BOMB. As always, huge congrats to the Pony Shop and Verdigris 'cross teams on their fine finishes - they're duking it out for the team championship and representing well every weekend. Also - Wakes raced somewhere in Iowa or some such place and managed a top 10 finish. Way to go Mike! Best of luck to you at Jingle Cross!

Lastly, thanks as usual to Rob at PSIMET - another victory on Carbon 50s!

What I'm reading at the moment - 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' by Oscar Wilde. Up next, 'Slapstick' by Kurt Vonnegut. Tunes-wise I've been groovin' to The Black Keys and some old school Metallica (before they sold out with the black album...).

Montrose Harbor is 12/05. If it's not snowing, icy, muddy and disgustingly cold, I'll be there...