Saturday, November 22, 2008

11-22-08: The Cyclocross Experience

Today I had the pleasure of dipping into the culture pool of Cyclocross. My buddies Scott and Taylor had a race at Cheshire Park today, and I made the trip up.

For those unaware of the sport (as I am quite new to it as well; I do my best to understand it from descriptions from Scott), think of it as a mix between mountain biking and road racing, only a little closer to mountain biking. The bikes are a mix of the two. The course: interesting. They have obstacles in the way, sand and mud to trek through, and tight, "off camber" turns made to make you fall off your bike. And hills. Glorious, steep hills in the middle of the woods, that force you to decide whether or not to carry your bike or ride it.

Though it was blisteringly cold and windy today, I had a great time. Scotty and Taylor may not have been completely happy with their times, but being able to drink some beers and trek through the woods to see guys haul ass on their bikes was well worth the trip. Fun time.

After the race I took a short trip up to Southington to meet a good friend and Fraternity Brother, Garrett, for a couple beers. We met up at a sports bar called Sliders, which had pretty good wings. I hadn't seen Garrett in a while, and since I was in the area, I figured it would be a good idea to meet up.

Very cold, but fun, day. Time to go sit in a warm movie theatre and watch Quantum of Solace.

Here's a video to enjoy:


3 comments:

Greg said...

Rad. It is ALWAYS great to hear when a fan has a great time at a 'cross. A good course designer will ensure you don't have to walk too hard to see most of the action from most parts of the course....especially if it means it puts you too far away from your beer cooler. Ha! I hope you get out to see more! Bring a cowbell next time....

Pat said...

Oh I forgot to mention the cowbell. We had plenty of cowbell.

scycle said...

Glad you had a good time! I'll be planning for next year, hopefully it won't be so darn cold and blustery. Hopefully I'll give you guys something to really cheer about by being up front.