I now understand why Mountain biking and racing Cyclocross is so popular. I had my first opportunity to experience both of these yesterday! I had an absolute blast! I was able to ride around on a tricked out cyclocross/mtn bike that my buddy lent me and it couldn't have been more fun. It took a few minutes to figure out the mtn bike shoe clip ins and such but once I got rolling it wasn't to bad. This leads me to the point that I am sure everyone knows is coming...I NEED A MTN BIKE! It's just way to fun not to have one. Plus if i get the right one I can just swap wheels and tires for cyclocross races...
Which leads me to the fact that yesterday I took part in my first cyclocross race ever. Yeah, I was a bit nervous since it was my first time on this type of bike, on this type of terrain, yada yada...excuses excuses..everyones got them. So I'll stop, because the bottom line is..their are some really awesome bike rider out there. And yesterday was no exception, their were some dudes hauling serious a** around that course. I managed to finish 7 laps (the leaders did 8) in 1hr and 4 minutes. I think I crashed about 8 times, 2 of which were serious yard-sales..hahaha. The worst part that the last one wipe-out I had was on the final lap right in a sand pit..my garmin watch flew off and got buried in the sand. Needless to say I was not going to save 25th position and lose my watch..I decided to dig myself out of the sand and then dig up my watch..yeah a couple guys went by me and my momentum was zilch but I didn't lose my garmin :) and I still came in 27th out of 51. A middle of the pack showing, which means I have a TON of room for improvement. I am looking forward to racing in as many of these as I can this fall...it was a really fun time and a great cross training activity. It definitely is a different experience from riding on the road all the time. So for now I will be drooling over Mtn Bikes online and looking at them from every angle and seeing how in the world I may ever be able to obtain one...but luckily I have some pretty cool friends who will let me use theirs for the time being...I can't thank my buddy Scott who owns Towpath Bike Shop for taking care of me and getting me into this aspect of the sport. I really look forward to riding more and more!
Blog is short today...its already almost 5pm..the day absolutely flew by. I need to try and make it to the bike shop and get a new tire for the tri bike wheel so I can ride it on my trainer this winter...then its off to Monday night Yoga...
catch ya later..
MjC
ok, i give you props for taken on a new spot....but your gonna buy a mtn bike and swap out wheels/tires for cross events?
ReplyDeleteclearly, the logical solution is a cyclocross bike AND a mtn bike. That way you don't have to swap wheels. Dude, that will take a minimum of 30 seconds...that's lost training time....;) ;) ;)
j/k of course....lets see some pics of what you decide on.
i second the above notion. cross bikes are just roadies with mtb brakes and fat tires. all the folks i ride around with just swap out tires and brakes in october and rip the crossies all winter. they're good for making rides through the city's (chicago) slush filled roads, hauling ass past hipsters on their bianchi fixeys with skinny tires, and generally being an all terrain speedster.
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