Tuesday Cyclocross

Tuesday at Aquila park is the local cyclo-cross scene. I've missed most of them because I thought they were still UCI sanctioned races, but they dropped that and the price this year. I have a write up on it here: cyclo-cross.

Blake and I miss the last few for several reasons but the last race of the season isn't to be missed. We end up in different races but that's cool, we get to see each other race.

Loading the gate, all 120+ of us

Horn goes off and we all lean into the gears for the next 30 minutes. I'm not in shape to race but I try and dish out the pain to others in less shape. I pass lots of people but my legs are failing me.

To make things interesting they put up barriers to jump.

Steep climb with hairpin turns challenge every riding skill.

Blake joins the second race because he missed the first by minutes.

The second race is 45 minutes long and is supposed to be harder and faster. I don't know if that happened the last week. It's fast but I see people from my heat in the longer race so I know they are low on fuel.

Blake does good. I see him chase, catch and pass lots of riders with their tongue hanging out like panting dogs.

The hill climb is slow and a good place to take 'hand ups' or treats to help fuel the legs or spirit. Some by which are literally spirits. Beer mostly but I saw a few shots. This is, after all, the last of the season and a party atmosphere. Many will not see each other until next September.

The 'hand up' line. We get cupcakes, White Castle burgers, Pasties, lots of sweets.

These are the hazards. They symbolize the original races that took place in France where by racers would jump fences to shorten the distance from town steeple to steeple. Called a 'Steeple chase race' then became cyclocross everywhere.

Like many races there is a lot of yelling motivation to riders and riders panting and making animal noises as they suffer up a hill. My first write up had more story so I encourage you to follow the link, cyclo-cross, which brings me to my second reason for posting. I can't continue to post stuff at same rate as I once did. I'm still doing stuff every week but it's repetitive and I can't make cyclocross fun to read and it's been two years so I will need to change how I tell a story or simply post less often.