“Sometimes, your cross bike punches you in the face…"
... so went a tweet sent out by Justin Lindine after some kind of facial mishap on a stair run-up at the Catamount Grand Prix.
The timing of this tweet hit a bit close to home knowing that both Skinny Phil & myself are feeling the effects of a bit of arse kicking at the hands of the CX bikes. I tried a remount using my ribs (bad idea) on Saturday at Critz 'Cross & Skinny upped the game on Sunday at Kirkland CX when he tested a corollary to a law of physics that goes something like a bike in motion tends to stay in motion unless you hit a stake. And to our three followers, do not fret, we'll be fine and back at it next week.
So after our respective Sunday races, Skinny & I found ourselves parked on the tailgate of buddy Wes' pickup talking cx, life, more cx, work and even more cx. The sun had just poked through and the temperature seemed to rise just enough from sorta pleasant to September perfect ... oh yeah, should probably mention Wes' truck had a stash of cold Blue Lights in the back. As we sat there, a few of our cx buds gathered to chat, trade a war story and a laugh or two & discuss where we would be racing next weekend.
It was then that it occurred to me yet again, as it seems to at the start of each new cx season -- that this is why I love cx -- the fairly serious but not too serious competition, a cold beer, the fleeting warmth of the autumn sun and most importantly - the people. As I was soaking it all in, one of our local buddies rides up with a big smile, a brew in his hand, and while clearly in the midst of a good post race glow gestures around the race area and says "Man, it don't get much better than this". And by damn I think he was right.
Here we were - we were chillin with our people - the people - 'cross people.
