"Why did you ride a cyclocross bike anyway?" Frank Sledder asked.
"Because I don't have a mountain bike" I replied.
It's true, I don't have a mountain bike. Not yet at least. But that didn't stop me from jumping on my cx bike with the cat 2 (40-49 age group) for my first foray into mountain bike racing. I raced the Psycowpath Jewell time trial on Saturday and then again at Swanson for the short track race in the afternoon. On Sunday, I returned for the Swanson cross country race.
I had a blast. Pure emotional excitement.
Glutton for punishment? Hardly. More like feast of adrenalin. What a rush.
I mean, have you seen the cyclocross bike I ride? Total frankenbike. It's was faith that rolled an old Scattante frame mated to well-used Racelite/Tiagra wheels with bald mud tires through twisting single track. It was courage and a 1x9 drive train that powered its giddy'up. It was stubborn persistence that found the right gears on a beat up Tiagra shifter mated to a 105 rear deraileur that has lived many years beyond its manufacturer's life expectancy. Somehow, that bucket of bolts carried me to the finish line.
When I was a kid, one of my favorite roller coasters at Six Flags Mid America (St Louis) was the Mine Train. The Mine Train wasn't the tallest, fastest or loopiest. It didn't even have loop-de-loops. What it had -- and had in abundance -- was chaos. Its designer was either a genius or insane or both. The Mine Train herked and jerked and dropped and rose suddenly with frenetic energy that was untamed.
That, my friends, was what racing a frankencross bike at the Psychowpath races was like this past weekend. Especially in the roller coaster back section of the Jewell TT.
Don't get me wrong. I look forward to racing a real mountain bike one day. But until then, it's frankencross Mtn bike 24x7x365. Yeah boy, unh.
Fellow non-mountain bike cx'ers, come out and join me. You can do this. The mountain bike crowd is tons of fun. RF, Roxy and company do a great job putting on the Psychowpath series.
And lastly, we don't want to let the fat bikes steal the freak show now, do we?
Uh huh, yeah. Nice. Keep winning and there won't be anyone else out there riding mountain bikes either. Excellent. Good job. Congratulations. Etc.
ReplyDeleteThanks Fred. I'd welcome the sight of more cross bikes with riders in Calvin Klein v-neck cotton tees and Tony Hawk shorts. Rung what ya brung, wear what ya care
ReplyDeleteEvery time you win a XC race on a CX bike a baby 29r dies! (They are born, not made.) Don't be cruel. And get some lycra! And maybe an aero helmet. (It was a TT, after all. )
ReplyDeleteThanks, but no way, man. 29ers are where it's at. Trust me, I'd be runging one of those if I had it. But I beg to differ on the cotton kit. It was a refreshing change. You should try it some time.
ReplyDelete