Non-Crusade Crusade Race 11/19

So, this was an unusual event, because the big national series was in town and sort of took over our sweet little thing we’ve got going here in PDX--the Cross Crusade. I could have raced for a couple minutes with the best in the nation (one minute at the beginning and another when they lap me) if I’d wanted to shell out $150 bucks for an international racing license… nuff said.

Instead, I raced the single speed category. My sweet-ass CCX bike became, overnight, a sweet-ass singlespeed CCX bike when Bene lent me his eccentric hub… yeah, weird bike stuff… forget I mentioned it. It suffices to say that it’s sweet. And, the race was a breath of wet air: I finally got to race with teammates that have basically been playing a different sport all season. Of particular note is VS’s singlespeed top gun, Tommy, who, (yes, yes, yes!) had trouble keeping up with me (but not much). That felt real nice, not because I’m dying to beat my friend, but because homeboy can ride, and it meant that I had to be doing well. But that was about all that felt nice this fine day. Singlespeed is brutal. You can’t go fast on the smooth stuff and you can’t even ride the rough stuff. Major technique is the game. The course was a bog and I barely rode that sweet-ass bike at all. I ran every sharp corner, incline and obstacle. Converse to my usual “geared” practice: it was the time spent running that felt like a break. Crazy. I hate running. I’ve never kept that fact a secret. But it was all fun and games. For real. It was super fun.

The real event was to just watch the USGP races (and the hot tub). Epic. They rode so fast and so smooth for so long. I’ve got much work to do next season if I want a piece of that action.

Coming soon: season wrap-up. It's done. It's over.