PCL 'Cross Practice Series #1 Starts With a BANG...

In the CVO-snapped image above, JP leads the pack on the second of three 'sessions'. I gotta' say... JP was flyin' last night!! It was awesome to see how fast he was going on his bright orange Salsa La Cruz. It seems the new bike is working well for him. Not only was JP super smooth on the dismounts, he was also displaying MASSIVE POWER on the asphalt section. Impressive...

We had an awesome turnout last night for the first of the PCL Wednesday night 'cross training rides (details here). A great mix of experienced 'crossers, aspiring 'crossers looking to dig their cleats in and just about everyone in-between showed up. It was really rad... and really fun... and I'm really sore today. Cyclocross is a waaaaaay different sport than 24 hour solo racing.

That said, I love 'cross so much!!! It makes you hurt so bad you can't help but know you're alive. Laura almost couldn't handle how much energy I had in me when I got home last night... it was insane. I couldn't slow down! Yeah, I'm hooked into it again.

You know what I love the most about 'cross? The feeling as you step off the bike in a crowd of ten riders, at full-speed, at a dead run, leading up to a set of barriers... That's just freaking awesome. There's nothing that compares to that rush -- at least not that I know of.

Some random notes/thoughts:

• In addition to JP, -kw, Coach and Troy Krause were riding super last night too -- very impressive power and speed. -kw gets extra style points for doing it on his Moots 29er with 2.3" WTB ExiWolf tires mounted up for extra rolling resistance.
  
• Supa' fast Don Raskey was right up there too. Nice ridin' buddy. I saw a lot of your backside...
  
• Syd Brown -- You can call her The Terminator, 'cuz that's what she's gonna' do to anyone she races against this season. Anyone that's surprised by those words doesn't know her well. I spent more time behind Syd last night than in front of her... put it that way. She was rockin' and rollin' last night. An addendum... I was thinking at lunch that Syd rides like she's got an exclamation point following her around constantly. If she was a word, it would be ALLEZ!
  
• Schlake showed his signature speed too, but had an uncharacteristic run-in with a grill in the second heat, then took a tumble in a barrier section in the third heat. Whaddya' gotta' do to get a little luck around here?!! I bet it'll come next week, because when he stayed on the bike, he was going really well.
• Cornbread always amazes me with the size of the gear he can pedal seemingly effortlessly on his singlespeed Bianchi 'cross bike. If I tried that shit I'd end up in the hospital with two very blown up knees... You're a freaking animal Cornbread!!!
  
• This was my first full-speed trial of my Chili Con Crosso set-up, and I came away very happy with its performance overall. I raised the saddle 1mm when I got home, and am lowering the bars 5mm, but otherwise, I think we're good to go fit-wise.
• I ran my Hutchinson clinchers last night, and they worked very well at 40psi (f)/42psi (r). Next week I plan to run my other wheels with the Tufo tubular/clinchers. Hopefully since we'll be running on the same course, I'll be able to get a feel for the performance nuances between the two tire types.
• Post PCL, mw, Butchie, Woodman, KW and I rode south on the Jamaica for a bit. Craziest thing was that it may have been the first ride I've ever been on where the majority of the riders were on fixxies. Kev and I were the only "free" riders present. Despite the seeming disharmony, everyone got along just fine, thank you very much.

All in all, what went down yesterday was a very good thing for the cycling scene in Lincoln, and already I can't wait 'til next week! Hope to see you there!

Have a great day!

Cheers,
MG