Fast, furious and muddy.
All photos: Cycling Art
Q: What happens when you introduce a die hard roadie to the new, wacky and exciting world of cyclocross?
A: A LOT OF ENJOYMENT!
Yesterday, I had the morning to spare and took a drive to New Westminster for the Queens Park CX.
I joined our FRFuggitivi group this time behind the tape. Hard to believe but it was my first time to watch a cyclocross race live. I like the grass roots feel of CX... literally. I felt particularly adventurous standing inches away from the course and almost run into by the riders on a technical corner. The Shimano tape used for the barrier ripped, plowed through by some of the riders. Soon after, a supporter rushed in to the fray, and re-taped it back to normal. I was surprised the course is entirely technical, undulating and potentially hazardous. There is barely room for two bikes to pass so an attack by the lead rider has to be sustained. The course is mud tracks out in the open exposed to mother nature. That's fun and appeals to my inner love for the northern classics. Paris Roubaix's cobbles is the best a 'road' race comes to CX. And there's another fun factor; there's something child like riding, falling down and ending up covered, both bike and rider, in mud. A day's fun accomplished.
I'm a roadie and always attracted to road racing, until yesterday. I'll always be a roadie, now I'm sharing it with my new love for cyclocross. I'm smitten.
It may look easy but fatigue sets in and some riders
ended up tripping over this barrier.
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