Sunday, November 22, 2009

The dog days of cyclocross



Craptastic weather made for a fine cyclocross competition in Coeur d'Alene today. Snow and rain, mud and cold bring out great performances in this sport. And I'm just talking about the spectators.

Almost the entire course could be seen from the vantage point of the parking lot, including a double spiral of slick sharp turns.


Riders resorted to hi-tech measures, like foot baggies.




What they really needed was whole-body baggies.




Familiar heroes included Steph, Glen, and Tom. Justin rode his first-ever cross race! (Just don't call him Chester.) Glen and Tom were on Elephants, Justin borrowed John's Bridgestone, Steph was on her Pulse. Here's Glen on his cyclocross bike, he later rode in the mtb division. He may even have finished, but we were too cold to wait and see.




The riders worked up some body heat, but the spectators had to put up with the drizzle.




Though at least one dog was smart enough to bring an umbrella, and nice enough to share it with his humans.




And that concludes the cyclocross season for 2009. You may now mount your studded tires.

3 comments:

Mike Sirott said...

Great post and great pics. Wow, just like that, 'cross 2009 is a memory. Great season everyone.

John Speare said...

Great post Nate! Thanks.

Alan said...

That day was CRAZY! There was a point in my very short 30-minute race when I thought, "My feet are going to fall off. I'm going to freeze to death. And I PAID for this?!" I can't imagine what the longer races must have felt like.