Fellow BABBLE member Steve A (DFW Point-To-Point) had the crazy idea to compete in the Broken Films Cross cyclocross race. Since the race was being held in Fort Worth, and there was a good possibility that I could get a photo of Steve puking or worse, I decided to go. My little girl accompanied me and really enjoyed taking photos and video of the carnage occurring in what I'm calling the mud pit. Unfortunately there are no photos of Steve losing his lunch. Steve actually did a pretty darned good job.
Here's Steve hanging tough in the mud pit. There were lots of crashes here at the beginning of the 10:30 AM race. The ground seemed to firm up as the day continued resulting in fewer falls.
This is my daughter capturing the action on video.
I was really impressed with this guy, first of all because of his cool white beard, and second, because he was the only guy on an old lugged steel framed bike. He was pretty tough.
I think 1x9 is a great setup for this type of event.
Cyclocross wasn't the only thing happening at the park this morning.
Racers gathering for the start of the 11:30 AM race.
Me and my daughter took turns filming the race. We didn't bother moving out of the mud pit area since that was one of the more entertaining sections of the course. Unfortunately we didn't stay for the men's 1,2,3 race.
As RatTrap is too kind to say, the photos of yours truly show a "lapper" about to be lapped. This stuff truly IS fun and winning is not more than a bonus. It was a real boost to see him and his daughter there.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to being able to return the favor.
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ReplyDeleteActually, 1X4 would be perfect if it were the right 4. As the event went on, I only used 2 gears. One for the mudpit and back up, and the other for the rest of the course. The fast riders might have used another 2 gears.
ReplyDeleteAwesome. Way to compete, Steve, and nice coverage, Myles. Looks like too much anaerobic pain to me. I'm thinking the spectator side of the orange fence is probably best.
ReplyDeleteThat's just fantastic! Glad you and Steve had a lotta fun.
ReplyDeletePeace :)
Steve... this is from #21, the guy who is about to pass/lap you in the first photo. First...great job out there. That was a challenging course. I apologize because I know I didn't have a "clean" pass and pushed you off of your line. The second photo shows me about to cut you off. My foul caught on film!
ReplyDeleteIt was fun. No apology is necessary or warranted. I met all my race objectives which were basically to try this out to see if it might be something I'd want to do more than once. See my own post on the event from the perspective of a first-time "lapper" at:
ReplyDeletehttp://dfwptp.blogspot.com/2009/11/cyclocross-observations.html
Had it not been a case of a faster rider overtaking a slower one, an attempt at pushing me off of my line would have resulted in a diversion fall for the overtaking rider (that'd be you). In the event, it would have been gauche of me not to facilitate passing by competitive riders.
Next year, you may find it a little more challenging...