Cyclocross trumps all other sports

I've been hearing Ryan talk bout cyclocross for many months now, but I never fully understood the intensity of the sport. We went to the national race this weekend in Providence Rhode Island with two other friends. I can safely say it was more exciting than watching most organized sports and it had the added bonus of being potentially gruesome.

The cyclocross bike looks like a road bike but has nobby tires on it, probably to help the rider get through dirt and over ruts in the course. There are also obstacles on the course which force the rider to dismount, lift their bike, run and jump over. Now that's pretty cool. Hurdles in the middle of a bike race.


There are other obstacles, such as stairs built into the hillside which force the rider to dismount, lift their bike and run up them. Sweet!



And then of course there are tight turns around several consecutive corners where you are sure to see a wreck or two. Here is one of the steep hills with a tight corner.
At the bottom of this hill is tight corner #1
Tight Corner #1 is followed by a short but very steep incline and Tight Corner #2 around a TREE. That's where we saw wreck #1, as shown below:

This wreck didn't seem too bad to me. I mean, scary, painful, humiliating, sure! But of the two other wrecks we saw, it was by far the least gruesome. The cyclist at least got on the bike and quickly entered the race again.

The next wreck we saw happened because the cyclist's bike snapped in two. And the third wreck involved one man falling down while another man rode right over the top of his leg. That looked pretty awful. Did the offender pause to see if the fallen man was okay? Not a chance! The race moves on my friend. The race moves on.

And if the races weren't captivating enough, there were always some interesting spectators.

Such as hula girl who would remove her winter jacket whenever the winning pack was coming through to share her coconut shells and a grass skirt with the world.

I'm sure it was motivational. You'll have to look VERY closely to find her in the photo below. I don't have a telephoto lens and wasn't feeling chipper enough to saunter over and ask for her photo. That would be weird.

Sumo Wrestlers

And I don't know what these two guys were trying to be, but they were very noticeable in their neon orange jumpsuits. The suit says something about racing but it was related to cars and not bikes. I don't get it.

We cheered on all the riders. even the poor guy who was dead last. Well, we all cheered except me because I was doped up on cold medication and conserving energy in order to make it through the day.
If I learned anything on Saturday, it's that cyclocross is really cool, my friend Starr can cheer REALLY loud, and I have more dignity and self-control than most paparazzi. I just couldn't take the photo of the guy whose bike broke, especially when he was crying. But I suppose that isn't a bad thing.