Heckle Hill at Cincinnati’s Kings CX featuring the digital Ghoul and the Piñata. Photo courtesy of Thoman Nguyen
We asked what everyone missed about cyclocross season, and you all stepped up to the plate with some great answers. Enjoy!
“What don’t I miss?!” -Lori Cooke
“The smell of embrocation in October…” -Sean P.
Mad Alchemy Embrocation
“Laughing about the mishaps. Most of which were my own…” –Joshua N. Schwiesow
“Two main things:
1. I miss ignoring the local pool and not having to do swim training to prepare for a triathlon (okay, so that’s not a ‘serious’ answer).
2. What I miss mostly is everyone being at the same races. Right now, my team is all over for triathlons, mountain bike races, gravel grinders, and whatnot. If more than two or three of us are at the same race, it’s a miracle. Not so during the cyclocross season. The same group shows up for Wednesday Night World’s. The same group is there on Sunday, duking it out in the mud. Almost the whole team is there and it’s a complete blast.
I guess I also miss only having to race for 45 minutes. These 1:20 mountain bike races and 2:00 triathlons are killing me.”
-Kit Cischke
“My ’cross lung, definitely.” -HollisCX
“Upgrade/sandbagging/podium size debates.” -Bill Schieken of CXHairs
“I miss the week prior to a race when you have that training ride excitement: this is when I’m the most confident and feel like, ‘This is a good idea.’
I miss the night before jitters: when I empty my race day bag and double check that I have everything, try to sleep, and can’t wait to get to the race, questioning myself, ‘Is this is a good idea?’
I miss the morning of freak out: where I begin to feel sick and talk myself out of racing, convinced that it is a bad idea, only to have my wife convince me to go or, ‘I’ll regret it.’
I miss warming up pre-race. I feel like a pro, and I miss the post-race euphoria/sense of accomplishment/dry heave, where it was, is, and always will be a good idea to race ’cross!”
-Jesse D.
A flurry of cowbells! Illustration © Sean Horita
“The ringing of cowbells!” -Waffles and Steel
“Bacon hand-ups, sub sandwiches for breakfast, IPA.” -David S.
“I miss six days every week of remembering last week’s falls, blunders, and joys. And looking forward to new courses, people, and weather. Last week, I serendipitously happened upon another rider while riding my cross bike on a local forest trail. He invited me to join his team and told me about a summer ’cross series starting soon.” -Geoffrey Grosenbach
“Mostly I just miss riding in cooler weather and having a race to look forward to every weekend.” -Sean Yeager
“The fun and humor of racers and spectators. Cycling can be so serious at road events and even some mountain biking events. Cyclocross has laughter and playfulness to keep spectators warm … And hot chocolate or coffee with a shot of whiskey on the cooler days/evenings.” -Jaclyn Casale
” Heckling and booze hands up. The former sort of transfers to road racing. The latter, not so much. And wiping embro from my hands.” -Nate Phelps
Jeremy Powers (Team Rapha-Focus) showing relief and disbelief as he finally wins the Elite Men National Cyclocross Championship. © Tim Westmore
“Cooler weather, heckling, hand-ups (beer), laughing my a** off, bagpipes, mariachi bands, getting dirty on purpose, racers dressed up or lack of, full days+ worth of fun.” -QuickKarl
“Decompressing from one race and immediately psyching myself up for the next.” -Mike Clark
“Cool temps, tacky ground.” -Evan Fry
One of our favorites …
“Racing cyclocross.” -VeloSpence
Haven’t weighed in? Do it in the comments!
