Cyclocross is taking off everywhere. Michigan is no exception. What it is is fun plus bike racing. The two don’t always go together. CX makes it happen.
My take on things is that some casual cyclists who mostly do their mellow riding in the summer — that is, not in the winter to get ready for summer — finally get into decent bike fitness come fall-time! And they’re not even burned out on bikes since they’ve been mellow all summer, just enjoyin’ the bikin’. For them CX might be a natural.
CX is park-based. Lots of pretty fall foliage. Easy spectating.
It’s riding any old bike around the park then picking it up and dashing over hurdles and up short hills before remounting and riding off again. Repeat til crazy. Go as fast as you like. Use a high-end CX bike or a mtbike. Some improved traction is probably a good idea, but a touring road bike with slight knobbies would likely work (that’s what I’m going to use).
And as the KissCross logo says, it’s “Racing for Beer.”
KissCross is an amazing new CX series hosted by Rick Plite, a guy who’s launched several very popular new bike races on the west side of the state, including The Lumberjack 100 and the Barry Roubaix.
But there are CX events everywhere around here.
Of course the season is well under way and I’ve been remiss in not including CX in on my upcoming seasonal indie outdoor culture roster, but here it is…
The east-side has plenty of events as well. In particular there’s a double-header coming up in Ann Arbor at Vet’s Park on Halloween weekend. Costume required. That’s the spirit! (I’m still workin’ on mine.)
…The Nightmare Before ‘Crossmas: twowheeltango.com/page.cfm?pageid=219
And here’s a link to Bike Monkey, a mag, blog and event-host that offers a big taste of a CX mentality that spreads out to cover all forms of cycling, courtesy of the left-most West-Coast, that is, Nor Cal: www.bikemonkey.net/
