First weekend of cross season 2011 (for me) is in the books!
Feeling very reflective on my wonderful cycling family today. Someone told me once that after college it's pretty much impossible to make new friends. As someone who doesn't really have any college friends that they keep in touch with, I call bull on that. The people I've met through cycling, primarily cyclocross, are some of the funniest, kindest, smartest, most generous people I've ever met. These are not people that I would likely cross paths with in any other facet of my life, but there's a bond of friendship that's formed during those fall weekends that is pretty significant.
The races were interesting this year; the European pros in town to get some early UCI points really ran away with things, and it was pretty awesome to watch. Helen Wyman, the British national champion, just destroyed the women's elite field with style and skills. The European men dominated the men's elite field and had some pretty fabulously bright kits too.
Since Steve isn't racing, I didn't get there until about halfway through the day either day, which was a different experience from being there for the whole day. I think that there was also more socializing than watching on my part, with it being the first race and all. Saturday was the first time in five years of attending that I've ever seen Charm City WET. The chill in the air was refreshing, and I suppose the clouds and drizzle were appropriate for a cross race. Sunday remained cool, but the sun dried out the course enough to make it a little more "normal," except - it was run backwards! Very cool, but so different to watch.
I feel like my thoughts are a little lacking this week, maybe I'm not fully into race mode yet for the year or something, not sure. I'm still struggling a bit with the "fancy camera" and probably focusing a little more on it than on watching the races at this point. I'm ending up with a lot fewer pictures this year, and even though the ones I have are nicer quality, I feel somewhat frustrated. You can check out my C3CX galleries for Day 1 and Day 2 if you like.
No comments:
Post a Comment