Photo by Scott Thigpen – at the beginning of the race approaching the stairs. The terror is visible in my eyes.

Sloss Furnaces is an amazingly picturesque historic site with roots going back to the founding of Birmingham. We are very lucky to be able to race there during our cyclocross series; I think it’s my favorite venue! Although I’m not doing at all well this year, I upped my category to the Women’s 1/2/3 for this race because of our series rules. I like to tell myself that getting top 10 in 1/2/3s is something to brag about, even if it was 9th out of 9. Le sigh.

Mary Lou Davis, along with Kim Cross as the racer, created a brilliant video of the Sloss race that highlights both the beauty of the venue and the awesomeness that is cyclocross in Alabama. The race footage is from the race I was in, but I was so far behind Kim that I’m nowhere to be seen. Imagine me struggling somewhere in there if you so wish.

These past two weekends had back to back cross races for us here in Alabama, but I was sick for the most recent one. I gotta tell ya, it was pretty nice just to sit back and watch the race without the stress/nerves/flutterings/hyperventilation associated with my own racing preparations. Also, that course was a bitch and I am GLAD I didn’t have the pleasure of racing on it. Ew.

But the weekend before was our annual Halloween race and it was a blast! I wore my slutty french maid costume again this year (because when else am I going to wear it), but this year I decided I was Magenta from Rocky Horror Picture Show to go along with Rossitron’s costume. You’ll see who he went as below!

The course had a fair few barriers, some steep climbing areas, and there was a long and tricky single track section through the woods, but I took it easy and just enjoyed the ride. Lo and behold, I got 5th! Wahoo moving up in the pack…or something.

There was a great showing of costumes among the women – zombie school girl won best costume of the day. A few of the Bici dudes dressed up as well (BACON AND EGGS!), but overall the dudes seemed to think that racing was more important than having some fun for once. LAME. Rossitron did greatin his race and looked mighty sexy as Dr. Frankenfurter while doing it. Delicious!

Our next race will be the Anniston night race. Things are gonna get crazy!

Here’s a video from the race – not mine, but the course I rode on. The boys in baby blue are my team. Don’t they look great?

Dusty! Terribly Dusty! (Photo via Boris)

We got new jerseys this year and they are wonderful! Baby blue really stands out in the crowd. We also got quite a few new folks on the team this year, including another female – welcome to the team Brooke (and the other guys, whatevs this is a blog about girls). Brooke ended up getting 2nd, and Kate, who is in the class above, got 3rd. Way to go ladies!

Brooke is very funny (Photo via Theresa)

Really, the dust just clogged me up too much. We had an epic sand pit that by the third or fourth lap was covered by a giant dusty cloud, and once I got myself out of there I was done for. Pulled over, leaned to the side, you know the rest. Alas this cost my a few positions in the pack that I was not able to recover. I ended in 5th (aka last meh), and when I got back to the tent it was time for round two of pukeyness. But once that was over it was party tiiiime!

Rossitron will destroy you (photo via Boris)

The highlight of this race was the beer-ups. First race of the season I suppose people were a little confused about what was in those cups. One of our team members proceeded to dump it on his head, and another took one sip and the spewed it out while simultaneously throwing the cup back at us. Come on guys, who would give out free water to strangers? IT’S BEER OR NOTHING!

Sometimes I wish Cyclocross was just about riding and not so much racing. It’s totally fun when you’re just cruising around and drinking beer, but I suppose there’s that whole sense of accomplishment thing whenever you puke your guts out while attempting to attain glory. Here’s to another season of pain and misery!!

As the Bamacross season approaches (1 month to go!), the Bici team has gotten into a groove of Sunday morning practicing, followed by brunch at our favorite local spot for yummy food and brilliant live music, Bottletree Cafe. I’m proud that I’ve gotten a bit more serious about training up this year, and hope that this season will be a little more successful than the last.

However, I gotta say that Cyclocross was not created for above 90F temps. Many days end with me feeling like my whole head is literally on fire, and that’s when I slam on the brakes, tear my helmet off, slump onto a bench, and enjoy watching the boys chasing each other. Portland, you got some things going for you this time of year (who am I kidding…all year), but at least I’ll enjoy my season mostly free of freezing rain and mud.

Here were our guys in the single speed class. They totally rocked it, and raced in the 1/2/3 race as well. Because they’re bad ass like that.

Travis was all over the messy parts. He knows how to get down with that. Uh huh.

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Kate suffered through the pleasure of this race, reppin it for all the ladies out there (ahem ME) who were too much of a weenie to get out. Kicked that guy’s ass…by the looks of this picture. Who knows, I was too drunk most of the time to know what was going on.

I really think all the mayhem we caused added much to this event – mid-race wheelie competitions, beer costume, waffles (!), drinking before noon, yelling like crazy people, cowbelling like there’s no tomorrow. Also, the weather was really unbelievable that weekend, so everyone was just generally happy.

Cyclocross season is over in most places, but you should really think about going out to a race or two next season just to yell and scream at some folks on bikes. I can’t think of a much more enjoyable way to spend a Sunday.

(Photos ganked from Russell Fulmer’s facebook)

(The look on the kid’s face is very similar to what I looked like at this point. A whole lotta “oh shit”)

Sunday had us at Sloss Furnaces, bundled up, drinking Red Bike Coffee, and embrocating. I think I jumped the gun on the medium embro (mine is Russian Thee from Mad Alchemy) – while I was racing it felt awesome, but when the midday sun came out my legs were burning with an uncomfortable ferocity. The grill was busy churning out delicious burgers courtesy of Barton’s Nursery and the beer was flowing; another successful week for our team in both fun points and winner points.

BBC (Birmingham Bicycle Company, to be clear) set up a great course for this week. After the hell we’ve been through with the previous courses, Sloss was nice and flat with some playful twists, turns, and roundabouts, a few obsticle laden trails, and a vicious little back side. Sloss is also a picturesque venue. There’s nothing like imagining the grueling manual labour under sweltering heat for steel and iron work to really get you going. Let’s hope we weren’t huffing through any terrifying dust particles.

Kate rocked the Women’s 4s once again this week with a strong 2nd place finish. She’ll be up there making cash money with the 1/2/3 soon enough! Unfortunately she bonked her knee during a dismount, so lets hope that heals up soon. I felt a little bit better with this course (unsurprisingly I prefer flat sprints to hill climbs), and didn’t get last. Hoorah!

The guys in the Men’s 4s performed AMAZINGLY, their best week yet! Ross took 1st, Alan 4th, and Daniel 5th. Hell Yes. This was Ross’ last week with the 4′s – rules dictate that next race he’ll be up with Sam in the 1/2/3s, and we will all be entertained watching their brother race dynamics.

There was an absolutely adorable kids race mixed in somewhere. We screamed for them all, and I remember Brent’s youngest in particular was very excited about the whole thing. Finally, Sam and Lee got our there and powered through the course with brute force and excellent form. I think Sam finished up nicely in the top 10? We’ll find out soon enough!

Right now we’re sitting comfortably around 4th place in terms of team points, which I think is saying something considering we’re a bunch of rag tag hoodlums. Way to go team!!!

EDIT: Sam had an 8th place finish, and we have a new team memeber that I was unaware of! John placed 3rd in the Men’s 4, and we welcome you with open arms and hands full of PBR.

Skirted working girl riding her sweet bike around, ready to make salted caramel brownies, cuddle her cat Sylvia, and listen to old episodes of This American Life

To this…

Pissed off Cyclocross girl who doesn’t want to be practicing right after work

Well, I’ve got one word for you: KATE

Kate happens to be the new female rider on the Bici Cyclocross team this year, and she is kicking ass! While I was hanging out in Kentucky drinking too much beer and being a general slob this past weekend, she was winning the freaking Bamacross women’s 4. My belief is that she has accomplished this through a combination of running, spinning classes, general gym attendance, and practice. Ugh.

Last year I just hung out and rode around, barely getting on my cx bike when not racing and having a grande old time. I was nowhere near as fast or skilled as the top women in our class, and I was enough ahead of the others, so overall not too bothered. Now Kate’s come along and showing me that she is legitimately better than me because she actually works out and stuff. Why is she doing this to me?!

Thanks a lot, Kate. Thanks for setting the bar high. Yeah. This is the face of someone not amused. Whatever, Bici Coop team will dominate all fields at that next race. GRRRRR

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P.S. Anna is the one racing Cyclocross, not Elisa. Elisa has a busted foot, Anna races Cyclocross.

P.P.S. I did make those brownies last week, and they were ungodly delicious.

Bici was the sponsor for the first race, so our group was responsible for setting up the course, helping with registration and scoring, and tearing down. Saturday evening after set up we had a great meal with the volunteers and racing team.  On the menu was spaghetti alla norma, salad, stout cupcakes and floats (carbo loading guys!). Alas, while cooking I cut my finger pretty deep. The things I do for these people. Oh well, I loves them!

We were back bright and early the next morning to finish set up and to get the party started. Kate and I were up first at 10:oo am. The course was absolutely horrible, a combination of dry dirt that created a dust cloud which we then huffed and puffed through, serious climbs and run ups, and one dry creek bed. Kate absolutely dominated (this was her first race ever) and finished second!

I, however, crashed out on the second lap in that dry creek bed. I fell to the drive side of my bike, broke my shifter which stuck my gears in the “impossible to ride” chain ring, opened up my wound from the night before, and gave me some wicked bruises along my right side. Bummer of bummers, I was out of the race. Cool points though for getting my bike covered in blood.

Up next were Ross, Alan, and Daniel. They did great, in a crowd of about 50 guys Ross ended in 5th and Alan 8th. Way to go!!

Finally we had Sam and Lee reppin it for the mens 1/2/3. Sam won last year so he’s been bumped up to the pros. He totally aped it…or something, and finished 5th overall.

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Overall team Bici rocked this race. I was sad that I crashed, but I really need to get out and practice much more so I will have better control of my bike and hopefully next time I’ll be much more prepared. The next race is at Cooper Green park again; fingers crossed that creek crossing will not be a part of the course. Alan did a roundup over at the Bici Racing blog.

Go Kate!!