I know, I know: I will get on it and produce my own content soon...but these videos make me weepy for what was an amazing time for racers and spectators alike at Nationals in Bend. I like this one in particular as it focuses on the working man 'crossers and all the suffering that is apparent to our sport.

(We're going to have to help FARfromEARTH Films to understand it's 'cyclO-cross'. Not cyclE-cross. In fact, we'll have to help ElGee there out too. HA!)

Hup!

CYCLE CROSS BEND OREGON 2009(sat. last race mens) from FARfromEARTH Films on Vimeo.

We need more helicopters at cyclocross races. Witness the Whirlybird Cross in PA. This course is done RIGHT (course designers take note of the ingenious and creative use of land. 

Complete schedule is here. First airing is tonight at 7PM MST!

I've had no warm up. No time to guage the corners, the transitions, the start chute.

I'm coming in cold and trusting my instincts and experience. Yet my first lap is going terribly.

The fans who line the tape and expecting a performance must be thinking 'this guy's not that great'. Or so the mind is looping and trying to convince itself.

Try and be calm. Try and be smooth. Try to have confidence. Try to be strong.

Trust yourself even in the face of an over excited mind tripping into overdrive, sending out radically thrashing signals of fight and flight. No time to even understand what is the right path...or if there is another path that I simply can not see.

Ebb and flow. Feel the bike and trust the tires. Use your experience and limit your dabs. You are allowed some and are expected to have them. But be prepared to clip back in....

...and sprint.