pdxcross

At Sunday’s Halloween race, cyclocross phraseology took a small step forward. “Tron” became a verb. The word, coined by karate guy, cowboy guy and a bottle of whiskey, was inspired of course by the troupe of Tron characters frolicking about.

Tron [ verb ]

1: the act of hitting a cross rider who does not wear a costume for a halloween ride with a flying disc: here comes a dude in spandex! Tron him!
2: the act of hitting Rick Potestio with many flying discs, no matter what he is wearing.

Besides Tron characters, we also spotted:

A viking, a port-a-potty, a bag of sand, a fraulein, Elvis, Evel, at least five Sarah Palins, witches, cavemen, a primate or two, some super heroes, Joe six pack, Duffman, several farm animals, bunny rabbits, Uncle Sam, three mexican wrestlers, a few brides and one bridezilla, basketball stars, rock stars, rap stars, porn stars, fairies, angels, devils, dancing girls, circus performers, cheerleaders, aliens, martians (there is a difference) Darth Vader, Boba Fett, Paul Bunyan, Babe the Blue Ox, a pilgrim, John Baker, an entire Wizard of Oz family, pirates, a box, a banana, cowgirls, lots of butt cheeks and a whole lot of “What the hell was that.”

I am sure we missed a ton. let us know what you saw.

What a great weekend.
-rob

A couple of beers into a concert on Friday, I asked my buddy if he thought I had better chance of doing well on Saturday’s race when the field would be about half the usual size or Sunday’s race when folks might be tired, hung over, over costumed or all of the above. In an effort to postpone pain, I decided to go for Sunday’s race. But Saturday morning, twenty minutes before my category was to start, I found myself just outside of Astoria thinking about going for it. I called a fellow pdxcrosser who was already at the race and he signed me in. I think my Big Red Van caught air on that impossibly steep hill in Astoria. I rolled up to the start area just as the official blew the whistle. Game on.

So the morning that started with a lazy drive to the coast, evolved into a great day of racing on a fast, bumpy, twisty course. There were a handful of costumes that attracted attention and a 4-H bird show was going on near the parking lot, but for the most part Saturday was race day. Tents went up, grills came out and the sun set revealing more stars than I’d seen in along time. The evening ended with a naked guy on a BMX bike launching himself over a bonfire to cheers and gasps from the crowd gathered tight in the chilly air (we withheld that photo - you should thank us).

I went back to the Big Red Van in order to catch a few hours of sleep before Sunday. I knew that the following day would bring about some serious cross craziness. I was not disappointed.
-tim

Sorry to all for the delay. Monday was a marathon of a day and i could never get around to building this slideshow.  i am starting the Halloween edition and will have it done as soon as i can - don’t give up on us.
-rob

“real” life is conspiring against us today. As you can imagine there are many goofy photographs to wade through and sadly other obligations beckon. Check back later, I hope to have at least 1 of 2 slideshows done later today.

sorry, rob

Hey, campers, your friends at pdxcross.com have something for you to do while waiting to get muddy (or not) this weekend. Have a long, sweet look at the photo above, write a caption for it, and post the caption as a comment. Make it funny or something, because we’re not doing this to get bored. We’re hoping you all come up with something to brighten the dull space during the week between cross races.

Have fun. Or not. Whatever makes you happy.

-torsten

Just as the Hot Shot Men were about to get the whistle that would start their race, a cheer rose from the top of the long hill at Rainier High School. The last rider in the women’s classes struggled to make it the last 100 meters to the finish line, while a crowd of spectators cheered. The men behind the start line stood in the warm afternoon sun, waiting for that last rider to finish and for the spectators to turn their attention to the longest, fastest race of the day.

This is one of the many things we love about cyclocross. No one seemed impatient with that last rider, the spectators took her efforts seriously, the hot shots seemed to respect her race.

Maybe it was nothing more than the warm sun that burned off the morning’s chill and fog. Maybe it was a simple as a Sunday afternoon that burned off any feelings of stress or hectic thinking.  Maybe it was the whole women’s field singing an off-key Happy Birthday song to celebrate one racer’s 50th birthday. Who knows? Who cares?

Let’s just say that this season’s weirdly fine weather continued Sunday. The weirdly weird mood of cyclocross continued, too, and our little band of photographers tried to find another nook, another cranny hiding something worth seeing.

Look at our pictures, tell us what you think. Have a good week. Smile.