We just got back from the UCI World Cyclocross Championships, where we watched Marianne Vos destroy the Elite Women’s field and Katie Compton come second looking like she could’ve gone on to do three more races; where we saw the Dutch and the Belgians duke it out for dominance over the Men’s U-23 field; and where we left before the Elite Men got started because we were both starving and the food line was one and one half hours long.
We got wristbands in case we managed to eat and make it back in time, but we failed in that endeavor. No biggie; the Women’s Elites and the U23 men were exciting enough to keep me happy (especially since one of the women had the most fabulous, sparkliest helmet I have ever seen).
In the schwag department, we collected two free cowbells and two free water bottles from the Performance Bike booth and were waylaid by a gentleman dispensing “Cat’s Tongue Heavy Duty Cleaning Towels,” which look like they could be right handy for gravel races. I’m looking forward to trying mine out.
We probably could’ve collected a bunch of other stuff, but once I had a cowbell I was too busy standing by the fence ringing it to go hunt for stuff. Admittedly, I should’ve spend a little more time in the vendors’ area, because I heard tell of really great deals on wool socks. Oh, well.
I also got exactly one photograph:
Lame, amirite? At the epicenter of the Cyclocross world — in a place brimming with world-class racers on sexy, sexy bikes — I managed to snap a shot of the back of the souvenir and beer boths. Laaaaaaaame. Not so much as a wheel in sight.
In other news, Denis actually rode a bike! In the cold and everything! I had originally intended to ride in this morning, but had serious trouble waking up (wrong night to try a new melatonin formulation, apparently), so I went with Denis in the car and we parked a mile or so from Eva Bandman and rode in from there. Much better than walking!
Lots of other people rode as well (probably, most of them rode farther than I did), and many of them rode beautiful ‘cross bikes. It was amazing seeing so many bikes and so many bike people all in one place — even better than the annual Bike-To-Work-Week shindig!
It was just really cool to actually get to go to something like this, and much cooler still that something as big as the ‘Cross Worlds came here, to Louisville, in the middle of the US.
There are a bunch of parties tonight, but I think I’m probably going to stay in and finish up some homework and stuff. I should try to get out on the bike tomorrow. My goal for this month is only 400 miles, but I haven’t logged even a single mile yet (I didn’t bring the Garmin to Eva Bandman).
