CX Crusade 1 Alpenrose Dairy – Fun in the Sun and the Rain!

It rained on-and-off all night prior to the first Cross Crusade race but by the time the Beginners lined up at 8:45 the sun was just peeking through the clouds looking to dry off the 1.9 mile course meandering around the Alpenrose Dairy. Jim, Karl, and Jamie represented the Mongers very well in the first race of the day. The field was very impressive with over 150 riders.

Category C followed with the Beermongrs first call-up of the year for Nick Wagner. He also earned himself a Cinna-Dog (from Dave’s Killer Bread) for being the first rider through Dairyville and out into the ‘stank ass’ horse shit covered pasture. Well done Nick!! Plus, Nice finished in eighth place in his race which is friggin awesome as well!!! Abram unfortunately strained his calf at the base of the first run up and was unable to finish the race. Bill charged on and finished in the top half of the field. Marc made a mental error after four laps and was qualified as DNF but he felt better than last week.

Master Cs consisted of Ryan, Stephen and I. Stephen was called into duty by Ryan that very morning. Stephen had not even thought he was going to race that day. He figured that he would have a nice relaxing day with his family but ‘oh no!!’ I can’t even imagine waking up and being focused on relaxing only to jump into CX action for 45 minutes. Both Ryan and Stephen worked the course to their advantage and rode very well. I dropped out after a few laps, 5 dropped chains and a wipe-out on pavement that did not rip my shorts but left me with less skin then I started with. The only solace for me of the day was Ryan Trebon (a CX professional rider) wiped out on the same corner I did. I guess I don’t suck too badly.

Beth was our only women rider of the day and even though the rain had returned and the steep downhill turn became slippery she focused on her line and stayed afloat through the wetter, more challenging afternoon course.

Lastly, Jeremiah and Andrew both ‘manned up’ with their single-speed sleds. Jeremiah had his new ride out for its first public viewing and everyone was excited to see what he had been working on. Sweet ride Jer! He had a solid back-and-forth race with our friend John Howe of Team Beer. Andrew used his Irish powers to steam past several people on the slippery run-up but kept his cool on the even more slippery downhill section.

It was a good first Cross Crusade day full of laughs, gasps, cheering, success, and smiles. See you all next week at Rainer High School. It has become my favorite way to spend a Sunday, rain or shine.