Sunday, September 16, 2007

The Mike Patterson MSG CX Camp

I've been kind of wondering who was going to be the first out of the gate with cross practice this year. Turns out Mike Patterson got the ball rolling this morning at Winged Deer. I showed up about ten minutes late (irritating guy in line at Starbucks kept adding things to his order, thought he was going to buy the whole pastry case) and felt a little let down to see only two other people. Plus, I was feakin' tired from the "ronde van hillengen" the day before. As I started dragging the barriers out of the truck and started setting them up people started trickling in, new comers and vets. Soon we had 10 people standing there eight of which had cross bikes, pretty cool. Eric and I made note of the fact that when he first started MSG it was only He, and I and my son Sean showing up for practice. Now cross is the shizzle (boy that sounds funny).

Practice was great, we looked like those little ducks going around in circles at the carnival. The ones
you grab up and look at their bottoms to see if you won a prize, except we were on bikes going around in circles jumping barriers. Really strange looks from the park goer's. Most of us were a little rusty but repetition like good techno brings it all back around, and after about 20 minutes it started coming back. Eric and Mike Seek paired off for about a 45 minute simulated race, man those guys are fast and smooth. The rest of us continued with skills for a few more minutes. Mike was very helpful explaining the finer points of mounting, dismounting, and clipping in and out to Jonell who will be doing her first cross season this year. For the grand finale we decided to ride a course so everyone would know which way to go and do a few hot laps before we packed it in. We were held up by an elderly man who couldn't understand why we just didn't jump the barriers on the bikes. He said he had a '59 Schwinn Panther with balloon tires that he could jump them with, and he was taking bets to do it. Anyway, man when we started it was like all thought went to the back of my mind and experience kicked in. Mike and I sprinted off the line first. I clipped in first try and started hammering. Rode two really fast laps. That charged me up I feel that cross excitement really kicking in , I'm ready to race. Like Eric said "this is to much fun" thanks for getting the ball rolling Mike. Cross season is here, baaaabeeee!

1 comment:

Mike Patterson said...

Most grateful for the big turn out.I think CX will grow more this year!