The Question

'If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?'.  This is a question that can spark many hours of debate depending on what your perception of hearing and sound are. It can even be taken further to ask 'if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it did it really fall?'.

This fall tree has obviously not fallen.

You are probably wondering why I am suddenly pondering such profound meanings. It is because today I did a cyclocross race and I won my division. Now, before you go sending me congratulatory messages and asking me for all my training secrets let me just tell you that although I was first, I was also last. So you see, this has me reflecting is it really a win if you are the only one racing? I mean the girl that lost couldn't mount her bike without coming to a dead stop and she wasn't exactly moving at the speed of light off the starting line. That being said, the girl that won was wearing some pretty sweet halloween socks and she seemed to be working pretty hard. It was muddy and wet and maybe those other So Cal women who are over the age of 35 just can't take a little weather. All I do know is that my name got called to get the winners prize package and I came home with it. So, being a glass half full kinda gal, I'm looking at it as a win today. Hey, it might be the only win I ever get in this sport. Maybe it is time to quit, you know go out on top!

1st place women 35+ prize package

Division winners- full disclosure is she SMOKED me!

Now that I have a win I may just ride off into the sunset and bask in my glory forever!

Keeping it Dirty

A few weeks ago I attended a local cyclocross clinic. I had first been exposed in person to cyclocross last December when I went to a local race to watch some friends compete. It looked crazy but all my friends had smiles on their faces the whole time, especially Cherry!

Cherry smiling away in the red and black

Going over an Obstacle

Since that day last December I have known that I would give cyclocross a go at some point. I thought that I would attend a clinic, have some fun and that would be that. This is not the first time that I have been wrong. I thought I was immune to getting the Leadville bug and would just crew for it and be done! At some point I will learn my lesson.

The clinic was held in a local park on the grass and some barriers were set up for us to practice on. We had the option of borrowing true cyclocross bikes or using a mountain bike. Maybe I should have just used my mountain bike. Might not have been as much fun if I was hauling my 30 pound bike up the hills on my shoulder! But oh no, I got the real deal bike and had the true cyclocross experience. Or rather, the true Southern California cyclocross experience. You see it is very dry here most of the time. That means no mud was on the course. Cyclocross originated in the 1920's in Belgium during the fall and winter months. They have actual weather there. Most cross (that's what people in the know say) races involve mud and lots of it. The cross bike looks more like a road bike than a mountain bike but it has thicker tires than a road bike. In a cross race there are barriers and obstacles that you have to run over carrying your bike. The experts have a graceful fluid mount and dismount of the bike. Looks like a dance between the bike and the rider. I look more like I am having a slow motion seizure!

Getting the Lender bike

I'm on the Right about to attempt a moving mount

Dismount success, now to get over the barriers!

The evening of the clinic when Me Hearty asked me how it was I just looked at him my face told it all. He probably thought 'crap, I shouldn't have let her go, just what she needs another hobby and bike, and who is going to do all the work on this new bike, damn- I give my wife way too much freedom'. Instead he said 'glad you enjoyed it, should we try to find you a bike'.

Now any reasonable person would get a bike and do some practicing and get in some more clinics, maybe throw in a local race. I dear readers have never claimed to be a reasonable person. Therefore, I am registered to do not one but two cyclocross races next weekend. Cyclocross races are timed events that last 30 minutes to an hours. Having spent my entire year building a huge diesel engine to ride 104 miles over the mountains of Colorado I am perfectly unprepared for this type of racing. Oh, and did I mention that I didn't run all summer so running with the bike the whole way is not really an option. Not only that, I am going to the American Mecca of cross racing, Seattle. Yup, I will get my wussie So Cal butt schooled by the hard core girls of the PNW. Pretty much guaranteed that it will be wet and muddy and real cross racing.. Good thing, cause if you have a blog named dirty hundy you got to make sure to keep it dirty!

I could be the star of this video next year!