Tensegrity PT Cycling: Cross Crusade 5 and 6: A costume party on bikes

So for this double header race report I am writing about the most entertaining cyclocross weekend in the Northwest. This year it was made extra special with the Oregon Handmade Bike Show also occurring in Bend at the same time. Needless to say racing and fun were to be had by all ages, with Deschutes Brewery selling pints for 4 dollars a piece, while we sat with a beautiful Ninkasi Keg of Sleigh'r and gave it out for free.

Julie Berkbuegler using her Ninkasi Slayer Recovery Drink.

Photo from pdxcross. You notice I am hammering with my Hammer on my bike

Onto the races:

Cross Crusade 5 (Saturday)
For the first race I was feeling good with my chances of winning. The Bend course is a bike handlers course and suits me well as a mountain biker. I pre-rode the course and knew right away I was gonna be fighting at the front. So the race starts in a flash as we head into the dusty upper start and I quickly move upto 2nd place. I ride half a lap holding this position before I bobble a turn and fall back to 4th place. That was the last time in the race that I saw the race leader Stephen Glass. He ended up putting a minute and a half on me. I stayed in 4th with no one close to catching me.

Thor ahead of most of the Men's B field. Photo Compliments of Jon Muyskins (Tensegrity PT Cycling)

Steve Prefontaine (S. Ardt) ran his first lap before switching to his bike and got 33rd in the C's.
Photo compliments of Jon Muyskins (Tensegrity PT Cycling)

Dave Bisers riding over the fly over. Photo compliments of Jon Muyskins (Tensegrity PT Cycling)

Cross Crusade 6 (Sunday)
Ready for round two after a night of little sleep, many hours in a hot tube with too many dudes and too few ladies with lots of beer. Lots of tasty Ninkasi beer also was added into my Sunday pre-ride of the course. For my costume I chose to be Thor, I thought it would be a good and intimidating costume(more likely a 80 big hair tribute look) and I think it worked. I lined up at the start of the men's B field and gave a Norse god yell out "to Vahalla"! I took off like a guy knowing what I was doing as for this race there was a prize for being the first over the flyover a quarter of the way through the course. After this moment was a scary point for me as this was the first time I was leading a race for a considerable distance until again I was pushing the bike a little too hard coming into a set of barriers. I laid my bike down on my elbow(which I sometimes need at work as a Physical Therapist). By the time I get back into a rhythym I was in 4th place again. I chased hard and closed a 20 plus second gap down to 4 seconds at one point to finishing 8 seconds back from the podium.

Angry Bird Ryan Garner chasing a Douche. Ryan rallied after a spectacular wreck over the fly over on Sat.
Photo compliments of Jon Muyskins (Tensegrity PT Cycling)

Why the course and Bend was so awesome or just watch and see why:

1) Flyover was the entrance to the beer garden

2) You could catch air over the fly over and look cool, especially if you clip your back wheel(sorry Ryan)

3) Eating so much dust and dirt made Deschutes beer taste alright
4) A guy made a full size scoot bike to push around the course (you cost me winning the best costume, my hat off to you)
5) An awesome croud with too many drinks and too little inhibition to prevent amazing heckling

Julie Berkbuegler sent me her race reports to add in as well.

So it got a little rough and tumble again. I am doing a quick recap on my Washington Fairgrounds race and then I will dive into Halloween weekend. For some reason I found it necessary to do a super man before I even got to the barrier, my bike was literally my cape and my left foot strapped into its pedal and I landed flat chested into the dirt. It is probably a good thing that I am not at all busty. Most people would keep that to themselves, but I on the other hand like to tell all about my foolishness, faultiness and bumps and bruises. Isn't it a part of the fun too! In the last post I said I wanted to be in the top 15....well it was close but still not my goal. I ranked 16th and rode the same number of laps as the leaders, I was super excited about this. But To tell you the truth it was a little painful to add a fifth lap onto my usual 4.

Batgirl rocking to a 10th place. Photo compliments of Jon Muyskins (Tensegrity PT Cycling)

Last weekend was a fun one, I had the pleasure of two races in one weekend, and I am happy to say there are no bruises. Saturday I just wasn't really feeling it, the whole time I was riding I thought I might be in the top 30's but it turned out....I ranked 16th again. It was music to my ears and plenty of dust in my lungs. Sunday I wasn't feeling so hot and no it wasn't because I partied to hard the night before, so I figured I would do the best that I could. I dressed as bat girl and my nemeses was also bat girl(but I looked way better as bat girl). I battled with her for a bit and then I just couldn't hold on any longer and she dropped me. This time I thought I was in the top 18 and it turned out.....I finally reached my goal and then some. 10th baby! Now I regret not riding until I barfed.

Bruises and a 10th ranking I am still pretty happy with the way this season is going. Next goal a top 5!