Sunday Muddy Sunday

So Sunday arrived and after a slow morning of breakfast, coffee and the paper we packed the car and headed down to Brunswick Velodrome for the first of the Urban Cyclocross series. As you can see by the photos it was the real deal. Plenty of barriers to keep you honest, mud galore, a hill run, and plenty of cross bikes. A fair turn out of both racers and spectators, some brandishing the good old cow bells.

That's me in the blue knicks testing out the dismount and run.... bloody hard, wish I had it down like the guy in the first photo!

The start of the cross race, I'm in there somewhere!

It has been a long wait for a cross series in Melbourne and I am happy to say it was a awesome afternoon. Whilst I suffered a mechanical (rear flat, in the first lap) I was stoked that some one had gotten this thing together. A big thank you to the Dirty Deeds crew for getting this off the ground.
The turn out was split into to two grades, the all comers with mountain bikes, fixies etc and those running cross bikes with drop bars and cantis. At least 40 odd lined up for the cross bikes race and I would say the the start was crazy flying across the park for the hole shot.
Nice weather was a bonus, but the course had plenty of wet spots that quickly turned to mud... perfect for cross.
Plenty of cross bikes came out of the woodwork for this event. Saw some pretty serious cross bikes on offer including Spots, Lynskey, Surly, Paconi just to mention a few. I really did not think that there was that many people out there running cross bikes but it clearly has a healthy following.
Lets hope that this 3 event series can turn into something bigger and better in years to come. A great event on a cool course that was easy for all to access. Looking forward to the next one at Darebin Parklands next month. Gives me a bit of time to perfect the smooth transition for the barriers ( will have to get out in the park and practice).... oh and get the mechanicals sorted so I can finish the next one.