Washington County Fairgrounds Cross Crussade



Tape, mud, blood and dollar bills ya'll




Okay, I'll admit it. I had become disenchanted with cross. My legs hadn't been going well all season and my lungs hadn't been cooperating for at least two weeks. I was burnt out. Feeling like I was paying money to have someone kick my ass and not getting anything out of it myself.

And then Sunday happened.

Real cross weather.



This is the entry into the parking lot by the end of the day.

 God! How I missed it! I had forgotten how much.

Muddy.

Sloppy, slippery, collecting on top of your front derailleur like soft serve at DQ kind of muddy. It was glorious!!!

My finishing place didn't really reflect how I felt inside. But to be able to push with power and breathe in full deep breaths was a great result in and of itself.

Sure I suffered. But it was the good kind. The self inflicted kind. The kind that comes from pushing yourself and your equipment hard and not having them look at you questioningly as if to say, "Really?". But instead for them to respond with a hard stare as if to say, "Let's do this thing!!!". That, I think is something I've been missing for quite a while. And boy did it feel good to get a taste of that again.




Kenny rode really well that day.

It felt great to compete too. To duel back and forth with a few guys that were of similar abilities as me. That's one of the greatest beauties about cross in the first place. The race within the race. Sure I lost a couple of those battles. But I won a few as well. Making the self-inflicted pain all the more worth it. Vying for the ultimate prize... 



Adam gettin'er done.


I sure hope this feeling sticks around a while.



Things had progressed for Graham's race.


And the weather too...



Brison after his race.


Thanks for reading.

Rubber side down,

Big E