Kletzsch Park

So this past weekend was a lot of fun but very, very exhausting.

Friday afternoon Cale and I picked up these beauties:


When we picked them up they were hot off the presses, literally. They were very warm and smelled heavily like ink, but that didn't stop us from wearing then immediately and ever since. (You can buy one here, if you're so inclined.) We delivered them all weekend at the two cross races, and by Sunday you couldn't turn around without seeing the hot pink print. It was pretty cool.

Friday evening Jeff, Ben VC and Brandon came up from Chicago to spend the night in Milwaukee. After we all got suited up in our matching hoodies, Cale and I took them to one of the best fish frys (fries?/awkward) around- Lakefront Brewery's fish fry. They have some good fish, good beer and soda, quick service and a live Polka band. Cale and I got out there and danced with our four left feet for about half a song and then tucked into our recently arrived food. After Lakefront, we went across town to At Random in Bayview. It's a place trapped in the 50's. Pretty sure neither the wait staff nor the decor has changed since then. Anyway, they only serve mixed drinks and we all got some ice cream drinks- delicious! We then went back home and weighed our bikes for fun before getting tuckered out and hitting the hay.

We got to sleep in a good little bit on Saturday morning, since the race at Kletzsch Park is only a hop, skip and a jump across Milwaukee. Ben, Brandon and Jeff all had a good time, though it was a tough course! They had to leave shortly thereafter, but it was nice having them, and I'm glad they enjoyed their time here. I'll get the race part out of the way: I tried hanging up front with the pro ladies, but dropped back a bit and then got slowed down by someone I was trying to pass. Thus, in the first half of the first lap, I decided to just relax and have fun. I held my position (I think it was 5th) for the whole race and had fun muggin' for cameras and showboating up the huge run-up. I did such things as holding my handlebars in my teeth, smiling at cameras and finished it off with a beauty queen wave the whole way up on my last lap. If I'm not known for being fast anymore, I can at least carve a niche being a goofball. Here you can see me running up the hill, smiling and plotting how next to hog attention:



The fun part about the races, though, are the people that show up. On the very last lap, I accidentally hung up the second place dude that was trying to pass me. I didn't know which side he wanted to pass on, so we danced back and forth. I pretty seriously inconvenienced him, and I apologized after the race. To my sincere apology he replied "Oh, don't worry about it, that's racing!" with a smile on his face. What a guy.

Another guy kept joking with Pegasus members, "I was going to ask where there party's at, but here you guys are!" It's true, Pegasus brings the party. I had a lot of people ask about my crash in Washington Park, too. It must have looked pretty bad, because more than a few people asked how I was doing. (For the record, my hand was a little sore from taking my weight and starting the tuck and roll, but other than that I made it out unscathed) Cross is such a nice tight community, with a lot of caring and goofy individuals.

Before I wax poetic about my 'family', I'll get to the cheering. The last race of the day, when the host team, Polska, was done with their duties, got a little wild. We cheered like crazy for people we knew and even just people we know by sight. Favorites were people that rode the hill, people with pep in their step and the guy whose 29er seemed to get heavier each time he pushed it up the hill. There were some helpful pushes from the crowd for a lot of racers, and of course lots of cowbell for everyone. Jason rang his cowbell until it rubbed his skin raw!



Earlier in the day, I motivated some guy by chasing him up the hill during his race. It seemed to help, as he pulled away from the guy he was next to. When I turned around to go back downhill, I asked the other guy if he wanted me to chase him, too. He smiled but declined, as I recall.