The 4:30 wake up call seemed to fill my eyes with sawdust. There is a wonderful feeling in setting up the course as the sun burns pink holes in the clouds over the big lake. One would think that the stringing of the tape and the flags, and  hammering in the barriers would create an almost unfair advantage. That advantage is all but wiped away when one rises at 4:30 to do so. Nevada Dave and El Maya were all out of state so it was only Stiggity to represent the Bonebell at the first of the ChiCrossCup events of 2009.

3′s

Decent start nothing to be upset about. First ride on the new tubulars had me paranoid through the roof. Second lap and I hit the pit to swap wheels. The change, a first in a race for me, put on a clincher that turned out to have even less air in it. Forcing every corner to be taken at a near snail’s pace. It seemed sure that every next corner was going to have me rolling a tire and splitting a tube. For a race that had me riding near the front with a very doable effort to be forced to roll back to the middle because I don’t know my own equipment was  a punch in the mind.

1,2,3

Better start than the 3′s race that started with concern for being the dreaded lapped rider. A very real possibility in my mind at the time. Settling into a pace that had me running about 1:30 off the leaders for about half of the race, and then that 4:30 wake up call, and 3′s race, started to pull the strength from my legs. Tire problem mostly solved if overcompensated from the previous race. It was into this race that the hooligans started to come out of the wood work. Beer hand ups, brat handups, The Couch crew rockin the megaphone with some choice heckling. Something about half man half woman had me deciding that buzzing the tower Top Gun style was appropriate so several inches from Nordykes toes it was. Thes dudes bring energy to the races that is a favorite part of many of the courses, regardless of who sets up the course. The cheering section brought a huge grin on my face almost every time I went through the “G-Spot”. Hey clean it up over there, if you looked from above the spiral was actually an enormous G. In homage to the xXx cross master Greg Heck, who designs the Jackson Park courses and runs the best race of the year, so far every year. A finish of dead center in the fastest race of the day was definitely palatable after the mechanical issues of the previous race. One more double up, and I bump to the main event. Chasing the big dogs.

Post race, the Bonebell suffered an almost irreparable lapse of judgement today. It went from hand to hand cheering for rider to rider. Some of these hands had no real idea the real power of this bell. One of them lost the bone. I received the ‘Bell from Seegs eager to cheer the 4′s into the pain cave. Upon first shaking, I was rudely interupted by the lack of sound. A lack of sound caused by a missing bone. Yo, what happened? It came from a dude who knows a dude who told the dude the bone fell out. Well dude, he left the bone on the ground wherever it landed and upon my hearing of it  my face started to melt. Not to worry Stiggity rounded up a search party that consisted of Stiggity, and an Italian Sausage with mustard  to find the prized bone. We were successful. And the legend continues.