The 2007 CX Nats are in Kansas City…..so we shall see. The Rhode Island venue/course is going to be hard to top, all we needed was some PDX style mud and it would have been perfect. It’s official, winter is dead back here, just so you know. CX Worlds, maybe?

CX 2006, finished. Time to permanently unload the car of all bike race stuff, clean the bikes, clothes, cameras (and the car). I’d love to go to the BEL for Worlds but it just doesn’t seem in the cards. Too much work to do over here. Yesterday went and talked to a ski resort about shooting for them, it was pretty depressing to see all their slopes bare grass and parking lot muddy at the end of December. Dusting off the MTB.

Argh, drives me crazy when one of my better shots is of a rider who doesn’t win. Tim J was flying on Saturday and may have had a chance to challenge Trebon had he not flatted. But that’s how it goes. I decided to toe the line yesterday in the 220-rider 35+ B race. Totally unsure of how I’d feel after a bad race Friday and a couple days of working hard, but go figure, I felt incredible. It isn’t often that racing feels effortless but I was able to go harder and harder without seeming to suffer any fatigue. I was about to move into the top-15, went to jump by a group of four and I rolled my front tire. Insert expletive here. I knew I was pushing it hard and I guess just a bit too hard. End of an up and down season with more than my share of mishaps. Take the good with the bad, at least the shooting was good and I had a bunch of fun hanging with friends and seeing some super fast CX racing.

In ‘cross it’s pretty much a B/W equation: either you feel good and have good luck or you don’t. Raced my race yesterday and fell into the latter category. Dropped chain, flat, no legs. That’s a good combination for not going fast, and I didn’t. But at least I finished and at least I wore the white HUP suit. The shooting was decent, but as I’ve said all season lack of elements really blunts the CX imagery. But an 8-ft step ladder and the fisheye can help spice things up. Check out the long line of riders in the shot, and this isn’t even the biggest field of the weekend. I’m registered for the 35+ B race tomorrow with a very good starting spot, so we shall see.

Matt White roosting through the dust in Rhode Island from last weekend. CX Nats start tomorrow which is pretty exciting. But, man, this weather is a total joke. It’s going to be over 50 for my race tomorrow! I consider a good ‘cross race to have an element of a battle against the elements, not just your basic “grass crit”, and so far in ‘06 the elements have been a no show. So while I felt like I had advantage last year in racing in crummy conditions this year it’s all down to how fast you can pedal. Rats. The chicas have been sick the past week and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that whatever is lurking in their bodies won’t whack mine until after tomorrow.

Yeah, it was dusty at the final NE CX race not to mention near 50 degrees. This is the same course that was like a hockey rink last year. I preferred the icy version, but yesterday was fun anyway. I decided to race the Killer Bs as the Masters would have been two hours earlier and would have had me out the door @ 4:30 AM, ouch. Bs were fine, I started in the very last row and just worked to get my way through the maw. Felt great the first few laps, making up tons of ground, then the tank started to run dry. I ended up having a total disaster last lap - dropped chain, screwed up the sand section, hit a root with my pedal. I never thought I could lose 30 seconds and get passed by six guys in one lap but I did it. Impressive. Shot this one of Lyne B with my “new” lens set up, a vintage Pentax 55/1.8 with a screw mount adapter on my old skool EOS 1D. Pretty decent image. Good little option to have.

Just back from a quick Pacific Northwest swing. Flew out to PDX Sat night then up to Seattle on Tuesday and back last night. Did this ridiculous race in PDX on Sunday and it was hilariously fun. I even managed a good result, best of the year in fact, even though I hadn’t ridden the singlespeed since Gloucester and was feeling the flight in my legs for sure. The PDX CX scene has a funny tradition of heckling, which I’d forgotten about, but it definitely keeps the mood light. The mud was absurd and all my race stuff was caked with the nastiest crud ever. Seattle was great, E-dub and Judy hosted me and we even did some downtown shooting for a project I’m working on. Now it’s back to winter, once I sleep off the red eye flight.