After a week of stewing and bitching, I’m finally (mostly) over the quagmire that was the Tour of Anchorage.  Don’t get me wrong, it was a resounding success as far as stage wins goes (four out of five); but the team placed all its eggs in my basket and I dropped it.  I really hate letting people down.  Lots of crazy shit happened that weekend: shredded wheel , stolen bike, rain, more rain, and a really awesome guy we brought on at the last second on the podium (ok maybe that last one wasn’t so crazy).  At least I got all the bad juju out of my system that Sunday by lapping the field.  What’s that?  They didn’t chase because I wasn’t in contention?  Don’t harsh my mellow.

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Cyclocross takes elements of road cycling, the off-road tracks of mountain biking, and throws in the obstacle-laden courses of bicycle motocross. Cyclocross takes place on a smaller circuit than traditional bike races, and the winner is the rider who completes the most laps in an hour. About two-thirds of the way through the course, a pair of wooden ramps were set up to launch the race's bike riders over small fires. Chants of "fire jump, fire jump. RIVERSIDE -- If there's one thing the crowd at the "Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy" cyclocross race loved, it was the fire. A beginner's race took place at about 9:30 a. m. Sunday and lasted 30 minutes. Cyclocross is popular on the West Coast, but this is the first of its kind in the Valley. Aside from the fire, obstacles on the course included treacherous turns, steep hills and rock gardens for bikers to navigate.

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