Hey all. I woke up early enough on Sunday AM but despite having already pre-registered and paid my money it took lots of HTFU-ing to get me out the door.

I can take the cold, I can take the rain, I can take the mud. I can take all of those at once, but when the skies are clear and it’s really cold and the wind blows right through you… that right there is my Kryptonite.

Long story short: I almost didn’t get to race. Thanks to Jared I DID get to race. There are a few more amusing elements to relate but they get old and tired quickly. I’ll leave it with Jim and Will regarding with awe my new “outlaw” aura.

Don’t mess with me… I’m a baaaaaad man.

So anyway– I got my race. Jared saved me from pissing away $30 so I figured that the least I could do was pit for him. My favorite part of the experience (Day-um it was cold standing around there!!) was standing next to the person holding Ali Goulet’s pit bike.

She asked “Who you got?”

I replied “Jared mfkn Roy. Crossniacs.”

“Don’t know that name.” she turned away, conversation over. Later it was my turn”

“So… who do YOU got?”

She said something that sounded like “arri-mahmay” after it made it’s way through my parka’s hood and Crossniacs winter hat.”Sorry. Don’t know that name.” I hope I was able to keep a smirk at bay. Turns out though that I did know who she was pitting for. The guy was crushing the field. 7 seconds on the first lap. 15 on the 2nd. She couldn’t give a split on the third lap since the guy was too far ahead of the chase for reference. By the fourth he was up 1:30. Positively Badass. Later, talking to Jared, he asked “Ali Goulet?” Bingo– that was it.

Unfortunately (or fortunately since the wind was STILL up) I had to bail just after the start of the pro women.

So that’s officially that for me. Cyclocross has left the building. Now it’s time to start aggressively sitting around on the weekends getting fat. And dreaming of warmer temperatures and snowy trails in early season mountain bike races. The bikes all get a badly-needed overhaul– they’ve worked hard this year and I’m looking forward to working on them now that I’ve got space to do it.

Happy holidays, merry Christmas and a happy New Year’s to you all. I’ll see you in 2010!

-Brian J “i_r_beej”