On Cyclocross.... public thanks.

Ok, so I am pretty stoked on racing cross.

Here are a few things that are pretty freaking awesome.

- Having 2 bikes. A brother hooked me up with some nice 10sp shifters last year saying that I needed a pit bike. I was not going to argue, but wasnt super sure of it. This weekend in Cincinnati I took a few bike exchanges the first day in the TOTAL MUD FEST. It made a huge difference having a mud free bike. Thank you Sean.

- Sweet people. John and Dave pitted for me Friday. This basically consists of standing in cold mud and having me throw a dirty bike at them so they can hand a cleaner one back to me. Somehow they were stoked on it. I was all like "let me buy you beers" and then I didnt (due to John going to another race sunday and getting paid that day in checks not cash etc etc). I OWE YOU. Awesome.

- Crowd hecklers / cheerers. It took 5 laps on Sunday until I was offered NON ALCOHOLIC BEER hand ups. That is freaking awesome. Im still not sure who those kids were, but they were obviously down. Each day I also made about 6 dollars in crowd money. This was then used to buy cokes for people I raced against afterward. A coke after a cross races is indescribable. No I wont even try to describe it.

Finally
- SRAM shifters (warning, total bike geek stuff...)... After the mudfest of Friday, I had to play with my bike some. The shifting was not perfect Sunday and I was a bit worried that the shifter might have shifted its last shift. (We are talking 1st generation Rival Aluminum shifters with at least 10,000 miles on them for real). I took it apart today cause it wasnt dropping into the smallest cog in the back very well. I am fairly mechanically inept as far as dudes who have been tinkering with bike stuff for 20 years goes. It was so easy. Remember the 9 speed sti's and how you knew when one was dead and there was like nothing you could do but push up on the shift lever while shifting or stick a rubber band around it to hold it to the brake? ....

- took shifter off.
- took 3 screws out and removed plate.
- cleaned all the dirt and muck out of the wheel that I saw. (you can actually see how the shifter works right here. Unlike the shimano stuff...)...
- cleaned it better
- sprayed it with T9
- put 3 screws back in and put on bike.

It seriously feels really really good. Not new, but really good. So stoked.