End of an Era

Photo credits to Ramona

Sunday was the season-ending finale of cyclocross 2009. Kildonan Park was great. No mud, no snow. Lots of speed! I could have used a bit more of this. Also haikus, and poker derby!

Winning Haiku:

End of the season
Rest awhile, soon you'll find me
Back in the saddle

That was worth two loaves of Hal's bread, a bit of fancy cheese, and a bottle of wine (by draw).

I'm so thankful to have participated in 3 of the 8 races. It was fantastic!

I placed:
22/28 at the Belgian Club
16/22 in Altona
11/17 at Kildonan Park

I felt faster every time. I still couldn't catch Jonny G (my rabbit) or Ian Hall. Guess they were getting faster too.

I can't help thinking - would I be faster with the cyclocross style bike?
CX: lighter, no suspension bob, low roll resistance, aerodynamic position, quick spin-up
mtb: good in mud, cornering, and most of all - I have this bike!



And I love it.

Still, without going to the expense of buying a cx bike, I could do some modifications to make it faster for this format.

Fork - buy a carbon rigid - $200 ish
Tires - buy narrow knobbies (1" or less?) keep tubeless if possible - $maybe 100?

so - $300 for my cx conversion. That's a lot. But, it's less than a full cx ride - $1000 - 2000.

Other repairs that would help:
Rear Wheel- I should fix it anyway - needs a spring for the WTB hub. Then I could use the lighter wheel that I haven't been riding. - $?