Was ready to ride the Massive Fallout today with about a dozen or so of my buddies, upon looking at the weather, we thought better of tearing up the trails  and wallowing through peanut butter for 60 miles.  So I came home, registered for Mad Anthony and figured that I better start winding up the old hype machine for the Invitational cyclocross.

On a whim, I looked at the page views and as a few minutes ago, it was ramping up to a nearly respectable level.    I thought to myself, shit, I better give them some content!  So let me address a few questions that have been presented to me.

First of all, if you'd like to race, shoot me an email (cxczar at gmail dot com).  We'll be using an RFID  timing system this year and it makes things infinitely easier if we can load up the database in advance.  Where did we get a timing system?  We made it!  Seriously, over the winter one of my teammates picked up a demo system on ebay and with a little bit of collaboration we were able to write a web based timing system that we have been using on the greyhounds internal racing series.  I'm happy to say that it works very well, considering it cost thousands of dollars less than the pro systems  Plus, the lead programmer who will be setting everyone up was originally a triathlete, so I don't imagine that he has a high resistance to cold.  (so register early!)

Second, yes the race is free.  no registration fee, no license fee.  After last years events, I had a lot of people tell me that I should contact USA cycling and get this event on their calendar.  Though I love & compete in those races throughout the year.   I realized that, I don't take myself that seriously, and my race should reflect that this is just about having fun and maybe bending the rules a little bit.   Besides, the best part of this race is all the "You know what you should do!"  conversations throughout the year.   I've had suggestions for flaming hoops, ramps, ball pits, water balloons, swinging heavy bags, etc... I've gotten countless suggestions in the form of photos & videos and I love to hear more.

Last year it did have a 'stone soup' type of vibe.  Random people brought stuff to share.  A few people brought growlers of their own home-brew concoctions.  A guy from Liberty brewing brought a delicious pony-keg of imperial stout.  Others brought cookies & snacks to share.   In my opinion, this is what made the event awesome.   If you are a bike shop that has random swag, accessories, or excess inventory, i's be happy to give it away as a preem or raffle to a spectator.

Finally, I'm excited about the track.  Dorias is really a great park for a cyclocross race.  I'd like to put in a bit more time prepping the course this year and I think we may go out there the day before.  As always, I prefer to set up a course that favors those of use that ride cross with the traditional drop bars, as opposed to a mountain bike.  Expect to see some modifications to the course that reward those of you that are good transitioning through barriers and have a strong stomach for tequila.

See you on the 26th!

The CX Czar