But that's just me.
The Oregon bike racing community prefers to spend their Halloweens cyclocross racing through crazy amounts of mud, human barriers, and coffins, all in costume. Barkernews was on call for the weekend and I had nothing else to do. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, as the saying goes.
So I did. And it was awesome.
Heather, The Hizz, and I loaded up the Subaru on Saturday morning and headed to Points West aka Astoria, home of the Goonies, lots of fishing boats and the Clatsop County Fairgrounds, venue for two days of racing.
The course on Saturday was unlike any I have raced in my one short season as a cyclocross fanatic. The mud was interminable and killed any chances I had of passing fellow racers on the uphills (my one and only cyclocross strategy). The mud situation was not aided by a sudden sideways downpour ten minutes before the women's races that caused all of us to run for cover, call-ups be damned. I fell three times on one single runup, while the crowd heckled as I slid ass first back down the hill. I couldn't help but laugh. I mean, really? The whole fiasco was comedic. Forget holding a line. Staying upright became my one and only goal.
After that, I was all, Oh my God, this is really freaking FUN.
I rolled across the line in 8th place. Not my best, not my worst, but a complete blast of a race.
Sunday was costume day. Why Nov. 1st and not Oct. 31st? I don't know, I just try to follow the rules. The Hizz went as a tiger (bless you, Costco and your $10 costumes) and I, true to my past, was Strawberry Shortcake. When I went to purchase a costume last week, I could find nothing acceptable to wear to work AND in a cyclocross race in the adult section. Apparently firefighters and police officers now wear bikinis? I relegated myself to the kids' section, where I happened upon a costume that actually fit.
Turns out that Strawberry Shortcake is very cute, but she is not a very fast cyclocross racer. Maybe it was Sunday's course, which included human barriers (yes, humans laying horizontally in the course that the racers had to run over), coffins, smoke machines, strobe lights, MUD, MUD and MORE MUD, horse barns, a rodeo arena, bark dust/peat moss (I don't really know the difference between the two) singletrack and beer sprayed on me.
It was a little insane. The crowd was crazy. I placed 13th. I didn't care. Well, maybe a little, tiny bit. But, mostly? I just laughed. I guess cyclocross is like that.
Then we drove home and I was so happy Halloween was finally over. I am too old to have this much fun.
Mud, mud, and more mud. This picture does not do the mud justice.
The Hizz crawled around in the mud. I rode my bike in the mud. In the end, we hugged and shared more mud.
The coffin barriers and the crowd. The coffins changed position each lap. Yikes!
Will Strawberry Shortcake ride again next year? No one really knows...
