remember when...

racing sscx was a bone headed idea?

i've been racing cross for many years now. before many of you knew what the hell it was. now...this isn't going to turn into a 'i'm old school & you suck' blog. rather a 'oh, how times have changed' type of one.

i used to race my my ss mtn bike (a voodoo nzumbi), and racers would always comment & cheer me on. being on a ss in a cross race. the races i did on that were brutal. there were more flats, & as i would keep up with everyone in the tech sections; once that flat section hit, and i heard the shifts move, i was left in the dust. however, i never entered a race to win, but to have fun. as time went on i built up a custom sscx bike. i set it to flip/flop, and i have been known to take it fixed off road. which is a complete joy.

i never really raced the sscx in past years, but always had it at the races as a back up. now, in recent years as i've been in and out of racing due to; 1) i would rather spend time with my family, & 2) racing gets so expensive. so last year i stayed away completely. the year before that i was able to do a few races, and i did do those on the sscx, because i was working out bb issues on my jake.

so fast-forwarding to this year...there is a ss category. a friend of mine over at http://scumcityracing.com/ talked me into racing exclusively on ss. so i went for it. he said that field wasn't that deep. however, he did not speak of the caliber of the field. again, in years past, the people racing on ss were the people that really didn't give a fuck, or was their only cross bike. now, it's the guys who crushed it in either the b cat or a cat, & want a new challenge. which really puts me behind the 8ball. mostly because i suck. but now i'm racing in a cat of a bunch of hard asses. guys that are taking this sscx way too seriously.

the whole 'scene' has just kind of exploded in the last few years, with two 'b' cats now, & a massive 'c' field. i suck so bad that if i went back to gears, i might have to race in the c cat. this is really great for the sport in general (but i think a few bugs still need to be worked out, but that's a different post)

all & all, i think my statement becomes this: 'why so serious?' it's just cross racing in neo.

amitabha...