Bikes bikes bikes

It's National Bike Month and in Santa Barbara that means it's CycleMAYnia: a whole month of local bike-related events. On Sunday, the kick-off event was a cyclo-cross race held at Santa Barbara High School.

Here's a video that makes cyclo-cross look really cool:

Geekhouse Cyclocross from Paper Fortress on Vimeo.

From Wikipedia: Cyclo-cross (sometimes cyclocross, CX, CCX, cyclo-X or 'cross') is a form of bicycle racing. Races typically take place in the autumn and winter, and consists of many laps of a short (1.5–2  mile) course featuring pavement, wooded trails, grass, steep hills and obstacles requiring the rider to quickly dismount, carry the bike whilst navigating the obstruction and remount.

I got talked into competing in the local cross race just for fun. The event was really low-key and small, and women's heat had only two other competitors.  I decided to just go slow and just enjoy myself.  I got lapped twenty minutes in, but that's okay, at least I finished!

Here's a few pictures I ganked from Hector Gonzalez's Facebook album:

Starting line, we ended up in 1st, 2nd and 3rd place, left to right.  That's me in the socks.  I figured if I was going to lose horribly, I might as well try to get a few style points.


Climbing over obstacles


Still smiling, even though I'd just fallen into a tree in front of all the spectators.