From Competitors to Comrades: How Cyclocross Racing Forges Lasting Friendships
Let’s Talk About The Cyclocross Community!
When you face the same competitors week-over-week, they become your cyclocross family. Multiply that by season-over-season and your competitors can end up being your best friends.
Why is this? How does your cyclocross competition become close friends?
The spirit of the community is to race hard and have fun. I found that the focus is definitely on fun. Where else can you grab a bacon hand up? Or take a shot of whiskey (gag) while racing?
When I raced in the San Francisco Bay Area, my husband and I created something called the “team compete” for teams to compete with each other.
We had the usual categories (most riders on the podium, midpack riders, most juniors) but it became silly fun when we also required things like gnomes, homebrew beer, shrubbery (you read that right), and a couch…to name a few.
Teams would literally haul all of this stuff to the races.
We would also throw in themes like Dress Like a Cheerleader or Decorate your Team Tent with Lights (at the night race). Dress Like a Cheerleader was my favorite.
The teams would perform their “cheer” when my husband would go by their team tent to check off all of the items they completed that week.
Proof (maybe?) that you can get creative with a couple of glasses of wine in your backyard hot tub every fall.
My husband also made a cyclocross specific trophy for the winning team of the Team Compete and it was coveted!
There was so much pride associated with it, that we saw it on full display one year at the Handmade Bike Show.
Team Rock Lobster won it the final year, and their sponsor is a custom framebuilder.
Clearly he was very proud.
So, join the fun. Every race series has a Halloween race.
What can possibly be funner then racing cyclocross in a dinosaur costume?