Podium!

Podium!!!

Looks like I took third in the Cyclocross Magazine "Spirit of Cross" essay contest. I scribbled out an essay one Monday at work in a few spare moments, literally. Most of my best work is like that - just a quick riff on something, while I'm highly fueled up on the morning's second triple espresso. So you know it must be good...

Anyhow, I think I said the spirit of cross was like burnt cabbage or at least smelled like that, and carnies. You'll have to get the magazine if you want to read it since my parol terms forbid interstate travel and dictate that CX magazine has exclusive rights to my off-season 'cross writing, for now. If I was to violate the embargo, the 'cross gods would make me a slow, fat, sucky cross rider.

Hey wait a minute...

If I was one of the other guys in the contest, I'd argue that the Unholy Rouleur's placing third in the Cyclocross Magazine's "Spirit of Cross" essay contest was some kind of a scoring error. Me? I'm just going to stand here by the score sheets whistling and waiting for the 15 minute protest period to end.

I was hoping for the Redline Conquest frame, but instead got some sweet new pimp-ass eyewear delivered by an Official Representative of the United States Government. Only problem is, those new Axley shades are far too cool for me. Maybe my teammate, Cipo Matassa, will trade me his weight maintenance secrets in exchange for these shades. I guess the alternative is for me to lose 50 pounds, buy some new white shoes, a red helmet, and a carbon fiber stem, to make myself look more or less cool enough to wear the shades.

So look, here's the deal. If you want to read my semi-excellent essay, along with the other great stuff in this new startup mag, you are going to have to subscribe to it. They were handing out free copies of the first edition at some MABRA cross races this fall, and they were well done, a nice change on the "and Cyclocross too..." coverage provided by Velo News and other bike media stalwarts. The subscription is pretty cheap - $16 gets you a year's worth of issues, four of them, and because they're a startup it's packed with content rather than those ads for sex pillows and touring companies featuring strangely intense looking 'touring' riders, and $450 carbon fiber bikes by companies you never heard of.

You know how much I liked the magazine? I liked it enough that I paid for my own subscription even though they offered to comp me.

[Full disclosure: I paid up before they offered to comp me. Whoops. Oh well. But I don't regret it.]

So if you are interested in the CX scene, check out CX Magazine's blog here, and while you're there you can follow the link to subscribe at the top of that web page.