It’s Getting Darker…

DarkCross. It’s back, and it’s bigger and darker than ever. On Saturday, September 15 we kick off the cyclocross season with a bang (and hopefully some flames) as we head out to the Speedway to revel in what could be the biggest race of the season.

The Dark Lord said it takes a village to pull off DarkCross. He has since reconsidered and suggested it takes a small city. At the very least it has taken a bunch of people many, many hours of planning, building, designing and easily enough emails to break the internet. It’s a good job I work for myself, otherwise I would have been fired months ago. It is also good that I have Jonato, a talented designer who has fortune of being paid to work on some pretty cool shit. This hopefully makes up for the misfortune of having me for a boss.

When I told friends we were getting a flyover for DarkCross, they became quite excited. It turns our they thought we had arranged for a squadron of airplanes to buzz the Speedway as we raced our bikes.

To set the record straight, This is a flyover.

Specifically, the Qualico Homes Flyover – named after the fine people at Qualico Homes who generously donated the materials to build it. We owe an enormous debt, and many, many beers to Kevin Van for making this happen. I hope giving him the pleasure of  kicking my ass on the overpass all summer was a good start.

We should also thank The Department of People Who Can Build Stuff.I was assured the majority of the beer was consumed after the flyover was built. This was indeed a relief.

The Vibrating Beds will be rocking the house this year. In addition to having the best name ever, this super rad band is going to kick some musical ass between the races. As an ex-professional groupie, I will do my very best to sleep with all of them.But wait, there’s more!

Since the darkarazzi took such cool pictures of us last year, we’ve decided to hold a photo contest. In my opinion, of all bike races, cyclocross is by far the most photogenic. At DarkCross, high speeds, darkness, plus a wooden flyover built over a few beers all combine to create the perfect conditions for spectacular wipe-outs. And spectacular wipe-outs make for spectacular pictures. Don’s Photo has donated some great prizes. I’m told our judges, professional cycling photographers Joe Sales, Chris Milliman and Kristof Ramon, are kind of The Shit. If they were attending the race, I would sleep with them too. The best shots will get some hipster street cred while on display at the much loved Parlour Coffee.

If cash is your thing, there is plenty of it, with over $3,500 in cash prizes. That means you can come in, like twentieth, and win something. Maybe enough to help buy an awesome t-shirt, or a cowbell to heckle the fuck out of the A race with Cousin Thomas.

If you think waiting is hard (and it truly is), come and kick off the cyclocross season next Wednesday, September 12 from 7 to 9pm at the Belgian Clun. You can save yourself (and us) some time by purchasing a season pass (at special rate of only $115 for all eight cross races, CASH ONLY), pick up your race numbers and mix and mingle with the ever-fashionable cyclocross community at their cleanest.

Oh, and you can probably have a couple of these.With any luck the folk dancers will be there. They are pretty fun. But I probably won’t sleep with them. Probably.

If you can’t make it, we’ll see you at DarkCross – whether you race, or prefer to watch (which is FREE). All the cool kids will be there. Online registration is open here. Details are here.

Hold on to your helmets folks, this could get awesome.