I finally had a ride I was happy with Saturday at Kletzsch Park in Glendale (just outside Milwaukee) during the CX race there Saturday.

The course was fast and had a number of places to recover after the tough (but fun ) run-up and I managed a 31st place finish (out of 45 or so riders), but I felt like I rode pretty well and I had a blast.

Time to get back on

Next week is the state CX Championship, and I plan on riding. The downside is that will be the last race of 2009. Then it’s about months until the start of the 2010 racing season....

The top of the run-up at Kletzsch Park was just was CX embodies, lots of fans, cowbells, beer and people with bikes suffering.

To be honest I have no idea if that’s what it was like during the Cat. 4 race as I didn't notice much around me other than that I was finally at the top of the hill and it was time to remount. But during the Cat. 3 race I had time to soak it in (film the mayhem) and participate in it with a pair of new cowbells just bought last week.

Look for a short CX movie later this week, I got some nice interviews with participants yesterday, so it should be a fun little video. Working title is “’Crossing Over.”

That’s the kind of weekend that makes you realize how much fun this sport can be.

Twenty seven miles on the road Saturday morning, then another 36 Sunday followed by 20 miles of mountain biking in the afternoon. -- all with temperatures in ranges that don't require oodles of clothing to ride.

Sunday AM crew -- Mark Schindel, Julie, Me

So, needless to say, great weather made for a great weekend of riding, made better by the fact I’ve been stuck in the basement for the last two weeks.

I hope it’s this nice again next weekend (forecast looks like temps in the mid- to high-40s Saturday) for the race in Milwaukee and whatever riding we choose to do on Sunday.

It’s pretty hard to not have fun when you’re hanging around a couple hundred cyclocross racers on Halloween day -- and a good number of them are in costume.

I raced the Halloween Classic CX race in Washington Park in Milwaukee Saturday finishing 70 of about 96 registered riders in the Cat. 4 race. The course was pretty sweet -- flowing and fast in some sections, hard in others, and downright muddy at the start/finish.

Designers had a few unique features built in including two sets of triple barriers (including one “bloody” set going up hill), and a small coffin barrier that was pretty easy to ride over (others bunny hopped it while still others chose to dismount and treat it like a barrier.)

I really had a lot of fun in this race chasing a group of three or four riders for most of the race, before losing them on the last lap, thanks in part to my wheel washing out on a muddy 180-degree turn shortly before the triple barriers on the hill and a big blob of mud that missed my sunglasses and ended up right in my eye at the start of the last lap.

It’s hard riding with one eye shut for a minute or two.

Both those “hardships” cost me a few places, but what’s the difference between 67 and 70? The answer: Who cares! I had a ton of fun.

Needless to say my costume is loosely based on a modern fighter pilot. The flight suit is British and the patches were pulled from my personal collection (the units loosely represent an EA-6B electronic warfare aircraft crew member).

The “nose” art on the right side of my time trial helmet and the kill markings on the left (which had the names of the previous CX races I’ve done written on them a-la marking in Korea and Vietnam) were paper and simply taped on to the helmet.

We hung out for a few hours after my race cheering on other riders. That was a ton of fun as well, as just about everyone seemed to be enjoying the day and making the most of the Halloween spirit.

One of our new team members, LeRoy Walters, opted to ride the Cat. 4  race at the last minute on Friday afternoon. So he used Julie’s mountain bike and did pretty well for his first event, finishing 41st and passing me with a wide grin on the first lap. No question he’ll do better in the future now that he knows what to expect, but he had a pretty good out on the course.

We hit a few bike stores on the way home, but Julie didn't get to actually ride anything (which is what she wanted to do) so our frustrating search to try to get her on some of the bikes she'd like to buy continues....

She and I may do an odd-ball off-road duathlon Saturday here in Green bay. She’ll run the 5K trail race portion of the event and I’ll do the 20-mile mountain bike section. Should be a fun day and something different.

Here are a few more costume photos taken by Mark Schindel, check his site (www.markschindel.com) out for a few more photos from the event: