DeKalb Cross course contemplation

Last night, a group of Half Acre riders and Ben went out to DeKalb to meet up with the North Central Cyclery Crew and scope Hopkins Park, the location of the October 5 ChiCrossCup race.

Let me start by saying that North Central Cyclery is a rad shop. Who would have thought that in the middle of a small town a shop would be selling Long Haul Truckers with fenders and Brooks saddles like hotcakes? The shop has an awesome aesthetic to it, which I love. You should check it out.

Hopkins Park is, in short, huge. It's dotted with mature trees, has a few short but steep hills, a little bit of easy singletrack, a bandshell, a perfectly new bathroom/shelter with kitchen and fireplace, and it's going to host an awesome cross race. Tobie and the NCC crew showed Adrian, Ben, Bob, Dan, and I around the park, and then it was down to business... where to put barriers? How hard is too hard? Do we have the course run the bases of the baseball diamond, or not? Folks came to some pretty awesome conclusions. I think anyone who comes will be more than happy. The NCC crew bought pizza n' beer afterword and we talked about what we all learned traveling to cross races last year... all tips we'll be taking into account.

We didn't get home till midnight last night, though. I don't know how I peeled myself out of bed 6 hours later for the 5 miler, but I just needed to get back on program, so I did. Ben was gone by the time I got back. I'm back in Vegas, but I fared a little better in the room department this time- a full kitchenette and a table with a 15th story view just off the strip and wireless stolen from MGM Grand. Tomorrow, 8 mi on the strip. Supposed to be a pace run but who knows with the heat...