Lucky 13

This man and his #Jorts may singlehandedly save cyclocross. And cycling. What the hell am I talking about? Cycling is at a cross roads. Cross is about to jump the shark. If it already hasn't. I witnessed this first hand with Norba back in the 1800s. Yeah I am that fucking old. Cross has a lot more people fighting for its soul than Norba ever did but still. Once USUCK and the FUCI get their rainbow shackles on you it is all over. The fun will be sucked right out of your sport. And you know what happens when the fun goes away? So do the actual racers. But its not just USAC and the UCI. Its the whole model of racing. Its broken. Do we really need to recap the last decade and the absolute shitshow that has transpired? How cycling is alive at all is shocking. Dopers don't shock me the fact that cycling is allowed to continue at all shocks me. I will never watch another Grand Tour in my life. Why would I? But cross and mountain biking? They can save us. People are taking cross too damn seriously. Fine race your hearts out. But do not try and tell me that being serious is good for the sport. People fear handups and the "hipster tractor pulls" ruining the sport. The sport is already ruined. We are the bad punchline on sports radio when an NFL player gets popped for drugs. That is ironic. And tragic. PRO road racers have turned our sport into a joke. I say we give it back to the mountain bikers. And the derelicts.

 What is the worst that can happen? People will have fun? Yeah that is pretty much it. And they will want to race and go watch the races. And watch the interviews. Your only job as a PRO racer is to represent your sponsors. Ok you have two jobs. Represent your sponsors and be an ambassador for your sport. Winning races is irrelevant. Meaningless. Do you think people care anymore? I mean really? No they don't. They assume you won cause you doped. People even are talking about the greatest cross racer of all time. You hear whispers. I don't believe it but again I wouldn't be shocked. So back to the #Jorts and Adam Craig. He is my hero. You can't say that about a lot of bike racers these days can you. He showed up at SSCX Worlds and did it right. He raced hard. He raced in a Beyond the Terrordome/Escape From LA get up. He looked drunk. He got the tattoo. He hung out. He clearly had fun and was cool to all the other people at the event. Then he raced Nats. I sort of felt bad for the Rock Lobster boys. But when you have a tattoo that says you are SSCX WC and you race in #Jorts you deserve to be there. You aren't sandbagging the circus sideshow. It is a jersey race. By a rider of Craig's stature showing up and racing it is respecting the race. Racing it in #Jorts is just BALLER.

Its not just the #Jorts. Its the sunglasses. The Hi Viz skate helmet. The top mount brake levers. And the Schwalbe tires. The dude just gets it. Rocks out so hard. Sort of a mountain bike Evil Knievel. I was going to use the title of this post "Lucky 13" to talk about how shitty 2012 was for me and that '13 felt lucky. Then I looked closer at one of the photos from SSCX Natz and saw AC was wearing 13. No F'n Way! Unreal. Mark my words. 2013 is going to be sick. It is the year of fun. I am personally so stoked for SSCX right now. We have all championed it. Haters are gonna hate. And people will be afraid of it. Or think its disrespecting the sport. It will save the sport from itself. Trust me. No one does a SSCX race and doesn't have fun. Ok I lied. One guy. And I am working on it. I am not sure why he hated it. Ok I know why. Again we will work on it because we like to make everyone happy. I am now going on a rigorous Zumba program and eating only bacon so I can wear #Jorts for SSPalooza. You have been warned. Mr Craig. The NECX loves you man! Respect