Skinny tires, beer, plenty of mud, serious anaerobic happenings, heroes named Bart and Sven, and a major dose of cowbell. You got it: 'Cross season, US or Euro-style
You can have LeTour. For my money, the best part of the season - other than the Spring classics, and that's a maybe - is cyclocross season. The guy who sold me my first really great road bike was a state 'cross champion, which back in the mid '70s would have made him one of maybe a few hundred Americans who even knew what cyclocross was. But the idea of it - a road bike without the roads, and plenty of mud thrown in, yeah! - grabbed my attention. I even raced 'cross for a couple of years in the early 90's, traveling mostly to Chicago for Winter weekend races on a city course that seemed so easy when warm and dry, but that was transformed into a totally masochistic experience when the temps dipped and it started raining.
I sold my neon yellow Pinarello cross bike years ago. I miss its friction shifted Campy 980 derailleurs, Mafac cantilevers (brakes for when you really don't think you're gonna need brakes), and tubular-shod wheels. Then, I rode it on all my off-road adventures, which impressed/freaked out plenty of people I met on the trails.
Never gave up following 'cross racing, though. I still watch the results, and I'm jazzed that it's grown beyond being a niche sport without giving up the cool vibe that made it so unique. Every October, I start thinking maybe it's time to add something like this to the stable.
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