Friday, December 4, 2009

The Luck of the Heckawee

My Heckawee friends in southern Illinois will be traveling to Chicago this weekend to race in the Illinois State Cyclocross Championships, for which I tried to find a suitable link and couldn't, but trust me, the Heckawee are going there and they'll be racing on Sunday. I'm guessing they will be freezing their petunias off, too.

Daily Details for
Chicago, IL
[ English | Metric ]

Weather for your life

DayNight


Mostly Cloudy
High
39°F

Precip
10%

Wind:From SSE at 10 mph
Max. Humidity:72%
UV Index:1 Low
Sunrise:7:04 AM CT
Avg. High:40°F
Record High:65°F (1951)



Few Snow Showers
Overnight Low
30°F

Precip
30%

Wind:From SSE at 5 mph
Max. Humidity:71%
Sunset:4:19 PM CT
Avg. Low:27°F
Record Low:3°F (1977)

Last Updated Thursday, Dec 3, 5:36 PM Central Standard Time


Could be colder, I guess. In any case, I wish the Heckawee all the best of luck.

And in their honor, I'm going to come out of cyclocross retirement and race on Sunday, too, at the Urban Cyclocross in Palos Verdes. I'll be honest: I'm not ready and I'm a-gonna get my butt kicked pretty good - it's been exactly two years since I've been in a cross race - but hey, the weather will be much better in PV than in Chicago.


Daily Details for
Palos Verdes Estates, CA
[ English | Metric ]

Weather for your life

DayNight


Partly Cloudy
High
57°F

Precip
10%

Wind:From SSW at 7 mph
Max. Humidity:66%
UV Index:3 Moderate
Sunrise:6:45 AM PT
Avg. High:68°F
Record High:87°F (1979)



Mostly Cloudy
Overnight Low
51°F

Precip
10%

Wind:From SSW at 3 mph
Max. Humidity:79%
Sunset:4:45 PM PT
Avg. Low:47°F
Record Low:28°F (1978)

Last Updated Thursday, Dec 3, 5:07 PM Pacific Standard Time


I guess I'll post nifty pictures of me racing at some point because my buddy The Champ over at Heckawee will require some sort of verification that I'm not fabricating my entry in the race. In The Champ's previous life, he was definitely a detective.

Truth told, I miss the Heckawee scene in southern Illinois a whole lot, and since I left there and moved to California - what is it now? almost a year and half ago? - I haven't been too enthusiastic about riding bikes, mostly because the fun part about riding bikes in southern Illinois for me was not really the riding but enjoying the people who rode, if that makes sense. But hey, I'm never going back there - except maybe to visit at some point - and there's no reason to stay off the bike for the rest of my life just because cycling circumstances aren't as idyllic in Los Angeles as they are in Carbondale, Illinois. Besides, you would not believe the incredible quantity of nasty, non-cycling, interpersonal, small-pond bullshit in Carbondale, which is maybe why the Heckawee are on their bikes all the time, out in the remote back country, because there is no bullshit in the countryside - besides real, actually-from-the-bull bullshit, which is of course the kind of bullshit nobody minds. Oh well. I've got a couple friends out here interested in riding and maybe racing the full Southern California cross season next year. We're going to apply to the Carbondale Heckawee Council and see if we can start an official West Coast branch of the team.

Meanwhile, I need to be alone for a while. My chain needs lube.

1 comment:

  1. It's warmer by the lake.

    [url]http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&t=h&msa=0&msid=101661271772526932098.0004612ae8ccf7dbe0c3e&source=embed&ll=41.965976,-87.640032&spn=0.004316,0.006512&z=17[/url]

    ReplyDelete

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