Proof of Pudding

My buddy The Champ is the kind of guy who needs proof before he believes anything, and even then, he's naturally skeptical. And since the results from Sunday's Urban Cyclocross in Palos Verdes are not posted online yet, here are a few pictures from the event, generously supplied by the Jean Rasenberger Foundation.

Now it's true, this picture could be a fake. We could have pinned a race number on me and had me ride on a ridge above the Pacific Ocean, trying to look like I'm in a life-or-death struggle for a mid-pack finish.

And this next picture could be a fake, too. We could have placed a couple of hay bales in front of a concrete bench, strung up some course tape, paid a guy to ride in front of me, and convinced a few passersby to observe this:

This one, too. The Great Pumpkin on a screaming run through the Start/Finish line! Hell, there are enough special-effects folks here in LA that we could have manufactured this shot (side note: see that guy on the run-up over my shoulder? I paid him to be half a lap behind me!).

And check out these guys I'm jawing with after the faux race, telling them, "You see this? I forgot to remove my rear bottle cage and I bent it all to shit on the remount after the creek crossing!" Yeah, I paid em Union Scale.

This pic, though - all kidding aside - is for sure a fake, taken during warmups, when I was trying to pretend I'm a seasoned cross racer who practices the dismount at speed a few times, just to get handle on what it might be like during the actual race.

Ah, the joy! Truly, Champ, if you're out there and listening, it was certainly fun to come out of retirement and to wear the Heckawee colors on a cross course once again. That's no bullshit.