Growing up, I spent a lot of time watching motorcross races. My brother and father raced, and I later drove one or the other to the hospital for x-rays. Being surrounded by trophies, crutches, and helmets was routine. I’d also been dragged along to watch skateboarding, running races, and BMX tricks. So, when I received this press release from the Beat Bike Blog, it did not take more than a second for me to confirm that this Sunday I would be hanging out at Riverside Park to watch some bike racing:

If you’re not doing anything this Sunday, I urge you to come down to
Riverside Park in Hartford and check out a cyclocross race. Here’s my
little blurb about it:

Presented by the Central Connecticut Bicycle Alliance and CT-NEMBA,
cyclocross returns to Hartford this October at Riverside Park. If
you’re racing, enjoy the picturesque setting next to the Connecticut
River while wallowing in the mud and take in views of the Hartford
skyline as you trudge up the 40 foot high levee. The first race is at
10:00am and the last one starts at 2:00pm. It’s free to watch, so stop
by. Central Wheel, REI, Hooker Brewing Company and Ghostship Clothing
have signed on as sponsors.

For those of you unfamiliar with cyclocross, it’s a form of bicycle
racing with bikes that kind of look like road bikes, but they have
wider, knobby tires and cantilever brakes, instead of calipers. The
races take place on off-road courses, usually in parks and that are
generally artificial. They aren’t as difficult or as long as mountain
bike courses. The courses also feature barriers that require the
riders to dismount and jump over, and a “run up” (or several), which
is a steep section that requires riders to dismount and, well, run up.
Cyclocross races take place in the fall and early winter, after the
road and mountain bike racing series are over. This form of racing is
about seventy or eighty years old and grew out of the idea of giving
bike racers something to do to keep fit in the off season. It’s
really, really big in the low countries of Europe. It’s been raced in
the US for awhile. New England is sort of renowned/infamous for its
difficult muddy, rooty and rocky courses. The races are generally fun
and spectator friendly because the courses are pretty short and have
the potential to be crash-laden.

If you have an interest in racing, you can pre-register here:
http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=8721

The site says that online registration closes just before midnight on Friday. The good news? If you miss the online registration, you can still register on Sunday for a slightly higher fee.