Guest Blogger: Kelly Cline: Exposing Yourself

Dear Readers,

We are honored to have Kelly Cline as a guest blogger here at  Fatmarc VDB is Cuter than James Franco.  Kelly holds a place on the Mount Rushmore of Mid Atlantic Cross and may very be the best cross community guy in the Mid Atlantic region. I count myself lucky to have him as a friend, and to have been able to work with him and race with him over the years. I'll be honest when I see the new generation of crossers, I often wonder who amongst them will step up and be the next Kelly Cline? But I digress...

We are very excited that he was so inspired by today's weather to put something together for us. I hope this piece resonates with you the way it has with me!

Exposing yourself

On my 45-minute drive to work this morning, there was some light rain. Leaves were falling like giant snowflakes.  It was still dawn.  I was smiling as it’s my favorite time of year.  With every leaf that falls, the tree branches are a little more visible, exposed.  It reminded me of us, ‘crossers.  Every year about this time, we are exposing ourselves a little more each weekend, but I’ll come back to that.

In the early 2000’s, we used to drive up to Pittsfield/Northfield, MA on the last weekend of September since they were the first small, “season opener” races.  They were not part of any series, just fun “Where’s my fitness level/Is my equipment ok?” races.  A time to start the bonding process with your ‘cross friends. It was a long drive to and from, and usually we had 4 or more people crammed into a tiny roach motel for 2-nights.  Good times, for sure.

The following weekend would be Evo Cross, the first race of the Andrew Albright-created Mid-Atlantic Cyclocross Series, better known as the MAC Series.  Today, we just finished our 4^th weekend of racing in October, and I’m 14 races into what will likely be a 24 or 25 race season. Back in 2000, we would only have 5 or 6 races under our belts by now, and the season would be complete with 12 to 14 total races. 

14 races in and I feel like I’m stripping myself down, exposing myself in a way. These days, we line up next to each other starting on the last weekend of August.  You give your quick hellos to those you haven’t seen since last ‘cross season, and smile politely to the new faces in the bunch.  There is not much hanging around, it’s still hot, and crazy humid.  Still summer time.  The next few weekends are doubles.  We get to pick and choose our races.  MAC?  PACX?  NJ?  MABRA? NE?  But every race we go to we see the same faces.  We learn a little more about the girl or guy you are going to rub elbows with as you race away from the starting grid. They learn a little more about you.

By October, our bodies are peeling away a layer of fat from all the training and racing.  We’re getting stronger, faster.  We’re also getting friendlier now with those girls or guys you didn’t know on the start line back in August.  We’re exchanging phone numbers.  We’re friending on Facebook.  We’re learning about each other’s families. We’re learning that some people actually have lives outside of the world of cyclocross.  We are exposing ourselves in more ways than one.

I’m thankful for the long-standing continued friendships that I found in the cycling community, and of course all the new friendships that result from the exposing process throughout the cyclocross season.  So go ahead, expose yourself.  

The cycling community will love you for it.

thanks Kelly- for everything...

thanks for reading.

respect

fatmarc