Double Kermesse must mean double the fun!

Although I did the same thing last weekend on Sunday/Monday, it didn't make the blog. Tim was out of town last week too, so of course it wasn't quite as fun alone. These two races were unlike cyclocross in many ways. NO dismounting your bike, NO mud and HOT weather. Heck, we did the Monday night race on our road bikes. But Sunday it was riding the new cx bike!
Sunday Tim and I headed out to Kreuger's farm on Sauvies Island, via the St. John's bridge. We saw a lot of fellow Kermesse-ers heading out and hooked up with some pals for part of the ride. It was hot. Arriving at the farm, it felt 10 degrees hotter, but we lined up for our 2:00 race with smiles on our face. Sure, the legs were a bit tired from the epic mountain bike ride Saturday, the birthday ride, but Tim raced with the A's (instead of the master A's) and killed it! 8th overall. I rode with the ladies and had another victory, but this time on my new bike! It is sweet. I forgot to take a picture, darn it. You can sort of see it in the picture below. During my race, I actually lost my water bottle 2 laps in. This was a problem. Once I discovered it was gone, I spent a whole lap scanning for it and finally located it. On the next lap, I actually stopped for it, but it was no longer where I saw it the lap before. I asked the people there, "have you seen the green water bottle that was here?" Unfortunately I had to take it back from a less than thrilled 4-year old, who shyly handed it back, but I really needed that water. After the race, awards, etc, we helped tear down and then headed to Weavers for a party. It felt like the who's who of Portland cycling! Thanks Megan and Ryan for a great time and good grub.

It was a 'farm crit', so the white t-shirt was a good call. Too hot for a jersey with black!

Tim leading the train.

Monday night we were back at it again. After Tim got off work, we headed to PIR for the 2nd Vanport Kermesse. OK, by now you are probably still wondering what the heck a kermesse is. Well, it isn't in the dictionary, but according to Kris Schamp, our Belgian buddy who put on the Sunday races, it is an annual, local celebration, typical for the Low Lands (of Belgium) and northern France, accompanied by feasting, dancing and sports of all kinds, or a Belgian style summer bike race, staged during local kermesse festivities. Good times, on and off the course! So basically, we went for more good times! PIR was not as well attended as the weekend race, but a fun course on and off dirt and bad pavement. A great workout on a beautiful evening. Hopefully you saw the moon. It was amazing!
Next stop: Salt Lake City. I have to go to SLC for the annual MonaVie meeting Thursday/Friday and then up to Seattle for the first real cyclocross races of the season. I am scared!!! Wish me luck! Hopefully helping again at tomorrow evenings cx clinic at Alpenrose will get my mounts and dismounts dialed.

*pictures borrowed from jose brujo Sandoval. He has an amazing eye. Thanks for sharing!