Missoula was a rocking with “big ringness” this past week, so here we go on the week’s report. Let’s get it started with the Wednesday night race here in town. I headed on over to get a quick ride of the course in before everyone heads out. A fast course with a whole bunch of straight-aways, and two tricky little climbs. If you approach them right, they are rideable, but get stuck behind some folks, or be in the wrong gear, and you better be ready to walk. With a quick 3, 2, 1, the gang is off, and by the first 180-degree turn, I busted my ass up to the top spot. Not surprisingly by the start of the next lap a group of five picks me up, and I have no clue what is going to happen. On the second lap, the second climb spreads our group of six out by a bit, and someone decides to take a flyer, and grabs a good five-second gap. The leftover five head through the barriers, and I figure we’ll pull this dude back in no time. Well, whoever was at the front decided they didn’t want to chase, and no one seemed to wanted move to the front, put in an effort and get the leader. Having been pulled back by groups in the past, I want to try and return the favor, so I surge around the four guys ahead of me, telling them that if anyone wants to try and get this guy to grab my wheel. No one can join and I wind up in no mans land for the next five laps. Not strong enough to catch the leader, but stronger than the group of four guys who can’t seem to get their stuff together. Oh well, I wound up playing the role of the bridesmaid, picked up some cookies, and cracked a beer.

The big ringness continued that night when I went to see Henry Rollins on his spoken word tour. If Henry raced bikes instead of making tunes, documentaries, and filming a TV show, I’m sure he’d race cross, probably on a singlespeed. Yeah this has nothing to do with bikes, but guess what, the three hour performance was phenomenal. He talked about three documentaries he had just filmed, all of which involved people helping out others because it was the right thing to do. Kind of like telling people spreading the good word of cross and cycling in general. Granted all of the situations he spoke of, were real world situations where at times lives were at stake, but still you can take away the idea of trying to help others, no matter how big or small. It’s a good thing to do, so I ask all readers to go out and try to spread the good word of cross, singlespeeding, and even that silly fad they call road racing. Okay, I’ve safely gotten down from my high horse, and will get back to the bike racing.

Saturday was Missoula’s own Rolling Thunder, which without a doubt is biggest cross race I have done to date. Every aspect of a great cross race was there, rowdy spectators, a ridiculous course, a beer tent, and a deep field showed up. So right off the bat, a big three cheers for Mr. Montana Cyclocross Shaun Radley for putting a great race and making a wonderful course. The course included a section of some tight S-turns, two trips through some speed sucking gravel, a long chunk of a BMX track, and one of the most awkward runups I’ve ever seen. If you are searching for a cross course where you can’t wipe a giant smile off your face, this was it. For the B’s race Shaun added the nice touch of doing a call up based on points from the state series. We went off, and the start was crazy, and as usual Vanderwood grabbed the lead, and it seemed like he would continue his winning streak. A group of four got off the front, and I made my way to fifth place, and hoped I would be able to make my way up to the lead group. On the fourth lap I received some extra support in the form of a shot of Jagermeister, which put a nice fire in my belly. However, it wasn’t enough to make my way up to the leaders, and wound up in fifth place on the day.

With my race over, I went into super fan mode, filling my messenger bag with some booze, which I planned to allow all racers to share in. The field for the women’s race was huge, and more spectators showed up to cheer them on. The crew from Missoula Bicycle Works had camped out over by the BMX section, were grilling up brats, toasting drinks, and heckling like pros. The girls were looking fast on the course, which wasn’t surprising because a Kona Major Jake frame and fork were up for grabs. Big props go out to Kelly Grove for being the only lady to take a shot while racing. In the end cross newcomer Amy (forgive me for not remembering her last name) took the big win. The sun began to set, the lights went on, and the big boys started to warm up. Make no mistake, this was a deep field, everyone had a serious face during warm-ups, and whoever would take home the complete Felt cross bike was going to have to earn it the hard way. Two out of staters that made the trip included mountain bike pro and Missoula native Sam Schultz, and Sam Krieg.

When the gun went off, the boys hit the gas, and took off down the long straightaway surrounded by cheering fans. Missoula’s dominant force Bob Presta grabbed the holeshot and held his lead around the baseball field. In the BMX section Sam Schultz immediately became the crowd favorite by grabbing some sick air over the set of doubles. Sam’s outfit which consisted of swimming trunks, and an 80’s vest combined with taking a Jager shot mid-lap also resulted in him receiving some of the loudest cheers all night. The most impressive thing about the Men’s A race was just how fast these guys were going even though they were racing at night, and some of the more technical sections could have used better lighting. In the end Sam Krieg took the big victory in a very impressive fashion, and was greeted by the spectators like the champion he is. All in all Rolling Thunder, is a GREAT race, and you should make some plans to get up to the Big Sky next year. That’s all I got this week, get out there and ride, that’s what I’m about to do.

Brother Andrew,