The afterglow of AFTERGLOW

(Velogrrl's flickr) Well, Chris Jensen said it best. The only thing he understated was all the time and work he personally invested and for that we should all give him a big hug and a hearty thanks. It's quite a big deal for us at the Cuttin Crew to have been a part of a USAC sanctioned event and without his guidance as well as the example set by Half Acre Cycling we certainly would have not been able to make that leap. Thanks to them as well as all the other enablers that, through work like this, have made this passion an easily accessible reality within our growing community.

That said it is also important to give a second bit of credit to our event sponsors: Yojimbo's Garage, Tati Cycles, Twin Six, and Sportcrafters.

As for the day of racing? It was cold. (But not THAT cold.) Unfortunately it did happen to freeze over a lot of the wonderfully challenging off-camber sections as well as really neutralize the worst sand you'd ever could imagine having to ride through. On the flip side everyone brought their smiles and dealt with the elements.

(Bill Draper's set) The sketchiest drop in the world was compromised a bit by the ice but 166 people turned it into a whole lot of lemonade by the end of the day. With such choice announcing staff it was probably easy to turn out the crowd pleaser in everyone. (especially with techniques such as J's and Cousin Mikey's...)

There certainly wasn't a shortage of hype thanks to the Kirby's shaving ability and the day's hotly contested tandem race.

Aside from the laughs there was some great racing to be had as evidenced again by Mr. Draper. But also take in this cool run through of the first lap of the 1/2/3's (courtesy of Ryan O'Connell). See if you can tell what drop I'm talking about. (PS - 8:40 is a helluva lap time!)

When the race was all said and done, the night had really just begun. And Cousin Mikey, with twisted psyche, put together one great evening of fun.

Thanks to several more generous people (especially them bonebellers and those scantily clad tandemers)  there was a good amount of dough raised to help West Town Bikes and their Youth Program.

All in all, it made for a great weekend. And many thanks to those that came from far and wide to help as well as participate in some good racing and good fun...

Cause ya know what? THAT'S what it's all about!