Oakley Night Cap Cyclocross

So on Friday I jetted out of work to meet Jeremy Cook so we could head to Des Moines for the Night Cap Cyclocross race presented by Bike Iowa at Mullets Bar and grill.

WOW!

This was a awesome event. Awesome fans, the social lubricants were flowing, and the fields were pretty big. My only complaint was that the course was relatively short, but they used every inch they could.
Me and Jeremy talked Econ the whole way there, and got registered with time to spare. it was a especially cool evening that was compounded by the fact that we were right next to the River. As we were kitting up Jeremy whipped out some Mad Alchemy Mellow embrocation and offered me some.

.....now I have always been skeptical of embrocation. I know a lot of cyclists love to wax poetic about how great it is when its cold outside. Me, I prefer to wear warm clothes. So with a little bit of trepidation I slathered my legs up, pulled on my BGR fleece lined skinsuit and hit the levy trails to try to warmup. At first I would not call the sensation of embrocation warming........it was more of a mild intermittent burning sensation. It did not feel warm all the time either, the tingle came and went. What I did notice was that my feet were cold, I banged my toe on a barrier on the warmup and it really hurt. However, even with a thin pair of full finger gloves my hands felt fine from the application to the ol' leggers. (Word to the wise: watch where you put you hands post application)

After what seemed like forever, they finally sent us all off for a sixty minute race that would be 19 laps. I really have no idea how I did. You were never really out of the traffic, and there was never a long straight stretch. It was one of the more technical (in a non-muddy sense) with a ton of turns and sketchy dark descents. 90% of the course was really well lit, but that dark off camber descent was dicey, fun but in a dangerous kind of way.

One of the Alegant Health racers from Lincoln absolutely destroyed a tubular rear wheel. I mean ripped spokes out of eyelets, rim bent and broke in multiple locations. It was spectacular, but even with his wheel having multiple 90 degree angles, his tubby was still glued firmly in place. I thought that was impressive.

We also got to see Shim before our race. Turns out he ripped a derailleur off in his race.

Jeremy and I did not wait around for results, since we were heading back to the big O that night, and I had to work early the next morning. Did not get home until 2 am. Suck. Many thanks to Jeremy though for staying awake and being a great conversationalist on the ride home.

Afterthoughts: I am going to order some Mad Alchemy Medium or Madness (Mod or Brian if you have any in stock let me know and I will be by the store). It did not occur to me until later that I could apply embrocation to my feet which are always cold. The Mellow is great, I never even realized I had it on once the race started, but you really have to make a conscious effort to wash it off. When I was laying in bed that night (morning) I could still feel the backs of my legs tingling. I figure a nice pair of wool socks cost at least 20 bucks, and if the embro' adds a little bit of warmth to a cold race experience it is worth every penny.