Ah, cold early mornings of the fall. Must be 'cross season. (Record scratch...): It was 65 degrees this AM! Obviously this is madness as it's mid November and it feels like late Spring. We know the hammer is being cocked and we are about to get pummeled. States will, I predict, be a debacle....either snow or mad mud. We'll see. It'll be epic. Either way, I'll keep my pretty white dancin' Sidi's all purdy and such.

It was a massive pre-work group again today. You can see the fitness swells coming back amongst us all now that the Boulder Cup weekend is passed and ramp ups are emerging again to peak for States. Wednesday Bike Practice is hilarious. It is this massive family of elite pros to newbies all communing at random parks to get their hup in before 'the man' calls us to our respective offices and places of work. We meet up every week and it is EXACTLY like when you were a kid coming out from your classroom at recess. You see your buds....many which you race against every week....and you chat about last weeks race drama, gut laugh, geek out on someone's new trick equipment....you know: commune. Or, yes, recess.

Today we rallied at a few of the fun haunts for practice. We all started up our second 'ride' and then the police came on in, lights blaring. Busted? A group of us went and spoke with the officer (who was initially irate) and this is when I knew we'd done right: we had a permit. Starting last season, spearheaded by our own vegan machine, Cat-J, we legitimized the rides by working with Parks and Rec and established a permit for our group ride. With it stamped and approved, we are designated on certain parks to practice an it took the officer about 6 seconds to make a call and he was utterly supportive once confirmed. That and our level-headed conversation with him...even supporting him by empathizing and assuring him we understand and this is why we got the permit...etc etc. It was rad. Clearly we have some more work to do to communicate our group, where we'll be and when, but it was so clear we'd done the right thing (with cat's leadership). I don't know what it is like in your town, but Boulder has a group of 70+ each Wednesday to get the training down in the early hours. If you are thinking growing like we are, then stay ahead of the curve and legitimize...if you think it's going to cause contention.

'Crossers of the World, Unite! Or something like that....