2015 Long Beach Bike Fest

You know, there was a whole lot of different activities taking place in Long Beach today - cyclocross re-dubed as city cross, the Shortline Crit and its various qualifying races, vintage bike show, beer, track stand competition, music, vendors, and all kinds of people watching. Maybe all that variety is the cause of my not having a single theme to write about. Consider this post as more of a photo essay of the day - I will add to  piece by piece, and end with the usual Flickr album.

you all remember Luis Garcia. check the website. sign the petition.

Now, Nebraska here had a choice to make at this point. He had picked up that can of Pabst at a hand-up. After jumping through the van (yes, the van) he could have dropped the can, aced a running remount, and beat the guy behind him for, I believe, 2nd place. Instead he chose the beer and ran his bike across the line for 3rd. Did he choose correctly? I guess that is a decision everyone has to make for themselves.

Dumpster dodging through the alley.

Dorothy, as well as everyone else, can truthfully say they crushed the competition today.

Tactically speaking, flubbing the bike hand-off so that it drops in front of your nearest chasing competitor might be pretty clever, even if that chaser is the organizer.

Wards Hawthorne

Crowds to wade through…

Bikes to park…

Qualifiers to race…

Qualifiers to watch…

Podiums (City Cross in this case) to fill.

I want to recognize the course crew of this little pocket park through which the City Cross raced. They shared a can of their finest Pabst Blue Ribbon with me, for which I was grateful. They also did an outstanding job taking care of the course.

The link to the Flickr album - kind of heavy with photos from City Cross, but there are others there too.