2015 Krosstoberfest: Oompah!

A deep lowing yet punctual series of booms sounding like a great group of bovines in some sort of distress reached me. They were not sounds I normally associate with this, or any other, stretch of the San Gabriel River Trail (SGRT). Given my location, though, I knew exactly what those sounds were, what they meant. Tuba, baritone, accordion. Yes, almost as pleasurable as the cool breeze blowing inland from the coast, was the sound of German Octoberfest, or in this case Krosstoberfest, music pulsating in waves from various speakers standing watch around the festival grounds. Not the heavy Oompah sounds, mind you, but a lighter, quicker polka, and in that sense more in keeping with the racing taking place all around. 

For this years' Krosstoberfest, the SoCalCross Prestige Series made its annual stop at that pock-marked and sun-dappled expanse of turf in El Dorado Parks Golden Grove. Though scaled back a bit from years past, the more compact course simply meant that there were more twists and turns to test riders' handling abilities and leg strength. Without naming names, plenty of racers miscalculated those turns, carried too much speed, requiring them to brake hard and then accelerate hard to regain speed. It was a challenge, I dare say, that the victors managed to more effectively overcome.

I have just one question - considering the name of the race, where was the bier? It was about the driest cross race I think I have ever seen. Since the racing was good, I guess that can be overlooked.

It pays to get there first. With a jam-up back at the barriers this little guy came out ahead in the game - by getting there first

Lesson: Young kid shows older folk how its done

Race face

Lift off

Colors of the season

Ballet or bike racing, or a bit of both?

There are one hundred twenty-nine photos in the Flickr album. Only a fraction of the six-hundred photos from the day made the album. The photos are not a complete catalog, but are representative of all the others taken during the day, so if you don't see what, or who, you were looking for in the album, let me know and I will see what I can find. If you see a photo you like, feel free to download it (credit where credit due, of course). You can also contact me via email and I will gladly send a full size jpeg file of the image. As usual, I don't charge for photos, but do appreciate it when someone purchases a copy of the annual (link at top of page). Until next time, good riding.