Although the sport has been around since the early 1900’s, over the last decade, cyclocross has seen a steady growth in popularity across the US. In our neck of the woods, Ethan Johnson, owner of  Campus Wheelworks, Buffalo’s finest bikes shop, his shop manager Alex davies and the rest of the Campus crew have been hugely responsible for the popularity of the sport in our region and bringing a whole new crop of riders to the sport.

The Campus boys put on an annual race in our cities centrally located Delaware Park, one of our famed, Olmstead designed beauties.  It was here that I caught my first cross race three years ago.  The whole scene reminded me of what it was like when I first started mountain biking  20 years ago.  Everyone simply has a great time without letting competition get in the way of a good laugh. The Campus crew exemplifies positive sportsmanship and everything that is great about off road cycling.  Mud, sweat and beer.

Shooting cyclocross helped renew my passion for cycling  and got my fat ass back on my bike. This past season was an awesome one filled with more trail miles than I have ridden in the prior three seasons combined.  Cyclocross also renewed my passion for photographing the sport I sadly and for too long stepped away from shooting to pursue general commercial/advertising work.

Our local race season has come to a close.  Here’s a few highlights from the 2013 season.

Weather does not factor into a cross race.   As the saying goes, there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.

Of course, there are dogs.  Lots of dogs.  Did I mention dogs?  I like dogs.  Here’s a dog photo.