If you have visited Renaissance Bicycles before, or have read some of the News Updates posted on this blog, you realize that we encourage the ideals of the Slow Bike Movement (and Slow Food Movement, the Slow Fish Movement, etc.)  But there is one case when fast is better … Cyclocross.

This year we have the pleasure of sponsoring CrossTown Velo, a couple of local athletes who participate (and sometimes win) in the grassroots sport of Cyclocross.  For the uninitiated, Cyclocross is a sport of European descent which combines the cardiovascualr workout of cross-country running with the finess and technique of mountain biking.  In a nutshell, take a skinny-tired bike and a local park or field, add in some man-made obstacles, and churn out the laps with 20 or so of your friends … basically that’s Cyclocross.

As part of our sponsorship, we (well … really the guys on the team) help put together a local training series before the start of the North Carolina Cyclocross Series.

And apparently the training has paid off.  In the first “official” event of the local race calender — the Mud, Sweat, and Gears opener in Kingsport, TN — both Will Black and Ned Dowling took positions on the podium in their respective categories.  Congratulations guys!  Way to represent CrossTown Velo and Renaissance Bicycles!

In the big picture, we are interested in Cyclocross simply because it still retains that “down home” feel.  Rivalries on the course can still be friendships away from competition, prize money is irrelevant, there is a definite sense of combined suffering from the participants, and at the end of the day, the riders are happy to pitch-in to help out the organizers.  In other words, this is what racing should be.

We’ll keep you posted of the guys’ exploits when the North Carolina Cyclocross Series officially kicks-off at the end of October.