A New crosser's thoughts

Hi everybody,

I'm new to cross with Eagle island being my first race. Bought a road bike last year and fell in love. 2500 miles later it is winter again and I find it hard to make myself bear the cold coming down bogus at 40 mph when it is less than 40 degrees. A fried tells me about these cross races where you work hard, but never go that fast and therefore stay warm and get a great workout. But, alas, no nobby tire can fit in my roadbike fork and after a few hard crashes in the nearby park on slicks I decide to take my 34 lbs ten year old mountain bike to the eagle island race. Faced with the choice of $35 for a twenty min race, or $35 for the class 4 race I decide I need at least $1/min return on my investment and race class 4. The field leaves me in the dust as I huff my tank over the barriers and up the run ups, but my mountain bike helps me gain in the trees, only to be left again on the long straights. I get faster with bike handling as the race goes on but slower from fatigue. I finish last in class 4 but have a good run against an older guy during the last lap and I am super hooked! Racing cross is now consuming my thoughts. I get books from the library. I scour the internet looking for a cheap way to get a reasonably proper cross bike. I spend time at work watching crosstube.net videos. My last ten facebook updates include the words cross, cycle, or pain. I borrow a friend's single speed for the race on Sunday at Sandy Point and do much, much better. I strip my mountain frame and build it back up with 700c wheels and a rigid fork and drops to get it down to around 20 lbs. I plan to skip an outing with my inlaws while in Montana next week for the holiday to race. What the hell has happened to me???

So here I am addicted, preaching the gospel of cross to everyone I meet. From a new person's perspective it seems like a steep road to get involved in cross. Is there a way to make the first time experience a little easier? Can the first timer's race be 30 min instead of 20? Can the first timer's buy a usa cycling non-competitive one day license for $5? and maybe a lower reg fee for that 30 min ride? Maybe there is a way to encourage first timers by stating that the 30 min race is for mountain bikers too? The fact is, there are too many people in spin classes around the valley that could be crossers if the entry point to racing were a little easier to get into. Who would choose sitting in a room for an hour on Sat or Sun morn listening to some lady who sounds remarkably like my mother yelling at me while I sweat away on a stationary bike watching the butt of the person in front of me, when you can choose to be outside in the sunny fall weather getting a total body workout for an hour with cowbells and people drinking beer yelling at you?

Thanks everyone for getting me hooked on a new sport. I love it!

Now, next fall are we going to have a race under the lights at Bogus or what?
Joe