I really couldn't get the idea of cyclocross racing out of my head this morning riding in. I probably kept the pace strong as a result--having visions of yesterday's cyclocross rider tailing me. But I'm definitely thinking about going up to Baltimore to watch the Charm City Cyclocross Race. I think most of my readers won't have a clue about what cyclocross is all about, so I'll post a few links for educational purposes. Once you've read a few sites, you'll know about as much about the sport as I do myself.

At lunch, we decided to take a trip to Spokes, Etc. and once Pat knew about my cyclocross interest, he wouldn't let me just watch. So I bought a pair of Ritchey Alpha Bite cyclocross tires to put on my bike. By two o'clock, I'd purchased a set of clipless pedals, a pair of shoes, some extra tubes, and registered to race. Scheduled to arrive on Friday, I should be all set to race on Sunday in Baltimore. Yes, I have lost my mind. I'll be transforming the Sirrus into a 'cross machine soon and it promises to be a lot of fun.

The ride home was another fast one. But it was all I could do not to take the bike off the side of the trail to see what riding a cyclocross bike might feel like. Fortunately for my tires, cooler heads prevailed and I kept the pace strong on the asphalt. A solid day of cycling yet again. I'm turning that big gear with purpose.

On a side note, I'm making a move to acquire a mountain bike from Craig's List. The bike is a 2001 model Trek 8000. The owner is asking $900, but I've offered $450, with this email as reasoning:

Thanks for sending the pictures. Things make a lot more sense now. You have a 2001 model Trek 8000. While the 2005 model retails for $1539.99, the 2001 model is vastly different in both frame material and components and retailed for $1149.99. The differences are this: the frame material is no longer Aluminum as yours is, but a proprietary alloy hardened with Zirconium that Trek calls ZR 9000. Also, your fork is Judy SL, where the new 8000 has Duke shocks. This is two tiers above Judy. The new 8000 also has disc brakes. If you can verify that yours is disc compatible (it should have spots on the front shocks where disc brakes can be attached) that would be helpful. Sorry for all the detail. The bottom line for me is this: The bike you have probably retailed for around $1000. Seeing as it's used and the frame and components aren't on par with today's 8000, I think $900 is too much. If you have many other buyers, then by all means, get all you can from them. There's a similar bike going on eBay right now for a Buy It Now price of $500. I'm prepared to offer $450. That's half of what you were asking and I only went into the detail so that you know I'm not trying to insult you with my offer. Let me know what you think.

We'll see if my offer stands up. I'd love to have a mountain bike to play with on weekends and a Trek 8000 should be a solid bike for that purpose. Having the bike list on RSS feed sure helps.

Dist / Time / Avg / Max / Odo
37.52 / 1.14.10 / 30.3 / 49.8 / 1824.4
38.23 / 1.11.23 / 32.1 / 51.9 / 1862.6