It had to happen: this long beautiful summer has finally come to an end, and that means that Cyclocross Season is definitely here, and we love it!
Earlier this summer we recruited Josh Kelley, the current Oregon cyclocross state champion, as a production assistant for Cielo. It didn’t take long for us to hatch a plan to have Josh racing a pair of bright and fast Cielo Cross Racer Disc bikes complete with a selection of dazzling Chris King components. Josh is extremely quick and has already put his Cielo Cross Racer Disc and other riders through the ringer in some strenuous early season races.
But he is not our factory’s lone racer, in fact last weekend we officially launched our Chris King factory cyclocross team. We wanted to encourage more of our employees to get out and try this filthy and fun sport. We choose to celebrate the team launch last weekend in conjunction with the grand opening ofThe Athletic, the brick and mortar storefront for our friend’s Jeremy Dunn and Julie Krasniak’s The Athletic sock business, otherwise known as “Sock Empire.”
These two have been very busy over the past couple of years, might know them from their airport carpet socks. As it turns out, people not only need socks, they love socks, and I can attest that there is nothing like slipping on a new pair of socks. Jeremy and Julie are no slouches when it comes to racing and they were launching their new The Athletic cyclocross team as well as hosting the awards party for this years early season series the PDX Trophy Cup. Chris King’s Josh Kelly happened to win the PDX Trophy Cup overall only added to the mirth and merriment.
While the party went late into the evening, a few of our crew ducked out early to prepare for the next day’s Cross Crusade race in Hillsboro, OR. We had curated the party with a charcuterie board replete with meats, cheeses, bread, and fruit and it would be a repeat performance at the Washington County Fair Complex course in Hillsboro. It was a successful day for us on the course as well, Josh Kelley rode to 5th place in the pro category behind Ryan Trebon and Carl Decker in prime conditions for Oregon cross racing. The terrain was wet in the morning with the sun coming out in the afternoon to create classic peanut buttery mud. While the valiant and quick slowed and tired, caked with mud and drained of energy, our crew and friends cheered, feasted, and had a very good time.
While it has been going for a while, the cyclocross season is only just beginning and we look forward to more wet and cloudy days filled with blood, sweat, tears, cheers, and beers. Stay tuned for a full presentation of the Chris King Factory Team.
~Buzz
Check out the full photo gallery on our flickr page.