SICX! Hey, they do 'cross on Staten Island?

Click on the photo above to see a SICX gallery

How did a Minnesota hockey boy, now living in Portland, end up running with a bike on one shoulder, through deep sand along the Atlantic Ocean on Staten Island beach? Honestly, this bike racing thing is getting weirder all the time. But there was our very own Erik Tonkin on Staten Island, a Portland presence in a world of East Coasters.

Mostly, the race felt familiar. Even the name, SICX (Staten Island CycloCross) has that bit of attitude that we're used to in this sport. And a cart near the finish sold Belgian waffles with a topping "that will change your stupid life, man." But we saw some differences from the Portland scene. The race was smaller than we're used to. With fields limited to 100, only the never-raced-cross before older-men field reached that limit. And there was the sweet ocean, something you don't see in your Cross Crusade series (hey, Brad, how about a Coastal Assault Crusade next year? Newport? Tillamook? Waikiki?)

Tonkin's presence on this sandy beach on the other side of the continent from his home got some attention from the locals. What most folks didn't know that this was his first race since he fought with a tree in the forest late this summer. Tonkin lost that fight and it cost him the 'cross season while he waited for cracked ribs and a broken shoulder to heal. But during the Staten Island race, he found a spot on the podium with relative ease. He probably got a tan on the beach, too.

-- Torsten