For those of you who follow international cyclocross, the sordid event that took place in the Belgian national cyclocross championships this past weekend isn’t news. For those of you who don’t pore over the international results, let me just recap the situation for a second – it seems that a drunken supporter of 2009 Belgian cyclocross champion Sven Nys reached out and grabbed the arm of reigning World Champion, Niels Albert, causing him to crash, and breaking a rib in the process. Not only did Albert lose any chance of winning the race as a result of the crash, but with a broken rib, he now has a difficult time with hard accelerations and any sort of climbing.

I have personally endured my share of broken ribs and am here to say that there really isn’t any possibility that Albert will be defending his rainbow jersey this time around at the Worlds. That, my friends, is a terrible thing. I really would like to write something harsher here, but am consciously making an effort to abide by my own rule of keeping this at least a PG -13 rated site.

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David A  -  Portland, Oregon

It’s funny, but actually didn’t know what “Belgian Kneewarmers” referred to until about a year ago. I guess it might be, perhaps, that as I was in the habit of putting on one or another type of embrocation gunk on the knees and legs, and that everyone else was doing the same thing, I never knew there was an American term for it.

Yes, for those of you who have never been in a dressing room immediately prior to a Belgian kermis, classic, semi-classic, or cyclocross race … the air becomes thick with the fragrance of at least a dozen different analgesic ointments. Some of these are familiar smells – a lot like that Ben Gay smell you got when you went to visit your grandparents. Some of them, on the other hand, are like nothing you have smelled before – and quite possibly could be some sort of cross between a freaky hillbilly poultice and a high desert meth lab.

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Jerry K - Birmingham, Alabama

Well-sir, to tell you the truth, my feeble brain has a hard time with box scores sometimes, which is ultimately why I had to quit baseball and take up bike racing - baseball is all about box scores and numbers and whatnot, while bike racing is just about "go."

Seriously, I have known/known of Jonathan Page for a long time, and utmost respect only sort of starts to come close. But back to the box score thing ... I am not proud to say it, but I really haven't paid close attention to how JP has been riding lately. I often think that if I had a chance to do it all over again I would have gone the cyclocross route, so I am at least glad that someone with the initials JP has.

Jerry, you bring up a good point - and further applause for you for paying attention to a rider who has chosen to do it the hard way. But your question has also opened the floor for a wee rant ... so I will go ahead and grab hold of the talking stick.

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With Tour de France officially in the record books it seems that a lot of folks are shifting their attention to the upcoming cyclocross season. Personally, I’d rather enjoy the beautiful summer days in a different way yet for now, but if you are one of these overachieving cyclists, I wish you good luck and lots of fun.

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Dave Borden - Blandon, PA

Dave, thanks for the kind words about A Dog in a Hat. I really appreciate it.

Regarding my path into mountain bikes and cyclocross; that was about as round about and dissheveled as the filing system I employ in my computer bag. As a kid I was drawn to BMX and off-road motorcycle riding/racing. I thought 10-speeds were kind of stupid because you couldn't get "totally rad" on them. Then, at age 17, I got a 10-speed and thoroughly enjoyed the thing. I started racing road bikes shortly after that.

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