Author: Brett Rothmeyer

2016 Races, The Big Picture

November 4th, 2016

The Big Picture: Kings CX

Brett Rothmeyer

Pedaling down back lanes surrounded by the bright yellows and oranges of the autumn leaves, my mind wanders from one thought to the next, from simple ideas to meaning-of-life level questions. It’s on the bike alone I have found that my mind opens itself with ease. There are times where I have felt like I have written the greatest short story of all, word after word flowing and painting these visions of adventure and peril, of emotional highs and lows of humanity and it’s all there strung effortlessly together. Continue reading “The Big Picture: Kings CX”

Share
2016 Races, The Big Picture

November 2nd, 2016

The Big Picture: Pan Am Champs

Brett Rothmeyer

While the mass of our peers were usually headed to football games, movies and awkward dates to Applebees we would plug cheap guitars into cheaper amplifiers and smash away at elementary song writing. Like most misfit teenagers who were into to skateboarding, it didn’t take long until we discovered punk rock. Between going to shows and listening to records, at a certain point a few of us thought collectively ‘this doesn’t seem that hard and definitely looks like a lot of fun,’ so we formed a band. Continue reading “The Big Picture: Pan Am Champs”

Share
The Big Picture

October 27th, 2016

The Big Picture: Cyclocross and the Zen of Surfing

Brett Rothmeyer

There are days when the house is empty and the breeze blows through the front window that I just lay on the floor and imagine I’m surfing. Paddling hard into a rising wave, feeling the push and power propelling me to the shore, I pop up and admire my ability to work in tandem with the water, cutting hard back to my left towards the waves crest and then quickly slashing right back into the perfect glassy pocket, water sprays and catches the ever changing oranges and purples as the sun dips into to the sea. Continue reading “The Big Picture: Cyclocross and the Zen of Surfing”

Share
2016 races, The Big Picture

October 14th, 2016

The Big Picture: Charm City Cyclocross (Day 2)

Brett Rothmeyer

Hurling my car down interstate 70, precisely pinning the needle of the speedometer just under the 80mph mark, hoping that theory of 10 miles an hour over the limit is actually the limit. Five pm, then six, the Breezewood interchange onto the Pennsylvania turnpike, back to pinning the speedometer at it’s needed location. With my stomach empty in synchronization with the cars gas tank, the need to stop was pressing, but there was no time to waste. In a mere two hours Dinosaur Jr, would be taking the stage at Mr. Smalls Theater in Pittsburgh and I was still an hour and forty minutes away. Continue reading “The Big Picture: Charm City Cyclocross (Day 2)”

Share
2016 Races, The Big Picture

October 5th, 2016

The Big Picture: KMC Cross Fest

Brett Rothmeyer

I stood motionless in stagnant summer sweat, one arm supporting part of my weight while holding on to the trunk of a crying Bradford pear tree, my feet aching in dusty boots on the cracked dirt doing the rest of the work to keep me standing. Every 90 seconds I would drag the hundred or so feet of garden hose in small increments, from one withering dusty burlap sack to the next in the attempt to keep cultivated specimens of decorative trees from dispensing their last leaf onto the parched ground, sealing their fate in becoming another addition the mass grave of organic material steaming at the end of the lot. It was the summer of 2000 and earlier that spring I had taken a job at a local greenhouse and nursery. Continue reading “The Big Picture: KMC Cross Fest”

Share
2016 races, Race Reports, The Big Picture

September 15th, 2016

The Big Picture: Rochester Cyclocross

Brett Rothmeyer

I wasn’t sure what to write for this one, I went back and forth with paragraphs about when Steevo and I had first started hanging out, about how we spent the better part of 6 years driving around the country chasing cyclocross races and about when he got hurt and decided to focus his efforts and interest more on rocks and mountains in the fall time than on smashing pedals in the mud. Continue reading “The Big Picture: Rochester Cyclocross”

Share
The Big Picture

September 11th, 2016

The Big Picture: PCCoD

Brett Rothmeyer

Ten Years is a long time, in fact it’s a decade. Think about that for a second, think about the movements and trends that die with in the time span of a decade, jazzercise is out yoga is in, no more GI Joe but Teletubbies rules children’s television, MTV goes from playing music videos to pregnant teenagers. A lot can happen in ten years, nation states can be born and die, Radiohead might record their next album, Keith Richards will likely go on living but no one is really willing to place money on any of these subjects. Continue reading “The Big Picture: PCCoD”

Share
The Big Picture

June 8th, 2016

The Big Picture: Philadelphia International Cycling Classic

Brett Rothmeyer

Stuck to the seat inside of an Amtrak passenger car sweating out the night before, a young girl began humming and ever so slightly singing along to Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark.” Deep in the belly of 30th Street Station I struggled to find some sort of peace amongst the heat and chaos, the engine of the train had yet to start and the hot stagnate air from the streets above had begun to wraps its filthy hands around my neck. My mind raced, wondering if I should just get up and run as fast I can off the train car but just as the girl muttered “this gun is for hire…” the engine fired up and the air began a cool dance of circulating fans extinguishing any thoughts of escape and ending a week long work-cation in the city of Brotherly Love. Continue reading “The Big Picture: Philadelphia International Cycling Classic”

Share
The Big Picture

April 24th, 2016

The Big Picture: The Oval

Brett Rothmeyer

[Editor’s note: Although this is predominantly a site focused on cyclocross, in the end, we love bikes. And bike racing. All kinds. So, in the offseason, we don’t mind bringing you some mountain-biking, road racing or whatever other kind of cool stuff is happening out there. For instance, we will once again be bringing you our own coverage of a selection of Tour de France stages, and may even cover some World Cup MTB and a gravel race or two. Who knows, there may be a skateboarding or music post mixed in here at some point. But make no mistake, this is not filler. I’d rather post nothing than post something just to have a post. The bottom line is cxhairs.com has great contributors. And if they have an idea for a story, I want to share it. Like this one from Brett. Thanks for reading. -Bill] Continue reading “The Big Picture: The Oval”

Share