Thanks! Cyclocross has changed! This description matches what I heard from Paul Curley and others 48 years ago when I worked in a Cambridge, MA bike shop. The venues I've seen here in Portland, OR since 2000 have been by comparison, manicured. Obstacles often fabricated and placed, not just random roots, rock and trees. Defined paths with rope dividers on both sides defining the course and keeping spectators off. Some of the course sections clearly made by heavy equipment. (Bulldozers and the like!)

The bikes - no longer just the beater road bike you've got. Made for cyclcross. Before the now discs, every bike had cantis. (Cantis were a European standard back in the '70s - or at least that was the word that was spread in the circles I ran. I heard the Mafacs were made for cyclocross in the '50s and spread to other genres because they worked so well. In 1970 Peter Mooney put them on the bike he built me for just that reason.)

The riding (and running) - the west coast crossers now look like pros by comparison. Even in those stills it is obvious skills have come a long ways. (And I watched a little footage of Marianne Vos. Pro ballet vs junior high first time ever polka.)

Those photos take me back. The hair. The clothes. The helmets.