Lembi park Sacramento CX races #4 & #5

Two very different courses greeted the team this weekend- the first on Saturday had some mud but had a fair amount of fast turf and paved sections with only a couple of dismount sections. Sunday was completely different with deep mud, a bit of rain and some real hard slow sections of deep bog. The second day was not unlike 'cross crusade courses in Portland where the real mud is found. 

While a lot of the team decided to miss this weekend, we still had a fair amount of participants and lots of podiums. Here's the Saturday results:

Men 70+  A&B       Paul Sadoff     1st

Men's open B..Nathan Delaney       4th

Men's single speed B  Jeremy Schloss  2nd

Men's single speed A  Connor Hormel   4th

Men's open A     Eric Brown          7th

Women's open A     Caroline Dezendorf  1st

Sunday at the mud fest we had one more team rider show up and a true cyclocross experience of the most classic nature was on tap. The lap times were a lot longer than the day before and later races were so difficult that there were no smiles to be found on the riders- that is until it was over !

Here are the Sunday results:

Men's 70+ A&B  Paul Sadoff       1st

Men's open B     Nathan Delaney   7th

Men's single speed B  Jeremy Schloss  1st

Men's single speed A  Connor Hormell  4th

Women's open A  Caroline Dezendorf  1st

Men's 40+  A   Kailin Waterman     2nd

Men's open A   Eric Brown     7th 

This was my bike after 4 laps on Sunday. It got worse as the day went on and the few riders that had spare bikes had an advantage. 

Saturday was sunny and short sleeve weather - Sunday was cold with some drizzle and the conditions more like classic Nor-Cal winter CX. I have to say, all the good press that this course has gotten is well deserved- the race was well organized and went smoothly and the two courses over the weekend were examples of what good course building is all about. There was some off-camber, a short sand feature, a set of barriers, some steep kickers that became running sections on the second day when there was little traction. Each day was a completely different experience for the racer. I think this one has to be on the calendar next year. 

 

Mare Island BASP race

I'll go out on a limb and say that the Rock Lobster team was the largest and most successful team at this event by far. We had racers on nearly every podium and many wins. This was not even the full team but still a pretty large group as the team is really attempting as a whole to complete this BASP series and take as many overall titles as possible. The casualty of the day was Decker Krogh who had a hard crash in the last couple laps of the men's B race while in the leading group- lets hope that he heals up fast and gets to race more this season. 

Junior men 10-14              Noah Hekkert     1st.

Junior men  15-18             Pavlo Tkach        1st

Men 35 A                           Eric Brown         3rd           

                                         Gene Selcov         7th

Men 45 A                        Carl Hekkert          4th

                                  Kailin Waterman         7th

Men 60 +                     Jim English               1st

                                    Paul Sadoff                3rd

                             Rick Ortenblad                 4th

Women B           Allison Peck                       1st

Men B                 Nathan Delaney                10th

                              Kai   Yee                         26th

                          Decker Krogh                   DNF

Single Speed men B   Jeremy Schloss           2nd

                                   Patrick Lewis              6th

Tracklocross Men        Gene Park                  1st

Women A                     Hannah Solberg         1st

                                  Maddie Ortenblad         2nd

Single Speed men A      Matt Miller               3rd

                                      Connor Hormell        5th

                                     Kyle Taylor                 6th

Men A                  Brendan Lehman                 6th

 

Surf City CX weekend , Bonny Doon

Back in the early '70's a few people decided to start a CX race series in Santa Cruz- little did they know that it would survive longer than any other CX series in the country. Since its introduction , the race has had the best and worst of times , every few years being passed on to a new set of promoters - like an old car with 200,000 miles and bald tires-a new person takes on the race and thinks "Hey, it still runs so lets have a try keeping it running !". It has been this team's job to keep it running now for about five years . Yes, it still runs and this year it runs very well. 

Over the weekend at least 600 folks registered for the many categories and some of the fields were very large-the men's B field approaching 50 riders. Its hard to say which day was more epic as the weather turned rainy and true cyclocross conditions happened in what is normally a hot and dry time of year- it was very much like 15 years ago when we really did have rain and a season befitting CX.

The team had many participants, some coming from as far as Truckee, Bend and Los Angeles. It was a good size group and though I didn't hear anyone talking about it, this edition saw many of our team on the top step of the podium. Here are the results of the two days of racing.

 

Saturday race:

Junior men 15-18

Pavio Tkach   4th

Matthew Werner 10th

Abe Bachar         11th

Men's C    

Enzo Sapojinkoff   3rd

Junior men 9-14 

Noah Hekkert       1st

Men's B

Caleb O'Hare        4th

Finn Cunningham 7th

Decker Krogh       12th

Jim English           35th

Matthew Werner   40th

Men's singles speed B

Patrick Lewis         5th

Chris Seymour       9th

Joe Fabris              14th

Men's 45 B

Eric Werner            12th

Men's 35 A

Max Judelson           1st

Eric Brown               6th

Men's 45 A

Fred Mills                 4th

Carl Hekkert            12th

Men's 60+

Paul Sadoff               8th

Women's A 

Caroline Dezendorf  2nd

Diana Drew               4th

Mara Valcarcel          6th

Maddie Ortenblad     7th

Dani Morshead       9th

Women's B

Keelan Senkier         2nd

Women's single speed

Hannah Solberg        4th

Women's C

Scottie Junker          8th

Women  35+

Kate Hochler            1st

Women 55+

Kathleen Bortolussi  2nd

Men's A

Enzo Burghout        7th

Nate Barton             8th

Max Judelson         10th

Men's single speed A

Matt Miller              6th

Kailin Waterman    7th

Jeremy Schloss        8th

Kyle Taylor             10th

Fred Mills                16th

Men's Tracklocross

Isaac Estrada             1st

Gene Park                  2nd

Sunday races:

Junior men 9-14

Noah Hekkert           1st

Junior men 15-18

Abe Bachar               1st

Matthew Werner        2nd

Men's B

Andrew Yee                7th

Finn Cunningham       8th

Decker Krogh             10th

Kai Yee                       11th

Men's single speed B

Chris Seymour           11th

Men's 45 B

Eric Werner                 8h

Mens 55 B

Jim English                  6th

Men's 35 A

Max Judelson               1st

Erice Brown                 4th

Men's 45 A

Carl Hekkert                 7th

Men's 60+  

Paul Sadoff                    4th

Women A

Caroline Dezendorf        2nd

Diana Drew                    6th

Women B

Keelan Senkier                2nd

Single speed women

Maddie Ortenblad            1st

Tracklocross women 

Dani Moreshead               1st

Women 55+

Kathleen Bortolussi          1st

Women's  C

Scottie Junker                    10th

Men's A

Nate Barton                        5th

Enzo Burghout                   6th

Max Judelson                     8th

Men single speed A

Matt Miller                          7th

Kailin Waterman                 8th

Jeremy Schloss                   12th

Kyle Taylor                         14th

Men Tracklocross

Isaac Estrada                         1st

I count 11 wins for the team over the course of the weekend. That counts for a lot but what really counts the most is that the team contributed to an event that has endured decades of changing fortunes and personalities. There have been many great days, some triumphs, some dust-ups among friends but the show goes on and this time it was a really big show. It ain't dead yet........

Shoreline Shredder- first CX race of the season in the Bay Area

After a one week delay, the Shorline Shredder kicked off the BASP series with a hilly course with the backdrop of the San Fransisco bay- very dramatic and I challenge any other CX venue in the country to have as amazing a view behind the podium. Speaking of podiums, here's a special one- Maddie Ortenblad standing next to Katerina Nash for the women's A race- they were the only two but Maddie did a great job and wound up passing and beating many of the men on the course while chasing the former world champion Nash.

Isaac Estrada and Jose Marin went 1&2 on the tracklocross podium but had to leave before the awards so here's the shot- maybe next time they will be in the photo !

Enzo Berghout was in the lead in the men's A race but had a serious bonk that saw him having to leave the race early after leading it early on. Nate Barton who has not raced much in a couple of seasons did an excellent 4th place and rode strong for the hour. 

We had two racers in the single speed A race . Kyle Taylor looked strong in the early part of the race but a number of chain derailments delayed him to finish 8th. Brendan Lehman did not have the race of his life finishing 5th but he did animate the crowd by jumping the solitary barrier every lap at the top of the steepest climb.

Isaac Estrada schooled many a geared rider on his fixed gear brakeless rig , proving that he's one of the best tracklocross riders in California .

Patrick Lewis battled in the single speed B race to 6th/

In the open B men's race Kai Yee was in the action early on and finished with an excellent 7th in the large group with newcomer Decker Krogh coming in 10th and Finn Cunningham finishing 24th after some mechanicals.

Kathleen Borolussi got 2nd in the women's 55 + race , getting the early hole shot and riding strong. Allison Peck rode to 3rd in the women's B race with Scottie Junker riding to 4th in the women's C race. 

William Barton was our sole men's C racer and he finished 27th in the large pack.

I the Masters men A races we had Eric Brown getting the win in the 35+ with Gene Selcov following in 4th. In the old me 60+  I managed 5th although I'm not sure how, followed by Rick Ortenblad in 6th .

All in all, we had a large presence at the event and judging by the fields, CX is looking a little better than last year- there's hope that this sport might be coming back from the lull of the last 5-6 years. Let's hope !

 

Enzo is the national road champ !!

Yes- in the junior 15-16 age group you are looking at the winner , pictured here with his parents at last year's CX nationals. Before he gets scooped up by a pro-devo program it looks like Enzo will be going to Arkansas with the rest of the team for serious racing and questionable dining. I have a bit of work to do on his behalf to get him ready for the fall campaign but it's obvious that Enzo is more than ready to get to the next level.
 

Larry Bullard , team racer and sponsor.

 Back in 2004 we started the Rock Lobster team. Jeff Traugott and I were the split sponsors and for the first year we kept the team rolling in a very modest way. In 2005 the Spokesman bicycles sent a couple my way who were interested in getting cyclocross bikes. They were Larry and Karen Bullard. Very nice folks and enthusiastic about the local CX race scene they were keen to get the team issue frames and start riding in the dirt. 

Once the bikes were done, Larry came by to pick up his bike. He did a short test ride and Simon and I watched him quickly roll by and said to each other : "Hey, maybe we should ask him to be on the team "Larry looked at us as if we had just handed him the keys to the city- needless to say , he said yes. He raced and eventually made it onto the podium for the overall in the local CCCX series-something I had failed to do for about 5 seasons. We, and he were very stoked.

The next year , Larry asked what it took to be the title sponsor of the team. I told him the various levels of sponsorship and what it would mean in terms of logo placement on the team kits. Immediately he wrote a check and we were team HRS (Human resource solutions - Karen's business ) for the next four seasons. The 2006 kits were the notorious argyle with Karen's puzzle piece logo mixed in. It was a big year for the team with trips to the USGP races in Portland and Tacoma and the nationals in Providence. Team HRS was getting national exposure and Larry and Karen were the ones helping to make it possible.

Larry was always upbeat, positive and wickedly funny without trying to be- he would just make an observation that would be a hilarious truth that most of us might have overlooked. Larry and Karen came to the team parties and got to know the rag-tag CX crew and they accepted us with all of our various eccentricities. They were never trying to steer the team or change anything we were doing- they were unconditionally supportive and really helped launch us to another level. 

Larry passed away last weekend , a victim of cancer. He had only just retired from his career at AMD the previous December. He was just starting out on retirement with a dream house that he and Karen built in Scottsdale, AZ. Larry was dedicated, worked hard-was a positive influence on everyone he came into contact with from my experience. He, and Karen's enthusiasm and support for the team in its early years was elemental in getting the team national exposure and helped create the reputation that it has to this day- a group of racers who value having fun while racing and showing people that as difficult as CX can be, the community does not take itself too seriously. 

Larry is gone too soon and he will be missed but his and Karen's role in building this team will never be forgotten . Rest in peace , my friend. 

Nationals day five

grey skies but warmer temperatures were on hand for the final day of races. The super fast tacky conditions of the day before were altered in a big way by a rain storm that lasted the night. The course was  soupy mud on one side and chunky slippery mud on the other side. It would be hard to keep the bike upright on the Sunday version of the course at Joe Creason park. Our solo junior at this years nationals was Enzo Berghout in the 15-16 race . Enzo got a third row start -even with five falls he managed to break into the top-20 with a 19th place finish in his first trip to the nationals.

Later in the day Kathleen Bortolussi would line up with the women's 60-64 age group . Kathleen has had a few trips to the nationals but usually sickness or injury prevented her from success. This time nothing got in the way and she rode to a podium and a medal in 4th place. After decades of racing she can mow claim a national medal racing against the best in her age group in truly difficult conditions.

Last race of the day would be men's single speed. Max Judelson has raced many a single speed nationals in the ten years he has spent on the team but this would be Andy Wulfkhule's first try at it. The course was still very slippery but both riders kept their bikes upright with Max finishing 7th and Andy finishing 14th. 

With two podiums and a couple top 10 finishes and everyone in at least the top 20 , this was a very good nationals for the team. We came with a small crew but definitely made an impact. The director of the race thanked me personally for bringing the team and taking part. Next year the race will be in Fayetteville, Arkensas but the same director and crew will be putting it on. I think there's a good chance we will make the trip.