Nor-Cal district championships-Cal Fire, Bonny Doon

 This race draws most of the best of Nor-Cal CX racers, even if the course is well off the beaten track.The fields were pretty big and the course was one of the bumpiest, most punishing tracks of the year. Some fared well in spite of the hammering the body and bike took during the race. Since the weather had been dry for most of the month there was no mud anywhere on the course and plenty of pinch flats were had.

 In the women's A race Ellen Sherrill rode strongly to get 3rd and the district bronze medal. Campbell steers started strongly but suffered in the second half of the race to finish 7th.

 Another casualty of the race was Justin Abbott, starting with the lead group but having to withdraw after 5 laps with a back injury.

 Max Judelson was the strongest of the team riding with the leader until late in the race and hanging onto 2nd place, outwitting a strong chase group. Kaitlin Waterman was one of the riders getting stronger as the race progressed , finishing 18th.

 Brendan Lehman rode the single speed A race as preparation for the nationals and in spite of two bike changes and a long run after a flat tire rode to 4th on the day and a bronze district medal.

 Finshing 15th on the day after a flat tire and a slow wheel change, Scott Junker still had enough points to garner 5th overall in the series in the single speed A race.

In master's racing the fields were some of the biggest of the season. Ken Dick had another strong ride int eh 35 A race coming in 11th. In the 45 B race Frank Kalcic led the team standings getting 13th with Michael Schaller coming in 20th and Deter Adam coming in 22nd.   In the 55 + race, Rick Ortenblad raced well to finish 15th while I became a casualty to a bad back limping in at 21st.

 In the single speed B race Benoit Dubuisson had mechanicals and finished well back his usual spot in 18th. Javier Valencia was our only entrant in the men's B race , finishing 27th.

This was not our best race of the season but certainly not a bad showing with three district medals and some impressive riding.

BASP final, Coyote Point

The weather was sprinkling on and off for some of the races on this day so the result was constantly changing conditions on the course. This made for some crashes as the course got slicker later in the day. Early races were pretty wet as well-in the morning Michael Schaller navigated the huge 45B field to finish 32nd. Our two entrants in the 35A field did well with Ken Dick getting 8th and Zac Stanley finishing 14th. Brendan Lehman showed that he's definitely getting ready for the nationals finishing 2nd in the single speed A race.

In the women's A race Campbell Steers made the podium with a great ride, coming in 4th with Kelly Chang having a decent ride finishing 10th.

 The men's B field was one of the biggest of the day and Javier Valencia had to start near the back. A bike change and a crash made his race far more difficult but he finished 32nd , riding the last laps on someone else's bike that was hopelessly too small !

 In the men's A race we had four riders, all of whom finished on the lead lap. The big winner was Max Judelson , winning his 3rd BASP event in the series. Ian Stowe rode very strong late in the race to finish 15th as did Kailin Waterman coming in at 20th. Recent So-Cal transplant Eric Nelson rode to  31st starting from the very back of the group.

Here's Max winning the race in a display of confidence and great tactical riding.

SLO weekend-CX So-Cal style

Getting out of town to chase USAC points is something that the team's not done much of in 2015 but this weekend sounded too good to pass up. Dorothy Wong always puts together a great race and this small but well run event was no exception. The team did not bring a large group as there was a local Santa Cruz race on Sunday that was a classic local event. This kept our traveling team lean but still very potent as there were wins and podiums both days. 

In the men's A race Andrew Juiliano and Max Judelson went 2nd and 3rd both days. Ben Dodge got 5th in the 35 A race pretty much off the couch and David Crum got 5th in the single speed B race. The big star of the weekend had to be Ellen Sherrill who won both days convincingly. 

Saturday saw a larger group from the team with Javier Valencia getting 8th in the men's B race,Craig Ball getting 7th in the men's 45 B race , Alexis De Zubria getting 6th in the women's B race and David Crum getting 15th in the men's 45 B race, his second of the day. 

The Saturday race was dry, dusty and very bumpy so a lot of folks were happy to leave and skip the Sunday race. This was unfortunate as the rain came in early Sunday morning and made for a terrific classic muddy track-a complete change from the day before. Even I managed to get 5th Sunday so that all of the team racers on that day were on the podium. 

Saturday night we were in downtown SLO for a team dinner-the experience reminded me of earlier trips - this was a great gathering and this is really a great group of racers......the good riding only being part of what makes this team very special. A big thanks goes out to our sponsors, the folks that provided host housing and especially to Dorothy Wong and Tyler Wertenbruch for putting on a great event. 

CX is alive and well in So-Cal !