Nor-Cal So-Cal showdown , Bakersfield

This two day event has been a tradition here in Bakersfield for seven years now- a race to see who has the best-or most CX riders. With the long drive making it tough for Nor-Cal riders to be at the event the So-Cal contingent had a definite edge in numbers. Nor Cal definitely had the edge in quality. The men's A podium was all Nor Cal ( Andrew Juiliano lives in Santa Barbara but we still claim him as Nor-Cal ) except for Jamie Driscoll who is from Utah.

Having raced the day before to third place, Max Judelson was aiming to do better than that - or die trying !  Max attacked often during the race and was the main animator. Andrew had a flat on the first lap and had a bit of a chase to get to the front group which was almost immediately getting clear from the bulk of the 20-odd riders.

 Andrew made the lead group and as the race wore on the group eventually got pared down to four riders: Jamie Driscoll, Cody Kaiser ( the previous day's winner ) Max and Andrew. The group stayed together until just before the last lap started when Jamie Driscoll lit it up and only Cody Kaiser could stay close. Max and Drew rode hard to keep the leaders as close as possible. In the last lap it was a drag race between Max and Drew that tested both to their limits. It was exciting to watch and until the last finishing straight it was hard to know who would come in first. Drew made a move on the last runup which proved enough to beat the resilient Max. They came in 3rd and 4th for podium spots and some cash. It was a very strong showing against a couple of major national names.

 Drew crossing the line completely spent.

 Max looking about 20 years older after the one hour race !

 The men's elite state championship podium.

In the last race of the day, a very tired Dylan Gong managed to stay at the front of the cat 4/5 race and come in second after a weekend of much racing. Next year maybe we can get the trophy back from So-Cal !

Nor-Cal district championships

The team really killed it at the districts even though many of our racers were not able to make the trip. I was not there so I did not get any photos but several of the main protagonists are in this photo.

Men's A race:  Max Judelson   2nd.
Women's A race : Campbell Steers   1st.
Single speed A race :  Kailin Waterman  2nd.
Single speed B race :  Jamaica Lambie   7th.
Open C race :  Dylan Gong 2nd.
Men's 35 A race : Dean Poshard 12th.
Men's 55 open : Greg Foy 11th.
Men's 45 B race: John Vahlberg  9th.
Michael Schaller 22nd.
Junior men
17-18
David Kalcic 4th.
15-16:
Dylan Gong 2nd.
Brian Kalcic 5th.
Emmett Tuttle 6th.
11-12
McEwan Tomkins 1st.
Ronan Lambie  3rd.
Junior women
11-12
Shantelle Tupaz  2nd.

Many medals and two district champions !

BASP race, Coyote point

 The Coyote Point race has been a bay area staple since 2003 when an actual UCI event was held there. The iconic bay front course with views of San Fransisco bay and right below the glide path of jets landing at the airport has provided much good racing drama over the years. This time was no exception as the races were very fast and the competition really tough. To start the day the masters B men lined up in the cold morning. Our only representative was Michael Schaller, coming in at 18th in the 45 B race. Next up were the 35B and 55 + races. We had a full crew in the 55+ with Greg Foy nearly taking the win coming in 2nd. I finished 11th, Rick Ortenblad battled his single speed to 14th and Mark Hubbell flatted in the last lap to come in 16th.

 Ben Dodge had a very full day, racing twice and working support. He would finish 9th in the 35 A race and 26th in the elite race.

 We did not have the full women's team as injuries and travel have trimmed the roster but we still had Allison Peck make a strong showing in the elite race coming in 6th after an excellent start. Alexis De Zubria would finish 9th in the women's B race.

 Some great riding was done by two of our juniors in the elite race. Both had to start in the back of the large field but they worked their way forward with Emmett Tuttle finishing 14th and Noah Hayes finishing 20th. Veterans Ben Dodge and Dean Poshard went 26th and 29th.

One of the most if not the most exciting rides of the day was Kailin Waterman opting to race the single speed A race. He had no idea how he would ride but was always at the front and nearly pulled of the win-just beaten at the line by 4 seconds for an impressive 2nd place.

 Our junior team was as good as aways with Dan English coming in 2nd, Sean Uusitalo 4th and Ayden Uusitalo 10th in the junior 10-14 age group.

 In the 15-18 age group there was strong riding from Dylan Gong (3rd)who used the C race early in the morning for a warmup.Caleb Ohare overcame a mechanical to finish 4th.

 The elite podium.

The single speed A podium with Kailin Waterman .

Surf City Halloween race Aptos High

 Hard rain overnight and in the morning made for a classic Nor-Cal mud-fest. The wet conditions made for some dramatic crashes but very few injuries and not too many mechanicals. It has been a long time since we had conditions like this in October.
In the women's A race Campbell Steers made the podium in 4th followed by Allison Peck in 8th and Kelly Chang in 12th.

 Eric Nelson rode in the single speed A race to 7th place.

 A race long battle men's A race between Max Judelson and Justin Robinson was exciting to watch with Justin getting the better of Max in the last lap. Max would finish 2nd, Brendan Lehman 8th, Ian Stowe 9th, Kailin Waterman 14th, Dean Poshard 30th and 17 year old David Kalcic in 36th.

 In the mens 55+ open race Mark Hubbell and I got on the podium in 4th and 5th.

 In the mens 45B race John Vahlberg had a great race coming in 6th with Michael Schaller in 18th and Frank Kalcic flatting out at 19th.

 In the men's open B race Javier Valencia got 27th and Scott Junker rode a single speed to 34th. In the junior 17-18 boys race Brian Kalcic got on the podium in 3rd with Nate Vahlberg also getting 3rd in the boys 13-14 group. In the junior girls Lindsay Schmidt got the teams only win of the day.

Rock Lobster cup II a success !

Photo by Paul Schraub

I would like to thank all the participants and racers who really made it into a day to remember. Also, I would like to thank the groups that helped us make this dream come true:
Calif. State Parks
Laguna st. neighborhood association
MOBSC !
Jim Gentes
The Ortiz family
Brendan Lehman
Sarah Jordan
The Kalcic family
Jeff Clark
NABRA
Rod Hernandez
Kailin Waterman
EricNelson
Bob Landry
Greg Foy
Random guy from Truckee
Alex Work
Brent Harris
Team HRS/Clif/Rock Lobster
Scott Junker
Clif bar
Garrett Kautz
Campbell Steers
David Millett
Holly Sadoff

And all the other people who worked hard the whole weekend to get this set up-running right and dismantled so that the park was cleaner than we found it.

Rock Lobster cup II Lighthouse Field, Santa Cruz

 You have to get up pretty early in the morning to be the first one at the course. At daybreak folks were repairing the overnight damage to the course-there was almost none. Seems like the homeless campers were respectful of our event and did not try to dismantle an entire days work constructing the course. There has never been a bicycle event of any kind at this iconic location , even though it has been on the minds of cyclocrossers for over 40 years.

Brendan Lehman summoned up his best course-architect instincts and crafted  what might be one of the bumpiest and most difficult cyclocross courses of the season-even without any hills or sand. Nearly all the folks who raced at the event said that it was a very fun course , even with the relentless pounding of the uneven, choppy ground.

One person who seemed to thrive on the challenging track was Emmett Tuttle who at 15 years old finished 3rd in the men's A race.

Tour De France veteran Laurens Ten Dam riding for Giant/Alpecin finished his first CX race with a smile !

 David Kalcic finished well in the A men's race as his brother Brian did well in the earlier junior race. Father Frank provided special event-labeled wine for prizes at the race.

Yes, there was a Radavist sighting-John even got onto the course and raced the 35A men's event.

                                                           

There were a ton of team bikes all over the course. We were well represented in riders and bikes . With few exceptions the race was viewed with very positive feedback-maybe our music was a little loud-we can tone that down in the future-assuming that we get the chance to do this again.

 Notable people in the long history of local cyclocross were in good supply-David Gill kitted up in the first year team kit from 2004 and did his laps. Huge win of the day has to be Campbell Steers ride in the women's A race. After team mate Caroline Dezendorf dramatically crashed out of the race it was up to Campbell to take over as the point rider for the team. She rode away from the field with some log hopping skills . Mei Yan won her race in the women's B race convincingly. I hope to have the rest of the race stats soon. Thanks to Frank Kalcic, Clif Bar, Giro Design, Garrett Kautz, S.C. Mountain Brewery and all the team sponsors and personnel that made this all come together. We made history-and history has a habit of repeating.

The Le Mans style start of the men's A race -music from Jimi Hendrix-riders from everywhere.

Rock Lobster cup II

Yes, lightning strikes again. We will host a CX race this Saturday at Lighthouse field, Santa Cruz. This sold-out event within sight of the ocean will start at 9:00 am and finish around 3:30. If you didn't get an entry, come down anyway and join the party. This will be the very first cycling event at this location and hopefully not the last. The parks dept., MBOSC and team Voler/Clif/HRS/Rock Lobster along with sponsors Clif Bar and Strawfoot in co-operation with the Laguna st. neighborhood association formed a group to create this event. The race was limited to 250 entries and is a benefit for the parks, MBOSC and the Rock Lobster elite team. Nobody thought that this would be possible......come down Saturday and see what craziness we will bring to the west side of Santa Cruz.

Some of the team went to the Grinduro

 Land of 100's of tents. This is where the start of the Griduro would be.

 This is how we roll-bikes in a tree and tunes on cassettes. -Winning.

CCCX Manzanita park, Prunedale

 Great team effort on this day of really hot temperatures and loose corners. Results for all classes will be up soon. Here's Mary Maroon toughing it out on the single speed.

This is Allison Peck on her first ride on the new bike. Women's A race is quite a way to test an untested bike but it went well-2nd. place !

 Brendan Lehman would be active in the top-5 with Ian Stowe for the length of the men's A  race.

 Sarah Jordan and Zoe Wu joined Allison Peck on the podium in 3rd and 5th .

 Its lonely at the top for Mary Maroon in the women's single speed class !

 Eric Nelson rode strongly in the men's single speed A race to 2nd. place.

Greg Foy is the eternal second in the men's 55+ class but today he spent some time in the lead.....there is probably a win for him in the future. Rick Ortenblad medaled in both of his races-the men's 60+ and the men's B single speed.