Nationals day four

Sunday morning saw sunny clear skies and the junior UCI 17-18 and elite races, the last events of the nearly week-long nationals. The very first race of the day had both Dan English and Nate Vahlberg , the 17-18 UCI juniors on what would prove to be a very fast race. Dan had the benefit of a front row start and made the most of it finishing in 6th place and possibly securing a spot on the junior worlds team to compete in Fayetteville, Ark. next year. Nate Vahlberg was many rows back but when the race started he rode past much of the field getting as far up as 18th place before he had a crash and a mechanical made a pit visit necessary . He still wound up 31st , very far up from where he started.

In the last race of the day, the mens elite race Max Judelson started on the 4th row and Andy Wulfkhule on the 5th. Both of them moved up- Max quickly into the top-20 and Andy steadily up to the top-30. The speed of the race was crazy fast and many in the back of the field got pulled from the race fairly early on. Max and Andy made it nearly to the end , both of them riding for nearly the full hour of the race. Less than 20 riders made the lead lap- maybe one of the fastest nationals I have witnessed. Max finished 20th and Andy 30th. 

Here's the view from the pit right before the start of the elite race. In the pit the workers were me, Brendan, Hannah and Andy's friend Steve. Steve was a pro at pit support and helped guide us through the chaos and hectic times during the race. Mud was clogging the bikes and exchanges happened pretty much every lap. It was a good example of how a team can come together and make a racer's hour on the course more fluid . 

This was the first time most of us west-coast lobsters had met Andy and we were all really impressed not only with his racing but with what kind of a person he is and what he brings to the team. This year the crew that came to Cantigny Park in Wheaton, Illinois was a small one by our standards but everyone pitched in, everyone finished and all of us did the best that we could each day. I'm not sure if we will ever be back to this corner of the US but I'm very glad that CX is back and that we made the trip. With luck some of us will get to Fayetteville to possibly watch one of the team compete in the world's. However it shakes out , this was a good trip- two podiums, one silver medal and several top-ten finishes. Not a bad record from a tiny team out of a small town for the most part. 
 

Nationals day three

Since nobody from the team was racing Friday, Saturday became day three of the nationals for the team . Saturday is the big Junior and single speed day and we had six riders racing in some of the events. First off was Remy Schmidt in the junior 13-14 race where he looked very good in the race - riding in the top-20 until the last lap where a mechanical forced him back to 45th place. In spite of the bad luck, he showed that he had the skills and speed to do much better .

Next up was the youngest group, the 12-13 year olds and we had Noah Hekkert. Noah rode a clean race and passed riders for his two laps of deep mud and got 19th starting from near the back of the 39 riders. It was an excellent first nationals result.

Next up was hard charging Mac Tomkins in the junior 15-16 race. Mac had to start pretty far back in the field and looked good through most of the race but the freezing cold must have taken a toll. Still, he finished in 59th.

Last two events of the day were the single speed races. In past events we have had many entrants but this year only one woman was to make the trip to Cantigny park- Hannah Dillard rode the same bike that she borrowed for the Tacoma nationals and stayed steady with only one crash and finished 8th. The overnight rain had turned the dry course into a mud bog and skating rink in places. 

For the last race of the day, the mens single speed my phone battery had died so I was not able to get any photos. This is pretty sad as we had two riders , Max Judelson on the second row and Brendan Lehman on the 5th row. Max started well and within a half a lap was in second place and held it all the way to the finish- a silver medal and the second podium for the team. Brendan Lehman came from the 5th row and immediately began passing riders. He and max both rode a crash free race and Brendan made it to 31st in the field of 102 riders.
 

Nationals day 2

On Thursday we only had two riders racing. In the men's 50-54 class Carl Hekkert finished 50th in the largest field of the day.

In the men's 40-44 master's race Pennsylvania native Andy Wulfkhule rode from the second row to a podium spot in 4th. He was near the front much of the race and made the most of the 45 minutes. After a several year draught of medals Andy has provided the team with a nice accomplishment for this year's nationals. 

Tomorrow we will have the day off as nobody from the team is racing. This is good as the weekend will be very busy with all the single speed, junior and elite races happening.  Stay tuned......
 

Nationals day one

After attempting to ride the course on the day before in 17 degrees we were very happy when the temperatures made it up into the 20's for the Wednesday races. Brendan Lehman raced in the masters's 30-34 group where he made it to 10th place. 

The next race was the master's 65-69 where Paul Sadoff made it to 14th place. The master's fields were not that large but the course was pretty demanding with many corners, a lot of bumpy turf and some headwind stretches. This isn't the epic nationals course with long, steep runups and death defying muddy descents-it is a fairly tame collection of features. # 1 is the "Belgian stairs " which is about 8-10 railroad ties put into the ground on an uphill that would have been fine to ride up but was now a short run to an off camber with an uncomfortable remount. # 2 is a sand pit that was basically frozen and fairly easy to blast through, although there were many people crashing there. There were a few places on the course that were slippery with icy grass where some people were ending up on the ground. Even though it was only the first day of championship races there were many spectators present. 

 

CCCX Manzanita park

It has been about two years since the last CCCX race. This edition took place at Manzanita park in Prunedale where many CX battles have taken place in the last 15-20 years. This day's course was a mixture of loose turns , a long gradual climb and a speedy descent. Every turn challenged your traction and balance so it was a course that demanded your attention all the time. 

I was not at the race early enough to get photos of the juniors but they really ruled the day. In the junior men 10-14 Boaz Cohen took the win with Remy Schmidt coming in second , Matt Werner in 4th, Noah Hekkert  6th, Kai Yee 7th, Noam Gilat 8th and Kenan Vawter in 10th. If our team was not at this race it would not have been much of a field ! 

In the junior women Gabriella Dominguez won while Kyla Vawter came in 2nd.

In the junior men 15-18 some of our riders opted to race in the elite category and some were at races out of town. The four who did take part were Korben Tomkin in 8th, Mac Tomkin in 7th, Jonah Prnajad in 10th and Sterling Woodson in 12th.

In the open C category Scottie Junker finished 15th.

The next group started with the open B category with Isaac Estrada getting 2nd, Matt Miller 12th, Austin Fowkes 13th and junior Mac Tomkin 15th.

In the 45 B masters Eric Werner finished 7th.

At 11:00 AM the masters A races were held. 

In the 55 A group Carl Hekkert finished 14th with John Vahlberg finishing 20th.

The 60+ group saw Jim English finishing 4th, Paul Sadoff 6th and Manny Affonso in 9th. 

The 12:00 hour saw all the women's fields with the Master's 55+ being won by Kathleen Bortolussi. 

The women's B race saw Kate Hochler finishing 6th.

In the women's A race we had only two entrants but they both wound up on the podium with Hannah Dillard in 2nd and Mara Valcarcel at 4th.

The last races of the day were the single speed A's with Hans Van Housen finishing 3rd and Kyle Taylor in 5th. 

The tracklocross race saw Isaac Estrada coming in 2nd.

The men's A race had many of our junior team in the mix, along with many of our strongest elite riders. Brendan Lehman rode through much of the field after a slow start to get 6th with junior Nate Vahlberg riding in the front group most of the race finishing 7th. Team sponsor Joey Kochlacs came in 10th followed by Cole Williams in 11th and Austin King in 12th- Austin was in the top-5 for much of the race but had a late race mechanical and a long run to the pit to borrow a bike. 

This CCCX is # 4 in the BASP race series. Many of the categories have our riders featuring in the top placings. It looks like Kathleen Bortolussi will win the women's 55+ In the men's A group Nate Vahlberg is in 2nd. Hans Van Housen is tied for 1st in the single speed A group with Kyle Taylor in 3rd. In the men's 60+ it looks like Jim English will win with Paul Sadoff in 2nd. In the men's 45B group Eric Werner is currently holding down 2nd. In the junior 15-18 men Mac Tomkins is in 2nd with Korben Tomkin in 3rd. In the Junior 10-14 it is looking like Remy Schmidt is in position to win with Noah Hekkert is 2nd, Kai Yee in 3rd and Boaz Cohen in 4th. All in all it looks like this is the dominant Nor-Cal team. If we didn't show up to CCCX I think it would have been a much smaller event and not as competitive. We are not only having fun racing but we are also helping to keep the CX scene alive after a year off. Great job everybody ! One more local race, the BASP final at Stafford lake and then it is off to the nationals for about 12 of the team.

 

Surf City BASP race Crest Ranch

Putting on a CX race when there's a pandemic is an iffy business on a good day but if you were at the home race , the Surf City CX you would not know the juggling act needed to get something like this to happen. Many things had to fall into place-some fell easily and others required a lot of work but what was to be a normal grass-roots race blew up into perhaps the largest CX event in Nor-Cal this year. 

With somewhere between 850-900 racers over the weekend and many spectators , this was arguably the biggest and best attended CX race in Santa Cruz in a couple of decades at least. I'm trying hard to remember anything like it and I can only come up with the district championship of 1994 at UCSC. That race attracted not only the locals but a national champion or two- it was a really big race.

That said, at the race last weekend we had racers from as far north as Bend, Or. and east from the Sierra foothills and Tahoe- even some from the L.A area. It was a real vortex of cyclocross. Many teams were represented from all over the west but Voler/Easton/HRS/Rock Lobster presented by Kochlacs Wood really stole the day- not just with numbers but with many great rides from all age groups. It's a remarkable feat for the team to do so well at not only racing, but it the monumental task of putting on the race. Nearly everyone -including elite riders- pitched in and combined into a work force that handled creating a running the race for the entire weekend . Many showed up well before the event to help build the course-a big thanks goes out to all who put on boots and gloves and built a course on ground at the Crest Ranch that had never seen a bike race. 

Racing on Saturday started at 9:00 AM with the C and junior categories. Our sole entry into the open C race was Scottie Junker, returning to racing after a few years off-finishing in 27th. In the junior 10-14 boys Remy Schmidt continued his record of wins taking 1st. In the 15-18 boys  Mac Tomkins came in 5th for a podium. Korben Tomkins 8th, Sterling Woodson 9th. 

at 10:00 there were the B categories with the open B field being huge. First timer Isaac Estrada got 3rd, Enzo Sapojnikoff 8th, Chris Seymour 31st.

45-B  Eric Werner came in 15th with Michael Schaller having a mechanical DNF.

At 11:00 we had the masters A groups. 35 A was won by Fred Mills who came all the way from Bend, Oregon to partake in some Nor Cal cyclocross. Josh Becker came in 4th, John Vahlberg 18th and Carl Hekkert 19th.

In the 60+ Jim English had an impressive 3rd, Paul Sadoff 9th and Manny Affonso 11th.

At noon it was all about the women's races. The team has always had some of the strongest elite women in the west and Saturday proved that again. Caroline Dezendorf won in convincing style coming in solo. Campbell Steers rejoined the team and rode to 3rd. Hannah Dillard just off a west coast bike tour finished 4th. Maddie Ortenblad finished 6th.

In the women's B we had newcomer Mara Valcarcel in 3rd with Sam McHugh at 10th.

Our solo women's master's rider was Kathleen Bortolussi who finished 2nd in the 55+ race. 

Last races of the day were the men's A race, the A single speed and a new category - Tracklo-cross....the fixed gear  version of single speed CX. 

In the men's A race, junior rider Dan English came in 2nd , even leading the race in the beginning. Veteran Max Juedlson came in 4th with Noah Hayes in 5th - so just like the women A race we had three on the podium. In 10th newcomer Cole Williams, 12th was junior Nate Vahlberg , newcomer Austin King 13th, Eric Williams 14th, sponsor Joey Kochlacs 16th and Dean Poshard 23rd.

In the single speed A race Hans Van Housen came in an impressive 2nd with returning rider Emmet Tuttle in 3rd and Kyle Taylor in 5th- another three on the podium. Fred Mills had a mechanical and finished 12th. 

Our sole entry into tracklocross was Isaac Estrada who, even in his second race of the day rode to 3rd.

Sunday.

9:00 races .  In the junior 10-14 race Remy Schmidt took the win with Matt Werner in 3rd, Noah Hekkert 4th and Noam Gilat in 5th dominating the podium. Kai Yee finished in 11th. In the 15-18 age group Mac Tomkins came in 3rd, Korben Tomkins 5th, Jonah Pirnijad 6th and Sterline Woodson in 8th.

10:00 races.

Dylan Gong ran away with the win in the open Brace with Isaac Estrada in 4th and Enzo Sapojnikoff in 5th for another podium domination. Matt Miller came in 23rd, Austin Fowlkes 28th and Chris Seymour in 35th.

In the 45 B category Eric Werner came in 11th with Michael Schaller at 15th.

11:00 races

Fred Mills showed the Nor Cal riders some pacific northwest speed and won the 35 A race with Josh Becker coning in 6th in spite of some mechanical problems.

In the 45 A race Carl Hekkert finished 17th followed by John Vahlberg in 17th.

In the 60+ Jim English finshed 3rd, Paul Sadoff in 4th and Manny Affonso in 8th.

12:00 races

Caroline Dezendorf had a race long battle with another rider but won in a sprint in the women's A race with Campbell Steers in 3rd and Hannah Dillard in 4th. 

In the women's B race Sam McHugh finished 9th.

Kathleen Bortolussi scored a win in the women's 55+ race bettering what she had done the day before.

1:00 races.

In the men's A race, everyone improved from the day before with Dan English riding solo in front of the field for about half the race - finishing 2nd. Max Judelson rode to 3rd, Nate Vahlberg had a clean race to finish 6th , Austin King 12th, Cole Williams 14th, Joey Kochlacs 16th, Noah Hayes 17th with Dean Poshard DNF after a collision with other riders.

In the single speed A race Fred Mills won for the second time that day with Emmet Tuttle in 2nd, Hans Van Housen in 3rd - dominating the podium again. Kyle Taylor came in 6th with Gene Selcov in 11th.

Tracklocross . Isaac Estrada improved on his previous days performance with 2nd place, beating many experienced riders in his first season. He made the podium in all the races he entered both days. 

With only about 5-6 weeks left before the nationals it is looking like we will be bringing a very strong team to Chicago. There's more racing before then but planning has already started for the trip east. 

 

The time is almost here- Surf City CX weekend

 Here are some of the trophies for the race. Who will wind up on the podium ? Come to the race and find out. Two days of racing on a new course at a new venue with some amazing high mountain views of the San Lorenzo valley. The 1.7 mile lap will demand power as there is a lot of pedaling sections and not much downhill. There's a little bit of sketch in there as well.......keeping the tradition alive.

VSRT race, Rowell ranch- Castro Valley.......'Cross is here at last

We had all been waiting many months for this day but it finally happened-a cyclocross race during the biggest pandemic of our generation. Fortunately there has been diligence on the part of the people of the bay area to stop the spread of the disease so we are having little evidence of the virus-let's hope that the season sees 'cross increasing and the virus fading. 

In this podium shot we have the men's 35A group with Eric Brown in 3rd and Josh Becker in 5th. Both of these guys really rode well in a very fast category.

In the men's 60 + it was not surprising to see Jim English on the podium in 4th but surprisingly I made it as well in 5th.....but Jim had to put on the race so I give him major props for multi-tasking. Manny Affonso had a flat and finished 10th.

Other masters men's results : Mens 45 B- Eric Werner 20th, Michael Schaller 26th

Men's 55 B- Craig Ball  16th.

Men's 45 A- John Vahlberg 21st, Eric Werner 26th

The men's A field was a mix of adults, junoirs and maybe one viking.

Dan English-who after the start would only see other riders that he was lapping. He led from the gun and finished with a large margin. It would be a day for the juniors with Nate Vahlberg finishing in 6th-both of these riders are still in high school !

Other men's A race finishers

Cole Williams 8th, Brendan Lehman 9th, Eric Williams 14th , Dean Poshard 20th.

Kathleen Bortolussi got the other win of the day in the women's 55+ , showing that she is coming back from injury in a big way.

In the women's B race newcomer Mara Valcarcel made the podium in 3rd.wth Sam Mc Hough coming in at 12th.  Also new to the team Kate Hochler placed 4th in the women's C race in spite of a pretty good endo.

Campbell Steers made a great return to the team getting 2nd in the women's A race in spite of having to pump up a tire mid race. It is great to have Campbell back and no doubt she will be making things very fast in the races this season.

In tracklocross new addition to the team Isaac Estrada rode to an impressive 5th in his first day of CX- here he is on the podium while former team mate and winner Scott Chapin celebrates his win by drinking beer out of his shoe. He also made the podium in men's B in 5th earlier in the day. Other men's B finishers were Joey Kochlacs in 7th, Enzo Sapojnikoff in 11th and Chris Seymour in 24th.

In the huge men's C race finishers were Donald Hersham 7th and Scottie Junker in 46th.

The men' single speed A race had  Hans Van Housen in 3rd and Kyle Taylor in 4th on the podium with Joey Kochlacs in 7th and Gene Selcov in 10th. 

Here's the men's A podium with Dan English getting his first A win.......probably more of them to come.
 

Early morning Junior races saw some large fields just like before the covid shutdown. 

Womens 10-14     Kyla Vawter 3rd

Men's 10-14      Remy Schmidt 2nd,Boaz Cohen 3rd, Kenan Vawter 7th,Noam Gilat 9th, Kai Yee 11th. 

Men's 15-18     Mac Tomkin 2nd , Korben Tomkin 3rd

If there's anyone missing from the results posted here it is because they didn't sign on as team Voler/Easton/HRS/Rock Lobster presented by Kochlacs wood.  Sign in properly - it makes a difference !

2021.......will there be racing ?

 That's a question that I can't answer but there's hints that the fall will see some CX racing. Last season was very limited with only a few races happening in Sacramento and Colorado. Some of the team went to the Sacramento races and found some success. It is looking like the Sacramento series will return but it remains to be seen if there will be any other Nor-Cal races. It is pretty much radio silence from all the other series so far. I figure that around the beginning of June we will know if races such as CCCX or Santa Rosa will return. There's also the Coyote Point race put on by Roaring Mouse-it would be great to have that one back. 

As for the team, it is still full of talent at many age levels and new people will be likely to be on the roster for 2021. I think that most of the sponsors will come back after a year off. We are really hoping to have more women on the team and have a better balance of riders. The juniors are aging up and becoming a threat at the elite level- should be a lot of fun to watch. -Stay tuned.