Fairax photos -

Thanks to a few friends we got some nice shots of the team racing. Looks like per the mini race report it is the return of the giant strawberry duel.
Thanks Jason for the pics!

Team Rock Lobster- shot10, originally uploaded by jason braun.

Team Rock Lobster- shot4, originally uploaded by jason braun.

Sarah Kerlin 3rd at Lebbeke Kleicross Belgium

It was an early start for us today - the Elite Women started first thing in the morning in this UCI event, and when we arrived at therace in Lebbeke it was 3 degrees celcius outside and the sun had just peeked out. Sunrise here is at 8am, but we had been up for a few hours before then. The race workers were in the grass fields waking up the cows, asking them to move along so they could finish building the course. I bundled up and went for a pre ride, the course had about 300 meters of pavement and the rest was all flat grassy cow field, still covered in frost. Riders warming up eventually carved a tacky muddy line through the grass, but it was very soft and very bumpy. There were 2 fly overs and 1 set of stairs, but mostly the course was a real grind.Today the tables were turned and there was a category for elite women but no race for Matt.
Matt decided that he had put in his time on Thursday trying to hold the wheel of the World Champ, so today he opted to help me in the pits. There was a small showing, just 14 women, though Belgium was represented well with former National Champ Veerle Ingels (a solid rider - she also scored a 5th in a World Cup last year) and last year's National Silver medalist Katrien Aerts on the line. The start was very tame and I got to the dirt first, and the gaps opened up quickly. For a few laps, 4 of us were fairly close to each other with some time on the rest of the field. It took me a while to figure out how to ride on the bumps efficiently, since in the US we typically see bumpy turf in short sections, but never for the whole race. Normally I ride in a bigger gear on bumpy turf, but after 20 minutes I found that a higher cadence was better.
Veerle Ingels went off the front riding with a cadence of about 120 in her easiest gear, according to Matt. I started with a psi of 25 but itwas too hard - I called out to Matt to reduce the tire pressure in my spare bike and I made the switch. Katrien took advantage of the gap growing when I made the bike switch, and I rode solo in 3rd place for the second half of the race. 4th and 5th were only 20 seconds behind me and working together, so I kept the pace up while trying to save something for the World Cup tomorrow. It was a course where another 20 percent effort would only yield 2 percent increase in speed, so I did only what I needed to in order to maintain my spot on the podium. There was a lot of fuss over our podium ceremony, and some very interesting prizes. The euros are my favorite prize, easy to carry around and very useful in the land of chocolate, waffles, beer, and don't forget, shoe stores. My other prizes include a trophy cup on a marble base, a very large beer in a champagne bottle, a loaf of peperkoek (sugar cake), and what else but a few kilos of fancy ham? That's right, Belgian Ham - a very close relative to bacon. One other nice thing about racing here - it only cost 3 euros to enter, and I was paid 8 euros for starting. Conveniently, Matt decided that 8 euros was his fee for being my mechanic today. Sarah

Get to know our Racers: Josh Snead

As one of the Elite men on the HRS Rocklobster team, Josh Snead is showing good form and solid results for the season already, racking up 4 wins and a handful of podium finishes. If you have been following Josh's history (as I have traveling with him a few times over the years) you will know this is a new year for him as he steps back from chasing the UCI points and focusing on the NCNCA top dog position. This past weekend on Oct 14th Josh won the new Sacramento NCNCA CUP series event for the second time this season.

We got a few minutes with Josh and asked him some info on how things are going. READ ON....

Josh Snead on the attack
Photo from Sacramento series. Permission to use photos By Mark Adkison
Copyright 2007 , Hors Categorie Photography - All Rights Reserved

RL: Earlier this season you were sporting a thick mountain man beard. Is this part of your game plan to get into your competitors heads to make them think you went Rocky Balboa on them and trained in Russia or something?

JS: I don't really know why I grew that silly thing. It was pretty sweet I guess, but I just think I'm the kind of person that just looks weird with a beard. Maybe that's why it seemed to get a lot of attention. Other guys have beards and nobody calls them Santa Claus! I guess I look like kind of a dork no matter what so it was good for a laugh.


RL: What are your season goals this year as compared to last year?

JS: I wanted to do as many races here in Nor-Cal as possible this year, and hopefully win some. I didn't race at all over the summer so I wasn't sure how fit I'd be able to get without that road racing base. 2 years ago, I raced well (12th, 14th finishes) at a few USGP races and was top 20 at nat's so my goal for last year was to better those accomplishments. Things didn't go my way and I was pretty unhappy at the end of last year. I didn't race at all after that and I just did other stuff over the summer to let myself find motivation for cross season this year. It was a good decision because the mental break combined with the training I did has left me feeling fit and excited for the races!


RL: How has the racing changed in the past year, new competitors, old ones getting stronger, some folks leave?

JS: There is a few missing guys- Haven't seen BJM, AJM was back for a minute but he had an accident and he's out again. No John Funke this year or much of last, I haven't seen Chris McGovern this year. No Clown yet (Wicks), but I bet he'll show up in Nor-Cal before long.

Justin Robinson is riding well and he's really hard to beat because of how well rounded he is. I expect he'll
get faster as the year goes on so he's basically our main competition since he's not leaving town much this year. When Chance Noble comes up he's a good teammate for Justin and another tough challenger, as is his Dad Mark. Cameron Falconer often plays a part in the race as well.

Our team is the new local force in the men's A races. Aron Odell is back after not racing last year and I'm real glad he's on our team. He showed on saturday's CCCX that he has the condition he needs to win against the best guys in our area. Dave Wyandt was great there as well, and he would have won that Fairfax race if he hadn't lost his chain on the last lap. He's riding strong now and has shown his fitness in several races this year after bad starts or mechanicals. On top of that, we have lots of other riders in the A race grabbing spots throughout the top 5 and top 10 (like Aaron Kereluk and Rob Evans).
It's the same story in the A womens race (Kerlin and Carey) and we have top riders in most of the other categories, men and women. We will try and win as many races and series overall victories as possible.


RL: Whats up with your racing Rig, did you change it up at all this year?

JS: It's pretty much the same as last year. The biggest change has been the switch to Challenge tires from the Dugasts I've been using for the last few years. The Challenge tires work great and they're tough, they're the best tire for this area.

It's hard to improve on perfection, I love my bikes!
From a mechanical perspective, our sponsors are hard to beat. Chris King, Paul brakes- these are parts that last a lifetime and I would buy these parts even if they weren't sponsored to me. Shimano shoes, Mavic wheels and Sheila Moon clothes all fall into the "I'd buy it anyway" category as well. Easton Scandium tubing is the best material for a cyclocross race bike, period. It's fun to be on product that I really like!


RL: Your leading the NCNCA Cup Series with 2 wins for 2 events, thats got to feel good. Whats your comments on it?:

JS: It's a new series and it fits my goal for this year- get wins in Nor-Cal. I really hope I can race well in all the different series, so I'll pursue the overall win in this series.


RL: Last year you were flying all over the country to race for UCI points. This year your staying more local, has this changed how you are racing at all?:

JS: It's a lot more fun racing here. I can usually line up at the front and race for the win. That doesn't happen at USGP races for a guy like me... Maybe a top 10 could be possible if I got lucky and had the best day of my life (after getting the points needed to have a start position within sight of the front...) ,
but not the win.
There's hard competition here, but it's more like 5 or 6 guys that are roughly my level or better rather than 30 or 40 guys in a USGP that are at or (way) above my level. I can't always win around here, but I can nearly always be in a position to try for it. So far this year, I've been on the podium at every race I've finished.

David Wyandt and Aaron Odell help insure that Josh gets the gaps and ride away.
Photo from Sacramento series. Permission to use photos By Mark Adkison
Copyright 2007 , Hors Categorie Photography - All Rights Reserved

RL: You got a pretty solid crew backing you up at the races, and taking shots at wins when your out or down from mechanicals. Does this take the pressure off of you to know these guys are there?

JS: Any of us can win on any day. We just get the races started, and see what we can do with whoever ends up in the front. I've had a couple wins now as a result of racing as a team with these guys, but there will be plenty of days when I can work to help Dave or Aaron towards victory. There's plenty to go around!


RL: Any tip for newbie racers to take home with them?

JS: Doing races is the best way to get better at cyclocross, just do as many as you can and try to learn something each race.


RL: PBR or MGD?

JS: Schlitz.

(I prefer King Cobra myself)

Thanks again to Mark Adkison for the great photos!

HRS-Rock Lobster Win Pool just got deeper

Stole this podius picture from the Great Hernando.

Word is in for Sacramento Series, NCNCA Cup Series #2 Hagen Park, CA 10-14-07 .

A beardless Josh Snead snags yet another win! 2 for 2 is looking good.
Other HRS teammates pulled off some solid results for a HRS Rocklobster Podium Sweep.
Wyandt 2nd
Odell 3rd
Hernandez 5th!

Stella wrapped up an 8th place, after her win the day before.

These are the unofficial, but the word that was relayed to me.
More to come.

'Cross lighting, originally uploaded by godot321.

Photo from Flickr files of Godot321, please visit his pics.

CCCX 3- Stella on cruise control again

NEW!! CCCX3 vids posted here:
Mens A's
Womens A's

The team is as solid as always with folks at the front at almost all of the events. Stella sored a huge and significant win against Barb Howe and Josie Beggs.

Scott Calley got a 2nd in the 45 B class in a large field.

Dave Wyandt and Aaron Odell got 2nd and 3rd in the mens elite race ahead of Justin Robinson, adding points to Dave's overall score.
You'll have to go to cccx.org for all the other results as the memories are scrambled after all of the events. Aaron Kereluk and Dean Poshard had mechaincals that pretty much put them out of the standings but rode strong anyway.

Kerlin heading to Kamthout Belgium

IMG_1521, originally uploaded by J. Suzuki.

Rumors or Reality?

Hot off the rumor mill, Team HRS Rocklobster racer Sarah Kerlin will be racing with USA squad at World Cup in Kalmthout, Belgium on Oct 21.

Good Luck Sarah! Bring back them Frites!

thanks to Jon for capturing the great photos!

2007 Race results

Stole this podius picture from the Great Hernando.

Congrats Josh Snead for taking 2007 NCNCA Cup!
Wyandt for taking 2nd and Odell for 3rd! What a Sweep!
For ladies Sarah Kerlin gets 2nd and Stella Carey 5th!
(full results)
2007 Team Results (contact Brent with updates)

2007 Win Tally - 20
Josh Snead -5
David Wyandt -2
Aaron Odell - 2
Sarah Kerlin -4
Stella Carey -4
Steven Gile -1
Thomas Fox -2

CCCX #5 Fort Ord, CA 12-02-07 (results)
=================
Mens A's
Odell 1st
Snead 2nd

Womens A's
Stella Carey 1st

Peak Season Cyclocross CA 11-15-07
=================
Mens A's
Wyandt 1st
Kereluk 4th

Womens A's
Stella Carey 1st

Mens 35+ A's
Watson 3rd

CCCX 4 Manzanita, CA 11-11-07
=================
Mens A's
Odell 1st

Womens A's
Sarah Kerlin 2nd
Stella Carey 4th

Mens 35+ A's
Watson 7th

Mens 45+ A's
Fox 7th

Mens 35+ B's
Work 4th

Mclaren Park, CA 11-4-07
=================
Mens A's
Wyandt 2nd
Snead 3rd

Womens A's
Sarah Kerlin 1st
Stella Carey 3rd

Mens 35+ A's
Watson 11th

Mens 45+ B's
Fox 1st

Surf City Halloween cross Soquel, CA 10-29-07
=================
Mens A's
Wyandt 1st
Snead 2nd
Kereluk 5th

Womens A's
Stella Carey 1st
Hold 6th

Mens 25+ A's
Watson 14th

Mens 35+ B's
Work 3rd

Pilarcitos, Super Prestige #2 Candle stick Park, CA 10-21-07
=================
Mens A's
Wyandt 2nd
Snead 3rd
Odell 4th
Kereluk 12th
Purtscher 18th
Hernandez 21st
Dodge 22nd
Poshard 30th

Womens A's
Stella Carey 5th
Hold 8th

Mens 45+ B's
Fox 1st

Mens 35+ A's
Clifford 21st
Adams 28th

Mens B's
Work 5th

LAPRD #2 Livermore, CA 10-22-07
=================
Mens A's
Snead 1st

Womens A's

Lebbeke Kleicross, Belgium, 10-21-07 *UCI points!
=================

Womens A's
Sarah Kerlin 3rd -*UCI points!

Sacramento Series, NCNCA Cup Series #2 Hagen Park, CA 10-14-07
=================
Mens A's
Snead 1st
Wyandt 2nd
Odell 3rd


Womens A's
Stella Carey 8th

Mens 45+ A's
pending

Mens 45+ B's
pending

Mens 35+ A's
pending

CCCX #3 Fort Ord, CA 10-13-07 (results)
=================
Mens A's
Wyandt 2nd
Odell 3rd
Harting 14th
Purtscher 20th
Poshard 25th
Patton 26th

Womens A's
Stella Carey 1st


Mens 45+ A's
pending

Mens 45+ B's
Calley 3rd

Mens 35+ A's
Watson 8th
Adams 21st

Super Prestige #1 Candle Stick 10-07-07 (results)
=================
Mens A's
Snead 3rd
Wyandt 4th
Odell 6th
Kereluk 8th
Poshard 18th
Patton 25th
Hernandez 27th

Womens A's
Sarah Kerlin 1st
Stella Carey 4th
Betina Hold 9th

Mens 45+ A's
Giles 1st

Mens 45+ B's
Fox 1st
Calley 6th

Mens 35+ A's
Harting 6th
Watson 15th
Jordan 16th

CCCX #2 Toro Park 9-30-07 (results)
=================
Mens A's
Wydant 3rd
Odell 4th
Dodge 7th
Poshard 11th
Purtcsher 14th

Womens A's
Sarah Kerlin! 1st
Stella Carey 4th

Mens 35+ A's
Watson 11th

Lion of Fairfax, NCNCA Cup Series #1 9-29-07
=================
Mens A's
DJ Snead 1st
Wyandt 3rd
Odell 4th

Womens A's
Kerlin 2nd

Mens 35+ A's
M. Jordan 5th

Mens 45+ A's
Gile 2nd
Sullivan 14th


CCCX #1 Manzanita Park 9-23-07
=================
Mens A's
Snead 2nd
Wyandt 3rd
Odell 4th
Evans 6th
Purtscher 10th
Dodge 13th

Womens A's
Stella Carey 2nd

Mens 35+ A's
Watson 11th
Clifford 16th

Mens 45+ A's
Gile 2nd
Hall 12th

Mens 45+ B's
Calley 3rd
Traugott 14th (***team sponsor!)
Bullard 16th (***team sponsor!)

Steillacoom Wash 9-23 *UCI
=================
Mens 35+ A's
Matt Jordan 17th

Starcrossed Portland 9-22 *UCI
=================
Womens A's
Sarah Kerlin 2nd *uci points

Tailwind Cyclo-cross 2, Michigan 9-23 *UCI
=================
Mens A's
Patton 40th


Tailwind Cyclo-cross 1, Michigan 9-22 *UCI
=================
Mens A's
Patton 33rd

Bicycle Planet race / Folsom 9-16-07
=================
Mens A's
DJ Snead 1st

LAPRD #3: 9-15-07
=================
Mens A's
DJ Snead 2nd
Patton 5th

Womens A's
-Kerlin 1st

Livermore cross #2 9-8-07
=================
Mens A's
Snead 1st
Patton 3rd

Mens 35+ A's
Watson 3rd
Jordan 5th
Clifford 8th

DFL Underground #1 9-5-07
=================
Mens A's
Snead 3rd (no dress)

Livermore cross #1 9-1-07
=================
Mens A's
Snead 2nd
Patton 3rd
Dodge 4th

2007 Press

CCCX #5 Velo news

Cycling News coverage of NCNCA Cup Final

Santa Cruz Sentinel Sports page Oct 18

Marin Independent cycling update - Josh Snead

Bay Area Super Prestige #1 - NE, Brisbane, California, USA, October 7, 2007

USA Cycling Weekly News Update: September 21-26

Starcrossed write up in BicycleNorthwest - Sarah Kerlin

Pedal Star Crossed results

Canadian cyclist 9-23

Pianeta MountainBike - Sarah K

Team Press Release to Cyclingnews.com


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