All dressed up and somewhere to go

Meet the new elite team captain , Scott Chapin . He is pictured here on his way to the Sea Otter to meet with our generous sponsors and distribute cookies , drinks and in the process educate the industry folks about the 2011-2012 cyclocross program. This represents the earliest and most ambitious start to our cyclocross program in team history.

SCCC Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds

Photos by Brent the elder

CCCX Final Fort Ord

Howie gets the overall win with Brett Lambert getting 5th overall in the mens 45 A group.
Howie and Brett would get on the podium for the day as well.
Janel Lodge and Kathleen Bortolussi got 2nd and 3rd overall in the womens 35 + group.
It was another lucky day for me, 3rd on the day and in the series in the mens 55+ group.
Benoit Dubuisson and Jeff Traugott got 4th and 5th on the day, 3rd and 4th in the series in the mens 45 B group.
Stella got 3rd in the womens A race on the day and also earned 5th in the single speed A overall, quite an accomplisment !
For the mens A group podium I had to stand in for Dave Wyandt ( 3rd overall) . Jeff Patton rose dramatically in the standings to finish 4th overall and Ben Dodge did the same getting 2nd for the series and 5th on the day. Aaron Kereluk got 4th on the day showing really god form. The winner on the day and in the series was Scott Chapin , pretty much in a class by himself.
This is Scott in his final CCCX race of the season, finishing it off in style.
Stella racing in the single speed A catagory merely had to finish to secure her podium spot.
A.K. takes a flyer in the mens A race in the early laps. It really was great to see three of our riders in the lead group for much of the race.

CCCX 7, Ft. Ord campground course

Brett Lambert rode to 5th in the men's 45 A group , showing that his trip to the nationals didn't slow him down.

Storms hit the area the day before this race and really gave the sandy Fort Ord soil a good soaking. The result was a lightning fast track with a couple of slower muddy patches and a few greasy turns. Post Nationals burnout caused many a rider to lose enthusiasm and quit , even some riders in high placings. Our team for the most part really shown on this day, putting people on the podium in nearly every class. Above is the men's A podium with Scott Chapin overpowering the field and winning by a large margin.
Kathleen Bortolussi won her second race in a row while Janel Lodge followed closely in 2nd.
Stella Carey rode strong and finished 3rd in the women's A field .
Jon Mason rode a clean race and had his best finish of the season so far , 3rd in the men's 35 B field.
I guess I go better without the kidney stone. I came in 3rd in the men's 55+ and was really happy when the race was over.....it was a pretty hard race inspite of the fast conditions.
Benoit Dubuisson continued his run of podium placings at CCCX, this time it was 3rd in the men's 45 B race. The podium near-misses are as follows : Ben Dodge, 6th in the men's A's. Katie Jay Melina, 6th in the women's A's , Mark Howland, 6th in the men's 45+ A's, Jeff Traugott, 5th in the men's 45 + B's.

Surf City III Aptos High school

Well, there were more folks at this race than you would have thought, seeing as how the nationals were still going on. Nevertheless, the team had a good showing. Kevin Crossley had his best finish of the season with a 2nd in the mens A race, Kathleen Bortolussi got a win in the womens 35 + division after driving down from Oregon, Benoit Dubuisson rode to 4th in the mens 45 B division and lastly, I held onto my GC spot by riding, albeit slowly to a 3rd in the mens 55 +. Alan Bennett showed up but elected not to ride but his support during my race was really helpful. Even with a skeleton crew this team can make an impact on a race.

Cyclocross nationals roll call

Photos will be coming in next week. for the mean time here are the results from cycling USA:

Mens elite race:
Scott Chapin...........38th
Josh Snead.............41st
Ben Dodge..............85th
Ben Popper............92nd
Dean Poshard.......100th.
Womens elite race:
Katie Jay Melina...83rd.
Mens single speed race:
Scott Chapin..............9th
Womens single speed race:
Stella Carey...............2nd

Master's events:

Mens 30-34
Josh Snead................6th.
Ben Dodge................31st.
Mens 35-39
Dean Poshard..........50th
Mens 40-44
Matt Jordan.............53rd
Brian Staby..............78th
Mens 45-49
Tom Fox...................27th
Frank Kalcic.............43rd
Mens 50-54
Brett Lambert...........7th
Alan Ott.....................29th
Jeff "feff" Traugott..53rd

Womens 30-34
Katie Jay Melina......29th
Womens 40-41
Stella Carey.................5th
Womens 45-49
Kathleen Bortolussi...16th
Janel Lodge................18th

Mens collegiate b division
Ben Dodge..................13th
Mens B 30-39
Dean Poshard..............7th

Photos BASP CCCP

Brent The Elder

Photos - BASP Golden Gate Park

Frank's rig, all loaded up at the end of the day.
Post race victory celebration in front of Tommy's Mexican cuisine, Geary st. , San Fransisco. this is a place for serious gut bombs. Little did I know that the gut bomb I had really had nothing to do with what I ate for dinnier.
Here's Dave putting on a late surge in the race to ride clear of the series leader, Steve Reaney.
Two of our elite riders made it to the podium-Josh Snead in 4th and Scott Chapin in 3rd. Dave Wyandt would just miss in 6th.
Frank did his race and with not much of a break immediately began making fajitas for the hungry riders. I think that just as much as the great results of the team, Frank's diligence at the BBQ and at the beer tapper have secured us a consecutive victory in the BASP team trophy competition.
A rare treat-Simon Vickers driving 8 hours to race with the team at Golden Gate park , just like the old days.
Alex Work rode well enough to hold onto his series lead jersey until put off his line by a photographer. This unfortunate incident resulted in a crash, broken clavicle and an end to a terrific season.
Brent The Elder

CCCX 6, Toro Park

Although not many folks made it to this race as the district championships were the day before , the racing was still very competitive . Our team showed up on almost every podium, the exceptions being mostly classes where we had no entries.....that would certainly make it difficult to make the podium ! The windy and sometimes rainy conditions made the track a little slippery in places and made for classic cyclocross conditions,something we have missed in the last few seasons for the most part.
In the men's 35 A group, Alex Work continued his streak of medal runs with a second place.
Janel Lodge did the same in the women's 35 plus race. She, like Alex was our solo entry in that class.
The empty 2nd spot on the women's elite podium was for Stella Carey but she was racing the A single speed class at the time. Sarah Kerlin got 5 th for a medal as well.Katie Jay Melina just missed the podium with a fine 6th place.
The mens elite race got split up early but Dave Wyandt and Scott Chapin stayed in the hunt and wound up 4th and 5th respectively. Kevin Crossley just missed the podium in 6th .
Not seen in a photo yet but in the 45 B class Benoit Dubuisson continued his streak of podium appearances with a 4th place, followed by Jeff Traugott in 5th , returning to form.In the 55 plus, I scored a 4th place in a tiny field-hey, it's still a medal and a podium so I'll gladly take it !