Surf City CX at Crest Ranch weekend

Where do I start ? Pretty hard to put into words how much this race location has meant to the local CX crowd. Our numbers might be dwindling but this last weekend If you were there to experience the Surf City's final races at the Crest Ranch you would have seen a lot of people having a great couple of days. The Rock Lobster squad in the new pink kits easily were the largest group at the race , even though many of the team don't live locally. Max Judelson came from L.A. . Connor Hormel came from Sacramento. Caroline Dezendorf came from Truckee. Eric Nelson came from Parker, Az. Must have been worth the drive !

Saturday the course was not fully dried out from the rain on Thursday so it was not the dust bowl conditions common in October CX in Santa Cruz. The course wasnot as bumpy in the past but it was very demanding with little chances to rest in between the harder segments. There was only one real runup but it was loose dirt and steep. Lots of turns had poor traction making many people have to slow down or even put a foot down to avoid falling over. No turf, no sand , no pavement- not a typical CX race but a race it was and not an easy one. 

The juniors started the day with Takoda Waterman getting 6th in the 9-14 age group . In the men's 15-18 group Matthew Werner came in 2nd with Abraham Bachar in 3rd. 

Next races were the B category. In open B men Caleb O'Hare came in 4th , Jeremy Schloss 11th, Nathan Delaney 19th, FinnCunningham 23rd. 

Single Speed men's B race saw Chris Seymour coming in 3rd with Patrick Lewis 7th.

Master's men 55 B had Jim English at 8th, Eric Werner in 13th , winemaker Frank Kalcic at 16th and guest racer Jeff Traugott 21st.

The Master men A group saw Eric Brown coming in 3rd with Justin Robinson winning inthe 45A race, Kailin Waterman 9th , Fred Mills 11th. In the men's 60 A race Paul Sadoff got 10th

After the kids race the womens raced and the fields were large .Caroline Dezendorf got 2nd in the women's A race . In the women's B race Keelan Senkier got the win followed by Heather Bybee in 4th. In the women's single speed race Hannah Solberg got the win with Maddie Ortenblad in 2nd. Kathleen Bortolussi raced to 4th in the women's 55+ race. 

In the men's single speed A race we had a mob with Justin Robinson getting his second win of the day . Fred Mills and Matt Miller joined him on the podium at 3rd and 4th. Connor Hormel came in 8th with Kyle Taylor finishing 9th. 

Gene Park rocked the fixed gear in tracklocross coming in 3rd.

Final race of the day was the men's A race with Max Judelson coming in 8th, Nate Barton 10th, Enzo Berghout 16th , Dean Poshard 21st and Eric Nelson 22nd.

Sunday had warmer temperatures and the dust was flying. The costume race was pretty spectacular as always with the team brass band playing a very approximate rendition of 'When the saints come marching in" . If you could recognize the tune, you were in the minority . 

The day started with the junior men with Noah Hekkert getting 4th, Matt Werner 5th and Abraham Bachar 7th.

In the men's B field we had the numbers with Caleb O'Hare winning , Kai Yee 6th, Jeremy Schloss 10th, Finn Cunningham 13th, Nate Delaney 14th and Aksel Medower 16th.

The single speed B men saw Chris Seymour coming in 2nd, Patrick Lewis 5th.

The men's 55B race saw Jim English getting 2nd with Eric Werner coming in 7th.

In the master men A 35 race Max Judelson nearly lapped the field winning with Eric Brown coming in 4th.In the 45 A race Justin Robinson came in 2nd with Kailin Waterman 8th and Eric Nelson 11th. 

In the 55 A race Carl Hekkert came in 3rd and in the 60 A race Paul Sadoff 7th.

The women's fields were similar to the day before with most having many racers. 

Kathleen Bortolussi came in 4th in the 55 + race. In the women's B race Keelan Senkier got another win and Heather Bybee another 4th place. 

In the single speed women's race Hannah Solberg continued her 2026 run of wins with Maddie Ortenblad coming in 2nd. 

Final races of the day were the men's elite races with the single speed A's. Fred Mills got the win with Matt Miller 3rd, Kyle Taylor 7th, Justin Robinson 8th and Shayam Salem 9th. 

The men's A race had Nate Barton coming in 7th, Max Judelson 8th , Enzo Berghout 11th and Dean Poshard 20th. 

Maybe you notice that there's a lot of names in this report. You might also notice that most of the racers improved on the second day. This team has quantity but it also has quality. 

I would like to thank Brendan and the whole crew for putting on this race, The Crest Ranch family for hosting us these last 6 years and all of our sponsors : Sightline Construction, Tom's Well services , Voler, Sweetgum Environmental , Chris King precision . I would also like to thank the Spokesman bicycles for providing mechanical support. I would like to thank Gene Selcov for the Verve Coffee prizes hookup and Frank Kalcic for donating all that wonderful wine for the podium prizes. I would like to give a shout out to Jeff Clark, David Crum, Jason Rimmer, Ashley Taylor, Kyle Taylor, Will Bachar , Kathleen Bortolussi , Jeff Rosales, Steve Ferguson and all the people who made this race happen. Hope I didn't miss anybody.....

 

Sacramento CX , races 1&2 Orangevale

Not many of the team made it to this race weekend mainly due to travel fatigue from the SSCXWC in Bellingham , Wa. the weekend before. Sure, we didn't have many racers but three out of the four who raced had wins. First racer off in Race # 1 on Saturday was Craig Ball in the mens C 60+. He finished 6th. Next was Kathleen Bortlussi in the womens A 60+ race where she got a podium coming in 2nd. Paul Sadoff missed his start in the A/B mens 70+ but still got on the podium at 3rd. 

We had the treat in race # 2 with the presence of Caroline Dezendorf who easily won the women's A single speed race . Craig Ball improved from the day before placing 5th in the C mens 60+ race. Kathleen went one better in the A womens 60+ race and got the win. Paul Sadoff did not miss the start this time and got the win in the A/B 70+ mens race.  That's quite a showing for only a fraction of this team. Next race will be Surf City where the team will attend in probably the biggest numbers of the season. On a more serious note, Diana Drew had a serious MTB crash in Oregon and has a long road to recuperation. We should all wish her as speedy and complete a recovery as possible. 

Caroline leading her race from the first turn. 

Here's two of the winner podiums of the day at race # 2.

 

Vallejo Velocity

 

This course had not been used in at least a decade so only a few people on the team had experienced riding there. Memories were fuzzy and the photos on the race website didn't really show how brutal of a course it would turn out to be. Steep hills. two long flights of stairs and deep turf greeted the racers- some suffered mightily while others shined on the challenging track. 

The team didn't have quite the numbers present compared to the first race but all who showed up made it a race in most cases. Kathleen Bortolussi got 3rd in the women's 55+ race. Noah Hekkert took a commanding win in the junior 15-18 race. His father Carl got 4th in the men's 55+A race. New team member Justin Robinson doubled up , racing the men's 45+A race and getting second. Later in the open A race, Justin finished 8th. Also doubling up was Max Judelson with a win in the men's 35A race and a 6th place in the open A race. Also racing in the open A race was Dean Poshard who finished 15th. Eric Brown was also in the men's 35A race and finished 5th. Jim English finished 4th in the men's 55B race. 

Diana Drew took the lead in the women's A race and never looked back, getting the win. Not to be outdone, Hannah Solberg took the win in the women's single speed with Maddie Ortenblad finishing 3rd. Also in the single speeds, Patrick Lewis got 3rd in the men's single speed B race. In the men's single speed A race we had a mob with Matt Miller battling for the win followed by Kyle Taylor in 6th and Connor Hormel in 7th. 

In the men's open B race Finn Cunningham came in 6th with Nathan Delaney coming in at 11th. In the men's 60+ A race we had three racers- Paul Sadoff finishing 8th, Rick Ortenblad 10th and Manny Affonso 11th. 

All in all, this was a good day for the team with five wins and many podiums. I think our team was the largest group at the race , even with lots of team mates not able to make the trip. Lets hope that this race will continue next year as it might be the most challenging course of the season and it offers a uniquely painful experience - might just make the other races seem tame !

Shoreline shredder CX, BASP race # 1.

The season opened with a cloudy windy day on a pretty barren hillside on the SF bay. This was the first race of the season and the debut of the 2026 pink team kits with two new sponsors : Tom's Well service and Sweetgum Environmental. The team showing was pretty good for the first race and hopefully the promoter was happy with the turnout. I know that our team was probably the largest group at the race .
 

The morning started with the juniors and we had two but only one was racing in the junior category. That was Noah Hekkert and he rode to 4th in the 15-18 year old race.

Masters men raced next with Eric Brown getting 5th in the 35+A race, Karl Hekkert getting 4th in the 55+A race . In the 60+A race Paul Sadoff got 8th, Rick Ortenblad 10th and Mark Hubbell 12th.

Men's single speed B race had Patrick Lewis who rode to 2nd and the first podium of the day.In the women's B race Heather Bybee came in 5th.

In the women's 55+ race Kathleen Bortolussi came in 2nd and got the second podium of the day.

The men's B field was very large and we had four riders. In 6th was Jeremy Schloss , Kai Yee ( RL Juniors) rode to 7th, Nathan Delaney 10th. Finn Cunningham was there but did not appear in the results. This happened in a couple of races -not sure what happened but hopefully the results will get amended soon.

In Women's single speed Hannah Dillard got the first win of the day with Maddie Ortenblad coming in 2nd.

In the men's single speed A race Matt Miller got an emphatic win , his first SS-A win . Kailin Waterman came in 5th. Shyam Salem raced but did not appear in the reuslts along with a few others. I did witness his finish and he rode a strong race so hope the results get completed to show the full field.

Last races of the day were the elites and Diana Drew rode to 2nd.

In the men's race and early flat derailed Brendan Lehman -he got credit for 14th. Dean Poshard finshed 12th. 

All in all, I would say that this race would have been a pretty small event without the presence of the team . I know I'm not alone in saying that this course might be the harderst track of the season so getting this first race done is a very good thing. If the team continues showing up in good numbers this will speak well for the health of the sport -a sport that is coming off of a number of difficult years. I hope that we all can continue to do our part-of course, as long as everyone is having a good experience. 

Next stop- Vallejo. 

Welcome a new sponsor to the team: Sweetgum Environmental

 Yes- there will be a couple of new names on the team kit. This company is based in Plant City, Florida. The head of the company is a customer who has a few of my bikes out there and reached out to be part of the team family. I'm really happy to have a new name on the kit and hope that the exposure helps with this and all the team sponsors. 2026 is looking to be a busy year for the team as there's a bigger BASP race calendar and we are looking to have a larger presence at the Pan Am games . The nationals are coming back to Fayetteville and I hope that we have as much success and fun as we had last year .

Last nationals post- the culture of Arkansas , at least as we saw it

Yes, there was racing - going to the course and back to the house took up the bulk of the trip and sadly, this trip was lacking in time to really check out the local flavor as in past nationals . That said, we did get to a few key locations in Fayetteville and sample the local landmarks .

 Long before this trip I had made a point to direct the team to the phenomenon known as the Waffle House. Notorious for its iconic yellow sign and 24 hour availability, the Waffle House has been the choice of truck drivers, the highway patrol and most of all, drunk people. I was determined to make a visit and sample the wares , just like Anthony Bourdain did years ago but without all the alcohol. Four of us went and were astonished at how clean the place was and that the food was tasty , proving that one needn't be totally drunk to appreciate the Waffle House.

On the last night we went out for pizza as to not make a mess in the house that we were leaving early the next morning. This place was very good- Fayetteville has a pretty happening downtown with a lot of good eateries.

Not far from the team house was Rymolenes- a place that is all about pies. The pie selection is not equalled anywhere I have been in my 70+ years on this earth. It was such a hit that a few of us made three trips over the 6-7 days we were in Fayetteville. A very disturbing robotic Santa Clause was there and it would fire up and sing a Christmas song when anyone walked in front of it. I did take a video but I did not post it here as I was worried about the trauma it might cause viewers.

No trip to Fayetteville is complete without a trip to Walmart. I needed a pair of roomier shoes and some hand and toe warmers for the next morning when it would be sub-20 degrees. The giant store had everything we needed. 

Waffle House must have known we were coming as they put out the black and yellow tile that matched the sleeves on our kits. Maybe I should contact them about a sponsorship for next year......

Here's the five-star fare at Waffle House- pecan waffle and hashbrowns with ham and onions. There was a variety of add-ons available , all with special nomenclature.

Mexican food in Arkansas ? Actually, quite a bit of it, although we only sampled one spot-chosen by new national champ Caroline Dezendorf. This place was top-drawer and very affordable. The food and service were both excellent and it was a great place to celebrate Caroline's first national title and the fourth one in the history of the team. 

I got and email from USA cycling yesterday saying that nationals will return to Fayetteville in 2026. Are we coming back ? That will be up to the sponsors and most of all to the riders. As for me, I think I need more pie, more waffles and another crack at that course when there's maybe some mud or better yet, some fresh snow. Big thanks go out to Sightline Construction, Voler, Easton and all the other sponsors that made this trip happen. A big thanks goes out to folks on the team who might have not made the trip but contributed their energy to keeping the team rolling. This whole nationals excursion does not happen without a bunch of support from a bunch of people willing to do the work. A big thanks from me personally as it keeps the lore of the Santa Cruz contingent of CX alive along with my life's work- this Rock Lobster thing.  Cheers until 2026 !

 

Last day- UCI races

The last day came and with it morning temperatures below 20 degrees. We had been hearing about how cold it was going to be and the challenge of racing or doing support in that kind of weather is daunting. That said, Steve and I got up early and pitted for a local Nor-Cal rider and as cold as it was, it was doable. Enzo was to race at 1:30 so we figured that the temperature would rise. It did, but only to 28 degrees but with the clear skies and sun it really was not that bad. Enzo had a 3rd row start in the UIC juniors 17-18 field and had a first lap spill. In spite of this he still finished 24th with some strong riding.

The last race would be both Andy and Max's 3rd race of the week so fatigue was setting in. The weather had warmed up into the 30's and there was not much wind so conditions were greatly improved from the morning. What was going to make this race really hard was the fact that the field was very small and had some of the best racers in the country. Both riders started near the back and had to deal with fatigue and a super strong field. Max was able to stay on the lead lap and finish 14th. Andy had a flat tire far from the pit and a long run as a result was not able to do all the laps but he got credit for 25th. All in all , I would say that this small team is leaving here with some solid results and a great experience.