Everything as it should be

Heading north to the ultimate shrine city of 'cross is always a trip into a strange world of people who go out to either race,watch or both in snow,hail, rain and/or hurricane force winds. All who went were given more than they bargained for as the snow fell on Saturday and created a slippery mess that formed into clumps of frozen wads of turf that tore off countless derailleurs and clogged bikes making a normally hard race even more painful. Sunday saw warmer tepmeratures and deep soupy mud that got deeper as the torrents of rain came unrelentingly the whole day. Gusts of wind in the afternoon blew tents skyward and them sent them smashing to the ground, all the while the war drums were beating as the battle on the course got more savage with each passing minute. Many strong riders were not up to the test , walking off in silent resignation.....all the while the drummers pounded until the tent they were under was starting to rip from it's moorings, forcing the drum corps to leave. Spectators normally happy to stand in the rain and wind fled for there cars during the elite events. Photographers ran around trying to capture every aspect of the experience from the muddy riders to the shivering spectators. This was Portland 2007.

when the cats away the lobsters will play

While some of the HRS RL team was in Icy wet Portland, the down homes went out and crushed the field at CCCX.
Aaron Odell takes another first and Josh Snead snags the runner up spot.
Stella Carey rode away from the rest and took another win.

Congrats.

Read more:

HRS Team coverage Bay Area Super Prestige #4 - Cyclingnews.com

Good write up of last weekends epic battle..
"Once again the top two lineups dominated the Elite Men's standings but this time HRS-Rock Lobster and lime green jersies were in heaven as Josh Snead squeezed out a two point victory from David Wyandt to earn the very 1st NCNCA Cup."

Read More

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)

PB250340, originally uploaded by cyclofiend.

The coach goes east

Yes, folks. Julie and Farid are moving to Lyons, Colorado. We will now have a team memeber in the rockies. Farid is not only a photographer extrodinare but he headed the Junior developement program at Hellyer park velodrome for the last twelve years. Many national champions have come out of his program and a few are making their living as professional racers. We will really miss the both of them but fortunately Julie will be racing a few select races over the next two months locally.

Golden Gate showdown

The final NCNCA cup race proved to be a large event with a really high level of racing. Our elite men were out-gunned by the Cal Giant duo of Justin Robinson and Andy Jaques-Mayne. After a starting line fall, Dave Wyandt did the amazing feat of riding from the back of the field to catch the leaders , Josh,Aaron Odell, Justin and Andy only to watch Andy attack midway through the race. With no help coming from Justin and Aaron Odell fighting congestion from a cold there was no bringing back Andy. In the end Justin out powered the three but didn't keep them off the podium and Josh retained his lead in the NCNCA cup and took home a ........beer glass ! Aaron Kereluk placed 9th and moved up in the overall series standings.In the elite Women's race Sarah and Stella did all they could to catch a flying Rachel Lloyd. Stella used all her power and almost detatched herself from the field while up ahead Sarah maintaned a steady pursuit. Lat in the race, three riders who were glued to Stella's wheel jumped away and caught Sarah but in the last lap Sarah was able to re-distance herself and keep 2nd. Stella came in 6th after a really valiant and hard fought race. Alex Work managed a 9th place in the B men, the largest field of the day. Frank Kalcic not only rode a solid race but fired up the BBQ and fed many of the team. Thomas Fox rode a great race and retained his race-leaders jersey for the 45 B group.

The wolf strikes again

The peak season 'cross race might have been put on a weekend where some people decided to take a breather. This was not entirely the case in the mens A race as Andy Jaques-Mayne showed up .
Dave and Andy distanced themselves rapidly from the rest as fatigue ,bee stings and mechanicals were taking their toll.
With a few laps to go Dave took charge and it was all over.
Aaron Kereluk came in at 4th, his best result so far this season.Similarly, Stella didn't find much of a challenge in the womens A race and rode alone to the finish after a few laps taking her third victory of the season.
Tim Watson had a fine result in the 35 plus division with a top 3 finish.

CCCX 4

Images provided by Farid A. Abraham, the Ansel Adams of cyclocross photography.....at least in my opinion.

Odell wins a race ?

Yes, the man showed that when he has an open course in front of him he can turn it on.
From the second lap on Odell rode a solo race with his two team mates Josh and Dave keeping tabs on mr. Robinson.
It all turned out great for Aaron as his lead shot up after the effective blocking of his team mates.With Aaron's win today it looks like the top three places in the NCNCA cup are HRS/Rock Lobster riders.

Sarah and Stella rode a tough race and went 2nd and 4th with a large elite women's field behind them. Stella re-inforced her second place in the NCNCA cup and Sarah climbed up in the standings as well today.

Tom Fox scored a 7th place in his first 45 A race.
Tim Watson rode strong and finished 7th in the 35 A group.
Alex Work continued his consistent performance in the B category finishing 4th and keeping at the top of the overall series standings.

Pictures of pain

MacLaren bumpy ride

This race was full of flat tires and all sorts of mayhem. Almost everyone had some sort of mechanical work needed either before or during the race. Nevertheless the team really performed as strong as ever and further cemented it's command of the team classification. IT was a race that humbled many riders who had success elsewhere only to be dispatched to the rear of the field.

In the elite races we had two on each podium with Dave Wyandt and Josh Snead 2nd and 3rd, Sarah Kerlin winning and Stella Carey 3rd. Alex Work narrowly missed the podium in a huge B field finishing 6th. Tim Watson and Frank Kalcic both looked good in thier respective masters races while Max Clifford suffered a puncture that spoiled an otherwise good performance. Matt Jordan suffered mightily as did Jeff Patton and Will Longstreth to finish on the bumpy demanding course while Michael Hernandez and Aaron Kereluk smiled while doing their laps.......incredible. Although I didn't get a picture of him, Thomas Fox won his 45+ B event going 3 for 3 in this year's series....seems he's just about got it locked up

.

It dosen't get much better than this...

The Surf City race at Soquel high school might have just as well been called the HRS/Lobster party as riders from the team figured prominently in several events. First off, newcomer Alex Work got on the podium with a fine 3rd place in the mens B catagory. Not to be outdone, Stella bested the womens A field in a hotly contested race that really came down to the last half a lap where Stella surged to the front of a group of three and stayed there finishing a good 4-5 bike lengths ahead of the next racer. Bettina Hold finished just off the podium in 6th. The mens A event was dominated by Dave Wyandt and Josh Snead. Early on Aaron Odell looked to be very strong but a front flat sent him to the back of the field in the 3rd lap. He managed to move up to 15th in spite of the setback. A group of three went away containing Snead, Wyandt and Cameron Falconer. This group was joined by Troy Berry in the middle of the race. With three laps to go Wyandt attacked and Falconer was gone. Wyandt's gap was growing and Snead was following Berry giving him no help in the chase. It the last lap Snead was able to shed Beery and secure second behind Wyandt who celebrated his first victory of the season. Aaron Kereluk had a bad start but motored through the field to finish on the podium in 5th after a long battle with Jason Rahwles.

Euro trash talkin file:

Sarah Kerlin Race Report Kalmthout World Cup Cross;

I started in the very back of the pack, only 3 girls were called up after me! The course was a lot of fun while I warmed up - nice woodsy trails and soil like we ride at UCSC. It was flat and very fast. The start was very narrow and I just couldn't move up much - when I tried to pass a girl she tried to take me into the course fence, but I pushed back into her and stayed up. It was complete mayhem for the first lap, lots of girls running with their bikes and still crashing into each other! I ran a little and never crashed, but I was really
frustrated being stuck behind slow girls on the fun singletrack. I was impatient and tried to pass constantly, but the girls just took me into the fencing every time I tried to come by. When the course finally opened up, it was fast but there was a headwind, so I had a hard time moving up. By the 2nd lap I was riding in a group fighting for 25th - 32nd, but I was in the back and got blocked trying to move up. Matt VanWabbithout was in the pits offering me lots of encouragement, I was glad he stayed positive for me since I was feeling really frustrated not to be riding further up.

I had to fight for position the entire race, feeling like I wasn't making any progress. The muddy cow field races over the previous few days took something out of me, and I just didn't have a snap I would
have needed to jump ahead in my group. Only on the very last lap did I finally break free and get to tackle the fun swoopy singletrack in the woods by myself. I was able to put a good gap on the girls behind me
through the trails, it felt like riding at home and it was really a blast. I was hammered coming toward the finish, but I couldn't let up because there were chasers right behind me. I ended up 29th, which seemed disappointing, but my coach reassured me that he was pleased with my effort; I had moved up 10 places from my call up position on a course where no one was able to make progress forward. It was great experience, much harder than anything I will do in the US. I was so exhausted, I literally collasped into the car and couldn't walk after it was over. I still earned 32 UCI points for my effort, combined with 12 from Saturday's race in Lebbeke I did very well for the weekend as far as collecting points. I came away from it with a head cold, so now I need to rest up for the flight tomorrow, so that I can get well and kick some ass at the USGP in Kentucky! It will be easy compared to Kalmthout.

Snead wins LARPD Livermore

Josh Snead pulls in his 5th win of the season at Livermore LARPD.
good job DJ sneads.

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

Pilarcitos 2, Candlestick point

Big turnouts and lots of slideouts were the story today. I'll do the best I can with the placings but you'll have to check with the race website for an accurate account of the days racing. My head was spinning from the amount of activity in the tent early on. The best example was Tom Sullivan coming in 8 minutes before his start with a pair of broken handlebars from a warmup crash. Ryan , Tom and I changed out the bars and got them retaped just in time for Tom to jump into the race seconds after the gun went off. Tom Fox was the winner in the 45B class keeping his overall lead in the series. Our elite men had an epic battle with Justin Robinson but got beaten by the big man. Aaron Odell looked to be the man of the day until he flatted 3 laps in and was nowhere near his wheels. I had to scramble to find a wheel and get hime rolling again. He went from the lead to dead last as a result of the slow wheel change but rode brilliantly back to 4th place finishing just behind Josh Snead. Dave Wyandt attacked Justin hard many times during the race but a couple of crashes delayed him enough to get beaten by the big man from Bonny Doon. Our podium was still impressive as we had 3 of 5 positions.
Nick Purtscher had a really strong second half and Jeff Patton was having a super race until he crashed hard midway through the race and withdrew. The mens B race was perhaps the biggest field of the day and newcomer Alex Work finished a credible 5th and looked strong the whole time. Stella and Bettina got callups in the womens A race and Stella managed 5th against some really tough roadie women on a flat fast course. Julie Brothers finished her womens masters race retaining her top ten status overall. Frank Kalcic rode hard and then graciously fired up his weber at the tent while D.J. Snead spun discs on his portable turntable.

Photos from Ardooie Kermiscross Belgium

Sarah sent over some shots of Matt Jordan racing in Belgium to share.Matt Suffering good on soggy grass.
Photo Credit: Sarah Kerlin

Sooner or later the lapping is going to come in Belgium.
Matt observes the riders as they go by.
Photo Credit: Sarah Kerlin

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!

Sarah and Matt Report from Belgium

Sarah Kerlin and Matt Jordan are currently in Belgium getting ready for next weekends big event in Kalmthout, Belgium. (see press release mention of Sarah)
For a little reconnaissance, they signed up for Kermiscross Ardooie with the likes of cross future and current Stars / legends.. Page, Wellens, Albert, Vervecken...

Sarah sent us an update on the event that sounds crazy fun:

We're resting at home now after a very muddy race this afternoon! The course was mostly flat and wound through a grass field - they basically just removed the cows (leaving some fresh evidence behind). The mud was clay and peanut butter consistency, it rained hard all night and then the sun came out, turning the mud into a sticky, heavy mess. Riding through the lap - after the pavement start, a long stretch of deep, slow mud and grass that coated the wheels, a few ups and downs that required some running, then through a drier section where the hay would collect on top of the mud and grass, then finally some gravel with puddles to ride through in hopes of maybe seeing some tread on the tires again before the double barriers (taller than Pilarcitos barriers), then into the sand pit made just for the race, to be sure the bike did not stay clean - it had to be very heavy for the run up the stairs. Finally, there was a section of whoopty-do's and hairpin turns that would have been really fun on a fast course, but in the mud it was better to run the whole stretch.

Matt and I both raced, the big story is that Matt was somehow entered in the Elite event with the entire who's who of cross! Matt said his start was super fast, and he could smell the rubber burning as everyone slowed abruptly for the first corner. He was able to hang in for 30 minutes before he got lapped and pulled - he definitely held his own considering he was thrown to the wolves, there were plenty of riders who were pulled before him. He raced long enough to earn a placing, ending up 46th! Check the link to see the impessive list of racers, past and present World Champions. Somehow the officials decided I should race with Masters As 30-40 age group, which worked out pretty well. I always had a group to ride with. One of the racers commented to me that the conditions were not normal - it was much tougher than most Belgian races. I was about 1/3 a lap away from finishing when the mud, grass, and small rodents I had collected in my drivetrain caused a problem - my derailleur hanger bent, the derailleur went into the wheel and was torn to shreds. I did not finish, but I was the first woman who ever raced Kermiscross in Ardooie, Belgium. The race organizer thanked me for coming and bought me a drink (I had hot chocolate).

This was a small, weekday event, and yet there were huge crowds of fans, several beer stands, fresh grilled brats, admission to spectate, local television, and of course, the beer tents. The media took pictures of Matt and I before our starts, and the fans called us by name. I heard "do it faster, Sarah!" and Matt heard "kick them in the ass, Matt Jordan!"

It was a really fun day for both of us, definitely tough on the legs pushing through all the mud. Tomorrow we rest, then Saturday we both race, and Sunday is the World Cup.

Pictures will be downloaded soon, we'll send them along.

.

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!