More Pics from CCCX #2

Pics from CCCX #2

CrossVegas!

Midweek, late night racing in Vegas in front of a huge crowd is always awesome. Add in a whole bunch of beer and a mess of European strong men and we have us a bike race.

It is nice to get out to Interbike and be able to stop by and say thank you to all the industry folks who help out the team. Sean at Easton / Bell, Larry at Mavic, Sheila Moon, Brooke at Gu, Chad at Shimano, Chris with Chris King. All great people working for great companies. With a 9 PM start time (11 PM central) we didn't stick around the show very long before we headed back to the hotel for a little rest.

The start coral was huge, the highest number I saw was 112. Unsurprisingly though, I seemed to be surrounded by pretty familiar company. There isn't much to think about on the line, just make sure you are in the right gear, and then go as fast as you can. With the pop of the gun, we were flying down the straight away. It was just as aggressive as I remembered from last year and I put every ounce of myself into the pedals for the first couple laps.

Three or four laps flew by. I was in a strong group of ten or so guys. Guys who were beating me last year, so I felt pretty good about how things were going. The pace was fast yet manageable, I was riding right were I wanted to be. I grabbed a couple high dollar hand ups in there, I was having a blast, and positioned well, 35ish.

Then disaster, I say it over and over, "I go through the barriers as fast as I can, if I go down, I am going to go down hard" and it came true. Something happened where my front end dropped just slightly and it hit the second to last step and immediately shot my bars up into my face. It caught me right above my right eye. I heard the "crack", saw the flash and went down like a ton of bricks. It hurt, the kind of hit I didn't spring back up from. I got back on the bike, but was in a fog, pedaling just enough to keep the bike moving. Lost close to 15 spots before I realized I needed to be back at race pace by the time a fast approaching group caught me if I was to have any chance at staying in the race.

I rode a lap or two solo before I got sucked in by the chasing group. It was a nice reprise from the solo effort but the group didn't stay together long. With three to go the leaders were closing fast. With two to go, it was going to take a first lap effort to stay in front of the leader, so I went for it. All this way, 56 minutes in, a head butt from the bike and I'd be damned if I was going to give up now. It was close, close enough that the podium girls already had lipstick applied and ready to kiss. I did it though and finished on the lap with the leaders. Raced as hard as I could. And as I'd find out a day later finished 53rd. Then onto the plane and back to the midwest to meet up with Sarah and Matt for the first round of the USGP in Madison.

CCCX 2, The Wolf is back

The Wolf is back.....and Buckethead.....and Odell. Josh Snead pretty much continued what he was doing last year-that was winning the local races. That, however is not the whole story as our elite men's team took four of the five available podium places: Josh Snead 1st, Scott Chapin 2nd, Aaron Odell 4th and Dave Wyandt 5th. New member Jason Rahwles went from the back of the race to a top ten showing why he is a great addition to the team. Jill Fattor might be eligable to race with the masters women but getting 4th in the Elites she proved that she might be too fast for that class. Luckily we have Kathleen Bortolussi in the Masters to take 1st in Jill's absence. Michelle Perez got a respectable 4th in the womens masters and Erin Dunn rode to 2nd in the C's on a borrowed bike. New member Kevin Crossley won the men's B's showing that he is just about ready to ride the A catagory. Brett Lambert got 2nd in the men's 45 A group in spite of a couple of bike changes. More photos should be coming....this is the only one I took as I was busy with the pit duties.

CCX1 Photos by Brent the elder

And More Pics. Courtesy of Timmy!

More Pics from CCCX #1

Pics from CCCX #1 (Manzanita Park)

Chicago Cross Cup #1

It was like Christmas Eve before I learned of the absence of Santa Claus. Laying awake in bed, not able to fall asleep because I was so excited for what was to come the following day. Instead of brightly wrapped presents, I was in store for an hour of pain and some playing in the dirt.

I started my season this year with the kick off of my home town Chicago series and was excited to race with friends. After plenty of joking and high fives on the line they blew the whistle and we were on. I pounded the pedals and took the whole shot into the tight "S" curves on the super dusty baseball diamond. I came off the silt of the infield to see the carnage I had escaped and pushed to separate myself from as many racers as possible.

I led the first half of lap until I dropped my chain sprinting through the barriers and was caught by the first couple of chasers. I lost that valuable edge, but now it was real head to head racing. And for the next innumerable number of laps, we battled it out for every foot of a lead over each other. Somewhere with about three laps to go I got gapped by the leader, but still maintained my lead over the third place rider. I rode the last few laps at a steady pace and rolled in for a comfortable second place.

I am so very excited for the following months. A huge thank you to all the sponsors that helped out the team this year, I don't think I could be any better prepared. Next up is an hour of power in Vegas, racing Wednesday night at CrossVegas! Photo by: Gavin Gould

Lobsters in Action at CCCX #1 (Manzanita Park)

If you want to see photos from CCCX #1, check them out on Facebook. But, you'll have to become my Facebook friend to view them. Tried uploading files to the blog but I think they were too big and I don't feel like resizing them.

CCCX # 1 2009

CCCX # 1 fields were large and strong.....seems like everyone has stepped it up a notch. Brett Lambert finished second in the 45+ A race . Kathleen Bortolussi captured the win in the Womens 35 plus catagory.

Stella rode a very strong race and finished 4th in the womens A field.

Josh and Chris McGovern had an epic battle with the two top Cal Giant riders and wound up 3rd and 4th, well ahead of the mens A field.
It was quite a show, lots of attacking and some very hard racing. This blaster has supplanted the horn for now......its hands-free operation works better in the pits. More photos to come from Tim Watson.

First team win of the season!

Congrats to Jill Fattor for grabbing the first win of the season at LARPD #1!

Presenting for 2009

This may not be the whole team but it is most of the core of the 'factory elite' squad. This was the group that met to ride the morning after the team pre-season party. The new outfits are pretty much the best and the yellow Mavic shoes will be impossible to miss.

Deep fired candy bars are good pre-race nutrition, right?

Photo from Kevin Dillard. Cyclocross in July? Lobsters on the East Coast. At the New Jersey's State Fair? Sounds like a recipe for getting beer battered, deep fried and eaten out of a trough. Dangers aside, I thought it sounded like an awesome way to kick off the season a little early. So a group of us piled into a car and drove through the night to the State Fair where we would be greeted by deep fried twinkies, prize winning cattle and the first annual SpectaCross races.

Before the racing was to start, I had been asked to teach a beginners cyclocross clinic, which was pretty exciting. I feel like the last few seasons have been a huge learning experience for me and it would be cool to pass on some of the tricks I had picked up. Plus, if I could relay just part of my enthusiasm for the sport, the folks who attended the clinic will be hooked for life. Running from the rain wasn't the best way to start, but it was alright because there was a lot to talk about before the actual demonstration needed to happen. Which is the sexiest smelling embrocation. Which skinsuit brand shows off your butt the best. The correct method to getting mud out of your hair. This is a very fashionable affair and we needed to make sure we looked our best. After the rain had let up, we moved back into the field where I got to demonstrate all the fun that goes into a cyclocross race: smashing my nuts, bruising my shoulder and arms and tripping over things. It was a ton of fun, but there was racing to be done as well!

Friday night's racing was a short event at 30 minutes, under the lights and in the mud. The rain from earlier had let up, but it left small ponds of mud in the arena that normally showcased tractor pulls and demolition derbies. The promoter had used neon colored fabric tubes to mark the course leaving me wondering where the disco ball and go-go dancers had gone. It wasn't long before it was down to buisness though and the promoter was counting down from ten as we all stood ready on the start line. I got caught up in some others little first race jitters, but was able to work my way up to the front rather quickly in the first lap. I had not even made it through the first couple corners before I had mud (or maybe it is pig crap) in my teeth, this is pure cyclocross! As every race is, the whole time is a blur. Lap after lap went by super fast as the laps were short. It was a blur until I hit the deck in one of the greasy grassy corners, which was unfortunate because I was still leading the race. I lost a couple places and sat in third, but with a decent amount of the race left I knew I could claw my way back. I kept the pace high and managed to make my way back into second place, but there just wasn't enough time in the race left to contest the lead again. Either way, it was fast racing against some fast East Coast racers and I was happy with my second place.

Saturday was going to be a completely different story. The sun was out and sweltering. The earlier races had packed down the dirt in the arena and the course went from slippery and slow, to smooth and FAST. The start was much more traditional as well, with a 30 second warning and the gun at random. I took the wholeshot and made it into the arena first which felt great. The pressure in my front tire however did not feel so great and I was loosing ground rapidly. I made it through the first lap in front, lost my lead switching bikes, but still had contact with the leader. Over the next few laps though, my race took some bad turns and I lost contact with the front group of three. Then somewhere in there I got passed by another couple guys. With the lap cards coming down, I refocused my efforts and started gaining back some of the ground I lost, passing back into 5th place. Sadly, there just wasn't enough time left in the race for me to gain any more spots and 5th is where I finished.

It was an amazing event and an awesome start of my racing season. I feel much stronger and am excited to see how the fall goes. A few more intervals, some sprint work and then the start line!