just saying…

-fpa

Well that silly little thing in France has started, so that means that the real cycling season (cyclocross) is almost getting close.  I decided it was time to start training.  I’ve had the past four weeks off the bike thanks to a strained Achilles tendon and several tournaments coaching my daughter’s fastpitch softball team.  The spring and summer are our busiest times. I also had a wonderful week in Colorado thanks to my wife’s extra work and income.  She promised the kids she would make up for working more hours by a special family vacation.  And it was.  We were in Beaver Creek which is about 10 minutes West of Vail.  It was awesome.  Ready to move to Colorado if only we could both find jobs that would allow it.  Anyone need a Public Defender and a Social Worker? Anyway.  I decided to work out a  little while I was there and swim a few laps in the pool.  That was much easier on my strained tendon.  But I quickly found out how out of shape I was thanks to the altitude.  So, one week later we are back at home and I have to hit the bike.  A week ago Sunday I went for a little 2 1/2 hour ride.  It killed me after 4 weeks off.  But I recovered ok and Wednesday I did an hour.  Then Friday I did a 45 minute spin to loosen things up.  Then I was back at it on Sunday for another 2 hour ride.  I was tired and sore by this time.  Then while we were on our way to dinner and a fireworks show Sunday night a buddy called wanting to do a group ride on Monday.  I told him I was fat and out of shape, but he said not to worry.  “We won’t hammer, just have some fun.”  So, out of bed Monday morning and go meet the group for an easy ride….5 minutes after the start, 25+ mph, in the drops, trying to find the back of the last wheel in the line, heartrate through the roof, blurred vision and I knew I was in trouble.  Luckily, they slowed down and waited for everyone to regroup after the climbs.  But still, an hour and half later I was dragging.  BUT I did get some preseason drafting  practice and a little pre-season suffering.  So, this is the real pre-season as we prepare to suffer with the first hint of cooler weather still over 2 months away.

Can’t wait to build my real bike back up again. Can’t wait for the first bits of mud in my teeth.  Can’t wait for the first flawless (or maybe not) dismount and remount.  Is it cross season yet? Bring it on. All hail the Cowbell.  More Cowbell. All the time.

Talk to ya’ll later.

DS

So take that, world. Oregon is getting all up in your CX grill with a high-school development league:

http://bikeportland.org/2010/06/21/obra-to-debut-high-school-cyclocross-program-this-fall/

Sugahara says the High School Training and Racing Program will be organized like a “club sport” with volunteer coaches and trainers. He envisions each participating school would field teams of 4-8 students and training clinics would be held on school grounds.

“Our main goal is to make this a game-changer for cycling throughout the state by legitimizing it as a major high school sport like football or basketball.”
— Kenji Sugahara, Executive Director of OBRA

OBRA plans a three-race series in 2010 that will happen in September, with the inaugural championships occurring over Thanksgiving weekend. Also working on the project are Rick Potestio, John Myers, and Brad Ross — all of whom have been instrumental in developing the popular Cross Crusade into the largest cyclocross series (in terms of participation) in the world. Potestio, Myers, and Ross are working on a video and workbook that will serve as a coaches handbook.

As cool as this is, I worry that attendance at each round of the Cross Crusade will soon grow to the point that the races will take over the entire weekend, instead of just Sundays. Is that a bad thing? For the cyclocross dogs among us, not so much. But the families? Won’t someone think of the families??

…to start riding cross bikes, which is exactly what I did with the Freewheel crew & friends yesterday morning. I’m in the black kit on the far right in case you were wondering, which you probably weren’t.

Freewheel & friends summer CX ride (pic via dfl brad)

The ride, besides “getting the band back together,” also shook the cobwebs off the race bikes (mine had been hibernating since mid-December) and reminded everyone of the various things, both physical and mechanical, that could use a little work leading up to the season. Three hours, three flats, one exploding chainring and a high-speed endo later it seemed like there was more than enough to get sorted out before those first races this fall. That goes for the rest of you, too - do that tune-up you’ve been putting off and finish all those intervals or face the consequences! 

Big thanks to Jason & co. at De La Paz Coffee for letting us meet up at their HQ and providing the pre-ride caffeine.

On a sadder note, the Livermore CX series is dead until further notice.

- Nick in SF

I’m pretty sure this was made in Oregon

(click on pic for vid)

-buddhabelly

Oregon Syndicate

Over Memorial Weekend, Allen Goldbeck and I made the 6.5 hr drive from the Portland Metro to Spokane, WA for the 24hrs of Round and Round race. We met up with 3 other guys (all friends of Allen) who made a similar 6+ hr drive from the Seattle/Tacoma area of western Washington.

Friday Night (5/28):

Set up the tents and as a group pre-rode the course with no lights. We made it back by 9pm and could still see which one might think portends of beautiful weather…not so.

The course:

• distance: 14.7 miles
• technically: moderate…pretty rocky at times as evidenced by the number of flats seen
• climbing: 7-8 of them but none longer than 0.25 miles
• aerobically: strenuous
• time to complete: our 5-person team was as fast as 1hr 8min up to 1hr 26min
• average speeds: our 5-person team ranged from 9mph up to 13mph
• attendance: 700+ racers (one unicyclist)

Crossniacs

Saturday/Race Day (5/29):

Race started at Noon with a Le Mans started that I got volunteered for. Why not? I can start my ‘cross training early!

racked before the Le Mans start

cx training

Riding up the hill I just ran up :(

Allen HTFU!

Sunday (5/30):

After some calculations, we figured we could try to get all 5 guys 4 laps each, so 20 total for the team. Come Noon on Sunday, we were only able to get 19 so our anchor Doug didn’t get a chance but he was cool just sleeping and drinking

Nite Rider on hand

Where we handed off

My lap times:

1. 1:12:07.143 at Noon on Saturday (this included the Le Mans start…so not bad)
2. 1:09:35.629 at about 5:30pm Saturday evening
3. 1:19:25.089 at 12:45am-ish on Sunday (this was my only night lap and one I’ll never forget…so beautiful…and only the 2nd time ever I’ve mtn biked at night)
4. 1:15:27.249 at 7am-ish on Sunday (I was really happy with this lap time as I was fighting cramps in both quads, my back and my left arm)

Over the course of the race, we each could not have gotten more than 4 hrs of sleep. I know my figure was more like 2.5hrs

-will

Pac NW AllStarz

Crossniacs Oregon Syndicate

Crossniacs Professional Syndicate, Oudenaarde, Belgium
Press Release: May 26th, 2010

Crossniacs seek riders for the new Professional Syndicate.

The US multi-regional syndicate based cyclocross team, Crossniacs, is seeking riders to join their new Professional Syndicate. The Professional Syndicate will be based in Oudenaarde, Belgium and compete in UCI races throughout Belgium, France, Holland, Germany, Spain and Switzerland.

The Professional Syndicate seeks 2 Elite Men and 2 U23 riders to complete their roster. Riders will need to be available from September 15th, 2010 till February 15th, 2011 and will be based in Belgium throughout the racing season. The team’s racing schedule includes the Super Prestige, Gazette Van Antwerpen and UCI World Cups (pending selection), along with Cross Vegas to kick off the season and a trip back to the US for the national championships.

Interested riders can contact the Professional Syndicate Manager, Gregg Germer, at gregg.germer@yahoo.com, with their CV and for details of what team members will be provided. All resumes must be submitted by June 5th, 2010 to be considered.

For more information on the Crossniacs please visit http://www.crossniacs.com

Gregg Germer,
Professional Syndicate Manager

designed by FPA

The Oregon Syndicate (lovingly known as the Pac NW AllStarz) will be posting group rides, discussion notes, team issues, etc on it’s new Facebook Page. The page will hopefully free up space in everyone’s e-mail inbox.

Don’t forget to blog your cyclocross adventures here at www.Crossniacs.com since it’s linked to from numerous CX sources!

Just search “Crossniacs: Pac NW AllStarz” in FB and add your name to the list or post something HTFU-worthy.

-will aka buddhabelly

Well, I made it to the end of the season.  I really had not been training due to the illnesses that I had during the season, but I had to go up to Knoxville for the final race of the series and the season.  We had some dry days finally and I was hoping for some dry course conditions.  BUT we had snow again in Georgia and in Tennesse.  Plus, the temps had dropped again and the ground was frozen.  

I got up at 5:00 am on Saturday to head up I-75.  Actually made it in good time and felt pretty good when I got there.  So, I got ready, registered and hit the course to pre-ride.  The ground was starting to thaw and I figured it would get slippery.  The course was pretty cool with a death spiral in a “bowl” on one end of the course.  But there was also a long (small) uphill climb that was just tough enough to benefit the roadies and put me in pain.  But I still had hopes for a strong finish.  The start went down about 100 yards across a flat field and then had 180 degree turn.   I got a great start and was in third.   The first turn wasn’t too bad during warm ups, but by the time we got started the outer edges were slick as snot.  I was fighting to stay in the top 3 and came in a little hot.  I went a little wide and the slick mud took over and down I went.  So, most of the field passed me.   I fought my way back and actually felt pretty good.  But there was no way to pass all of them back.  I probably passed about 10-12 guys during the rest of the race and finally ended up in 14th.  Then I did the Masters race.  The day brought a first for me.  I rolled a tubie…. I had borrowed an old set of tubulars from my LBS to give them a try.  They are a little heavy, but at least it gave me chance to see what they felt like.  However, since they were old and seldom used, it appears that the glue had dried out.  On the top end of the course there was a long off camber section with a downhill 180 degree turn and then back across the off camber section on the lower half of the hill.  I was almost through the 180 when I rolled it and went flying down the hill.  I ended up calling it quits for the day.  I hung out for awhile to watch the races, then hit a local bike shop and then checked into my hotel to get some rest.

Got up Sunday morning and I was sore.  My legs were sore from a lack of training and my back and neck were sore from the rolled tubie.  I got to the park and tried to get warmed up and get loose.  The course went the opposite direction from Saturday and that made it tougher.  On Saturday the climb was on pavement and then back down through the death spiral.  Sunday, the climb was up the soft ground through the the sprial and then back down the pavement.  It made the spiral slower and tougher and made the pavement section very sketchy.  Quite a few crashes at the bottom of the pavement section.  They had a prime for the first full lap so I went out hot.  I actually had a decent start.  I was about 3rd out of the first 5 guys.  I stayed with them for the first half lap and back into the spiral the second time heading for the first full lap.  But 2 of the guys pulled away.  So, I was stuck in a group of about 5 with the two leaders up in front.  I thought I could still pull a decent finish, but a little over halfway I had not moved up and I was starting to feel the pain from Saturday.  So, I had to just hang on as long as I could, but I started dropping back.  I ended up a couple of spots better than Saturday.  I didn’t do a second race since the legs were already toast.  But it was still a fun weekend. 

I enjoy doing the cx races in Knoxville.  I have to give a shout out to the TVB/Tomato Head team.  They were rocking all weekend:  guy in our race thought it was the bikini class (and both the top and bottom were at least 1 size too small); they were doing chicken wing and beer handups in the death spiral.  They were also cooking eggs and just generally having a good time.  I also appreciate the fact that I had some guys cheering me on.  They recognized the Crossniacs Kit and remembered me from some of the other races so they cheered me on.  All in all the season was disappointing but still fun.  I also feel like my skills showed some improvement this year.  I know I started the season about 30 pounds over weight and out of shape, and I stayed that way.  But I still had some good races and some good parts to some races.  There were several races this year where I stayed with the leaders for a good portion of the race before my lack of fitness showed up.  So, I think it bodes well for my improvement.  Now, I just need to make sure that I get some decent fitness during the summer and then up the intensity to match with the start of THE REAL SEASON.  I’m already looking forward to next season.  I’m also stoked to be a part of the Crossniacs for the full season starting in the fal of 2010.  I’m hoping I can finally lose this weight and start the season strong.  Long live CX!

Talk to ya’ll later.

DS

The Oregon posse Crosniacs, aka the PacNW Allstarz have been looking in to getting a tent for the upcoming cross season. I have been working with a few different vendors and this is what we have come up with so far. Let me know what you guys think. Also, if any of you fellow Crossniacs know anyone on the inside that could possibly get us a price break let me know.

HTFU,

Frosty

PacNW AllStarz