FPA

Following the recommendation of the Cyclo-cross Commission, the UCI Management Committee has approved modifications to its cyclo-cross rules which will take effect at the beginning of the 2010-2011 cyclo-cross season. A summary of the changes is as follows:

1) Disc brakes will now be allowed in cyclo-cross competition.
2) The legal tire width in competition has also been changed. Width shall not exceed 33 mm, whereas before the maximum width was 35 mm.
3) Continental Cyclocross Championships have been established.
4) The “6 obstacle limit” has been changed to a “6 man-made obstacle limit.”
5) The height of barriers is now a maximum of 40 cm instead of a defined height of 40 cm.
6) Man-made sand pits are now allowed and the dimensions for them have been established.
7) The distance between planks has been changed to a range of 4 to 6 meters between.
Commissaires may now authorize feeding if the temperature is above 20 degrees C. This feeding takes place in the pit lane, but not during the first two or the last two laps.
9) The commissaires may now invoke the “80% rule” and remove a rider who is behind the leader by 80% of the leader’s lap time. Thus, riders can be pulled before they are lapped.

Guess I need new tires.
MC

Well, the Whole 30 Version 2.010 is in effect.  Some of you might remember HEF posting this last year at this time.  As skeptical as we all are with this sort of thing, this is the same protocol that many ProTour teams use when trying to get their racers to lean-out before major times of the year.

Take it with a grain of salt, but think about it none the less.  Everytime I do the full 30, I drop 5 kilos, performance goes up, and I look a lot better naked.

Check out: http://hefnutrition.blogspot.com/ and http://whole9life.com/2010/05/whole-30-v2/ for more info.

-fpa

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

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??

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

(click on pic for vid)

-buddhabelly

Oregon Syndicate

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