Blue Hawaiian :(

Aloha means goodby, and also hello, its in how you inflect...I say Aloha to Hawaii and Aloha to the cold and wet Northwest. At the WA State Cross Championships today you may have seen me huddled near the heater in the pits or by registration due to my extreme wussyness. Im unusually cold after spending 10 days in 85 degree weather. I think after today I will be re-acclimated to cross core temp. I didn't race today due to lack of anything that resembles bike riding for the last 2 weeks. Lame excuse I know, but even though I didn't race I still managed to have a great time interacting with all the characters you encounter at a cross race. I would never go to a road race just to hang out with the fans and racers. Just a bunch of bike dorks trying to be like L.A. if you ask me! Just kiddin.

One thing I wasn't too impressed with however was the turnout to the State Championships this year. I know the event was held in Spokane the last couple years and I don't know how the turnout was there but it was all but impressive in Bremerton for such a big race on a new course...for the title as well. Maybee its just me being dillusional. There were only 5 cat 1/2 Women in the feild! Granted they were really fast women and the competition was as strong as it is at any other race. I just thought there were more racers than that. Are there a ton of people back east at the GP races or something? Hmmm.... I guess it really dosent matter. Maybee Mercedes should Race her bike. Ha, that was what you call a "shot." Now your supposed to respond by uping your game and making me eat my words.

Ill see you all next week. In the mean time submit those photos for the Holiday Photo Contest!!! No nude grandmas please, thats just weird.

Marymoor Velo Assoc. Board Meeting Recap

Whats up all you winter trackies. I know you are all longing for track season even though it just technically ended with the US Nationals finishing up a week ago. (On a side note, Congratulations to all the NW riders that went down to the ADT Center in LA and raced with the nations best. Kenny Williams, Adrian Hegevary, Wesley Pierce, Dan Harm, Kele Murdin, and Jennifer Tripplette amoung others Im sure, all raced their butts off and came up with some pretty good results.)

Anyways, we met at the Lyon's Den in Bothell last night to discuss the goings on for the future of Mayrmoor Velodrome. Good news as we are almost ready to break ground on the new facility that will house a food vendor, announcer stand, bike storage and more. For more info got to http://velodrome.org/cms/node/8 and check it out. Other topics on the agenda were the 2008 Track to the Future Auction to help support the MVA. The event will take place March 22nd 2008 at the Mercer Island Community Center. Many vendors have taken interest in this event but they could still use any donations for auction items so if you have any connections and feel like helping out please do so. For contact and info go to velodrome.org/cms/node/65.

Keep checking back for more updates on the building process, track class dates, auction info etc. Its going to be a busy winter getting ready for next season, and remember volunteers are always needed and appreciated.

Special thanks to Harley Sheffield for all the hard work he has put in to the whole organization. See you out there racing next year!

Velodrome.org

Ugh, SCC#2 The Dawgs are Barkin!

Today was the second Seattle Cyclocross Series race at Evergreen HS in White Center. The course was a schmorgisboard of grass, dirt, sand, singletrack, barriers, run-ups, and off camber technical sections. It had a little something for everyone. The folks at SCC dont like to discriminate. Last year this race was bombarded by a wet and dirty start. Not the case this year as the thermometer tipped 66F or 292.04 Kelvin for those of you are into chemistry like me. How baller is that! As we lined up at the start, local jokester and good friend of mine Derik Andrioli tried to pass me after the call-ups before the race even started. I knew what he was up to so I had to chop him before he got around me. I almost ended his racing carreer right then and there...that guy better watch out from now on.

Pow! (gun sound) and were off to circle the running track and then onto a grassy up-hill turn. Strangely enough there were no catastrophic wrecks in the first fer corners. So we cruised through some flat and grassy corners, snaked around a baseball field that I once hit a homerun on when I was like 13, and on to the first run-up. It was short and easy, I didnt even have to shoulder the bike. There is too much traffic at this point so when we get to the big run-up I decided to let my Kenyan roots show and bound up the sandy hill like a gazelle. I think I took the whole thing in like three strides. The rest of the first lap was mostly grassy turns and a couple of off camber downhill corners. The hardest part of the race was in the first quarter of the lap, the rest was just pure fun. I really dont know why more people aren't more sado-massacistic as we cyclocross racers. It's actually a really good time!

So on lap 3, not unlike the Huskies an Saturday night vs. ASU, the perverbial bottom dropped out. I quickly found out that I went out the gates way too hard and on the flat fast sections all I could do is try and recover. Oops! Having been sick all week and not touching the bike untill Saturday afternoon I may have wanted to think that through a little better.
New goal, dont let Andrioli (Joe Bar) catch up to me. I think he would have tried to crash me out. That guy, he's crafty. By the way Im watching the seakawks get obliterated right now as Im writing this and im getting pretty pissed off. Reggie Bush is killing us. Not that I care about any other sports other than cycling. Those guys cant even test positive for the steroids that their on. Ha. If you can't do that, what can you do?

So long story short I finished somewhere in the top 30 or 40, who really cares, but I had a blast and you could too if you got off your butt and came out and RACED YOUR BIKE! (Mercedeszzzzzah). BNW's F Joe Hambo had a good race again taking 10th despite stoping half way into the race to give a dying squirrell a prolonged beard rub, virtually saving its little furry life. And they gave the Nobel Prize to Al Gore for all that global warming crap he does. Ha. What has this country come to?

Other notable performances of the day include Adrian Hegevary, riding to the race from Redmond on his fixed gear cross bike that weighs 30+ lbs. and then passed me with ease durring the race. Also young speedster Benny of Rad Racing actually winning the race! Which is really the best out of all those.

See yall next week!

Nick B. (The Former-Milk Scientist)

Rad Racing GP Race Report.

Another surprisingly nice day in the Northwest this late into September and the Rad Racing GP at Fort Stillicoom Park in Tacoma, WA was on like donkey kong. In the past 2 years the Rad GP, (hosted by the Rad Racing local junior dev. team), was apart of the national Crankbrothers GP of Cyclocross Series. Unfortunatley the series is visiting some other cities this year but the Rad Cup was apart of this years UCI calender so a bunch of the heavy hitters showed up to race.



The Starcrossed hangover had hopefully worn off by the time 3 pm rolled around for the start of the Masters 1/2 race. Not much to report on this contest mainly because it was dominated by the current Masters National Champion out of Idaho Richard Feldman. He broke away from the group on the first lap on the back side of the course after the "Knapp-Time Run-Up" and increased his lead steadily each lap after that.

Other notable performances of the masters race came from Redline's Matt Hill who chased Feldman solo for the entire 7 laps and finished just under 1 min. down. Local favorite Dale Knapp finished 5th, 1 min. 25 sec. off the pace, after working the gave yard shift and not sleeping that Saturday night. Not Bad.

The Elite women's race was a tight battle between Starcrossed winner Wendy Williams of River City Bicycles, Rachel Lloyd of the Proman/Paradigm team and Wendy Simms (Kona). The three ladies fought it out in front of the rest of the competition. Simms suffered an unfortunate mechanical on lap three when she rolled a tubular off her rim and was immediately off the pace. She chased hard the rest of the race to come within 33 seconds of 2nd place finisher Williams but is was Rachel Lloyd who fended off all the rest for a solo victory an one of the northwest's toughest courses.

The last race of the day came from the UCI Elite Men. Favorites were showcased at Strcrossed, the previous day. The Kona Factory Racing boys, with a combined height of over 27 feet, Barry Wicks and Ryan Trebon, Swiss National Champ Christian Heule, Vancouver B.C.'s Geoff Kabush of the Maxxis Team, Cliff Bar's Todd Wells, and Andy Jacques-Maynes of Cal Giant Strawberries were among the main contenders. The race was fast, that all I can say. These guys are the best in the world at what they do so it is truly a pleasure to watch them work.


Kabush put in the first attack on the run-up. I could see this coming a mile away seeing as though his race at Starcrossed was cut short by a rolled tubie on the 2nd lap of the race. The field of guys behind Geoff did not seem to appreciate his enthusiasm so early in the race as they all had their bitter beer faces on while they sprinted up the "Knapp Time." A group of 4 formed off the front with the usual cast of characters, Wicks, Trebon, Heule, and Kabush. The first of the shattered chase groups had Jacques-Maynes and Wells leading the charge but they were ultimately unsuccessful in catching the leaders.

So it was down to four. Kabush was the first to fall off the pace due to his initial hard effort to weed out the field in the early laps. Next to get dropped was Wicks after attacking Christian Heule over and over again. Trebon and Heule were set to duke it out at the line again. As they snaked through the lower grass feild section you could see the tension between the two of them as they shadowed each other back and forth. Neither of these two wanted to loose this one. The Swiss Champ and the US. Champ head to head again. It was symbolic of the American-Swiss War of 1982. It was very short, you may never of heard about it, or is that what they want you to think? Hmmm....

Ok,

The two leaders rounded the final corner and Heule led out the final sprint. Trebon tried to come around him at the finish but went just a little too late and Heule won by half a by a packet of Swiss Miss. Nice work boys. Way to put on a show.

Maybe Ryan Can Beat Heule at Cross Vegas. We will have to see.

Later
Nick B.

Coppercross 2007 (Dr.B's True Hollywood Stories)

So the first annual AVA/Counterbalance Coppercross Cyclocross Race went off last Sunday at South Setac park. If you missed it make note of the other races going on at South Seatac this season because it is one of the best courses around. Coppercross was a true test of power and bike handling skill. The occasional 747 flyby breaking the sound barrier is exciting for the kiddies as well.

The course was twisty and loose, and resembled a cross-country mountain bike course which made it interesting for the skinny tires to navigate. The early category races remained dry under overcast skies but rain later that afternoon didn't seem to slow anyone down.

The main spectator feature of the race was the tri-fecta of three consecutive sandy run-ups. It was definitely a lung burner. The last of the three I would equate to running up the cargo net section of the American Gladiators obstacle course with a bike on your shoulder. Yeah, that. For sure. Not to mention the fact that your eating the sand off the cleats of the guy in front of you and trying to breath in order to accomplish the ultimate goal, to stay alive.

As we lined up for the start of the cat 3 race all I could hear was a bunch of bike nerds talking about their tire pressure and weather or not they picked the right tread pattern for the days conditions. I was not excluded from this conversation and am not above it just so you know. I could only wonder what the women in the field behind us were thinking. It was most likely regarding our inability to impress women as a whole. Way to go guys.

As the start whistle sounded I started counting in my head..."1,2,3....30 seconds until the 1/2 women's field starts." I hope thats a big enough gap for me to hold off the leaders....Hmmm, we will have to see. I like setting the bar high early. We ripped through the first few grassy corners and over the only traditional cross barrier on the course. Then it was on to the dreaded run-up sections. So far, no women have passed me 1 min. into the race. Yes. I was able to ride the first run-up each lap which was nice because I could pass the people that would later pass me back on the third run-up. Ha, now what snugglers! Flash forward to 2 min. into the race I'm already going well at threshold and I seem to be passing a bunch of people! What, this is not possibly sustainable. Sure enough a couple of laps tater, feelin good still, I got the honor of stacking it on the singletrack section at the south end of the course and dropped my chain. I was trying to pass a single speeder and went way too hot on a downhill corner, went over the bars, and landed in the blackberries. There goes about 8 spots that ill never see again. Oh well, Im still having fun. How can you not.

Now Im thiking about getting caught by the woman's leaders, and sure enough, busted! Talk about not impressing the ladies. Oh well, there is always next week. I think my tires were runnin a little on the high end pressure-wise. Im sure that was the problem.
Thanks for reading and I hope to see you all at the next cross race. Come by the "ier bus" (yay bus) and visit the Bicyclenorthwest.com crew and tell us about your race, and your excuses. You may even score a cold Rainier for your troubles.

Im out.
Nick B. (Some guy that you probably like just because I haven't pissed you off yet)

Just wait.