The Mud, The Blood & The Beer. - Bremerton CX

It's bad to do a race report just 2 days before your next one, but this work week has just been hell. Come to think of it...the last few have been hell. Work is crazy for everyone I know since it seems like we're all trying to stop the world from ending. Maybe we should all just chill for a second and take wisdom in the words of Dave Matthews...



All that work and not enough play did not give me a good feeling. After doing the math on what time I would have to get up to catch the ferry I decided to get a room and go over the night before. We stayed at a great little B&B, Illahee Manor which was about 10 minutes from the event. Great little place!

The highlight of the day came from our CX Rookie, Liz. This was her first CX race and she just got a hold of a bike the night before. She's a cat 3 road racer and ex-sport mountain biker though so the skills were there. Tim and I were giving her tips on mounting and dismounting. Told her to go out and have fun, be safe and line up near the back... blah...blah...yeah right. :)

Our tent was at the bottom of the hill at the 180 after the start. We see the racers coming down the hill and there is this green and white flash just hauling a$$ down the right side jumping to the front. Her expression was classic, "I WILL make it to the turn before you!". She came in just a little hot and made a nice little power slide working her way around and the crowd goes wild! From there she simply put the hammer down, caught the back of the mens cat 4 masters group within the first lap and proceeded to ride away to the podium. (We then promptly called her a sandbagger even though it was her first race!).

My race felt like one of those slow painful workouts where you just can't wait till it's over. The grassy field sucked the life out of me and I could tell from the first 1/2 lap that today was a day to just have fun and push it for all I had. No big crashes or mistakes but a few of us were playing cat and mouse for most of the race to keep us motivated. I crossed the line in 30th...promptly changed and hit the beer chest.

Training regiment has improved so I'm hoping to crack the top 20 at state champs this sunday.

Crosstoberfest 2008

It was a the perfect day for a cross race. Rain, clouds, cool...but not too cool. I think I finally got the smell out of my kit from starcrossed, just in time!

We had a great turnout today! Ali, Nancy and Kelly (our newest woman's member...all the way from Michigan!) were representing the cat 4 woman's race. Scott and Steve were racing masters. My teammate Dave and I decided to do the 9:30 as a warm up. Plus, I was testing out a "bar cam" from our new sponsors over at VholdR. (the footage is very cool, more on that later!)

Dave and I lined up in the back as to not interfere with the lead group. I was having blast and taking it easy with the POV cam when suddenly I heard "on your right Brian!" only to see Scott from the 45+ race passing me! He later went on to WIN the 45+ in only his 3rd cross race EVER! Can you say natural?

Cat 3 report in one sentence: Vern took 2nd place in his first cat 3 since the upgrade. Nuff said. :)

For the ladies, Ali finished 5th and I remember Nancy and Kelly having strong finished as well (sorry guys, post your place in the comments!). After the race we noticed Nancy did a number on herself and bloodied her lip and STILL finished the race. One tough gal!

I took down a quick recovery drink and lined up for the 10:30 cat 4 race. Had a front row spot and was determined to make it a good start. From the word "GO!" I was charging hard and found myself in 5th going into the twisty sections. Things were looking good until the left corner right in front of the building where you go from grass to concrete. I came in too hot a WHAM...I'm on the ground sliding. I got up and had to re-buckle my shoe and straighten my left brake lever. By this point I'm at the very back. I look down and my knee is bleeding pretty good but I put it out of my mind and hop on.

Now I'm PISSED off for blowing a good start and riding like a man possessed. We hit the first single track and it's a cluster &*%&. Exactly what I was trying to avoid. Everyone was staying in the middle despite the fact that the lane is 15 feet wide so I hop off and run down the right side over the bushes, logs, whatever and pick up about 7 places. We drop into the second singletrack and I just have to be patient until we get to the top. One by one I keep trying to move up and my knee is killing me (along with other parts of my body) but nothing worth stopping over.

My teammates are SCREAMING at me at this point knowing I'm hurting. Dave seems to be everywhere on the course shooting at me. It truly made it easier and a lot more fun!

I crossed the line and managed to go from dead last to 33rd out of about 70 riders. I wonder what might have been if I didn't crash but just had to step back and take it in. That's racing!

What a great course and a great event! Ragnarok should be proud!

Off to sunny Arizona and Las Vegas for work on Wednesday for 5 days!

Shameless plug, if you haven't yet, register for the Starbucks GP on November 1!

Starcrossed

Bike. Run. Mud. Chaos. Repeat 6 times or until puking. Pairs nicely with a microbrew.

Had a blast, finished 26th out of 85 which was a huge improvement over last year. My teammate Ali took 8th place in her first cross race ever, riding her new bike for the first time that morning! Can't wait to see what she does in the series!
Do I look like I'm having fun?



Nancy and Ali at the finish.
I'm still digging the grass out of my drive train. I have it clean just in time for Evergreen this weekend!

2008 Cyclocross Schedule as it stands now

Some of you may know that my team is working to put on a cyclocross race this fall. It's going to be a fund-raiser for Seattle Cancer Care Alliance with all proceeds going towards low-income women undergoing caner treatment. We're still working out the details but stay tuned, because I can tell you we don't do anything half assed so this race is going to ROCK.

We're working around the schedules of the other events right now so I thought it might be helpful for other since a formal calendar hasn't been released yet. I am not responsible for any incorrect information, spelling, wrong URL's or extra marital affairs resulting in it's use:

As you can see, we're looking at Nov 1 or Nov 16. Enjoy!

Santa Cruz Stigmata - It's Alive!

Finally! A shipping debacle put things a little behind schedule, but she's ready to role! This is the first year for Santa Cruz making a cross frame. I've been a huge fan of there mountain bikes so I figured I couldn't go wrong.

Spec'd it out with SRAM Force, the new wet black Ritchey WCS cockpit and a set of Mavic Heliums provided to me by a friend at a generous price...I couldn't wait to get home from work today. The first trip was on the road and I can't believe how stiff and responsive it is. It could almost double as a crit bike.

Tomorrow morning brings the formal initiation at SeaTac. Is it cross season yet?