From our Field Correspondent, Brother Lee:

First off, here’s a little backgound information about myself. I am a 23 year old senior at Arizona State University, majoring in design management. I am the captain of the ASU Cycling and Triathlon Club’s mountain bike team. I primarily race mountain bikes, but found a passion for the great sport of cyclocross last year when I tried a few races. In every race and/or ride I do, I have devil horns on my helmet. This makes me quite recognizeable wherever I may be. Anyway, I think that’s enough about me, onto the race…The first race of the AZ Cross series was yesterday in Payson. The course was long, approximately 1.5miles, and very technical. It was made up mostly of very loose decomposed granite, with a few of sand traps, and one mud pit. The course included two sections of barriers, one of which was on a steep, and very loose run up. The course was also littered with tube killing goat heads and as a result, many racers were plagued with flat tires. The weather conditions were nice by Arizona standards: clear, dry, sunny, and temperatures in the mid 80s (which we consider to be cool, as most of the racers had come up from the Phoenix area).

The race started off with a hard, uphill charge through a parking lot and into a tight 90 degree right hand turn. Then it was onto the dirt! The course went on through a small wash, then up a hill with some tight twists and turns. The course then straightened out for the first set of barriers, which admittedly are not my forte. After the barriers, it was up a sort incline, then down the steep other side and into a 180 degree turn the led to the first run up, which included a barrier and the bottom as well as the top. After the run up we flew down the side of the hill and through a wash and then onto the longest straight away of the course. After the straight away, there was a very loose 90 degree right hand turn and then a downhill into a sandy wash with a sweeping, and very loose, up hill left hand turn into the trees. The section through the trees was tight singletrack. The section through the trees led to a short, rocky up hill followed my more twists and turns and then a long downhill. At the end of the downhill was another large sand pit with a s sharp 90 degree left at the its end. The section led into another straight away, this particular straight away contained the one mud pit on the course. After the mud pit, there was quick left hand into the parking lot and onto another lap.

I raced in the men’s catagory 4, which was also combined with the men’s 35+ and junior catagories, bringing the total count of racers to about 15. The Arizona cyclocross races allow for riders to ride both cyclocross and mountain bikes (as long as they don’t have bar ends, disc brakes are fine). So I rode my full suspension Titus Racer-X (I have a cyclocross bike on order, but it has yet to arrive). This bike was both a blessing and a curse for the race. It was a blessing in the facts that I was running 2.1 inch wide tubeless tires, so the goat heads were not a problem for me. I was also able to glide through the sand pits and have grip in the loose turns. The bike was a curse in the fact that it weighs approximately 27 pounds, so lifting that over the barriers is quite tiresome. It is also a bit slow in acceleration when compared the the proper cross bikes that I was racing against. Through all of this, I was able to place 4th in my catagory of 6. My teammate racing in his first race ever and also on a mountain bike, place 5th right behind me. My other teammate, Niko, was forced to DNF because of 3 mechicals. Maybe to gods will smile upon him next race, as he was leading when his mechicals occured.

Hail Eddy,

-Brother Lee

Sly Fox passes out One Dollar primes at The Canyons cyclocross race.

See the rest of the photos here.

7 time Tour Champ vs. Real Cross Warriors = Ass Whooped

Actually I gotta give praise Brother Armstrong for showing up at a race he knew he would get beat like a Philistine mule.  I hope he keeps at it and does a few more.  Now that he knows what it means to suffer on the cross maybe he will abandon his tour aspirations and pursue the most sacred of the velo sports.  

Let us recite “Prayer of The Cross”

God of ‘cross I call you, my bike
is ready to go.
I seek a ride of glory, and free
of EPO.
I’ll attack the runs with fury, and on
my pedals I’ll wail.
Lord make me ride a recumbant, If I should
ever fail.

Amen

Las Vegas + Cross + Massive Crowds + Beer + The Best CX Racers in the Nation = BIG RING!

CROSSVEGAS.COM

The most Holy of Holy seasons is finally upon us Brothers and Sisters. All the cycling world is now focused on the masters of the mud and the hard men of the North. Brother Genco who pushes the Big Ring up in Big Sky Country made the trip to Idaho and showed those boys how to roll The Big Ring at Moosecross. Below is his tale of challenges met and foes vanquished. Our own Blaze Rippington attended as well, his race report is contained in the 1st picture.

How do I start the cross season? A difficult question to answer and for anyone living in the Northwest this past weekend. Star-crossed over in Washington had all the big names like Trebon, Wells, Wicks, Powers, etc; and word on the grapevine was that there was a race outside Salt Lake there was some cash on the line. Well, the adopted redheaded stepchild with bad breath and no social skills of cross racing this past weekend was Moose Cross over in Victor, Idaho. A race in its first year, a small town not close to any major cities, no big names planning to attend, and no large amounts of cash up for grabs made Moose Cross the little known “other choice” for cross racers. Despite all of these drawbacks, Moose Cross was absolutely wonderful, even if gas was 17 dollars a gallon next year, I would make a point to get back to Moose Cross. Well 17 bucks might be too much, but hopefully you get the point.

First things first, if you live in a small town and would like nothing more than to have a good cross race in your hometown, get on the town council. Two local cyclists made their way onto Victor’s town council a year ago, and hand an idea to put on a race, and with the support of the community that idea became a reality. Members of the community came out to help in ways ranging from hand painting the barriers, building sections of the course with a tractor, putting bleachers at the start/finish for spectators, and even having the fire truck come out to wet down the dusty course. When all was said and done the 1.1 mile course was phenomenal consisting of the standard barriers and runups for any cross course. Throw in the rhythm section straight out of BMX course, tight chicanes, and “the narrows” consisting of back to back to back berms, and you’ve got one hell of a course. Oh yeah, and to take care of all the drunks who showed up, the local brewery was hosting their Oktoberfest that afternoon with beer, food, and live tunes. Two words: GIDDY UP!!!!

As for the racing, word on the street was that there would be some afternoon rain to aid in making a true cross race. The first set of rain came in the early morning, clouds were always in the sky, and the wind was blowing. Just to be sure there would be some mud, the sprinklers in the park ran all morning soaking the grass section of the course. All that was needed was for people to show up with bikes. All types of folks showed up to race, first timers on mountain bikes, state champions, and your humble author who made the trip from Missoula. Having never raced cross before, I figured Moose Cross would be a nice small race to try it out. I raced the Men’s 4/5 class with about 25 others, and managed to suffer my way to the victory. More importantly I accomplished my goal of not tripping over myself during the barriers and smashing my face on the ground.

The rest of the races went off without a hitch, people came from the town to watch and cheer, alcohol primes were set up for the elite men and women, and random racers including yours truly were handed a microphone and allowed to do some commentary. With the racing concluded, and heavy rains on the horizon, the mass migration to Oktoberfest occurred, where delicious beer flowed like wine, and juicy brats were served. The awards ceremony took place inside the brewery, where prizes included hand painted Moose Cross cowbells, cash, and local root beer (for the youngins) and craft beer for the older folks. In the end I don’t think I could have picked a better race to test the cross waters with, and I have officially been bitten by the cross bug. Things went so well the first time that the town plans on having two more Moose Cross races this season. So wise up, pack your bike and race kits and head on over to Victor for some good times.

With the exception of one year with a broken collarbone I have done every Cyclocross National Championships since the ‘98 Nationals at the Presidio. Every year I have done them in the Masters Category they have called up the Top 10 riders from the previous years with everyone else called in order of registration. I have been lucky enough to finish in the top 10 every year, so as a result I have been called up every year. It also means I don’t have to sit at my computer at midnight on the night they open registration to get a good spot on the start grid. Pretty nice. So with 10 years of history on my side I went to Sportsbaseonline.com to register. I saw was #117 I thought to myself “Glad I am not really starting that far back”. Last year during the registration process there was a part where you could claim you call up based on the previous years top 10, not this year. I figured they just eliminated it since they had the results anyway. After completing my registration I went to the KCCX site and read this:

Jr. Men 10-16, Jr. Women 17-18, U23 Women, & Masters:

First called is National Champion from the previous year if still in the same class.
All others will be drawn by lots, which is determined by order of registration

Bloody hell you have got to be kidding me! Why was this not communicated to the athletes. The KCCX people have everyones e-mail address that raced last year. I know because I got an email that told registration was opening at 12:01am on Sept 15. Nowhere in that email did they mention this HUGE policy change.

I emailed USAC and the promoter voicing my concerns. Bill Marshal from KCCX e-mailed me back blaming USAC for the policy change and hid behind the “well if was on the site” card. While that is true I did not check the site to see if a policy that has been in place for at least 10 years had been changed. Why would I? I am not so much pissed about the policy change (even if it is stupid) I am just dissapointed with the lazy way it was implemented. KCCX passed the buck to USAC but really they both should have taken the initiative to alert their customers to such a major change in policy. It just boils down to rotten customer service on both KCCX and USAC.

If you would like to express your opinion to those who made this decision I have posted the email of those involved below. Let us be heard!

Steve Johnson, CEO USAC
sjohnson@usacycling.org

Linda Bufetti, Member Services Coordinator - West Region
lbuffetti@usacycling.org

Tom Vinson, National Events Manager
tvinson@usacycling.org

Bill Marshall, promoter KCCX
bmarshall@klmmarketingsolutions.com

Brothers and Sisters prepare yourselves, for the day is coming. TheChurchoftheBigRing.com
is preparing for it’s “official launch” set for early October. Yes
folks, it is time to shift into the largest of gears. We are going
BIG. Eddy BIG. To prepare for this exciting event, we are stockpiling
supplies, fine tuning process, working with vendors, redesigning the
website, upgrading equipment, hiring staff, and spreading the gospel.
Meanwhile, should you like to participate in the development of what
aspires to be a major cycling brand, we could use your help in the
following areas:

1) Design some front page images. To keep things fresh, we will be
rotating our front page image on a regular basis. We are looking for
bad ass cycling related images that encompass The Church of the Big
Ring. Use the current image of Eddy as a reference point. The images
need to be 647 x 263 pixels in dimension and in .jpg, .png, or .gif
format. That’s it! Free swag (probably t-shirt and/or socks) if your image is
utilized. Please send in submissions by 9-26-08.

2) Join the mission and help grow the congregation. Join us on
Facebook (Group Name: The Church of the Big Ring) and invite your like
minded cycling friends to do the same.

3) Be a cyclocross field correspondent. We are looking for folks in
the various regions to provide insight into cross race scenes. The
correspondents will provide summaries of the cross races in their neck
of the woods. If interested in this, send the Rev an email and we will
provide more details.

4) Let us know what is on your mind. If you are an artist, vid
shooter, web marketer, marketing guru, content manager, writer,
supplier, vc funder, retailer, or just have a good idea on how you
think we can grow our brand, drop us a line. As stated above, our
intention is to go BIG. It is our destiny.

SEND ALL ENTRIES TO RevBigRing@gmail.com

Thanks in advance for your help!

Sincerely,

Revered A-Train, The Monk, Blaze, and The Wolfe

Forget all that A Tour de France crap, been there done that my friend. Get yourself a ‘cross bike (I think Trek makes one, I know Lemond did but that is another story) and race some cross. Better yet do it on a single speed. Just dont do a damn Tour again. To really cement your legacy I have assembled a list of much better choices in order of Big Ringedness:

1. A full Euro cross season. Sven Nys has been top dog in cross for a lot longer than you ruled the roads in France. Take him down and there is no doubt who the greatest is. Even Eddy never won at cross.

2. Win Roubaix. Eddy did it, Lemond almost did. You should at least try.

3. Race MTB’s at the World Cup level. Similar situation as cross only his name is Julien Absalon.

4. The hour record. Hell Francesco Moser got off the couch in his 40’s and almost got it back. Plus, the current record is held by some Czech doper that no one has ever heard of.

5. Win The Ironman. Get back to you Speedo roots. Get Jan to come do it, in that crowd he would be a good bike handler.

Do the right thing Lance, get a cross bike.

It is a slight rumble that gets louder each day. The ‘cross train is rollin’ full steam. The only question is will you be on it or under it? Here in the 801 the weather sure feels liek cross, jacket and full legging for me this morning. I love the smell of tubular glue in the morning.

Looks like I will be starting my season with the fine folks of Idaho up at Moose Cross. They have a cash purse and there may or may not be moose on the course. Good times to be had.

I went a little crazy this weekend and ordered the parts for my new cross frames. SRAM Force on both, Single chairing on the A bike and a double on the B, 2 sets or Reynolds w/ Challenge Grifos, and lots of carbon chi chi’s. Yeah The Revs wallet is a little light at the moment. If you are a big person and want to help, head over the Ebay and bid on my mountainbike. It is fast, maybe not as fast as the bike below. Ouch!