You know that Blaze is full of surprises. Personally if he wasn’t so good at gluing tubulars and didn’t always have a fridge full of Chimay I would have cut him loose a long time ago. It sort of makes up for the bar fights, constant cloud of smoke, and the Belgian Terets outbursts.
He has been going on for months now about how he was gonna get his own site up on the “interwebs”, and some plan to hypnotize Daphne Van Den Brand. Anyway, until now I wondered if he could even read so I was quite surprised when he showed up after being M.I.A for a few days (I thought it was just a bender) and told me to fire up the massive super computer that is the heart of TCOTBR (my laptop) and behold what he had wrought.
Brothers and Sisters I present to you The Cyclocross Republic, the latest site in The Big Rings attempt to take over the internet. Check in each week and vote on whatever topic is causing Blaze to loose sleep.
The faithful in the 801 were rewarded with some good old Belgian style conditions. The Gods said “We shall open the skies and bathe the righteous in the goodness”, and oh yes it was good.
This past Saturday was the second race if the AZ Cyclocross Series. The race course was a complete polar opposite to the gravel, goat-heads, pine trees and altitude of last week’s race in Payson. This week’s race was in at Freestone Park, located in the town of Gilbert. The terrain consisted mostly of rolling grass hills, with a long clay path section, as well as a short section through a parking lot.
This week’s race course was long and tough. Lap times for my category were about five and a half minutes. The start/finish line was located in the bottom of a large water catch basin and that left only one way to go…up! After charging off the start line, the course led into a series of three very tight uphill switchbacks. As the race went on, the top section of this hill turned into a wheel eating, speed killing sponge. At the top of the hill the course made a 90 degree left turn onto a short section of clay path and then back onto grass again along the side of a hill. It was in this grass section that the first set of two barriers was encountered. At the end of this grass section was a tight right turn with a short climb and then a left turn back onto the clay path. I deemed the second section of clay path “The SHOCKER” because it ran underneath some high voltage power lines, and if you were unfortunate enough to touch a metal part of you bike, you got a highly motivation shock to that part of your body. It was as if the gods of ‘cross were telling you to RIDE FASTER! Anyway, after “The Shocker” there was another unique feature of the course, a concrete, half pipe-like water drainage feature. From there, there was a short down hill into a sandy 90 degree right and up a steep hill and then right back down the hill because of a hairpin turn at the top. From the hairpin, it was another short grass section and then into a parking lot with a wide, sweeping 180 degree turn, the up onto the sidewalk and back onto the grass. The second set of two barriers was in this section. The course then continued along the side and into a tight left turn and then down the hill and through the start/finish area.
As I predicted last week, because of this race’s location in the Phoenix Metro area, the fields were much larger. My race (Cat 4) was again combined with the masters 35+ and that made my race consisted of about 20 racers. Overall, all of the fields were larger, the women’s open category contained around 10 racers, and the men’s open contained around 20.
This week, the gods were not smiling upon me. I finished in 11th place…last in my category, but not last overall. I tried to blame me poor finish on my heavy mountain bike that I’m still rocking in the ‘cross races, but as Brother Armstrong says, “It’s not about the bike.” It just wasn’t my day. The gods were smiling on my teammate Niko. He was forced to DNF last race because of three flat tires. This race, he finished 2nd, while riding the only single speed in the field.
Anyway, that’s it for this week’s race report. My club is presenting next week’s race, so if any of you Brothers and Sisters are in AZ, you should come out.
Hail Eddy!!!
Brother Lee,
Montana Cyclocross by Brother Andrew
Another weekend, another Montana Cyclocross race in the books. This time the car was packed for a two day, three stage race weekend in Helena. The cyclocross omnium was the brainchild of one Geoff Procter. If you don’t know who Geoff Procter is, he’s the guy who has put together the European Winter cross camps. During the winter the top cross racers from the US, head on over to Belgium to race cross, and have one hell of an experience. Geoff puts the camp together, and on top of that he’s an English teacher, a father, and one hell of a cross racer. Geoff’s the type of guy who makes anyone feel like they aren’t doing enough. He put together this weekends race with a 1.5 miles hill climb time trail on Saturday, a cross race with sweet singletrack on Sunday morning, and a 20 minute dirt crit at a high school track Sunday afternoon. Race all the events, collect points, and at the end of the crit, the top guys and gals would be recognized. In the words of Henry Rollins, “Get Some, Go Again!”
The hill climb was half gravel road with some super steep sections, and half singletrack with two runups. For good measure a set of barriers were set up in the middle of the course, ya know, just to keep you on your toes. In true cross fashion, the gods decided to keep everyone nice and damp with rain at random times. All of the racers were sent off in 30 second intervals, and when my name was called I rolled up the line, clipped in, and set off for ten minutes of pure hell. My thirty-second man, was my buddy Cory who served as an excellent “carrot on a stick”. The entire time I kept pushing myself to try and make up as much time on Cory. In the end Bozeman’s John Curry set the course on fire, beating everyone by over a minute. I managed to pull off second for the B’s and even posted a time faster than a couple of the A’s. The Missoula crew then headed out for some tasty eats, then off to someone’s parents house, were I put my best liver forward to finish off the leftover beer in the growlers.
Time to wake up Sunday morning, chomp down some food, and warm the body up with coffee. Head off to the race venue, where the cloud cover makes it cold enough to require arm and knee warmers while getting warmed up. The course is nothing short of spectacular. This is the part of Helena where the best mountain bike trails are, and Geoff has incorporated them into the course. The course had two tough runups, two climbs where you better have your A game to ride all the way up them, barriers, and a rough gradual singletrack climb. This was the best cross course I have ridden so far, and I think it will be the yardstick by which I measure all cross course in the future.
My race was set to go off at 10:30, and due to my own stupidity I was waiting at the wrong side of the course for the start. It wasn’t until a fellow racer asked me if I was racing with the big boys, then told me the start was on the other side of the lake. I rode over as fast as I could, going the wrong direction of the course. When the start line came into view, I could see everyone lined up, and the officials, started yelling at me for being on the course. I get off the course, wait for all the racers to start, then head off behind them. Great, three seconds into the race, and I’m already dead last. I spend the next fifty minutes suffering, passing as many people as I could to work my way up to fifth in the end. Despite my blunder with the start, I was excited by the fact that I had been able to work my way up through the field as well as I had. While watching the fast guys race, I thought to myself that I would do everything I could to make up for the mistake in the crit.
The crit seemed plain and simple, four left turns around a quarter mile dirt track, cross the line first after twenty minutes was done and you’re the big cheese. To make things interesting, there was a terrible headwind for half of the lap, and tactics would play a factor. Things got exciting off the bat, when a racer went over the handlebars on his first pedal stroke. I had a bad start, and wound up in sixth position. After a few laps I made my way up to the front, and tried to make something happen. Turns out the only thing that happened was my legs were blown, and I fell from the main group faster than Corey Haim’s career deteriorated in the late 80’s. Like everyone else, I suffer like a dog for the remaining time, and am overjoyed when I finished my final lap. In the end I managed to collect enough points for second place in the omnium. All and all the weekend was great fun, and I highly recommend the omnium format for cross races. Finally, I ask all followers of the church of the big ring to send good karma and positive vibes towards one of the ultimate female big ringers out there, Heather Holmes. She’s been out of commission for some time now with a mangled wrist, and is missing out on the joys of cross. Get well Holmes, and until next weekend, keep it in the big ring.
Brother Andrew,
Santa Rosa, CA from Brother Fritz
This weekend marked the first event of a five race series in the Wine Country, north of San FranPsycho, CA. CX has always been huge around here, we’ve always had to drive, till a man named Los and his band of Monkeys stepped up to the plate, and threw together a race last winter. It was a success, and this year, they got the greenlight from the City of Santa Rosa to host 5 races in 5 parks all winter long.
Last year there was some unnecessary complaynin about the height of our non-regulation barriers, so this year we went to the UCI book and built us some 40cm regulation pieces of art and engineering. Only one guy, Brian Astell (Lost Coast Brewery) could stay on the bike and do the hop, and only chose to do so a few times. Check out the crowd reaction…
We went to sleep Friday night under the first rain of the season, and woke up to a fresh inch rainfall, making a few slick corners and lots of spills. The course was set up in a downtown park, and totaled about 1 mile of switchbacks, straight-aways, and some short, steep, and slick hike a bikes. Some single-track lines and a little bit of pavement. All around a great course, and good feedback from the riders.
Josh Snead (Rock Lobster) rode away from the field early to take the A’s, with Astell 2nd and Chris Brown (NorCal Bikesport/ Specialized) in 3rd, and Andrew Brooks (Inglis/ Retrotec) in 4th.
The day rounded out with a kids race, live music all day, a beer garden and valet bike parking from the local Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition. A good time was had by all, next race is Nov 1st, see www.bikemonkey.net for details. See you all there!!!
Brother Fritz,
Thank you Brothers for your testimony. We are still seeking others to testify, Portland, Boston, Boulder? Come on you are suposed to have a big scene, lets hear about it. For more pictures check out the Flickr gallery.
Brothers and Sisters I trust your cross season is off to a good start. Here in the 801 we have the first official race of our series tomorrow. Forecast calls for a cool wet windy day. In other words perfect! If you are in the 801 track down The Rev and get you official Big Ring cowbell.
We will have them in our soon to be completed store front.
Our friends over at Cycleto have a great video interview of World TT Bronze Medalist Brother Zabriskie. Check it out HERE
Go forth and conquer Brothers and Sisters. Cross Season is short so make the most of it.
Alright ladies and gents I got two cross race reports here for ya, so get ready to enjoy. First things first, due to a phenomenal response to Moose Cross (an my above par write up), the gang from Victor have set up two more races this season. Head over to moosecross.blogspot.com and get the details. Additionally the Rolling Thunder Cross Race will be held in Missoula on October 18. It will not disappoint, and I have plenty of couch space. Now onto the race reports. My apologies if they seem short, I start a new job tomorrow and have a bunch of stuff to get ready.
Autumn up here in the Big Sky means shorter days, colder temperatures, an increase of drinking, and the start of Missoula’s Wednesday Night Cross Series. This Wednesday marked the first of five races here, so I headed down to the Fort, slapped my twenty bucks down in the table, and knew I had five solid races to look forward to. Let me say one thing right off the bat, the folks in Missoula take the local cross race SERIOUSLY!!! The course had a little bit of everything, barriers, paved roads, gravel roads, a trip through a barn, railroad ties to hop over, two large mounds of dirt serving at the run ups, and for good measure a bumpy field which if ridden incorrectly could destroy your taint. It seemed like everyone in town who owned a cross bike showed up to race, and everyone was juiced up to get racing. As for my race I hopped off the front right from the get go, and let the suffering begin. Halfway through I was picked off by a couple guys, and got into survival mode. Only one scare happened when Downtown JB took a digger in front of me going into the barriers forcing me to hop over the barriers, JB, and his bike. I hopped away with some minor cuts and finished in third, which was good enough to earn me a six-pack of beer.
Sunday brought the start of the state series, with the first race over in Butte. Sunny skies and temps in the 70’s doesn’t seem like cross weather, but I’ll take the good weather while it lasts. The race venue had the wonderful backdrop of the continental divide and one of the largest superfund sites in the country, it don’t get much prettier than that. The course was divided into two sections, the bumpy part and the not bumpy part. The bumpy part had you wishing that your headset was nice and tight (mine wasn’t), and also included the run up, where if you didn’t like a long steep run up, you might as well turn your car around and head home. The flat part included a lovely ride through a beach volleyball court with some nice deep sand, tight turns, barriers, and some tall grass which seemed to just sap everyone’s speed.
The races all went off smoothly and at the end, anyone who raced agreed that they felt like throwing up. Mid race one racer told me that he wanted either a beer or a gun to ease the suffering. I managed my way to another third place, good enough for some gas money and some congratulations. After the race, the Missoula crew headed to town for burgers and beer, which were enjoyed by all. I must say that I’ve officially been bitten by the cross bug, similarly to the punk rock bug which bit me back in the seventh grade. Never has feeling like absolute shit felt so rewarding, Wednesday nights and the weekend can’t come quick enough. That’s all I have for now, until next weekend when we have the Helena Omnium, three races over two days!
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.
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.
September 22nd, 2008 | Written by The Rev | Topic: Sermons | 4 Comments
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.
September 16th, 2008 | Written by The Rev | Topic: Sermons | 4 Comments
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
