Cyclocross Nationals in Kansas City

We took off Wednesday morning and drove to Kansas City for the Cyclocross National championships. We stopped along the way and picked up Jack Hinkens, one of Zach's racing buddies. The four of us got to KC About 5 p.m., checked in, unloaded and picked up our race packets. Thursday morning we headed over to the race sight to get some preriding in and watch the first day of racing. It was a little muddy but not to bad.
Zach (15-16) and Jack (17-18) both raced on Friday morning. Thursday night it rained an then froze, so Friday morning at 9:00 when the junior women raced the ground was still firm until the end when it started to soften up.

Zach was up next at 10:00 and the the course had turned to soup!

Zach got a good start and was setting at about 10th place ( out of 40) after 2 laps when another racer crashed into him and they went sliding through the fencing after they got untangled Zach continued on to finish a respectable 20th .Here's what his bike looked like after the race, there must have been 10 pounds of muck!
Overall it was a lot of fun racing with people from all over the country and seeing the big boys race.
Jack also had a good result and finished 17th in his race.
Jack finishes his race with style!

MNSCS 2008 awards banquet

Saturday night was the MNSCS awards banquet. Zach and I received our awards for finishing first place in our respective age classes for the series.

The banquet was hosted by QBP. We arrived early and got to take a tour of the facility. That place is huge!!
We received some nice awards, race photos and custom engraved Park multi-tools. A great end to a fun season of mountain bike racing that would not have be possible without the continued support of Vassago Cycles.

Minnesota Cyclecross State Championship race

Saturday was the Minnesota State championship race for Cyclecross. Zach lined up with 98 other racers to attack very long ( by Cyclecross standards ) and flat course. It was cool and dry, a nice day for spectating. Zach road a smart race, drafting on most of the long straight sections that made up a large portion of the course.
The course was definitely a road racer-friendly course, not so much for us mountain biker types.
Zach narrowly missed a first corner pile-up and finished 33rd overall and 3rd in the state for juniors 15-18. Zach is 15. The sprint for the line
The podium.

Rediscovering what we already knew

After Zach's last two race's (DNF) we decided to take a week off and regroup. We went for a mountain bike ride at Lebanon Hills, one of our favorite places to play. We decided to get back to what we do best...racing single speed Vassagos.

Saturday was the cross race at the Blaine Velodrome, Zach started out in a large crowd of 67. He got caught in traffic and started in the middle of the pack and worked his way up to finish 16th overall and 2nd in 15-18. With not having a great race he was happy to be back on track again.

Sunday we were at it again, this time at the Lake Rebbecca cross race. It was cold at race time (28) but Zach was feeling good after Saturday's successful race and was ready to go. Zach lined up with 54 other racers. The course had a long straightaway after the start and then they disappeared into the woods not to be seen again until the last 30 yards before the start- finish line. So I didn't see much of the race. Every Lap Zach was moving up, 1st lap:15th, 2nd lap: 11th, 3rd lap:8th, and finished 5th overall for the day! Best overall finish of the year. And back on the Vassago where we should have been all along.

It was a great finish to the MCF cross season. Ths strong finish in the last two races helped earn Zach the title of "Cyclocross Rider of the Year" in juniors 15-18.
There are still two big races left this season, The Minnesota state championship and Nationals in December.

Long weekend of short races

Saturday was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, temps in the low 60's. A perfect day for racing. the start of Zach's race was about a 100 yard dash on asphalt to 90 degree left turn followed shortly by another 90 degree left turn.
Well, about 2 seconds after Anita ( my lovely wife and Zach's mom) snapped this picture then things went bad in a hurry. The course was poorly marked and the first two guys went right and the next two went left and then the rest at the front stopped and the rest behind did not. There was a large pile up with Zach ending up on the bottom. Everyone got up except for Zach and one other poor guy. Zach's knee was banged up, his bars were bent way back, and his rear wheel was taco'd beyond repair. One of those big guys behind him must have landed on it.
Oh well, tomorrow's another day.
Today, Zach got up and said his knee felt much better and wanted to go to the Green Acres cross race. So after hastily repairing the damage from Saturday, we were off to the races again. Sunday's weather was the polar opposite of Saturday, 36 degrees, 25mph winds, and snow showers! Great cross weather! Zach got a great start and was in 3rd at top of a big climb after the start.

He kept the pressure on and was holding that position down the long decent. It was looking good.

The racers disappeared over the hill for the second lap and I waited for them to reappear for the descent. 3 racers, no Zach. 10 racers, no Zach. 65 racers, no Zach. Finally, here comes Zach carrying his bike down the hill, race over. When approaching a barrier on top and braking hard the brake shoe slipped off the new rim and locked up the wheel sending him over the bars and into the barrier, knee first. Yea, same knee as yesterday. No serious damage, but very disappointed, two DNF's in two days. That is the way it goes sometimes. Next week, will be onward and upward.

MCF round 4

Round#4 of the Minnesota Cycling Federation cyclocross series found us back in Hudson. The course was very smooth and flat, with lots of turns. Zach got caught in traffic and was in the middle of the pack (54 riders) at the start. He went to work picking off riders one by one until the finish where he ended up 13th overall and took 1st in juniors 15-18.
Zach gives it all at the sprint for the finish.

Cross race #3

Zach got a great start and setting at about 5th For the first 3 laps. The field was very large, 103 racers. After the 3rd lap he started to fade, after being sick all week and not riding.
He still managed a respectable 23rd and 2nd in his age group (15-18) Good job Zach!

Cross race #2 of the season

Today was Zach's second cyclocross race of the season, and first cross race on the Vassago Optimus Ti. It rained hard all morning before the race and half of the race was in a swampy area next to the St.Croix River. Needless to say it was very, very muddy. Zach was hoping to do well since this was our home town race. He got a great start which put him in good position before entering the woods.

The sloppy conditions suited Zach's skills, the only real hard part for him was a 50 yard
run up across a very wet, sandy beach.

He finished 13th out of 67 and 2nd in the 15-18 age class. He was pretty happy and quite muddy afterwards.

Biggest race weekend of the year

Friday night, we headed up to St Cloud MN, for the final MNSCS race of the year. This was a huge race for Zach because he was setting 3rd overall in the points for the year. If he could take first in this race, he could take first overall for the year by a mere 5 points (905 to 900). He and his main competitor both knew what was at stake before race time. Needless to say Zach was a little on edge. We setup my Vassago Optimus TI for him to race, we got it down to only 19.3 pounds.....Sweeeet!



When the gun went off, Zach got the hole shot. He pushed the pace hard the whole race and never let up.
He, not only took first in his age class, but also first overall for the whole race!
I moved up to sport for Saturday's race. I took 5th in my age class and 35th out of 95.
Sunday was the first cyclocross race of the season which was also at St Cloud. Zach got 2nd in 15-18 and 16th overall out of 67 racers.

We would like say a big THANK YOU to Vassago Cycles for their support, and we could not have done it without them.

Chequamegom Fat Tire Festival

Last Friday after work we headed up north to stay with our friends Dan, Angie, and Tim at their cabin near Seely WI. Which was only ten miles from the start of the big race. Zach and I were entered in the Short and Fat which is the sixteen miles XC race. We entered the Short and Fat instead of the 40 mile because you have to be at least 18 to enter, and neither one of us is 18. We arrived early to get a good starting position for me, because it is first come first serve. With 846 people lining up for a mass start you don't want to be at the back. Zach was awarded a preferred start position at the front of the field by virtue of his race results from the previous year.
The gun went off at 10:00am and the crashing started about fifteen seconds later. Luckily we narrowly avoided the two big pile ups that happened a head of us. the rest of the race went very well for both of us. Zach ended up finishing at 1:00:27 in 42nd place overall and 8th in his age class. I finished 4 minutes back in 76th place overall and 9th in my age class.
Zach at the finish.

MNSCS #8 / WORS #9 : BORDER BATTLE!

The start

Today was the Minnesota, Wisconsin border battle race. This was the race we have been looking forward to all year. It takes place practically in our back yard. We train there almost every week. The course was perfect for our single speeds, a 100 yard dash to a long double track climb before heading into the single track. We knew that getting up that climb first would be one of the most important parts of the race. Zach's wave went off second and he hammered the climb and was the first of his wave (12 -18) into the single track. I took off in the fourth wave, I got the the hole shot and was the first to the climb. I gave it all I had and at the top of the climb I had a large gap on the rest of the wave going into the single track. The rest of the race went very well until half way through the second lap I saw Zach by the side of the trail with a ripped tire, bummer his race was over. I pushed it hard the rest of the way And narrowly took first place in my age class by 3 seconds. I got 10th overall from a field of 109. I was very happy because my last WORS race I was a distant 3rd. It definitely helps to have home course advantage.

MNSCS #7

Last Sunday was a near perfect day for racing, the temperature at the start was in the low 60's and the sun was shining. Zach started two waves ahead of me and got a good start down a short section before the first long climb to the top of Buck Hill ski area. Two minutes later I was off. There were two guys ahead of me at the start of the climb, but I was able to real them in before the top. At the top most of the rest of the course was some very buff single track. That made for some very fun racing. At the top of the climb on my third lap I turned into the single track a little to fast and found myself looking up at the sky and watching the two guys I had just passed, go riding by. Nothing hurt but my pride and a little dirt rash. I jumped back up to finish 6th overall and 1st in my age class. Zach was tearing it up and finished 2nd overall and 1st in his age class 1:45 ahead of me.

24 Hours of 9 Mile

All I can say is WOW. This has got to be the toughest sport I have ever witnessed. Last Saturday Zach and I met up with Misty from Vassago cycles to pit crew for Eddy and Namrita O'dea. It was a real eye opener for me, I only wish I would have had a better idea of what I was getting into so I could have done a better job of supporting our racers. I guess it's just one of those things you have to do once to know what it's all about.
Overall it was a great experience and I came away with a huge amount of respect for Eddy and Nam for all the work and pain that must be endured to compete at this level. You guys are Awesome!

RAGBRAI !!!

Zach and I went on RAGBRAI last week and had a great time. For the most part the weather was good, the food was great, and the entertainment was non stop.
Here is a small view of the horde, 10,000 strong.


Zach was a little reluctant to get his picture taken with the nice lady with effective advertising selling watermelon. But my friends Doug and Wade were not.

MNSCS # 5

Last Sunday was another fun race at Redwing. Some tough climbing and lots of buff single track. Zach and I both took first place in our age groups and I was 3rd overall and Zach was 5th out of 63 racers. Zach piled it up in the first corner sprint, but came back to finish strong. He most likely would have beat me if not for the crash.

WORS #6

Well it was off to the races again today, but this time by myself. Zach left for a week of wrestling camp today, so half of my team was missing for the race. I decided to try a WORS ( Wisconsin off road series) race. The race was about three times as big as the MNSCS race we've been doing, 149 racers in my race.
The first mile of the race was Flat dusty double track. I was running 34-18 and I was getting smoked. I found a guy I could hang with and drafted him until the first hill and then I could start passing. It was a fun race, lots of fast single track. I took 3rd in my age group by out sprinting the the guy who took 4th just before the line.
This is the second race that I have run a WTB Vulpine as a rear tire and it is fast becoming my favorite for dry conditions.
The sprint to the line, about 160 r.p.m.

Zach wins big at MNSCS#4

Sunday was MNSCS #4 at Mt. Kato ski hill and it was a perfect day for racing. I got to go off in the first of two waves 30+ then 29-, two minutes apart. It was about a 100 yard dash to the base of the ski hill and then a long climb to the top. I passed two guys on the way up to take the lead which I held to the finish. After I crossed the line I waited to see who finished next. The next guy out of the woods was Zach, He crossed the line a little over 1 minute behind me to beat me by 41 seconds. And he had to pass the entire first wave. He was really flying on his new white Jabberwocky. He was very happy to put an end to my two race winning streak

Ben Shockey was also at Mankato racing in the comp race. He also took 1^st overall in his race. It was a very good day for Jabberwockys!

Afton Avalanche Race#2

Damp and humid conditions made for a tough day of racing at the Afton Avalanche on Sunday. The recent wet weather forced some course alterations but still provided the lung busting course riders have come to expect. While the sun rarely peaked out, the high dewpoints made it feel a lot warmer than the mid 70s temperatures. Zach and I had a good day of racing. Conditions were very wet and muddy, it was a good day to be on a single speed. Zach started in the second wave and I started in the fourth. Zach got a good start and that was the last I saw of him until the finish line. Zach was the first finisher even after starting in the second wave! Although he was not happy to see me coming over the last hill to finish next. After the times were calculated, I had beat him by 3.61 seconds to take first overall. We both got first place medals in our age groups. I can't believe that we finished so close together and never knew where the other was.
Another pleasant surprise today was running into friend and Vassago team mate Ben Shockey. Ben had a good day also taking first in comp single speed.

DSC_8372 20081005mnscs1

DSC_8372 20081005mnscs1
Originally uploaded by Grizzly Adam

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DSC_8362 20081005mnscs1
Originally uploaded by Grizzly Adam