2012 Star Spangled Crit Series

We’ve got great news!!! As you all know we’re about to hit the peak of crit season with three USAC crtis in five days starting off with:

• Tacoma Twilight in Tacoma Sunday June 30th
• Brad Lewis Memorial at Boat Street Recycled Cycles on Sunday July 1st
• Joe Matava in Burien on July 4th.

The Star Spangled Crit Series will combine the results of this action packed week of racing in an overall series winner. Tacoma series leaders will get call ups at Brad Lewis Memorial and Joe Matava. Overall series winners will get some additional prizes, plus bragging rights.

Here’s the details for series scoring. We’re going 10 deep.

• 1st = 13 points
• 2nd = 11 points
• 3rd = 9 points
• 4th = 7 points
• 5th = 6 points
• 6th = 5 points
• 7th = 4 points
• 8th = 3 points
• 9th = 2 points
• 10th = 1 points

Plus one point for each race and a bonus of two points of you race all three races for a total potential of 5 bonus points.

In the event of a tie, the fine folks at Joe Matava will break the tie with a street sprint or rock, paper, scissors.

We’ll be doing series points for the following categories: (we apologize for there not being a masters series this year, so please save the complaining and come support us so we can have a masters series next year)

• Mens Pro/Cat1/2
• Mens Cat 3
• Mens Cat 4
• Mens Cat 5
• Womens 1/2/3
• Womens 4
• Junior A/B (Mini-series–just Brad Lewis and Joe Matava)
• Junior C/D (Mini-series–just Brad Lewis and Joe Matava)

Register early, register often

• USAC Registration for Tacoma Twilight in Tacoma Sunday June 30th
• USAC Registration for Brad Lewis Memorial at Boat Street Recycled Cycles on Sunday July 1st
• USAC Registration for Joe Matava in Burien on July 4th

We look forward to seeing you out there next week!

And if you really want to keep your knives sharp, hit PR and Seward for for five crits in six days!

2012 BLMC

There will be Mud

It seems hard to believe that a scant two months have elapsed since the Seattle Cyclocross series opened beneath in warm sunshine of a Pacific Northwest Indian Summer. Time’s wingèd chariot flying on as it ever does, halcyon skies turned to gloom and dank, the mercury gradually slid from balmy to chilly, the rough and knotty ground became muddy and sloppy. Sic transit gloria aestatis…

The grand finale to the 2011 SCX series took place for the third year running at the Evergreen Fairgrounds in Monroe WA, home of the annual Snohomish county fair known as the Evergreen State Fair. Though featured in previous editions of the event, the moto racetrack and the animal barns played no role this year’s proceedings. Since the dirtbike aficionados and their RV’s weren’t competing for space, the course designers were able to take over the whole of the north field and parking area to create a 99% tarmac-free event – the knobby wheels would roll through almost nothing but mud: grassy mud, sandy mud, lumpy mud, soupy mud, and a very few traces here and there of slightly dehydrated mud. The additional space allowed teams to mount their tents course-side, whose proximity to the startline became a prized amenity given the weather.

The course began on the flat field with a few tight turns leading into a long straightaway for the roadies before climbing into the upper meadow. Once there, the course snaked back and forth through some tight turns and fast corners before arriving at its exit point from the meadow: a steep plunge straight down the embankment. The descent curved around a tree and back up to an off-camber path along the hillside that led back to the main field through a swooping 180-degree turn. Racers then had to shoulder their bikes for a struggle up a second muddy embankment that called for deliberate foot placement and occasional hand support. And then it was on to stretches of frothy ankle-deep mud that demanded a light pedal and a fast churn. Riders emerged from the bog onto the course’s single solitary and short stretch of pavement for a quick spurt to a double set of barriers, returning off-road as the course zigged and zagged through two paddocks on its way back to the main field and a short straight dash to the finish line.

The descent of the embankment figured as a decision point for most racers: should one risk mishap on the way down, only to be forced to dismount as a result traction failure on the following upbound segment, or was it better to dismount at the top of the precipice for a run down and back up? The miscalculations and conflicts, with their inevitable consequences, proved a source of hilarity and schadenfreude for the gathered spectators and bell-ringers.

Oh what a beautiful morning

A faint simulacrum of dawn had barely broken somewhere above the leaden skies when David, Andrew, and Alex gathered at the shop for the trek out to the Snohomish valley beneath a constant drizzle. Once again, Alex piloted the trusty Recycled Cycles Sprinter safely to its destination, and we obtained a prime location right by the start line.

It was a day for miseries and lots of dry extra clothing. The rain kept falling until the early afternoon, along with the temperature. It was a day for hard-core fanaticism and commitment to cyclocross (or perhaps to an institution). Rob showed up for the early race in the still-warm rain, cheered on by wife Amanda and young ones Charlotte and Thomas, who seemed unfazed by the weather, sure sign of a cx destiny.

Slipping and a-sliding, weaving and a-riding

His morning race done, Rob took over the controls of the grill, and the air was soon filled with the smell of beef on the barbie, thanks to our fabulous meat sponsor Bill the Butcher.

Arriving with Julie for the afternoon event, Beth found her vehicle unexpectely locked, a problem only because the key was of course located on the wrong side of the door. Drama was avoided in extremis when her husband evaded the highway patrol’s vigilance to arrive with another key and moments to spare. But in the meantime, Jeff had secured new numbers to pin on borrowed jerseys, and both ladies were thus seen dressed in white well after Labor day.

In the meantime, Alex had taken off at noon with the other elite racers for a hour of fun in the mud. But he was to returned unexpectedly and all too soon to the tent, wearing a stoic grimace after a bruising encounter with the ground forced him to abandon his pursuit. Despite his misadventure, Alex showed a consistency through the season that yielded a ninth place in the series final standings.

When you're wet, you're wet

The rain had slowed to a thin drizzle by 1:30pm, when the successive waves of single-speeders, the cat 3 45+ men, and the elite women fields started off. David had another fine outing with the single-speeders, with a ninth place on the day that put him in the fifth slot in the final standings. He was joined by Rob who started and finished his second event of the day, a man on a mission to secure the ten starts that will allow him to upgrade into a field where the sandbaggers go even faster but don’t fall down quite so much.
Starting with the 45+ men, Andrew didn’t fall down, but his knee warmer did. Forced to stop to remove it, he eventually wound up losing another sprint for a mid-pack placing to the same guy as last time.

Beth came roaring past Andrew on the upper meadow, and he had a front-row position to watch her spectacular tumble when some other old guy forced her off her line down the embankment. Fortunately nothing was hurt, not even dignity as that gets left behind with the jackets on the start line. Beth finished with an outstanding sixth place, and a fourth place in the final standings. Dispensing with knee-warmers despite the increasing chill, Julie rode to an excellent eight place on the day, finishing sixth for the series.

You've got to accentuate the vertical

Finally, it was 2:30pm and Cat 3 men took the start of the final race of the 2011 SCX series, with RCR’s 2 Nicks joined by Jeff and Liam. By this time, the beer tent had opened and the festivities were in full swing, fueled by quantities of Nieuw Belgie’s fine brews. Thus we can only report seeing Nick A’s focused expression as he came down the hill, followed by Nick B. Jeff looked happy to be there. And we noticed Liam making an unscheduled service stop at the pit. Published results would later indicate that Nick A obtained a very fine ninth place, and an outstanding eighth place on final gc, where he’s followed by Nick B who hung on to his ninth on the final standings.

Liam made up for a disappointing day of mechanical challenges by scoring a pair of wheels in the post race raffle.
Andrew managed to spill half his second beer, which turned out to be inadvertently clever since he would occupy the driver’s seat in the van for the drive back to Seattle. All too soon, the party was over, the tents were folded and loaded, and the van set out into the fading twilight for the journey back to Boat Street.

For many of us, the season has drawn to a close, and it’s time to take up winter sports such as skiing or knitting; but a few races remain for those still jonesing on cx and willing to travel to the far north or the far south. We offer our thanks to our fantastic sponsors who help make this all possible: our long-time title sponsor Recycled Cycles and bicycle partner Raleigh Bikes; Schwalbe Tires gives us great tread, Bill the Butcher keeps us fed, and PowerBar gets us gelled.

Shivering in Spanaway

The sixth and penultimate event of the Seattle Cyclocross series took place this last Sunday at Sprinker Park, down in the South Sound town of Spanaway. South it may be, but the weather was far from southern, as the frigid night temperatures moderated only slightly beneath a wan autumn sun, a sun progressively dimmed by the vanguard of the cloud banks conveying the next week’s rain. The early morning SCX set-up crew found a parking lot covered in black ice, and the first wave at 9:15 would set off across still-rimy grass.
This was the fourth year a race has been held at Sprinker Recreation Center, a course developed after the loss of previous venues such Donida Farm, Kelly Creek Farm, and South Seatac Park. Though it has the advantage of parking aplenty, the venue’s limitations – available terrain confined to a narrow greenbelt surrounding baseball diamonds and soccer fields – have required considerable experimentation and ingenuity on the part of course designers to transform a difficult site into an acceptable cyclocross course, and this edition continues the progress of the work. With long stretches of tarmac and straight lines on grass to their advantage, the power riders were hampered only by a single set of double barriers and a pair of forced trots up short embankments. Dan Norton’s signature style of multiple hairpin turns required some cornering skill and power, but only the neophytes found much of a challenge in the couple of gentle off-camber sections and the downhill sandpile.

With Alex the Red at the helm of the trusty Recycled Cycles Sprinter van, the RCR setup crew arrived to find a couple of spots still available for parking and tents relatively close to all the important features, such as the registration tent, the start line, and the sanitation stations. Shivering in the morning chill despite multiple layers, it seemed hard to believe that just a few weeks earlier we had been basking in the sun of a prolonged Indian summer.
With the inclement weather, the travel distance, and various extra-curricular obligations, participation did not achieve the heights of previous weeks. Nonetheless, the hardened core of cyclocross enthusiasts were present and accounted for.
Taking the line in the first wave, Rob set off on an excursion through the frosty wonderland to finish well in the top half despite finding his way impeded by a fair amount of cyclocross slapstick on the part of the other folks in lycra clown suits. His efforts done, his real work began as Rob fired up the grill for the first batch of links and sliders furnished by our grand meat sponsor Bill the Butcher, purveyor of fine meat products from all-natural locally-raised beef.
With long-time RCR-board-member-and-cx-stalwart Tyler stepping down from the Supreme Council after years of valiant service, Rob’s stepping into his galoshes to take on the responsibility for managing Team RCR’s vast financial holdings, and he looks forward to visiting the Cayman Islands in the near future (note to the IRS: that’s a joke – we know of no cyclocross races in the Cayman Islands).

It's not this sunny in Belgium

The early arrivals for the later races had plenty of time for lollygagging and strolling the course beneath the pallid sun as the next wave went off, bereft of blue-and-gold jerseys.

The elite categories took off at noon, with Alex joining the open 1/2 field. The generally flat course with its low degree of technical challenge didn’t play to Alex’s advantage in a stacked field easily dominated by international-class sub-23 rider Zack McDonald, but he still managed to hang on to his 9th place in the series rankings.

Alex ignores the paparazzo

The 13:30 contingent was up next, David taking the line amongst the single-speeders, Andrew starting with the Cat 3 45+ crowd, while Beth and Julie sped along in hot pursuit with the rest of the elite women’s field. David had his best result of the season with a 5th place that sits him nicely in 6th place for the single-speed series. Beth almost closed her minute handicap on Andrew, dashing home for a 5th place on the day and a solid grasp on the sixth spot in the general classification for the elite women.

Carl runs for the hills

Liam in a field of yellow tape

The final event of the day beneath an overcasting sky saw five Recyclers line up at the start of the open Cat 3 race. Nick A took advantage of a course more suited to his characteristics to open a gap on Nick B, the latter still managing to cling to his top-10 series placing. Returning to the races as a newlywed, Liam pedaled his velocipede of bright orange beneath matching foliage for his first race as a Cat 3, managing to hold off NewCarl’s valiant pursuit, while Jeff chased around after racers young enough to call him “sir”.

And then the burgers were on their way to their final resting place, the tents folded and loaded with the grill, and the van was north-bound. But we’ll be out next Sunday for the finale of the Seattle Cyclocross series at the Evergreen Fairgrounds in Monroe WA. The double points on offer should make for fierce battles as racers struggle to shuffle the series standings in their favor.

As ever, we extend our gratitude to the wonderful folks at our long-time title sponsor Recycled Cycles and bicycle partner Raleigh Bikes for making this all possible; Schwalbe Tires helps keep us rolling along, Bill the Butcher meets our after-party protein needs, with pre-race glycogen top-ups supplied by PowerBar energy gels.

Jumping at Woodland

In recent years, the mid-Puget Sound region has confirmed its status as a hotspot of US cyclocross, supporting not one but two race series that combine to assure racers their weekly fix of cx, with a couple of double-headers thrown in for good measure. This last Sunday, the MFG series drew to a close with its season finale at Woodland Park in the Greenlake neighborhood of Seattle, an actual honest-to-goodness in-city race that drew close to 900 participants throughout the day, along with throngs of spectating family, friends, and passersby.

The course designers took advantage of the size of the park and its varied terrain to lay out a fun course that offered a mix of pain and flow, as racers sped through open meadows on gravel tracks and grassy arcs that lead to woodland paths winding beneath the autumnal foliage. This year’s innovation forced riders to dismount before a set of wooden steps which led to a decision fork: would it be better to keep running to the top of next embankment with its mid-slope log, or should they remount and attempt to hop the aforementioned log for the entertainment of the spectating throngs and their own potential advantage. Though the course lacked the wheel-trapping bogs of previous editions, handling skills found themselves tested by sweeping off-camber loops through the fallen leaves, and speed sections that snaked among the trees while crossing the dirt-tarmac boundary.

The urban location prompted a good turnout of Recyclers throughout the day, with the usual crew augmented by some who couldn’t pass up the opportunity for great racing with little travel, and some more who came to cheer. With Busto at the wheel, the trusty Recycled Cycles brought over the tents, the grill, and the Raleigh carbon demo bikes, while Rob picked up our weekly supply of all-natural organic grillables from Bill the Butcher, purveyor of fine meat products from locally-sourced grass-fed beef. The rain held off, as temperatures remained in the upper 40sF (8-10C), allowing the hardy to remain in shorts.

Rebecca got things off to an early morning start with the Cat 4 women, turning in a sparkling fourth place that put her on the third step of the podium in the series final classification.

In the next wave, regulars Rob and Rip, along with neophyte Ben, joined one hundred and sixteen other men in the open Cat 4 field to form an enormous lycra snake that eventually swallowed a bit of its own tail. A fun time was had by all, including the park-dwelling members of Sciurus carolinensis who all managed to dodge Rob’s wheels of squirrel-death. Eric had it a little easier among the veterans in the Cat 3 55+ field, finishing ninth on the day and claiming fifth place in the final overall standings, in a field dominated by the ever-young Cosmic Miller.

Eric jumps!

Things got busy in the third wave as five Recyclers joined the cat 1/2 women’s field. Joined by Julie, Jamie, Liz, and Ali, Beth led the Blue-and-Gold charge, finishing with a sixth place that solidified her claim on the third step for the series podium. Julie was happy to be in the mix, taking advantage of the climbs to scoot past some of her regular rivals for an eighth place on the day. Recent upgrade Jamie rode the last race with the 1/2 field to pick up some experience following the fast wheels; but she must be well on her way to pretty fast, as she already had a lock on the Cat 3 women’s series WIN. Allez Jamie! Liz and Ali had a fun day in the park, as did Andrew among the Cat 3 45+ men, while Kevin and Carl joined sixty-two fellow racers in the Cat 3 35+ field.

Noon was family hour, as Julie’s son Sam hammered away among the Juniors boys, while Jamie’s husband Mark got some more exposure to the cyclocross bug with the novice men. Meanwhile, there was grass-fed meat on the barbie, as the Raleigh demo bikes were on the grass. In cooperation with Raleigh Bikes and MFG, we’ve been able to make a set of carbon cross velocipedes available in a variety of sizes for testing purposes under real live cyclocross conditions.

Busto hops!

Busto feeds!

The afternoon saw the start of the open Cat 3 men, with the dual Nick attack of Nicks A and B, joined by Jeff, Erik, and Liam and fifty other cyclocrossers for forty-five minutes of pain and entertainment. Though he felt as if he had a somewhat [unsatisfactory] day, Nick B still managed to rack up enough points to hold onto a fourth place in the final series standings. Following a minute behind the Cat 3 men came a horde of ninety-five single-speed men. David felt he had his best race of the series, putting the hurt to his nemeses. He was joined by Rob for his second race of the day, the new-born aficionado of single-speed still managing to avoid rodenticide on his second go-round. And Busto tore himself away from academic pursuits to put in a rare appearance on his old stomping grounds, going 1 for 3 on bunnyhops but managing 3 for 3 on post-race frankfurter ingestion.

Alex runs!

In the day’s elite headliner , the remaining Recyclers gathered at the runup to cheer on Alex as he expended himself with a valiant effort in a pro/1/2 field stacked with out-of-town talent from as far away as Bellingham, Bend, and Vancouver, eh.

Thus concludes the MFG series for 2011; thanks to Terry, Zac, Rich, and the rest of the MFG crew for an outstanding series. Complimenti and felicitaties to Jamie on her win! But cyclocross isn’t done yet for the year, as we still have two scx series events and the state champeenships. Recyclers will be doing it all over again next week down in the South Sound at Spanaway’s Sprinker Park. As ever, we extend our gratitude to our long-time title sponsor Recycled Cycles and bicycle partner Raleigh Bikes for making this all possible; Schwalbe Tires helps us keep the rubber side down, and Bill the Butcher keeps us in post-race protein, with glycogen top-ups supplied by PowerBar energy gels.

Second verse, different from the first

Last Sunday, Puget Sound Cyclocrossers visited Fort Steilacoom Park for the second time this season, as the Seattle Cyclocross series returned to Lakewood WA for its fifth installment. Seattle Cyclocross #2 had taken place under grey skies and occasional drizzle, but today’s event began with a chill, as the morning frost had barely melted away beneath a declining autumn sun.

Course designer Dan Norton more or less reversed the course from the previous Steilacoom event, coming down where it had gone up, turning right where it had gone left, swerving here rather than there. But in keeping with Dan’s philosophy of hardening racers as the season progresses towards Nationals, he’d made a few additional tweaks to dial up the pain: instead of a double set of double barriers on the meadows at the base of the hill, the course now had a single barrier on the flats, with the remaining three barriers placed on the hillside runup for the further sufferation of the short of leg; riders now had to fight for the single smooth line up the gravel road before plunging down the winding dirt track all the way to the base of the knob and the hairpin turn at Casebolt Corner (scene of Jason Casebolt’s memorable ankle-breaking wipeout a few years back).

With Alex on chauffeur duty, the Recycled Cycles Sprinter brought the team gear along with passengers David and Andrew to Steilacoom in time to claim a prime course-side spot scouted out by dad-and-son team of Rob and Thomas.

RCR was represented in the 9:15 time slot by Rip (fortunate that he and Andrew share a shoe size) and David in the open Cat 4, with David getting a morning warmup on his single-speed for the afternoon’s single-speed race, while Rob took the start on his geared bike in the second wave featuring the cat 4 35+ Masters. Rob would not only find himself enforcing the laws of natural selection on the squirrel population, a rolled clincher would force him to run for the finish – but he still managed to stay a step or two ahead of DFL.

Rip gallops with the pack

After they’d managed to catch their breath, the morning racers assumed grill duties, cooking up some links and sliders furnished by Bill the Butcher, our outstanding meat sponsor, purveyor of all-natural products from locally-raised grass-fed beef. As Julie arrived with her boys and Liz brought her dogs, the RCR cx family picnic got rolling…

The women cat 4 field took off in 10:15 slot, with Heather storming to the front to lead the field through the barns and on to the hill. But an inopportune mechanical problem dashed her hopes, when she had to come to a complete halt to fix her brakes. Heather nonetheless soldiered valiantly on despite the aggravation.

Heather charging to the front

In the noontime main event, the open cat 1/2 race, Alex struggled to overcome mechanical contre-temps, clawing his way into the top-ten, a result that’s raised him into 10th place in the series standings.

It's only a bike race

As usual, the 1:30pm event is the busiest of the day, as successive waves of single-speeders, masters, and women sped down the tarmac from the starting line towards their first encounter with the grass and mud. Following his morning cat 4 race with an afternoon start among the singlespeeders, David proved that success is often just a matter of showing up, as his consistency propelled him to 8th place in the general classification for the series. He was joined at the start line by Rob, who’d decided to investigate this single-speed madness for himself, fortunately avoiding a second untoward encounter with wildlife.
Andrew suffered from the error of underinflation on the extensive tarmac and the hubris of overgearing on the hill, his running legs unable to exercise their slight advantage as the non-runners clogged the lanes on the runup. But he managed to retain a dignity momentarily threatened by a mishandled last turn through Casebolt Corner.
Jamie took her first start as a newly-minted Category 2 to join Beth, Julie and Liz in the Category 1/2 Women’s field. Just emerging from several weeks under the weather, Julie was happy to find her slot and stick with it to finish 7th, just behind Beth whose sixth place keeps her in ninth place in overall standings, despite a missed race. Jamie weathered the shock of the new, as she discovered the higher categories select for both fitness and bike-handling skills; Jamie notes that the Cat 3 women aren’t nearly as aggressive through the corners.

In the day’s final event, the open Category three men, we had Nick A and Jeff showing the blue-and-gold to finish off the proceedings with worthy efforts, as Nick just nosed out former teammate Matt Beers in a hard-fought contest, while Jeff was happy to be back from a hiatus of a couple of seasons to turn the pedals in anger once again.

Nick in the barnyard

...followed by Jeff

Then the day was done, and the van was loaded. Next week, we’ll be at it again in Seattle’s Woodland Park for the season-closer of the MFG series. As always, we are grateful to our outstanding team sponsors: As always, we’re grateful to our outstanding sponsors: Recycled Cycles; Raleigh Bicycles; Schwalbe tires, FSA; our grilling was made possible by Bill the Butcher, with additional energy furnished by PowerBar Energy Gels.

Frolic at the Fairgrounds

Here in the Pacific Northwest, the summer drought usually draws to a close round about the middle of October, giving way to the interminable drizzle of the Cascadian monsoon. That’s when the cyclocross season really starts jumping – and slipping and sliding, as the rains slicken the grass and coagulate the summer dust into oozing bog.

It was the eve of All Hallows Eve when Washington cyclocrossers reconvened at the King County Fairgrounds in Enumclaw WA, where the mountain mists meet the valley, as the fourth event in the Seattle Cyclocross series got underway on day two of a weekend double-header, following the preceding day’s MFG series race. Some racers showed up in scary costume, others wore the regular lycra clown suit. The day began and closed in rain, interrupted only when an evanescent parting of the clouds allowed the mid-morning sun a brief look-see on the proceedings.

Dan Norton, the Father Time of Washington cyclocross, laid out a true cyclocross course of turf and tarmac: sinuous lines through a grassy field led to an leg-sapping trudge up a near-vertical bog to one of the day’s two beer gardens, where a single-track through the woods led to a muddy fire-road that curved down into soupy flats. Following another excursion through the fields and into the woods, riders emerged from the trees to find themselves headed onto a steep off-camber embankment where the unwary might find themselves veering down the slope into the side of the neighboring football stadium. Opportunities for close encounters with the ground abounded as the course continued through mud and grass with some more tight turns and treacherous off-camber. A set of barriers forced a dismount in front of the other beer garden, and the lap concluded with a long grassy straightaway around and through the animal barns.

The RCR van with Ali at the wheel showed up in time to claim the last course-side position, and Jamie, Dave, and Andrew hustled to get the tents up, spurred on by the precipitation. It would turn out that we were right by one of the prime fall-down spots on the course, where oxygen-deprived contestants seemed unable to recall the correct line from one lap to the next.

The weather, the travel time, and the previous day’s effort combined to reduce all the day’s field sizes. Nonetheless, the Recycled colors had representation in most of the day’s events.

Recent cx initiate Dan spent his day off from his Recycled Cycles wrenching duties getting to know mud with the open Cat 4 field. Taking the start with the Cat 4 35+ masters, Rob continued his season’s progression with a steady ride into the top half of the field, before climbing off his bike to take over grillmaster duties, throwing down some sliders and links from our meat sponsor Bill the Butcher, purveyor of organic all-natural meat products from locally-raised grass-fed livestock. As Rob tended to the grill, his six-year-old dynamo, Thomas, was discovering warm-up and wind-trainers as he got ready for the tots-and-trikes competition.

Joy in mudville

In the noon-time elite race, conditions played to Alex’s strengths as a bike-handler as he avoided mishap and negotiated the field to a solid 7th place.

Alex follows the yellow tape

With four fields setting off a minute apart, the 1:30 event is the busiest slot of the day. RCR had two representatives joining the single-speeders as Illustrated Dave and El Presidente Josh took the line. Dave churned his way through the mud to a 15th place that’s slotted him in 7th for the series overall, while Josh had made the trip specifically to enjoy the seasonal weather. Setting out in the next wave with the Category 3 45+ men, Andrew had the distinction of being the last rider in the field to avoid being lapped by local single-speed phenom Craig Ethridge, thus gaining the dubious enjoyment of a further lap of pain; after registering his best placing in a couple of years, though still smack-dab in the middle of the diminished pack, Andrew figured if you can’t go fast, at least you won’t go too fast in the wrong places. Among the 1 / 2 women, Ali was cruising through the bog when she heard the awful sound of grinding metal as her derailleur hanger was ripped from the drop-out by an errant chain; her race unexpectedly abridged, Ali made a beeline for the consolations of the beer garden where she found suitable fortification to enable her to cheer on the remaining contestants. Suffering among the Cat 3 women, Jamie had an off-day, though retaining her hold on an overall 4th place in the series. Perhaps she hadn’t yet become rehabituated to our northern climes, perhaps it was that white jersey worn when Labor Day has receded into distant memory, or maybe it was just the price of the W she posted in the previous day’s event…

The day’s carnage concluded as four Recyclers joined the open Cat 3 men for a last gallop through the mud. From the shelter of the team tents, we saw Nick A go running by towards the service pit after a flat; Nick B paid for his previous day’s top-10 with a sub-optimal day as well, but retains his 4th place in the scx series overall classification. Carl and Jeff showed up to duke it out with each other at the blunt end of the race, with Jeff managing a stealthy comeback to nip Carl at the finish line.

Nick B remains vertical

Nick A running for the pits

As someone once said, a cyclocross race is like beating your legs with a rubber hose under a cold shower: it feels so good when you stop. But we’ll be back next week for Seattle Cyclocross #5 at Fort Steilacoom park, south of Tacoma. As always, we’re grateful to our outstanding sponsors: Recycled Cycles; Raleigh Bicycles; Schwalbe, FSA, and Bill the Butcher.