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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Pacific Northwest fall had arrived in time for this week’s cyclocross extravaganza, the second event in the Seattle Cyclocross series.  The cloud banks rolling off the Pacific Ocean had brought a dank chill and just enough drizzle to grease the grassy corners, turning the course into a test of skill as well as power.  At the base of the hill, a maze of yellow tape led riders to and fro through the fields, where the course included two sets of barriers, approached at speeds that imposed precise timing on the riders’ dismount.  A long straightaway led to the beginning of the leg-sapping climb that would repeatedly suck the oxygen from the brain.

RCR Base camp, Steilacoom

The Recycled Cycles Racing team set up their base of operations at course side, in proximity to facilities and conveniences.  Taking the start line for the 9:30 race, Rip and Rob represented the blue-and-gold among the open cat 4 men and the 35+ cat 4 master men, finishing respectably mid-pack in the most crowded fields of the day.  As they noted, position was established shortly after the start, and you tended to stay with the same little cluster for the rest of the race.

His race done, Rip stepped up to the RCR grill to throw down some sliders and links from Bill the Butcher, purveyor of fine meats from grass-fed organic livestock.

Next up, RCR’s new Category 4 ladies Rebecca and Heather joined a Category 4 women’s field that numbered over thirty starters, testimony to the sport’s increasing attraction to women (your correspondant remembers when total female participation at a race barely surpassed a third that number).  Unleashing her aggression from the start line, Rebecca was sitting in the catbird’s saddle when a treacherous curve took her down.  Then she had to struggle to extricate a jammed chain while most of the remaining field passed by.  Downed but not out, Rebecca responded with determination and vigor, managing to regain a good chunk of lost ground and finish just outside the top ten.  Heather in the meantime kept plugging away at a steady pace, finishing very respectably for a recent intiate to the discipline, with a lot more riders behind her than before her. 

Rebecca hi-stepping the barriers

Making it look easy...

Jamie going for the win.

David singlespeeding through the woods

RCR’s double warhead of Nicks, known hereafter as Nick A and Nick B, took to the field as the horde of Category 3 men sped off for the last gallop of the day.  As mature & responsible adults, the Nicks suffered a disadvantage in a field dominated by some hormonal adolescents barely old enough to use a razor anywhere other than their legs.  As the youth wave trusted the first few positions, the ever-rowdy barrier crowd took to encouraging riders with shouts of “first adult!”.  Despite his handicap in years, Nick B hung on for a seventh place, with proud new papa Nick A showed the effects of his new paternal responsibilties as he slid just out of the top-ten despite a gung ho attack from the gun.

Dual Nick attack!

The course had been knit around the Marymoor velodrome, reprising some lines well-known to veterans of the Seattle cyclocross scene. Long straight sections outside the velodrome grounds led into a twisting maze of yellow tape that rose and fell along the velodrome’s exterior embankment, in a mix of off-camber swerves and swooping hair-pin turns. A summer under the sun had roughened the dry ground into a knobby and rutted surface that rattled and jarred joints and bones. Two pairs of barriers forced riders from their bikes: one set at the end of a stretch of tarmac required a dismount at speed; the other, placed right after a hairpin turn, forced the riders to a near-halt as they tried to hop off before the impending encounter with a large piece of wood; not all attempts met with success.

The Recycled Cycles crew had set up early enough to score a prime piece of real estate along the course close to the start line. The mounting wind forced an early removal of some banners that threatened to become sails, and we soon had to anchor the tents to the Recycled Cycles van with a variety of ad hoc lashing.

Ready to go sailing

First to set off from the RCR contingent, Tyler represented in the ever-growing Cat. 4 Men’s field, winding up with a mid-pack finish, but happy with the improvement in his sensations produced by his increased training load. His race done, he fired up the barbie for the first round of sliders from Bill the Butcher’s grass-fed organic beef.

Tyler, hurt those pedals!

Team members drifted in over the course of the day as the event progressed through its schedule. Ian, though not racing, spun over on his road bike and lent a valuable pair of hands in support during the day, schlepping wheels to the pit, helping to anchor the tent, ringing bells… Julie arrived with young Sam in tow for his cyclocross intiation with the 10-12 junior field. Alex showed the RCR colors in the noontime 1/2 race, while his lady friend performed yeoman’s service with the tent anchoring crew.

The 1:30pm race featured six different fields, with the largest rcr participation of the day: David showed off the blue-and-gold amongst the single-speed crowd, his kit accessorized by some awesome skin ink; at the start line for another season with the Cat 3 45+ men, Andrew spotted a few faces remaining from the old Master B days; Beth and Julie joined the Cat 1/2 women’s field, and Jamie took up the challenge with the Cat 3 Women. The black wall of cloud which had been threatening off-stage southeast finally arrived to hide the sun; the cold drops began to spatter jerseys, raising gooseflesh and shivers among an under-dressed crowd. But a lap into the race, the clouds passed, the sun was out, and though we were all wet, ’twas in a good way.
At the end of the first lap, Andrew barely managed to get out of Beth’s way as she muscled through the old men on her way to a convincing win in the women’s field, while Julie hung tough for a ninth-place finish. Sent off a mere thirty seconds after the start of an overstuffed masters field, the elite women had had to thread their way through the whitebeards before moving on to overtake the graybeards. Jamie overcame some tangles with the terrain to finish with an excellent showing in fifth place among the Cat 3 women, though ruing the mishaps that pushed a potential spot on the podium just out of reach.

The closing race of the day beneath the increasing sunshine featured the men’s open Category 3 field, with CarlA and NickB.

Carl gets ready to high step

Racing around the course amid a select cluster of riders, Nick improved on his showing of the previous week with a seventh spot on the results board.

Nick puts rubber's coefficient of friction to the dirt test

As all the fun and excitement was taking place out on the parcours, the post-race post-mortem and hoedown was going strong back at the tents, fuelled by some more grilled meat from Bill the Butcher, and whatever else folks happened to bring. Finally, it was time to stow everything back into the truck and leave planet cx for the trip back to Earth.

Next Sunday, October 2nd, come on out to North Bend as the fun resumes with the MFG race presented by the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. We’ll have the fleet of Raleigh demo bikes on hand for a test-drive under real racing conditions.

Is that Mom again?

And we were happy to have the tents beneath the changeable weather, with intervals of drizzle giving way to the occasional sun-break.
The women got things off to a bang-up start with Rebecca’s win in the Cat. 4 women’s field.

Rebecca storming to the W

Hi kids!

Liz and Julie riding for the podium

Eric watched Beth cruise by him as he rode to a 6th place in the Cat 3 55+ men’s field.


The next set of waves saw Carl start with the Cat 3 Men 35+, Andrew with the Cat 3 Men 45+, and Jamie with the Cat 3 Women. Andrew thinks he has never seen a field that big; thanks to the sand, he was able to make his way from the back of the pack to the middle of the field. Jamie added to the women’s successful showing with a 6th place.
RCR’s last representation for the day was furnished by Nick B who claimed a 10th place amongst the Cat 3 men, and Busto who lined up with 76 (!) other single speeders in a stacked field dominated by Craig Etheridge and the Fountain Brothers.

Nick shows us how to do the Quasimodo

Leaping Busto!

And for the first episode of their adventures with their new team, we have Beth’s report from the Labor Day cyclocross season opener.

Last Monday, it was four freshly-minted members of the RCR/women’s cross team who showed up for the first race of the cyclocross season: ” The Labor Day Bone Shaker”. The race was NOT the typical ‘cross race: a course consisting largely of bouncy grassy turns, on a day that was 85 degrees hot, in air full of dust.

Two of the ladies entered the cat. 4 race. Heather finished well with a mid-pack placing, though her gloveless hands were decorated with open blisters raised by the bumpy course. Rebecca did well for her very first cyclocross race, and even decided she’d do more cross after such an epic opening day. We promise her better courses if she sticks with it.

Julie and Beth were in the Cat 1/2 field, with a grand total of seven women. Since Julie was swimming in a size small RCR jersey, she wore the long-sleeve RCR skinsuit for a slow bake over the course of the race. As it was still Labor Day, Beth could still wear a flowing summer white jersey without committing a fashion don’t.

It was an exciting first minute of racing for Beth: despite a pedal bobble at the start that cost her the hole shot she prefers, followed by a less-than-helpful shove from a former teammate as she tried to sneak up along the tape , Beth managed to managed to get into second place by jumping past local stalwart Kristi Berg. “I am not really easy to push around”, she warns.
Beth would remain in second position for the rest of the race as she and eventual winner Jenny Gaertner pulled away from the rest of the field on the technical turns. Suffering in the heat, just unable to close the gap to the leader, Beth had to work pretty hard to stay away from Kristi, but she managed to finish a minute and a half ahead of her chaser. Taking home a medal and a Redline stocking cap, Beth says she felt “pretty happy for an old lady with a marginal knee and no cross racing last season.”

Julie was psyched for the race as her riding had progressed significantly now that she and Beth were training together. Though Julie’s race didn’t end as successfully as she would have liked, she deserves the award for the gnarliest and toughest racer of the day. On the first lap, she was right up there with the pack until a hard crash on a technically challenging off-camber downhill left her battered and bloody, with deep cuts to her knee and forearm. But despite the mishap, Julie managed to chase back into fourth place – only to flat on the third of five laps. Running to the service pit, she had to search for her spare wheel, then suffer through a slow wheel change; she nevertheless made the fateful decision to carry on to the end.
Once across the finish line, Julie first had to attend to her waiting boys before making her way to the aid station, so the medics could dig the dirt out of her wounds. But while tending to her injuries, she somehow forgot about her overheated body’s need for fluids, and the medical triage thus progressed into treatment for a heat stroke that came complete with shakes and serious wooziness. Thanks to the assistance of various folks with some medical background, Julie recovered without serious consequences, but Beth did take the precaution of driving her and her boys home.

Stay tuned for further tales from the cyclocross season. Team RCR will have Raleigh bikes available for test rides at the forthcoming races; stop by the RCR tent with valid id and your favorite pair of pedals.

Nick Brown
Or How Not to Train for a Mountain Bike Endurance Race
 
When I saw teammates this summer, they always asked “What have you been up to? Where have you been?” And they were good questions because I didn’t spend the winter and spring riding and racing my bike. Instead, I focused on staying active and having fun. I went cross country skiing a ton. I skipped a bunch of racing in May and June to go motorcycle touring, hike across England, and attend the Isle of Man TT. I went to Northwest Tandem Rally and did a very nice overnight bike tour to Harrison Hot Springs.

Really, a great summer.
None of this helps you be a dominant crushing force in bike races.
 
When I noticed the Capitol Forest 50-mile mountain bike race was the next weekend, I waffled for a minute, asked my wife if I could borrow her dual suspension mountain bike, and signed up. I hadn’t raced a mountain bike in well over a year, but I was as prepared as I could be with only a week’s notice.

Carl Hulit and I drove down on Friday night and slept in the grass at the Evergreen Sportsman’s Club. I spent the night listening to howling coyotes and hoping I wouldn’t oversleep. Morning dawned cold and foggy. We met up with Nick Adsero, dropped our bikes in the grass along the dirt road, and lined up for the Le Mans start. The run to the bike went well, and after executing the only cyclocross re-mount of anyone I saw, I was off and pedaling, sitting in about twentieth place as we rolled up the road to the single-track.
 
My plan for this race was to keep moving quickly while avoiding unnecessary exertion until I was on my own, when I would simply ride my own ride. This worked out well. For a while.

The first section of single-track went well, as I moved past some slower riders and generally settled into my groove. The bike felt great, I felt great, and I was looking forward to the day. The first long single-track climbs were a bit of a handful on a long-forked trail bike. I eventually got on top of the bike’s wandering ways, and soon arrived at the first aid station. I grabbed a banana chunk and stuffed a bottle of Nuun in my jersey pocket and was off. Again riding my own pace, happy to let faster riders by me, I dropped the people I was riding with as the trail transitioned to gradually climbing rollers. Soon I was on my own and free to crash as much as I wanted without losing places.
 
With plenty of food and drink on board, I rolled right through the Mile 19 aid station and hit the trail again. I passed a few more people on the single-track climb and really started to move. When we emerged from the woods and began a short fire road climb to the next section of trail, a hand patted me on the back – Mike Rolcik. He and the woman on his wheel moved in front of me and hit the trail first. I managed to hold their wheels for about eight minutes until an overwhelming sense of fire and sluggishness hit my legs. I tried  standing up, shifting gears, and humming party songs to myself, but to no avail. Twenty-five miles into the race, I was cooked. I went from feeling awesome to legs in pain in about five minutes.
 
I kept eating and drinking and doing what I could to keep moving forward while minimizing losses. As tired as I was, I didn’t lose anyone else on the single-track. What killed me was the long fire road climb. It was supposed to be eight miles, but I swear it was more like fifteen. I climbed forever, with each pedal stroke feeling like I was driving the bike through a pool of flaming molasses that was splashing on my legs. Lots of people passed me on that road climb: single-speed guys, Nick Adsero, fat guys with hairy legs. I caught up with Nick A at the Mile 31 aid station, where we were told we were the forty-sixth riders through. Still way up the field, so it wasn’t all bad. I downed some water, a banana and a gel, and kept on moving. 

After a year or two of additional climbing, the course finally dropped back onto the Green Line trail. I reached between my legs and flicked the shock back to “full cush downhill mode” and pointed the Yeti down. As tired as I was, I still passed a few more people on this descent. But I positively crawled up the ensuing small climbs. At one point, I simply got off the bike and walked after I misjudged a root in the middle of a tight, uphill switchback. It was easier, and I didn’t lose any places. I did that a few more times. It felt really good to walk.
 
Before long the trail started to look familiar. I was on the trail we rode out on and the finish was near. I rolled back into the sportsman’s club to sounds of gunfire as the firing range and the trap shooting range were in full Saturday afternoon swing.
 
This was enormously punishing for me, but still really fun. The race was very well organized, and the other participants were all really nice and supportive. The overall atmosphere was one of friendly competition, where
everyone gets a burger and a beer at the end. This is my kind of racing, and I need to actually train for it next year.

Carl Hulit

My race felt similar to Nick’s, if a bit further up the field. The Le Mans start demanded a good long run, probably two minutes or so which got the heart racing, but thanks to strategic bike placement and some effort I was in the front group going up the fire road, and I was able to hit the single-track in second place. The eventual winner set a faster pace than I thought prudent, and he soon left me behind to pace the chase group. I set a moderately hard pace through most of the first climb until a spinout while crossing a fire road put me back into the middle of a group of six riders.

After the climb, we entered some nice wooded single-track where I could recover; the two riders in front let me and a few others by, and I opened up the pace again. I worked to keep this solid pace until about halfway through the second big climb around mile 20, when I let Matt Lynch and Trevor from team Mafia go by, with the intention of following wheels for a while. My body had other ideas, so Matt and Trevor were quickly up the road; I started to bonk when the pitch steepened a few miles later, and two more riders came by.

I hit the fire road in sixth place and started to cram down as much of my pbj and gatorade as I could while suffering up the hills. Halfway up the neverending road I was cramping badly, and yet another rider caught me as I was dreaming of beer and ibuprofen to make the pain stop. When the Green Line descent finally came, I rode conservatively down the trail to minimize mistakes, and the constant jarring actually eliminated the cramps. I caught one rider back at the bottom of the hill, and set about trying to drop him on the remaining rollers and climb, blowing through the last aid station on the memory that it was close to the finish. I was running on fumes, just trying to keep the pedals turning as fast as possible through the last climb in the knowledge that I had riders on my tail.

With one mile left, I was out of water and food. I came off the single-track onto the finishing road and briefly relaxed, glad to see the trail markers indicating the end was near. But as I was rounding the final corner I noticed a rider closing on my tail, so the chain jumped down the cogs and I threw everything I had left into the final sprint, crossing the finish line to collapse onto the grass.

I was able to hold out for a sixth place, lower than I had hoped for but still requiring lots of suffering, and I knew I’d given up all I had to give. Like Nick, I find this racing very enjoyable, and I spent most of the afternoon eating, drinking beer and hanging out with fellow racers. Maybe next year I will be back on the real training plan so I can make the hurt end sooner.

Nick Adsero

I took the first thirty miles fairly easy before starting to push hard over the last twenty. I was passing a lot of the fast starters and moved into thirty-something place. With ten miles left, I went for it and started picking up quite a few spots. With my Garmin showing forty-seven miles down, I was coming close to Mike Rolcik, and I’d moved up into a placing in the mid-twenties. But with less than a mile to go, I took that last right when I should have gone left, and that started me on the first loop again. Since my Garmin was off by a couple of miles, I didn’t know I was off on another loop.

To shorten a long story, I did sixty-six miles and lost 120 places. It was my fault for getting too pumped up at the end and not paying attention to where I was. That made it a long and very hard day.