SCX #1 Evergreen H.S. Race Results 9/27/09

Master Men 4 35+
4 Laps
60 Chris Liebsch 35:21 (08:50 laps)
dnf/dns? Bob McGee

Master Men 4 45+
4 laps
14 Dan DeYoung 33:57 (08:29 laps)
15 Francisco Pons 33:58 (08:29 laps)

Boys JR 13/14
1 Derek DeYoung

Women 3
5 laps
16 Jenn Sinclair 49:07 (09:49 laps)

Men 3
6 laps
14 Matt Lynch 44:38 (07:26 laps)

Master Men 1/2 35+
29 Jim Albright 1:01:57 (07:45 laps)

FOCF Super D 9/19/2009

"$45 dollar race, $55 tire=a 2 hour hike down the hill. But I won a xtr rear derailleur, I think it was a charity gift." ~Jeff Osborne


Race Results:

Expert Men (all ages)
12 Allan Beattie 28:28

Sport Women 36+
5 Ann Davis 32:35

Beginner Men 36+
dnf Jeff Osborne (flat tire)

Beginner Women 36+
2 Diana Miller 45:10 (tore thumb ligament in crash)

Junior Boys under 18
5 Mitch Davis 28:22
6 Eric Beattie 30:33

FSA Star Cross Race Results 9/19/2009

Jim Albright "5 Laps to go"


Jim Albright a bit later on the logs again



Race Results:

Master Men Cat 1/2 age 30+
37 Jim Albright (out of 60 finishers and 14 DNF's and 1 DSQ for unsportsmanlike conduct)

Men Cat 4
36 Bob McGee (out of 70 finishers)

Rad Racing Grand Prix Race Results 9/20/2009

According to Velonews "The main course feature of the day was the Knapp 80-meter run-up. The course was routed differently than last year, favoring riders with good descending skills and confidence. Overall the course turned out to be very fast with a few twisting sections and reasonable climbs. Numerous flat sections favored powerful riders."

"Rad Racing = Bad Racing for Terry D.

There is nothing really exciting to report from my race this morning. I flatted out on the back 1/4 lap, into the first lap right after the start and 1st barriers. Only thing positive I can report is that I had a good warm-up. I look forward to hearing how the others did in their races." ~ Terry D.

"While I finished the Rad GP race, my race report isn't much better. I woke up feeling awful. I literally got tired and had to sit down while brushing my teeth. Despite that obvious warning sign, I showed up to race anyway. I had a horrible warm up and never actually got warmed up.

The race didn't go any better. I simply could not push my body at all. I had no speed anywhere in the course and spent the entire race being passed like I was in reverse (perhaps I was?).

The only place I didn't lose time was the barriers. That's the closest I can come to a moral victory.

Chris and Francisco looked good as they blew by me.

I have no idea what was wrong with my body. ~Troy Hopwood


Race Results:

Cat 4 Men
36 Troy Hopwood

Masters Men 35+ Cat 4
30 Chris Liebsch
DNF Terry Davis (flat tire)

Masters Men 45+ Cat 4
16 Francisco Pons

Cat 3 Women
13 Jenn Sinclair

Masters Men 45+ Cat 1/2
2 Jim Albright

Momentum Sports Super D, 9/13/2009 by Chris Bentley

The first of it's kind for Mt Hood. A Super-D that is Sanctioned by USA Cycling. Yes - it's another Downhill event at Mt. Hood, but this is much different than what the Ski-Bowl has been dishing out for us adrenaline junkies the past few years.

Saturday's practice started off slow with not as many showing up as expected. But by the end of the day the event Sponsors were content with over 50+ riders registered. This Super D brought you to a new area.....north of Ski Bowl is actually the South side of the REAL Mt. Hood. We shuttled up our in cushy 12 passenger vans towing flat bed trailers full of bikes all-day to the Timberline Ski Lodge. The start of the trail was right next to the chair lift at 6000' elevation. We then blitzed down 4000' of the mountain in 15-20 minutes. By my 2nd run the timing clocks were established and a rider could then time themselves. I put out about 90% effort on my 2nd run and had a 17:15 time. I told myself I should be trying to break 17 minutes in the race run.

The upper 5 minutes of the course was fast and rocky. However, by the end of the day enough riders had helped to establish good lines that assisted in safely getting down the long sweeping 'S' like sections. The pros probably helped define the course lines the most. Kudos to them! The remaining course then took a right turn and headed west down fun hard packed lines. It was then mostly twisty single/double track trails that were lined with small roots and plenty of flat corners and the occasional turtle shells that could catch your pedals if you weren't careful. The forest was very thick most of the way down and something to remember for sure (if you slowed down in practice to take a glance around).

Come Sunday a.m. the race was off to a great start at 10:15 with 2 minutes between riders. They warned us about a small revision near the bottom and everyone got acquainted with it during their warm up run. This revision would make my goal of breaking 17 minutes more challenging, however. After my start, I headed into the fast upper section with a bit too much adrenaline and had to remind myself that the course was rather demanding and to save some energy for the last couple miles would be smart. I passed 2 riders from another category and finished with a 16:57. Yay...I met my goal and the bike and body held together well. This Super-D went off well and should be much bigger next year.

~ Chris Bentley

Team TAI Race Results:

Men Cat 1 40+
1 Chris Bentley

Photos from the race can be found here. Chris is shown in photos 12,62,63 and 64.

MFG#1- uBRDO Kick off Cross 9/13/2009 by Terry Davis

Yesterday was the kick-off event for this new Seattle based MFG Cyclocross Series. The event was held at Big Finn Hill Park in Kirkland, a new venue for cyclocross racing. The promoters promised a "...fast, competitive racing at all skill levels. . ." and I must say they delivered. The weather could not have been better and the race course was flat and fast. Sunny skies showed the entire day, drying the morning dew for the later races, but it keep the grass wet early in a number of the sharp turnarounds making for fun in the sun.

The course was set-up relatively close to what MFG showed on their website, except for the extra out and back on the eastern set of ball fields. The course offered a lot of grass, asphalt, off-camber sections, quick hard hill climbs, and two single-track sections. The single-track section on the north side connecting to the eastern ballfields did add a chance to shoulder the bike for a short run due to the congestion.

For me, this was my first cross race of the season and I'm very happy with my results despite the fact I experienced two hard crashes (more on that later). Last year my cyclocross results were less than steller. However, this year I now have a cross bike and my goals are to be "an aggressive racer with results ending up in the upper end of the pack." I'm fresh off completion of Cycle-U's cross bootcamp and I'm ready.

The start was on the service road that ran through the park. I got to the line a little late and ended up half way back. Looking around I saw Bob M. up front ready to race. Then just before the start Chris L came rolling up. Off we went heading west towards the west park entrance. They took us on a short course first to help spread us out a bit. Things were speeding along great until we hit the first single-track section that slowed things way down for the main pack. Bob M. mentioned that he rode right through it with no problems at the front of the pack. I found myself finally moving by shouldering my bike and running through the high grass and blackberry bushes to pass a lot of other racers waiting to ride the short sharp hill.. Next, the course served up a lot of fast grass switchback sections before being routed back onto the service road to go through the finish line area. For the full lap we ended up turning south off the service road and riding past the team area towards the only set of barriers on the course. The turn right before the barriers was thick wet grass and according to my wife yielded some nice spills for the spectators. After the barriers we were routed out and around the ball field and soccer field. What was interesting was the race was listed at 30 minutes, but according to my Garmin results we races for nearly 45 minutes. I was actually racing the third lap very hard based on my time, and as we came through I found them ringing the bell for the final lap. This caused me to have to recover a bit before hammering it home.

As I said before, I ended up with two crashes in the race. Both were a product of the slow leak in my front tire. I originally set it up for 35 psi before I headed to the team tent, but at the start line I reached down finding it a little softer than I remember. Crash #1 occurred after I aggressively passed several riders on the service road just before turning onto some rolling off-camber section. As I hit the gravel, I heard and felt my front tire lose its grip. After a last second effort to right the ship, my tire totally gave way and down I went, hitting my left shoulder and head on the ground. I did a quick assessment and nothing hurt, so off I went. It took a little bit to get back my timing again, but I was proud that I didn't give up and keep going. But then I experienced Crash #2. This happened on the last lap and final turn on the service road for the final kick. I was racing hard again, just passed another racer, and I took the corner a bit aggressively to get the good line before starting my sprint. Again, the front tire kicked out and down I went skidding across the pavement on my right side (ouch). So now I have a nice bruise on my left forehead and some nice roadrash on my right side. Lesson learned, tone it back a little bit in the questionable off-camber and hard asphalt areas.

Jenn was out there sporting her argyle socks. What a trend setter she is! I heard the announcer mention several others who are now following Jenn's style of socks.

Bike woes continue to plague Chris L. He flatted on his second lap, but was well positioned in the top 15 at the time. Hopefully the flat is a one-oft occurrence and his new Davidson bike changes his bad luck.

I can't wait to do it all over again, minus the hard crashes, next week at Rad Racing. It sounds like some other members may be racing at Star Crossed on Saturday as well, but I missed the opportunity. Good luck and we'll see you out at the races.

~Terry Davis
Auburn, WA Cyclocross Racer

Team TAI Race Results:

Cat 4 Masters Men 35+
3 Bob McGee
22 Terry Davis
DNF Chris Liebsch (flat tire)

Cat 3 Women
16 Jenn Sinclair

Junior Boys 10-12
10 Daniel McGee

2009 Labor Day Cyclocross Championship Race Recap by Bob McGee

The first race of the season was held today at North Seatac Park. It was a fundraiser put on by A.S.C. Racing.

The weather conditions were great for a cyclocross race. It had been raining on and off for the last 24 hours and overnight there was even a tornado reported in Enumclaw. I was expecting the worst, the Indie Series opener was held at this same venue and it was a major mudfest. Today the course held up very well, for at least the first two races.

I wasn't very prepared for the race ahead of time. We had just returned from spending the weekend in Spokane on Sunday night. I pretty much threw everything into the car this morning and headed out, I even almost forgot the bike. I pulled into the parking lot and was surprised to see how many people were there. I went to sign up for two races, Masters Cat 4 35+ at 9:00 and Cat 4 at 10:00. By the time I pinned my number on, racers were beginning to line up for the start. I went out and rode a quick half lap and went to get lined up. There were 37 racers in my group, I lined up at the back. I was fine with that because I wasn't expecting to do very well. I have not been training much for Cyclocross as I have been spending most of my time doing high mileage road rides. This was going to be a shock to the body. We were told that we would be riding 4 laps. I looked around and didn't see anybody else on the team.

The start was on a slight hill that lasted for about 100 yards and then took a right turn. By the time we reached the turn, I had been able to get past about 15 riders. Just after the turn, we passed the finish line. After the finish line, we entered a grass section that zig-zagged a couple of times and then came to the barriers. The barriers were unusual because they were located on a sharp corner. After the barriers, the course used part of the running track and then back out to some more grass. After a couple more zig-zags through the grass, you came to a large sandy run-up with railroad ties for steps. During the first two laps, the run-ups were a bottle neck and you were running them nut-to-butt with the guys in front and behind you. After the run-up, there was a short paved, slightly downhill section. This ended with a hard right into some muddy single-track. The single-track was pretty tame with the exception of a six inch log across the trail in one spot. I was amazed to see a couple of roadies get off of their bikes and run over it. Someone needs to teach those guys to bunny-hop. The remainder of the course was typical North Seatac. Lap times were around 8 minutes. It was a fun, not very technical course. Passing was easy except in a couple of places in the single-track.

Now back to the racing..... I was able to pick off another 5 or 6 riders before the run-up on the first lap. Things got pretty congested at the run-up. It stayed this way through the single-track. I kept it on cruise control for a while because I had not been able to pre-ride the course. When we crossed the finish line, the announcer said "two laps to go". They had dropped a lap. At this point, I was starting to get warmed up and feeling pretty good. The riders were starting to string out and we could pick up more speed now. I was able to make a few more passes and dodged a couple of crashed riders on the second lap. I was surprised to hear that I was in 14th place with one lap to go. I kicked up the speed to pass a couple more riders before we reached the run up again. I think that I made my best time up the run up on the last lap. By the time that I crossed the finish line I had worked my way up to 8th place. I had done much better than I expected.

I lined up in the third row for the Cat 4 race. I'm not sure how many riders were in our group. We were told that there would be 4 laps. It seemed like I was moving backwards for the first few minutes after the start. My plan for this race was to let the riders string out and get in some good anaerobic interval training. The riders started to string out and I started to push hard on the second lap. Half way through the third lap, I was huffing & puffing, seeing stars, ears were ringing, nose was pouring and I was drooling to top it off. At this point, I typically end up losing control of my bike and falling, and I did just as predicted. I lost the front wheel while braking in some soft dirt in a slow corner and went down. I picked my bike up and caught my breath for a minute and then started riding again. I was passed by four riders while I caught my breath. When I came to the finish line with one lap to go, the announcer said that I was in 18th place. My legs were noodles for the final lap, however, I was still able to catch two of the guys that passed me during my crash and two other riders before the finish line. I ended up in 14th place.

Only 28 more races to go..... It's going to be a great season.

-Bob McGee

Race Results:

Master Men4 35+
8 Bob McGee

Master Men4 45+
5 Dan DeYoung (His first cross race ever!)

Men4
13 Bob McGee (second race of the day)

Jr 13/14 Boy
1 Derek DeYoung (His first cross race ever!)

Women3
15 Jenn Sinclair

Master Men1/2 45+
1 Jim Albright