Fort Steilacoom SCX#4 Race Recap by Terry Davis

Ft. Steilacoom SCX#4 – What happened to the run-ups?

Sunday found Seattle Cyclocross down in the south-end at Ft. Steilacoom. This was the third cross event held at the park so far in 2009. The morning started off very cold with frost on the ground and on my roof before leaving for the race. However, the temperature raised enough to make racing comfortable for the first race at 9:15 am.

For this race, the SCX course doctors chose to skip the major Knapp Time run-up due to conflicts with walkers along the lake trail. They instead opted to make the course flat, fast, with a couple long ride-able climbs up to the top end and water tower. Once at the tower they directed us onto the fast trail down to the flat grass north of the barns. For me this choice by the course designers was disappointing. I’ll explain; since I flatted out of my first race attempt at Ft. Steilacoom and I didn’t get to experience the fun, I was hoping to take it on. I was also hoping to use it to make up some time as I’m faster with a good run-up. However, that plan didn’t happen and I was again struggling to keep-up with the speedsters in the grass.

TAI results on Sunday:

9:15 am Masters 35+ Cat 4 (63 starters)

20th Bob McGee (8:20 avg lap)

31st Chris Liebsch (8:30 avg lap)

43rd Terry Davis (8:46 avg lap)


11:00 am Women 3 (22 starters)
20th Jenn Sinclair (9:42 avg lap)


12:10 pm Masters 35+ Cat 1/2 (29 starters)

6th Matthew Lynch (7:17 avg lap)

10th Jim Albright (7:21 avg lap)


2:30 pm Men Cat 4 Group A (34 starters)

16th Bob McGee (8:16 avg lap) – 2nd race of the day and faster than the morning session



Well, next weekend I was looking forward to MFG’s event on Saturday at Lincoln Park in Seattle, but if you haven’t heard the City of Seattle Parks Dept. cancelled their permit due to 2 complaints. They are scrambling right now to find an alternative venue, so say a prayer so we can keep our local double header weekend. SCX is showcasing another new venue on Sunday at Marris Farms out in Buckley. This is the home to the haunted forest. Given it will be the day after Halloween, I expect it to be a scary experience. I’m betting I get my run-ups back.

See you at the races.

Terry D.

Photos taken by Joe Martin

SCX#3 Silver Lake 10/18/2009 Race Recap by Terry Davis

Battle at the Beach II: SCX style!!

This week Seattle Cyclocross debuted another new venue to the cross community: Silver Lake @ Thorton A. Sullivan Park in Everett, WA. This was race #3 in the series and proved to be one of the most technical courses so far in 2009. I’ve missed the first two SCX races, so I was very excited to get out there and take part.

Despite the hard rains all week, especially Saturday, the park absorbed most of it and didn’t leave us much mud to play in. However, SCX course doctors (Dan Norton, Wick, and crew) took it in stride and used every other element available in the park to produce a hum zinger course. These elements included a long beach w/ deep sand traps, little steep run-ups down chutes, off-cambers, long hills, and lots of grass. The weather was perfect after the morning produced some early showers to wet everything down. By race time at 9:15am all rain was gone and it was just nice cool cyclocross weather to keep us cool as we were dying throughout the park.

Attached here is a copy of my Garmin record so you can see how this course fit within this small park along the lake. The fun started off in the south end of the park at the top of the short park access road that ran right in front of the team tents and the finish line for the first time. At the end of the pavement, we experienced sand trap #1 that added a bit of excitement for the spectators. They got to enjoy watching us racers surviving, crashing, or performing a great endo as the tires dug deep into the sand. For this race start, there were no guarantees of keeping that earned hole-shot. Once through sand trap #1, next we headed north across the long beach comprising sand trap #2. The choice here was to either run the beach on the left side or make it to the water’s edge to ride the majority before bogging down at the far end. After exiting sand trap #2, we climbed up the northern limits of the park with a small run-up and some long straight away sections before dropping back down to sand trap #3. This one brought you back down to the southern part of the park and across the upper end of the beach again. This one was able to be ridden, but if you miss judged it you again bogged down easily forcing a run. Now that the sand pits were done, next they added in two long and steep climbing sections throughout the south-end before coming back around to the park access road to do it all over again. The decision making process on the hilly sections included knowing when to ride or run the little steep hill sections. Due to traffic around me, running ended up being much faster for me.


This was a great spectator course that provided multiple views of the course from one primary area. For the participant, this course really tested their skills. One of the others racers summarized it perfectly afterward; “You couldn’t take your mind off any turns in this one.”

For Team TAI, we had a handful of members racing today. It appeared everyone made it through with no mechanical impacting their races. In the morning races, Chris L and I took on the Cat 4 Masters 35+ race. Out of 75 starters, Chris ended up 25th (10:00 avg lap) and I came in 35th (10:27 avg lap). Dan DeYoung and Francisco P. started 30 seconds behind us in the Cat 4 Masters 45+ race. Out of 50 starters, Dan finished 12th (9:43 avg lap) and Francisco finished 16th (10:11 avg lap). In the Cat 3 womens race at 11:00 am, Jenn Sinclair finished 18th (11:45 avg lap) out of 23 starters. Finally at 12:10 pm, Jim Albright and Matt Lynch raced in the Cat 1/2 Masters 35+. Matt finished 4th (7:50 avg lap) and Jim finished 16th (8:19 avg lap) out of 31 starters.

Great job everyone, way to power through this one!

Next weekend, there are two options available. There is Silly Cross in Bellingham on Saturday and SCX at Ft. Steilacoom. I’ll be out at Ft. Steilacoom. Have a great week and we’ll see you at the races. ~Terry Davis

Photo of Dan DeYoung #401 compliments for Andrew's House of Bytes
Photos of Jim Albright and Matt Lynch compliments of Joe Martin

RunningShoes.com MTB Duathlon Race Report by Troy Hopwood

Here's a race report of a different flavor.

While it's cross season for many, myself included, I decided to take a trip up North and give the Runningshoes.com mountain bike duathlon a whirl in Bellingham. I'm new to running so I really didn't know what to expect. The event consisted of a 5k run, 10k bike and another 5k run.

The weather was gorgeous, though very cold. It was hard to get warmed up to start, but the cooler temps were welcome towards the end of the race.

The race started with a counter-clockwise run around Lake Padden in a mass start of 90+ participants. Before the race I was noticing just how fit everyone looked. Obviously it wasn't just for show as I was quickly off the back of the runners. I managed to pick off a couple stragglers, but it was less than impressive.


Then came the mountain bike section. I have never felt so good on a bike in my life. After the transition it simply felt effortless. I easily passed 20-30 riders on the bike leg and had a blast doing it. The bike leg was on the same course as the Indie Series race so it was a phenominal course.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and it was back to running. I managed to hold off most everyone I passed on the bike which was a surprising moral victory.

In the end, I finished 12th in my category and 61st overall.

If you haven't tried a duathlon, I can't recommend it enough. I had so much fun that I'll be seeking out every one I can find. The day was encouraging since this was only the 12th run of my life.
`Troy Hopwood

Scc#2 Beverly Park 10/11/09

I thought Beverly was an excellent venue, a new course from Seattle Cyclocross. It was one of the best spectator courses I've seen. The one hill on the site was put to great use with a run up to start the race, about 20 yards over from that was a cool grassy downhill section which made a lot of people stop and gawk during warm ups, then back up on a rideable slant across the hill, then across the top and around the side of the hill to another tricky little uphill section, and finally a drop down a gravel path to the running track and into a maze of yellow tape all around the track and through the infield.
After the SCX race I had a cheeseburger from the vendor at the race, that was one of the best cheeseburgers I've had in ages...almost worth showing up to the race just for the burger. ~ Chris Liebsch


I was at this event and it was great. The course was very fast. There was short "run up" and a couple of short, steep climbs & descents. the rest of the course was fast straight aways and sharp corners. The course was well laid out with opportunity for fast cornering. ~ Ron Collins



Team TAI Race Results:

Men Cat 4 Master 35+ (4 laps)
Chris Liebsch 24th out of 76 (8:18 minute laps)

Men Cat 4 Master 45+ (4 laps)
Dan DeYoung 10th out of 48 (8:21 minute laps)
Francisco Pons 15th out of 48 (8:36 minute laps)

Women Cat 3 (6 laps)
Jenn Sinclair 15th out of 19 (9:28 minute laps)

Men Cat 1/2 Master 35+ (9 laps)
Matt Lynch 14th out of 25 (7:16 minute laps)

MFG #4- Ft. Steilacoom Cross Clash 10/10/09

So far MFG seems to be gearing their courses to the high speed crowd. On Saturday's race I averaged a screaming 15 mph. My typical races are more on the order of 11 to 12 mph. That doesn't sound like a big difference, but when you're out there you can definitely tell you're cruising faster than in a typical cross race. It's cool having two different race coordinators with SCX and MFG in that they both put a slightly different spin to how they setup their courses. ~ Chris Liebsch

Team TAI Race Results:

CAT 4 Master Men 35+ (23 racers)
6 Bob McGee
11 Chris Liebsch

Cat 3 Women (7 racers)
7 Jenn Sinclair

Junior Boys 10-12 (7 racers)
7 Daniel McGee

2009 CrosstoberFest 10/3/09 Race Recap by Chris Liebsch

This years Crosstoberfest was held at North SeaTac. The weather was fantastic for my 9:30 race, just a little cool, partly cloudy, and dry. Ragnarok did a great job with the course incorporating a good dose of single track, some short road sections, a half lap around the running track, a steep downhill followed by a quick U-turn to a sandy run up, and then about a mile later another run up up some railroad tie stairs.

A nice twist which only happened in my race, the 1st of the day, was the creation of an accidental figure 8 crossing between two waves of riders. On the 1st lap I came out of the woods to cross a road, and streaming by in front of me was the womens wave just 100 yards off the start line. I had to pause a few seconds for a break before darting through the wave to continue my race. From their curses, I could tell the course crew was a bit miffed, but I found it rather amusing.

Personal note: This is my 3rd year of cyclocross. The results of my 1st and 2nd year were almost identical. I would typically beat about 1/3 of the field in Cat 4 masters men 35+. My goal for this season was to break into the top 50% of the field. With this race I met that goal, placing 7th out of 24 (really...I did....if you check out the results, that unattached guy in 7th place, Chris Liebsen, is really me). Due to the name mix up I had to race again the following day to try and get my name officially in the top 50%. I was fortunate and had another good race at Lake Sammamish placing 23rd out of 68 with the correct team and name listed in the books. Now, with races every weekend through December, my goal now is to try and maintain this level of fitness.
~Chris Liebsch

TAI Race Results:

Master Men 4 35+ (4 laps)
7 Chris Liebsch

Starbucks Gran Prix 10/04/09 Race Report by Terry Davis

“Battle at the Beach”

This Sunday found a number of TAI members racing cyclocross out at MFG’s third race of their inaugural season. The weather was perfect with hardly a cloud in the sky. The temperature was in the 40s as the racing started about 9:30 am, but it kept rising throughout the day to end up in the 60s. The morning dew was out in force making the course rather slick for the warm-up and early racing. It ended up producing a couple nice slick spots throughout the course. The promoters touted that this course as very fast with a severe beach crossing mixed in to compensate for the lack of hills. The description was dead-on as you will read about below.

I arrived around 8:00 am with cheering squad, my wife and daughter. They are the best support crew putting up with my tunnel focus before the race. They are so patient.

THE COURSE (http://www.mfgcyclocross.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Starbucks_Course.jpg): The overriding majority of the course was flat bumpy grass. Someone called it “grass-criterium” racing, but with lots of semi-wide 180 turns and off-camber sections throughout, it ended up being a very challenging cross course. They started things off on the eastern section of the park around the Hydro pits. Once they got us over to the western side of the park heading toward the beach, they threw in some nice quick off-camber turns over 5-ft high mounds of dirt with nice trees roots involved in a lot of them. One of these quick turns added a little fun due to the S-style through two trees and a steep pitch before the second turn on the other side. In traffic this section slowed the pack severely, but once things opened up, it proved who had bike handling skills and who didn’t. Enough about turns, bring on the heart of this course “THE BEACH.” The entrance to the Beach was at the course’s farthest western point in the park. They set it up making a sweeping right turn with a big step in the middle of the turn to get down into the sand. The step killed any initial momentum you had, so I figured after my first attempt at it that I would be better off dismounting and running the entire beach. I love cross, it always offers options for the riders with pros and cons associated with each choice. In this case, the option was to run your bike in a straight line across the beach or you could ride 90% of the way along the seawall with a couple sections of dismounting. For me, the straight line option worked the best. However, as I said there were pros and cons. I found I beat the riders taking the seawall tactic by a number of bike lengths, but the running killed my legs, so they caught up shortly thereafter on the straightaway before the finish line. After the beach, they brought us back to the overall course design, grass with lots of turns and a set of barriers. I especially loved the very sharp 180 turn just before getting back onto the start/finish stretch.



For the Masters 35+ Category 4 race, TAI had Bob McGee, Chris Liebsch, and myself working it and Francisco Pons racing in the 2nd wave for the Masters 45+ race. The race was advertised as 30-minute, but it ended up almost a 40 minute race for me as I was 5 minutes off the winning time. Given the flatness of the course, I knew this was going to be an interesting race for me, but overall I think I did pretty well. This type of course favors the “Power” riders and I’m just not there yet. However, what was interesting was that as I got passed by the speed guys on the flats, I found myself catching them through the technical turns and off-camber sections. So, if I could have recovered faster and had more on the back half I think I could have moved up. Oh well, it is back to the training grounds and more pain for me.

In the Masters 35+ race (68 riders deep) TAI members finished 21st -Bob M, 23rd -Chris L. and 41st for myself. As for Francisco P in the 45+ race, he finished 10th after catching and passing me. Great job Francisco!

According to the results the only other TAI member racing was Matt Lynch who finished 14th in the Category 1-2 Masters 35+. Matt, I can't even imagine how fast that race was; WOW very impressive!

I’m out next weekend as my wife and I celebrate our 16th wedding anniversary. Have fun either at MFG Cross Clash on Saturday or SCC Beverly Park on Sunday.

~Terry Davis



Pictures of Bob McGee on the beach and Chris are compliments of Joe Martin.