Posts tagged “cyclocross”  

Our series of irreverent 2010 predictions tweets, included Urban Cyclocross. That’s an alleycat with runups and barriers.

Followers responded that they’d like to see that and promoters are already doing it.

ChromeBagsSF:

Bilenky Cycle Works @bikehugger here you go. Still trying to track down the one we sponsored.

CyclingTexas:

Sounds good to me! In Houston there could be some great courses.

brianchasm:

done. coming again this year in kc

mudandgears:

Dicky aka teamdicky.com had a post up on his site about a race he did a few weeks ago.

porkodio:

Wouldn’t surprise me!

natbaker:

surprised that hasn’t happened yet, actually

altnerd:

urban cyclocross sounds like a good time. If you want help setting one up in Seattle, let me know.

austinon2wheels:

In Austin, we call it alleycross, and due to our pretty light cyclocross calendar have been doing it for several years now.

Photo Uploaded by ©hrisGo. We also predicted that Harajuku rides will displace Tweed. No word yet if that’s happening already.

It was a stunning day both in terms of weather and competition for the 2009 Cross Nationals in Bend, Oregon. With the backdrop of crisp blue skies, competitors took to the field to battle it out for the bragging rights that come along with a national title.

With each day of this nearly week-long race the weather has changed—flurries gave way to snowfall, which gave way to today’s ice-and-must festival. Collegiate men and women provided the most spirited competition and the pro divisions showed just how blazingly-fast one can ride a bike across a mud-strewn course.

The highlight of the course was easily the two-story-tall staircase that claimed just a few victims at its base. Easily one of the best courses in U.S. ‘cross racing the Bend, Oregon event was packed with spectators and massive amounts of cowebells.

Final standings are here.

Click the image below to jump to our collection of images from the race.

Like JZ said, “I do this for my culture.” More photos on Flickr and reports from the Pro race to follow today.

The dudes that are good at it have lots of tattoos …

Note: This post was told to us by Chris Mahan who raced the Singlespeed Cyclocross World Championships on a Specialized Tricross Singlecross. His first report was published yesterday. Chris designs for Novara.

Instead of a qualifier on Saturday, we made friends with Sunday’s combatants and rode a social ride. It seemed like it was all up hill on dirt roads, and it rained harder all the time. A few beers were drunk, as race prep for Sunday.

The race is all hush hush so you don’t get any details until you are there ready to start. A costume is pretty much a must. Best to select one you can ride in. I went with a dark angel with wings and a halo.

“250 riders on single speed bikes passing through Thunderdome”

Coverage from PDX Cross of this weekend’s SSCXWC09 (Single Speed Cyclocross World Championships 2009). It looks like I missed a great time. Next year the race is coming to Seattle so I’ll have to make plans to become pack-fodder.

Highlights included:
- Le Mans Start including a 180degree turn back into oncoming runners
- Golden Speedo for the winner
- THUNDERDOME!

Gallery from PDX Cross and a great write-up at Cyclocross Magazine.

While we recovered from the Mobile Social Worldwide and rode in the Seattle rain, Chris Mahan guest blogged for us at the Singlespeed Cyclocross World Championships in Portland. He rode a Specialized Tricross Singlecross.

As Rock the Bike said, “Diggin the cyclocross nuttiness.”

Chris told us

the Specialized cross tires hooked up in the mud and the bike felt balanced and quick, but seemed designed more for the road than raceday. It’s too heavy for the barriers and the v-brakes just don’t have enough mud clearance. A parts upgrade — wheels, cranks —- would resolve that quickly.

Thunderdome

Please tell us that Master Blaster was in the Thunderdome!

Also see photos from PDX Cross. Chris designs for Novara.

My first Cross bike was a Kona Jake the Snake. I loved it - it was Orange and awesome. The Jake has been in Kona’s lineup for years and is established as a mainstay in the cross scene. Byron sent me home with the 2010 Jake the Snake to put it to the test.

First impressions were pretty good. The blue paint jumps out at you which I like much better than the more “earthy” colors they’ve been pushing of late. I love the looks of the straight-blade carbon fork too. The Mavic Aksium wheelset are proven to be pretty sturdy, so a good choice for a bike you want to push into some tough terrain. The Continental tires looked alright, but I’d heard mixed reviews on them. Shimano 105, KORE Cross brakes, FSA Gossamer cranks. All good to go. I did swap out pedals and saddle because I just couldn’t run SPDs and a WTB saddle. Other than that - the bike was ready to ride.

KORE Streamline Wheelset

KORE Components have been around for quite a while. When I worked at a shop in High School, KORE was the hot setup to have with the Mountain bikers. I guess I always just equated them with off-road kit.

Today, they still make some top-notch mountain bike parts, but I was surprised to see how much really nice looking stuff they had for the road and cross. Their wheels are really nice looking with sturdy looking hubsets and freehubs. Their price point makes them an good alternative to some of the more established players in the area.

KORE I-Beam Seatpost
I spoke with Wick who represents the brand a little about what’s new. I found that they are really excited about the I-Beam saddle system. I’m probably not the right guy to talk about bending rails since I’ve only done it once, but this system all but eliminates that problem.

FYI on Wick: For those of you who have ridden at South or North Seatac in Seattle in the Indie Series or at one of the Cyclocross events there - you probably have Wick to thank. He’s one of those guys who has made Seattle racing and events happen for years.

More on their offerings after the jump…

Some people have New Year’s Day resolutions; I have pre-Interbike resolutions to stop buying stuff. These resolutions usually fail too, because after Interbike I always come away with a wish list of acquisitions. Number one on the list is a Bianchi Cross Concept Carbon frameset.

Cross is quite humbling. It’s a very social yet independent race for most of us. Guys like me are just trying to avoid falling in the technical turns (or just stay on course like Byron).
The humbling bit is seeing the real Pro’s go at it (cool video of the downpour). Pretty amazing. It was dry when I took those corners and I was going WAY slower…and I still crashed 3 times on course.

I was at a social event with Pam and didn’t attend, but the reports are it was a rainy, great night of Cross racing with Heule taking the win. Andrew raced Single and should have a report up soon. While all us of aren’t racing yet, we are secretly cross training.

The course lay out featured long grassy straight-aways with riders going in and out of the Marymoor velodrome. As the weather turned for the worse, bike handling took precedence over power as the off-camber turns slickened with rain. Tim Johnson (Cannondale) went down on the first lap and soon an elite field formed: Page, Trebon, Heule, Troy Wells, and Andy Jacques-Maynes (Bissell) and Jeremy Powers.

More Cross

• on Twitter
• Jonathan Page’s report
• Cyclocross page

Uploaded by MFG Cyclocross | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

At an undisclosed location in Seattle, we are training for Cross. You’ll just see us later in the season. While everyone else is going fast, we’re just getting going.

More Cross.

Getting into bike racing often means having to negotiate protocols and procedures set in place by die-hard veteran racers, but cyclocross is generally non-serious and one of the most welcoming types of bike racing, especially for beginners.

It's almost time for Cyclocross across the country and here in Portland, it's already begun. Portland is often mentioned as the hotbed of cylcocross in the US, with 1200+ racers showing up to every weekend race in the fall. Due to the incredible demand, September is a full-on preseason time to brush up at a skills clinic and maybe even race before the main season begins in October.

We rode to the Labor Day Cross race in Seattle where racers were digging deep like this.

Accelerate, dismount into a sand pit, a few steps, then run up through the pain.

More Cross

• Cross page
• Cross tag
• Photos

We return to Starcrossed in a couple weeks.

Bike Hugger is a member and sponsor of Buy Local Cycling, an Oregon-based team highlighting local bike products and builders.

The team is masters-class cyclocross racers and casual riders. Coming into Cross season, we’ll blog from the Buy Local organized events, including the State Championship.

This Fall, we’re back in the Cross scene. We’ll cover it more with racing and new gear. Also working on our Baryshnikov over the Barriers technique, knowing where the saddle is, and more style.

Last year with produced a series of videos, like this one. See more of them on our Cross collection page and Cross tag.

Across the US, Cross Clinics are on and cyclists are working on their skills like this Team Beer Style Dismount in Portland. Here in Seattle, there’s a season ending crit this weekend and we’re onto practicing with our bad selves. We’ll work on controlling the bike when running and more.

Uploaded by Brujo))) | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

Bikes from Redline, Raleigh, Kona, Giant, Ridley are all available at the Northwest Cyclocross Expo tomorrow at South SeaTac Park.

This is not only a celebration of everything cyclocross, it's an opportunity for riders to look at equipment, talk to manufacturers, and meet racers.

Our Cyclocross coverage will start in September with the first races and full coverage on the Hub. See our Cyclocross Tips page and tags for more. We're back racing Single Speed in 10 and staying the course!

Uploaded by Hugger Industries | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

Byron wanted to get the word out about trying to save the South Seatac venue from future development. It's one of the last close-by mtn bike/cyclocross trails that we have for racing purposes. The short story is show up tonight ~6pm and show your support - and be nice! More detail and the letter from Lisa Miller after the jump.