Cross Worlds

Day 1 of Elite Cyclocross Worlds is over and the Juniors and U-23's put on quite a show. I had a personal interest in the U-23 race as I know the 2 guys from the USA. I might actually have to get up early tomorrow, yup, way early at 4am, for the Women's race. After that I might have to take a nap until the Men's race at 8am.

Zach had a good ride after starting way back

Lyne from PodiumInsight is covering the race.

A few of the Rapha Focus crew enjoying some of the local snacks.

Sand, sand, and more sand,

Better go to bed soon, it's going to be a short night.

Cyclocross Worlds

Cyslocross World Championships are this weekend, gotta get up early to catch the races live streaming on the computer. I'm pretty excited to watch as there are Americans in every race that have a good chance of a top 5 or even a podium.

Euro Pro road races are in swing in the warm climates.

I'm ready to roll, just have to remember that it's still January.

One season ends and another begins

The cyclocross season has just ended here in the USA and even though there are a few more races and the World Championships in Europe, cross is essentially over. Now that we have adopted the euro version of cross the season now lasts until the middle of January. It's kind of funny that last Sunday I was watching the first Pro Criterium of the season on TV. That's right, like Pro sports  baseball and football here in the States, the euro road season has begun before the euro cross season has ended. The Santos Tour of Australia has started and soon the racing here in the states will start as well.

It will be fun to watch the last World Cup race this weekend and Worlds the following weekend. All of the top Americans are in Europe and good results should follow. It will be fun to watch both the road and cross races.

It was kind of slick for the Women's race at last weekends World Cup race. Kate Compton crashed as well as many others.

It was cold at the cross races but it was something like 105 degrees in Australia!

Dean ended the year with  two 4th place finishes, all ways an inspiration.

By the way, if you are looking for TV coverage and can find VERSUS, that's because in now called the NBC Sports Network.

Masters Worlds

J-Pow in his new USA National Champions Jersey. Pretty sweet st see Zach in one as well!

It was pretty nice in Madison for Nationals but Worlds in Louisville is getting the weather instead. Brrrrr.......

As much as I'm bummed at missing Worlds the reports of all the running is making it easier to take. Power and running would be rough.

I can honestly say that this looks like fun!

Firefighter Curly, the uniform is a little big but you get the idea.

I was watching the Elite race live on the computer and the barriers pictured are at the top of a hill. Bunny hopping barriers takes speed so this had to be tough.

As for Masters Worlds, yesterday was the qualifying races for most of the people I know. So far everybody has ridden well and will have good start positions in tomorrows finals. Brad Cole races for the World Champions Jersey today and then the rest have a go tomorrow. Wish there was a live feed to watch but Joan is doing a good job with twitter updates during the day.

Cross Nationals

So Cross Nationals has come and gone with none of the issues with the cold and snow that people thought there would be. Madison WI had a unusual warm spell and no precipitation made the conditions perfect for the races. I was pretty much stuck to my computer for 4 days getting twitter updates from podiumInsight just to keep up with the races. Riders from the KC area as well as the Nebraska riders all had great rides and showed the strength cross in the Midwest. The KCCX crew once again pulled off a podium finish and a number of top tens.

The Men's Elite race was by far the most exciting race of the weekend. All of the top riders were at the front of the race duking it out for the win. Watching Zach Mcdonald pull the hole shot, then crash, then chase back on to the lead group was amazing. Then J-pow finally attacking near the end for the win was fun to watch.

This week is Masters Cyclocross Worlds in Louisville, KY. I was going to make the trip just to watch but decided to save money and stay home. Quite a few of the Midwest crew have made the trip. How cool would it be to have one of them bring back a World Champions Jersey!

Probably one of my favorite pictures from the weekend. Tim Johnson congratulating his ex-teammate on finally winning a National Championships. No matter how much the press plays up their rivalry they still have a good time!

The start of the U-23 race, McDonald on the front and Fish a few back. Zack would end up winning by 2 minutes.

Brad had a podium in the 30-35 race. Great effort in  race stacked with really fast riders.

One more day before Worlds begins, better get some work done!

Cross Nationals Week

It's now half way through the Cyclocross National Championships and I'll have to admit that I'm finding it hard to sit at home and follow along on the computer. Various factors have led me to end my cyclocross season early and even though I know I made a good decision it sure looks like fun! On the positive side I've been home for end of quarter/end of year at Mathgeek work. She has to put in long hours at work so we didn't have to hire a nanny to stay with the boys while I was off racing like we thought we would. Even better is the weather in KC the past week. Unseasonably warm weather has made getting back on the bike pretty easy to do. The slow build up to the road season has begun and even though I'm fat and slow it feels good to ride again.

The KC crew had a good run the first few days of Nationals with quite a few podium places, hope that continues today with the bulk of the masters men racing. Good luck to the KCCX, Ethos, and of course the Nebraska guys.

Not unhappy about missing the railroad tie stairs. It looked like quite a bit of running the other day in the Masters 50-54 race.

Steve Tilford won my category again this year, that makes it something like 6 times or so. Looking at the results I probably could of done pretty well.

Dean Parker had a great race and was on the podium with a 4th place. Finally a podium after a couple of injury prone years. He continues to show the younger guys that you can still go fast in your 60's!

On the other end of the spectrum is Karen Brockett. I've been watching her develop as a rider for the past few years and this year she has really come a long way. She placed 9th in the Junior Women 17-18 category against some tough competition.

What I find interesting is that my coach, Adam Mills from Source Endurance, coaches both of the above athletes. I think it shows real coaching skills to be able to develop training plans for people of all age groups. If you have never used a coach you have no idea how many factors come into play in developing a training plan, or how many times that plan has to adapt to changes in the athletes life. It's pretty easy to notice the change in results when a rider goes from just riding around to using a coach and having a plan.

The climb up to Wyandotte County Lake park, climbing sucks at this point for me. It's amazing how much fitness you lose when you are off the bike for a month.

I went for a long ride with Joe and Adam on the 65 degree day last week and it was awesome. Hard to believe that it's January but I'll take it for now. It would be pretty weird to have a winter with no snow......but we still have a month or so to get some.

This one is for Grampa, all most forgot about the end of the semester at the boys school. Both did well and Curly just missed the all A honor roll. I'll take the A-B honor roll any day. JoBro is finding Middle school tougher to adjust to but he just missed A-B. No worries, he's finally finding his way which makes Mathgeek happy. It's tough to please a former college professor/teacher but at least they have their own tutor in house.

Back to checking out race results while I do chores around the house. Numbers are due at work for Mathgeek today, I might even get out for a ride today!

Time to get started

I guess it's time to get back on the bike. Today the kids went back to school after their winter break so I have time to ride. I was pretty fired up to ride when I got up and then I walked Curly to school, jeez, it's pretty cold out there. Now I'm going to wait a bit for it to warm up. Weird how the motivation comes and goes when you don't have a plan for the day. Oh well, I've got some pictures from last weekends race. It was super nice out so the boys and I went out to watch since Mathgeek had to work.

This picture is from last weekends race in Chicago. This was a UCI race and once again it looks like the promoters didn't get enough power washers for the pits. There is nothing more important than power washers for muddy races. It's incredibly frustrating and stressful for the mechanics to have to wait forever to wash the bikes.

Kelly in Chicago, the team wasn't there so thanks goes out to SRAM and Jose for helping her out.

My attempt of a kind of artsy photo of Shadd.

Bill on a downhill off camber.

Josh making up time from a poor start, pretty much went from last to 3rd. JoBro in the background taking pictures.

Definitely windy out at the races. JoBro and Curly doing their best Titanic poses in the wind.

So this week is Cross Nationals in Madison, WI. It's a little tougher than I thought missing the race this year but that's the way it goes. Kind of on the fence about going to Louisville to watch worlds. Another opportunity popped up that looks more appealing so I may spend my money on that instead.

Good luck to the folks heading off to Madison for Nationals!