UCVC: First Forays into the Chicago Cyclocross Cup

In honor of this weekend's opening of the Chicago Cyclocross Cup, I am posting photos featuring Thomas Berube, Andrew Nicholson, Pat Kelly, and Jon Tenney from the first UCVC team forays into cyclocross . If you look closely you will find proof that the Ironman will make me skinny, that the XXX-Athletico jersey have improved greatly over the years, cross can be raced with a 3,000-pound mountain bike, and Thomas was, in fact, a racer.

All of the pictures were taken during the 2003-04 season, which I believe was the first season of the Chicago Cup. The first four were taken at the Wheeling race with the remainder taken at Jackson Park. Tenney and Berube had matching bicycles courtesy of Get A Grip Cycles and Cannondale.

Cross Is Here!

The collegiate cross schedule has been posted. Here are the races:

Nov 1/2: Mizzou

Nov 8/9: Michigan Tech

Nov 15/16: Purdue

Nov 22/23: Lindsey Wilson

Dec 14: Nationals in Kansas City

For more collegiate racing info, sign up for the Midwest Collegiate Cycling Conference (MWCCC) group at http://groups.google.com/group/mwccc

Yay for Cross!!!

CX and other blogging continued elsewhere

I am continuing the series of Cyclocross 101 posts on my own cycling blog, Morning Roll, which I just started. In fact, from now on I'll do all my cycloblogging there, except for posts where I specifically write about UCVC, which will remain here. I have also copied all my previous Vélo Café posts to the new blog.

I encourage everyone to keep visiting, posting stuff, and writing comments on UC Vélo Café, and also to visit Morning Roll and to leave comments there too.

Crosstube

Once you're done watching all the great how-to videos Francisco has been posting, you may want to head over to Crosstube to see the techniques in action. I was making a list of the watchable (and it takes more than bad 80's hair band music to make them unwatchable) 'cross videos I could find on Youtube when I stumbled on Crosstube -- it is essentially just that kind of list nicely divided into categories etc.

CX 101 on video: Off-the-bike skills II

1) How to go through barriers in a CX race (by Mickey Denoncourt)

(Velonews.tv has its own video on going through barriers, but as of the time of writing this post, I couldn't play it. Maybe you'll have better luck: How to get through barriers. Click on the "how-to" tab. You'll find this video near the end of the list.)


2) How to run in sand in CX racing (by Mickey Denoncourt)

CX 101 on video: Off-the-bike skills I

So you have dismounted and need to carry your bike: How do you lift it? How do you carry it? How do you drop it back on the ground?

1) How to carry and shoulder your 'cross bike. (Again, click on the "how-to" tab and scroll down to the end of the list of videos.) From VeloNews.

2) How to carry a cyclocross bike on a shallow run. (By Mickey Denoncourt.)

3) How to shoulder a cyclocross bike for a steep run. (Also by Mickey Denoncourt.)

Some weekend CX fun

A seven-minute excerpt of the 2007 Women's UCI World Cyclo Cross Champs. I'll be back on Monday with more educational videos.

CX 101 on video: remounting

1) VeloNews' video is the best I could find. (The guys approach the subject from a, hmmmm, male-centric perspective, but I'm sure everyone can benefit from a smooth remount.)

How to remount your 'cross bike. (Click on the "how to" section and then scroll down to near the bottom of the list of videos.)

2) Mickey Denoncourt didn't do a very good job of making videos about remounting, but here are his two cents anyway:

How to remount a cyclocross bike at a run

How to dismount and remount in cyclocross racing

CX 101 on video: Dismounting II

The first of today's videos doesn't teach a new skill, but brings up an issue that is relevant to those of us who are building a CX bike now: the setup of your brakes.

1) Dismounting II. Part I. Dismounting a bike at speed in CX racing.

I can't explain it better than cyclingnews.com does in its CX section:

Often the brake levers are set up opposite from road bikes, so that the left lever controls the rear brake. This is to allow for better speed modulation during a dismount, where the racer is still moving quickly, has already swung their right leg over the bike and only has their left shoe clipped into the pedal and has their right hand on the top tube (or down tube) ready to lift the bike. Using the left hand to brake the rear wheel allows for a smooth deceleration without the risk of locking the front wheel or making the rear wheel pop up.

Would our in-house CX experts care to chip in with their experience in this matter?

Now a video on how to dismount in sand, which apparently is different from dismounting in other terrains:

2) Dismounting II. Part II. How to dismount in sand from a CX bike.

Let's wrap up the dismounting section with a summary from VeloNews (hat tip to Bernard for directing me to these videos):

3) Dismounting wrap-up from VeloNews. How to dismount your 'cross bike. (Scroll down about two thirds down the list of videos.)

CX 101 on video: Dismounting I

Mickey Denoncourt explains the basics in three videos (watch them in that order):

1) Dismounting I. Part I . Introduction to dismounting and remounting.

2) Dismounting I. Part II. How to dismount a cyclocross bike.

3) Dismounting I. Part III. Doing a step-through technique.

CX 101 on video: more "get-excited" stuff

OK, one more get-excited video and then I'll post some educational material... This one is more about the atmosphere surrounding CX, plus some people talking about the sport.

Cyclocross 101 on video: a prologue

I'm gonna start posting videos about cyclocross, starting with the basics and hopefully proceeding in an organized way towards more advanced stuff. (Warning: this is a learning process for myself too, since I've never ridden a cross bike...)

Watch this first to get excited...

Cross Natonals: Round 1

Devon and I braved the ice storm on Wednesday to make the long drive to Kansas City. Though the roads were in good condition, we drove through the remnants of the storms destruction including over 50 cars off of the sides of the roads. However, when the sun came out the conditions were truly beautiful. The inch of ice covering all of the trees made it look like they had been all dipped in silver while they sparkled in the sun.

Getting up early to pre-ride the course on Thursday, it was in decent condition. They had driven a 4-wheeler over the course to break up the crust of ice so it was mostly riding through ice-cubes. The conditions were quite varied with some mud, a few sheets of ice remaining, bits of snow, and a lot of the cubed icy mix. The course was well designed with a long open paved hill to start then entering the dirt with lots of turns and many challenging off-camber sections that became very slippery as it warmed up and the conditions turned to mud. Just before the finish there were two sets of stair run-ups and a few more tight hairpins before the big open finishing stretch.

Unfortunately, I had a starting position on the last row of about 50 riders as I just registered in the last week that it was available. I thought that the open climb would enable me to gain a lot of ground, but when the whistle blew everyone was going all out to get to the ice in the best possible position. I moved past 10 or 15 riders but my position was still not very good. No matter, I decided that I had to keep making ground early, so I ignored the grooved in line that had been created with the race before and just rode through ice chunks for the first half lap, passing many groups of people. When I passed by Devon and my Dad spectating they yelled that I had moved into the top 20 and I was behind a group of 4 or so more riders. Ahead of that the field was well strung out with the leaders far ahead. Starting strong and in good position makes a huge difference.

After the first half lap I was able to settle into my own pace, pushing hard in the straights and trying to not make mistakes in the corners where the course was either icy or turning to slippery mud. I ended up picking off the riders in the group ahead of me and was passed by one rider late in the race who was a bit faster than me around the corners but slower when we could power. We went back and forth for the last few laps, but in the last lap he was able to open up enough of a gap before the finish stretch so that I couldn't close the gap and come around (though I still gave it all I had to make him work a bit for it at the end). Overall the conditions made the course very challenging, but it was a fun race to try push myself and learn to handle my bike on new surfaces. Pushing through mud for 45+ minutes is always a challenge.

The temperatures rose later in the day turning the course into a mix of soupy mud and grass and causing ice to rain down from the trees that it had been covering. It will be interesting to see how the course holds up to 2000 racers over 4 days. The weather is now calling for 4-6 inches of snow tomorrow before we race again on Sunday. Up next for us is watching my brother compete in the 13-14 race today and my dad compete in the 50-55 race on Saturday. Sunday Devon races first in the Collegiate Women's race followed by me in the Collegiate Men and Devon finishing off the day in the Elite Women.

Update on Cycling Team Members at National Championship of Cyclocross

Aspen Gorry came in 14th in today's Men's B race. He was 4 minutes behind the winner, Ryan Knapp, who has previously competed as an elite rider (usually Pro or cat 1) at some USGP races. Aspen should be proud of doing so well in a category traditionally patrolled by circling, carrion-eating, sand baggers :).

Next up, collegiate races for Devon (racing for Team Get A Grip Cycles) and Aspen on Sunday, and the elite race for Devon on the same day.

CX Continued...

To add on to Claus' blog... We had a great turnout this weekend at Montrose.  It was great to see Claus out for his first 'cross race (in the snow!).  I think he was the only one out there riding with toe clips which does not make getting on and off your bike easy.  Yet he still came in 3rd in his race - way to go Claus!  

Jeremy was out for only his second race.  I think we have him hooked (although once you try cross, it is hard not to be hooked).  Unlike his first race, he went out nice and steady and then passed people the whole race.  Aspen and I were watching the race from a slippery corner... it was a fun place to watch because half the people wiped out or nearly wiped out on the corner, but Jeremy was one of the few riders to discover the outside/less slippery line... he's a smart one!!

Another 'cross newbie this season is Liam.  His bike looks more and more like a 'cross bike every race!  Despite the fact that he has been carrying around the heaviest bike all season, he's been crushing the competition.  After winning a 4b race handily this season he's moved to 4as and is consistently placing in the top of the field.  Next year we may get him on a 'cross bike... the competition better watch out!

We also had a host of veterans show up this week.  In the 30+ race, Patrick started the day off for the UCVC crew in his first of two races (thats a lot of hill runups in one day!).  Then Joel, Tim, and Thomas gave a stong showing for UCVC in the 40+ race... despite a couple wipeouts (its hard not to wipe out in the conditions we had on sunday) everyone finished the race with smiles!

Aspen probably gave the most exciting showing of the day.  He lead the race from the start, but had several strong competitors close on his heels.  With a couple laps to go he was in the lead, then out of the lead, then back in the lead, then out of the lead (with only half a lap to go), and then he came around for a big finish and won with quite a large gap behind him!  I think I might have done more running watching his race than in my actual race :)

I too had a good day and owe a huge thanks to the UCVC cheering section that came out to watch.  Carly and Ben were out to see their second 'cross race ever (I think they really want to ride... next year we'll get them on bikes).  Jason braved the cold to see his first 'cross race and got a workout by watching Aspen's race with me.  And Jon, our veteran fan, was out all day not only cheering, but also being a huge help between races.  All in all... a great UCVC showing.

Overall, it was a fun course and fun conditions.  Chicago Cross Cup does great work to bring 'cross racing to our area.  A big thanks from the UCVC for putting on a great series.  

(Pictures from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/seemann/sets/72157603420350389 and

http://www.flickr.com/photos/greeneyesmilw/sets/72157603415846926))