The end of Bend

Two days of racing. Lots of yelling. Fast people. Bikes. Cake. Yeah... great weekend.

 

While not as cold as it could have been, still not especially warm. Fortunately the fire pit started early and lasted all day.

Also I inevitably had to fix some bikes. New rule: only go to bike races to work. Otherwise it just feels unnatural. Perhaps I have a problem.

The guys from Rapha clothing brought their espresso machine down from their Portland headquarters. Free espresso for all!

(Bike nerd aside: of course they had a Chis King espresso tamper. It's just to the left of the machine)

Also spotted. Not sure how or why, but it seems there was at least one last ride in the team car. Don't know that we'll see this much more, if ever.

Ryan Trebon. 2nd place, he's always one to give high fives on the line.

Tim Johnson taking the win with a big solo break Sunday.

Afterwards I got a chance to congratulate Stu Thorn (Cannondale/Cyclocrossworld.com Team Mechanic) on a very successful weekend for this team.

Hodola! and Katerina Nash after the women's race. It was her birthday on Sunday, so we all got together to sing her way into the finish line. This picture originally appeared on Velonews.com. My left arm got a cameo appearance (left side of the pic).

It was great to get to see the high level of all apects of the weekend. From racing to support to the fans yelling on the side of the course. Big thanks to Recycled Cycles racing, Hodola!, Canada, Bend, and all those people who made the weekend such a blast.

 

 

Three dudes in a house

No, not a new crappy CBS sitcom, my current existence. At least for the weekend. I have returned to Bend for the final stop on the US Grand Prix of Cyclocross. Not really working, but getting a chance to hopefully see the top level cross mechanics doing their thing.

 

Somehow I ended up packing a large amount of stuff for a weekend. Or so it seemed at 530 am when I took this picture. I am thankful for the extra layers. It is not warm here.

On the way, we had some interesting van issues. We ended up replacing a van part in the parking lot of the dealer. Lots of fun.

 

 

Also I discovered that there are varying opinions about Portland. I think its a fine town (where young people go to retire) but apparently not everyone in this bathroom had the same view.

Then there was snow. We took the least snowy mountain pass, but still a good amount of snowy trees. Also mist. This picture does not do justice to how beautiful the pass was. Probably because I took it from the back seat of a van.

Despite the van trouble we got to Bend in time for pre ride of the course. The pit. Kind of like a battlefield the day before the battle.

 

There was no good place for this picture in this post, but it had to be included. The night before I left Nick decided to threaten the dog with a bath. She did not seem too excited about this prospect.

 

 

More from Bend very soon.

 

The end of cross season

Very sadly my cross season has come to an end. There was a good showing today with Steve and Adam taking the top two spots on the podium in Monroe. For those of you who have seen me during the cross season you may have noticed that my beard had grown in quite a bit. So in honor of the end of the season and also the end of Movember I thought I would shave in a more interesting fashion than usual.

 

The beginning.

 

One look. Not sure its for me.

 

Skeptical. But really some good Movember action.

Well. Short lived, but still a good time. Alright, facial hair now ready for road season.

 

 

 

Oh Canada

As our penultimate journey of the cross season the Hagens cross team headed north of the border for the BC Grand Prix of Cyclocross.

Breakfast at Steve's house. Pancakes (banana and gluten free, very delicious), eggs, coffee, and a Belgian cross race. Turns out bike racers are also big bike racing fans.

We arrived at the venue pretty early and got to enjoy a bit of local interest. This is another in the ongoing photo series: people taking pictures of the van.

But, I mean, it did look good.

However it was also a bit cold and very windy. What does that mean? Pre ride laps for the guys = snack and reading time for me. Man, bike racing must be hard.

 

And to business. If you're wondering why that bike in foreground looks so big...it is. Jesse Reams, Hagens road team alum and Vancouver resident, came down to hang out and race some cross. You may also recognize the moose under his saddle from previous posts.

All the effort pays off! Thats Steve on the podium at this UCI event. Adam also finished in the top 10 so lots of UCI points won on the day. If not for being crashed out by someone I have a sneaking suspicion Steve would have been a bit higher on those steps. They also referred to him at one point as a rider "from South of the border". Totally different meaning in Canada.

In the attempt to do something else Canadian while we were there, post race lunch at Tim Horton's. I was told by a Canadian in the pit that this is not a good thing to do, perhaps this is not the fine dining establishment I thought it was.

(Note: for some reason I was the only one in my group given a plastic spoon)

To end the post: it seems that Canada mostly dodged the worldwide economic downturn, recession, whatever you want to call it. But inflation will happen to everyone. Sorry "Dollar Giant" but $1.25 seems high to me.

 

 

Ft. Kirsten

Despite the fact that bike races are fun and exciting times, that doesn't mean that the bike shop does not have it's moments of greatness. Case and point: when our helmet order came in, we felt the need to build a nice quiet place for Kirsten to work. Dubbed: Fort Kirsten.

A quick video walk through of the fort.

The view from the desk. Still roomy and very usable.

And this is what you see walking into the office.

Is that a sign above the tunnel?

Yup.

 

Fortunatley Kirsten is a benevolent overloard.

 

And we have....RAIN!!

It is my understanding that cyclocross happens in places, southern California for example, that do not see a ton of rain. This seems a foreign concept to me seeing as perhaps one of the most exciting and defining characteristics about northwest cross is mud. Lots of mud. Fortunately this weekend was kind enough to oblige.

 

The view from the FSA tent. Standing water as well as some good mud.

Tre getting one of the Hodala! team bikes ready for the singlespeed race. You can also tell by the fisherman's outfit, this is not Tre's first time in the rain.

I even got a chance to rock the hat when it was my turn in the pit.

If you've not seen the effects of mud on cross bikes before. This is the before shot, Hagens Berman riders Steve Fisher and Adam McGrath's bikes ready to go for the Cat 1/2 race.

And the after shot. This drivetrain actually looks pretty clean considering.

 

Plus it was Halloween weekend! Satan does indeed race cross and keeps the pitch fork handy in case anyone gets in her way.

 

Inside the velodrome after the corse tape came down. Really makes it tough to see where the course was. A few volunteers from the Starbucks team cleaning off the track.

I have high hopes that the mud will continue making for some more fun northwest cross. Stay tuned!

Starcrossed!!!

Formerly a UCI race, now just a big local race, but still a very good time. Today was a combo effort for me, mostly with FSA Neutral but with a quick break to pit for the Hagens boys (presented by Raleigh, FYI)

The day started with setting up the pit. This is just one sample, it was a large pit.

Home base. It's very nice wrenching in the lap of luxury.

Also the pit was just down the way. Which is always nice.

 

Oh, and also a view of the course. Even a cool portion of it. This is a new and exciting trend I hope continues.

As we got to the big event, the Category 1/2 race, the spectators came out in force. Lights come on to boot.

My fellow mechanics in the pit.

 

and again. Oh and if you think my camera just takes crappy pictures (aside from the fact that you're correct) the dust was also flying like crazy. Most of the people who raced reported some respiratory issues. Now we're praying for rain.

 

 

Cyclocross: it's for real

After what seemed to be the longest cross pre season in a while, cross now seems to be the biggest racing discipline in the northwest, I got to go out and work MFG #2 at Lake Samamish State Park.

The pit had a very nice view of the east end of the Lake. I think this was the last rider to clear the course before the first race of the day.

Our van was set up right next to the finish line. It made for some great spectating when not tuning bikes or changing flat tires.

 

Looking the other way from the van. Aside from a few sponsor tents, Clif Bar, Bob's Red Mill, and nuun, all of the tents are from different teams represented. There were even a few tents when we showed up more than an hour before the first start. Serious business.

 

And yes I did get a picture of some people actually racing. My view from the pit, similar to a Nascar style, where riders get service while on course. These guys look like they're doing okay.

 

More from Bend, well...not technically

After almost a week in beautiful Bend I'm back home in Seattle. I didn't end up getting a ton of pictures, so the 5 days of racing are getting compressed into one post.

 

Food is one thing that we try to keep in ready supply in the support vehicles. Since the days are long and sometimes not on schedule its good to be prepared. For the morning of the TT we got to enjoy a variety of Safeway muffins. I think apple cinnamon won the day.

The TT course was along a river around Prineville, OR. Very nice scenery. Also, in the morning at least, shade.

 

One of our support cars ready with some spare bikes for the TT. As you may be able to see from the background, we usually start our day pretty early.

Spare bikes ready to go at the TT turnaround.

And not just any spare bikes. USA labeled spares courtesy of Felt.

 

One shot of the actual turnaround. We moved several times during the day as the length of the course changed. We also had varying degrees of success staying in the shade. I think this shot was taken from the shade of a big road sign.

 

This was the first Shimano 11 speed cassette I have held in person. Not currently available to the pubic, but if you're Wayne Stetina I guess it's okay. (Wayne is apparently the highest ranking non Japenese person working at Shiamno. I belive he is in charge of their road line.)

What to do when you have to use the honey bucket but you are also walking your dog? Well I guess you improvise.

 

The view from pit one at the crit. Finish line ready to see some national criterium chapions.

 

The pit. In all its glory.

 

Toolboxes and hats. James' red hat much more prominent than my blue one. A good part of our downtime was spent discussing and comparing various tools in our boxes. There is a lot to learn from other mechanics. I was glad to get a chance to meet a few more.

 

Despite my iPad ownership I'm still a firm believer that using it to take pictures looks really funny. This case, although you can't see it in the picture, is a fine example. Expect more evidence of this as time progresses. Well, that and dogs encountered on the road.