UTCX#3: Fort Jesse Ventura
It’s funny how a race that is only 1 hour long can have such an effect on you. I’m talking about how long you prep for it, especially when glueing tires is part of the mix. I’m also talking about the time that goes into cleaning your bikes or bikes if you are lucky enough to have a spare, just so you can get on the gas in training and do it all over again. That’s why we love cyclocross, I suppose. The Rev (aka Art O’Connor) has dubbed one of Ogden’s cross venues, Fort Buenaventura, as Fort Jesse Ventura. From this day forward, that’s what I’ll call it. Below is a video put together by Grizzly Adam (Adam Lisonbee) that I think captures the spirit of the day. Plus, if I don’t mind saying so, I rather enjoy the way it ends.
UTCX3 – Fort Buenaventura from Grizzly Adam on Vimeo.
Contender Cyclocross Clinic
Years ago, the X-Men put on the first cyclocross state championship race Utah had seen in a long time up in Park City. Some old time racers said it was the first state championship cx race since the 1970s. Last year, Matt Ohran (promoter of UTCX series) and I were trying to figure out the timelines, because he started his series a couple years after that first race, and he was trying to remember how long he had been doing the series. I think it was around 1994 when we did that first race. There were not many of us, maybe 15 racers total. Cris Fox did cross on his titanium Nuke Proof mountain bike. Pro racer Max Lawson who was racing for Jamis at the time, had some sort of touring bike cobbled together into a cross rig. There was a guy from Park City named Ron, who we all called the Happy Crosser, because we’d see him riding a vintage Alan cross bike all season long on the mountain bike trails.
There weren’t many places to ride cross bikes that weren’t mountain bike trails, so every once in awhile, we used to gather at Sugarhouse Park for “cross practice” which involved riding as hard as we could around the outside of the park and dismounting and running up the steepest hill we could find. Me, Max, Glen Adams, Craig Thomas.
Keep in mind, my memories of these early days of cyclocross in Utah are spotty.
Dr. Cross, (Darrell Davis) has taken that idea of cross practice at Sugarhouse Park, and turned it into a really valuable clinic for first timers, as well as seasoned crossers who need to get out and brush off the cobwebs. He sets up barriers, does some basic instruction and tips, and takes groups of all abilities around the park. It’s important to note, that back when there were only 4 or 5 of us meeting down there, we were riding rogue. Darrell has done a lot to work with the powers that be at this park to ensure a good relationship between us weird bikers and the other users of the park. It’s worth signing up for this season long clinic, even if you only drop in a few times. Check it out:
It’s time again for the Contender Cyclocross Clinic at Sugarhouse park.
http://events.sportsbaseonline.com/CONTENDERCXCLINIC2011/
Notice that as was the case last year, it’s pre-reg only and the price is unchanged.
Cross it up,
-Darrell
Last Chance For Summer Team Kit
Hello fellow X-Men. Once again we are doing a very small reorder on team kit for those who missed out, need a few extra pieces, or turfed it in early season races. If you go to the X-Men Online Store, you will see a few items listed as “IN-STOCK”. These are things that we may have ordered one or two too many of, and the pickens are pretty slim. For PRO LINE bibs and jerseys (as well as armwarmers…we didn’t order enough), you will see these designated as PRE-ORDER. Get your order in this week, as we will place the order asap and expect a July delivery from Squadra. Cheers!
Last chance to order 2011 X-Men Team Kit
More Team Clothing Already?
Hello Fellow X-Men and X-Ladies. Believe it or not, this year’s team clothing came, and went, and we are already planning to do a small fill-in order. The new PRO LINE jerseys and bibs have been a real hit, with several of our longtime riders saying they are the most comfortable bibs they have ever worn. If you are riding in a pair and you need more, let us know. If you haven’t tried them yet, now is the time to get a pair and try them out. Later in the week, I will load the online store with availability to pre-order. This will most likely be the last time we order anything until end of summer for cyclocross season. So if you missed out, maybe you crashed in an early-season race (it happens) and need a clean kit, add a comment below as to what you want (include quantity and size) so we can do a little straw poll of who needs what. Cheers!
New Team Clothing March 11
Greetings X-Men,
Hopefully your winter has been filled with lots of skiing, nordic and/or alpine. Myself, I haven’t touched a bike since the last Utah cyclocross race, but I am starting to look forward to dry roads and long rides. Even though it’s the first day of March, and even though I expect we’ll have quite a bit of epic skiing still to come this season, I am looking forward to the Utah Spring Classics. That being said, I wanted to thank everyone who placed a clothing pre-order this year. We’re small, and everything is made to order by Squadra. They must have bumped us to the front of the line, because I just got an email from Dough (Greg Demgen) telling me their estimated delivery date is March 11, plus or minus a few days. So if you are local, I’ll be hitting you up when the big box arrives so we can arrange a time to meet. If you are from out of town, I’ll turn around all shipped orders as quickly as I can so you will have your new stuff towards the end of the month. Enjoy the rest of the winter, and the beginning of spring!
–Thomas
2011 X-Men Clothing Order
Once again, we will be relying on our good friends at Squadra to supply our team kit this year. I’m not sure, but I think that will make it 16 years in row, and that has to be some sort of world record, as many clubs out there jump around from supplier to supplier. Why Squadra? They make great stuff, and have always taken good care of us. Below is a brief overview of how our process works:
1. The design will stay the same as last year. Why? We keep the design simple, free from any sponsor logos, because we don’t really have any. This means if you bought some stuff last year, this year’s stuff will match. We try to keep it simple.
2. Clothing is PRE-ORDER only. This means if you are a new member, you need to order it now and commit. There won’t be extra clothing later when the season starts. Buying a team kit and paying your 2011 Club Dues is really all you need to do to join.
3. PRE-ORDER is open now and will close out at the end of January. That’s when we’ll download all the orders and place our master order with Squadra, with planned delivery being in early March. Do it now.
4. We are offering more of a complete team kit this year. Last year, we only did the basics, but this year, folks have asked for more stuff such as Short Sleeve Skinsuits, Jackets, Armwarmers. Now is your chance to order what you need for the upcoming season of road, mountain bike, and cyclocross goods. What are we missing? Leave a comment if there is an item you really want and we’ll see if we can add it to the initial PRE-ORDER.
5. We are offering 2 levels of Jerseys and Bibs this season. Last season, I was lucky to do some testing for Squadra’s new Pro Line. The Pro-Line is a step up from the already great Team Gear, featuring different materials and a high end chamois pad in the bibs. All I can say is this: if you stick with the Team Gear, you won’t be disappointed and you will save a few bucks, but the Pro Line is totally worth it. If you want the ultimate in comfort, check out the Pro Line Jersey and the Pro Line Bibs.
Cutthroat Cross Race Report
Sometimes when we race, we are looking for fitness. It’s hard to make yourself go hard when you are just training, so a race gets you that intensity that you can’t get on your own. Sometimes when we race, we are looking for redemption. In this case of Cutthroat Cross, held in West Valley City on Sunday, November 14th, I was looking for a little bit of both. I was a little tired from the previous day’s State Championship race up in Ogden, but more disappointed that I had blown my chance for a victory with one lap to go because of a rolled tire. I was ready to race hard, even if there were only 8 riders in the A field. They even offered B riders half price entry fees if they wanted to double up, but there were no takers. Maybe that’s because Jason Sager And Eric Rasmussen showed up and nobody was looking to pay money to get stomped, even if it was half price. A half price stomping is still a stomping.
The course was mostly grass, sidewalk, and some pavement in the start finish area. It was quite twisty and turny, requiring a lot of skill to carry speed throughout the course. Sometimes on courses like that, you don’t feel tired because you never really get a chance to get things pumping, but this course had me tapped. When the gun went off, I led out the first lap, trying to not go redline knowing that Sager was right on my wheel. On lap 2, Sager and Rico went by and I did everything I could to hang on. I noticed Art had come off, so I tried to stay with the Sager train as long as I could, but somewhere in the middle of lap 3, I was exploding. On lap 4, Art caught me, and we rode a redux of the day before, trading punches and pulls all the way down to the final laps. With 4 laps to go (seriously, 4 laps to go? Who throws a shoe? WTF?) I noticed SLC TBird (recently retired, ex-pro Burke Swindlehurst) was making an effort to get close, so I led it out until 1 lap to go. Art hit me hard a few times, but I was able to get by and shut the door in the last final turns, which led to a half decent sprint and a podium placing for 3rd. Seriously the hardest cross race I have done all year. I learned this lesson: the course can make the race hard, but the racers make it harder. Shadow boxing with Art for 50 minutes has become a recurring theme, and I don’t think we’re done for the season yet.
I saved some water by drinking a beer right after the race.
UTCX#8 State Championships Video
Saturday, November 13, was the UTCX race #8 held at Mount Ogden Golf Course. It was also serving double billing as the State Championship. The X-Men had a lot at stake. Steve Briley was defending his title in the Men’s 45+ category, which he had won last year at the Heber Fairgrounds course. Steve and Tim Briley have been riding great as a two-man wrecking crew, racking up multiple podium appearances, but not yet reaching the top this season. I’ve been doing battle with The Church of the Big Ring team, literally, the whole team. But with Bo Pitkin and Tim Matthews away at the USGP New Belgium Cup event in Colorado, I was looking forward to a showdown with Art O’Connor, aka The Rev aka A-Train. The course was reminiscent of the old Seven Peaks course, but with a much longer hill, and a few tricky, slicky, off camber grass sections. Everyone seemed to agree, it was worthy of a State Championship race, and everyone is looking forward to racing it again. So here is the race report, in a nutshell: Steve fought hard in the 45+ race to pull in a fine 5th place. Unfortunately for him, John McKone who has been racing 35+ A’s all year, decided to race in his actual age group, and rode away to a convincing victory. In the 35+ A’s, the epic battle between myself and A-Train took shape on the first lap, and the two of us hit each other hard until just before one lap to go, when I rolled his rear tire off my rim on a really tight corner right before the barrier section. A-Train look down and said something “aw, bummer dude,” then rolled away as I had to stop and pop it back on the rim. I was able to get close to Art the last time up the hill, but had to take it easy around all the corners on the way down, and there was just no way to keep my speed, or else risk rolling it off again. The video below from Sam Ray shows some of the action from our race. I had an opportunity slip away, but that’s cyclocross.
Halloween Double Cross: Wheeler Farm
Halloween is the traditional Double Cross weekend at Wheeler Historic Farm, the battlefield for this year’s UTCX#5 and UTCX#6. We’ve got some history, the X-Men and Wheeler Farm. The cross historians may dispute the date, but let’s just say for the sake of argument that it was 1997; Thomas Cooke promoted the first cyclocross race at Wheeler. That was the 3rd State Championship race the X-Men Club sponsored. Not long after that, most of us decided we liked racing a whole lot more than promoting races, so a hand-off of sorts was facilitated. Matt Ohran took over and his crew built it up to a regular series venue for UTCX.
Double Cross usually has folks racing in costume on Saturday, with record-breaking numbers of participants, and huge crowds. The number I heard thrown around for this year was over 450. It’s super cool to race with that many people around. Sunday is usually a lighter, ahem, turnout, because, well you know, it’s Sunday. Sunday’s course is usually a redux of Saturday’s, only run in the opposite direction. I’m still trying to figure out which was harder, and in the end I decided it’s the racers that make it hard. I got worked over by Church of the Big Riders on both days, but probably had a stronger race on Sunday. Here’s some video generously provided by Sam Ray:
UTCX#4 Video of Masters 35+ A Race
UTCX#4 at the Weber County Fairgrounds was a mixed day for the X-Men cross team. I drove from Park City in a torrential downpour all the way through Morgan, knowing conditions were going to be wet and mucky. Which they were for the early and late races, but for the Masters 35+ A race, it dried up, didn’t rain a drop, and the corners were rather tacky. Tim Briley raced earlier in the muck to a fine 4th place finish in the Masters 45+, and that was without his brother Steve to rough people up. The video below from Sam Ray pretty much sums up the Masters 35+ race: T$ had a weak start, rode into contention, then was able to squeeze out a decent sprint at the end and take his first cross victory since the Ice Age. Granted, A-Train and McKone were no-shows, and Sam had some bike problems. This will create some drama going into the Wheeler Halloween double weekend. Bring your vampire teeth and fake blood, it’s going to be a real scream.
X-Men on Twitter
Sponsors
