It's Time for Spooky Cross

 

The guys in Victor brought cyclocross to Southeastern Idaho.  They did it first.  They still do it best.  Spooky Cross is this Saturday, the final race of the Victor series for 2013

 

10:30 AM – FREE Kids Race - one modified lap, costumes encouraged
11:00 AM – FREE Costume Race - 20 min - prizes for best costumes, all ages and abilities welcome
12:30 PM – 45 min Women and juniors will start 10 seconds after the men.

Women under 45

Women 45+

Men under 45

Men 45+

Men 55+ 

Male Juniors

Female Juniors

More info:  http://www.victorvelo.blogspot.com/   Preregister:  http://spookycross.athlete360.com/

 

 

 

Dress Warm. The Ride is On.

I have just been on the phone with Tony. Our best estimate is that you will not get wet, but we are not making any promises. I guess some people are planning to bring their cross bikes, so if you have one that might be the best choice. Tony and I are planning to bring our cross bikes but go on a road ride if people show up with road bikes. A smart person would probably stay home tonight, but a few dummies, myself included, are going to be there. Regardless, this is the end of the TNR for the season.  Thanks again to everyone who has supported the ride.  We are already looking forward to next year. 

Looking Back at the TNR 2013

By almost any measure, 2013 has been a good year for the Tuesday Night Ride.  Due to the longer duration of daylight savings time and relatively mild weather, the TNR season has been a little longer than it ever was in the past. We started this year on the 26^th of March, and depending on conditions may wrap up tomorrow.  So far, we have only had to cancel one time due to weather.  In total, there have been 30 TNR’s so far this year.   Here is one weird thing, and it may be a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence.  I have not missed a single Tuesday Ride all year.  The numbers and support have stayed pretty strong throughout the year.  Several new people have come on the rides and the general tone of the rides has been positive and supportive.

    A number of factors went into the route selection each week including the amount of daylight available, but the biggest factor was often the velocity and direction of the prevailing wind.  Here is a brief description of the route for each of this year’s TNR’s:  March 26^th Burton, Archer, Poleline Rd; April 2^nd Monkey Rock to St. Anthony; April 9^th Sugar City, St. Anthony, Egin; April 16^th Steve’s Loop (very cold and windy); April 23^rd Super Butte; April 30^th Golf Course, Egin, St. Anthony; May 7^th Twin Bridges loop (reverse); May 14^th Twin Bridges loop to Poleline Rd.; May 21^st Fun Farm, Chester;  May 28^th Beesley to end of pavement; June 4^th St. Anthony, Egin Lakes, Warm Slough; June 11^th Twin Bridges (reverse); June 18^th Warm Slough, Egin, Parker, St. Anthony, Wilford; June 25^th Super Butte (reverse); July 2^nd Monkey Rock, St. Anthony, Egin; July 9^th (split) Moody Canyon road and dirt/end of pavement; July 16^th Golf Course to Monkey Rock; July 23^rd Regular Butte; July 30^th Twin Bridges loop to Poleline; August 6^th Monkey Rock to St. Anthony; August 13^th Golf Course, Egin, Beesley (dust storm, rain); August 20^th Super Butte; August 27^th Fun Farm, Chester; September 3^rd Burton, Warm Slough (rain); September 10^th Beesley to end of pavement; September 17^th (rained out); September 24^th Burton, Archer; October 1^st Twin Bridges Loop; October 8^th Burton, Archer; October 15^th Golf Course, Egin, Sugar City; October 22^nd Beesley to Webster; October 29^th ???

     Thanks to everyone who has attended the Tuesday Night Rides this year and supported our efforts to grow the sport of cycling in Rexburg and the Upper Valley.  I am grateful to the numerous readers of this blog.  Its success has exceeded our expectations.  A big thanks to all the people who have contributed advice, content, and comments to the blog, including Jeff, Tate, Lana,Tony,Heather, Scott, Steve, Weston, and to Brandon for the outstanding Cube photos.  To the rest of you, I hope that all of the cyclists in the Upper Valley feel some degree of ownership of this blog.  Your photographs, news stories, comments, and content of any kind are always very welcome.

Forecast is Grim for the Final TNR

If you have been looking at the weather forecast, you know it does not look good for the final Tuesday Night Ride tomorrow.  As of now, I am still planning to go ahead with the ride, but there is a good chance of cancellation.  I will plan to post a definitive yes or no on the Rexburg Cycling blog (rexburgcycling.blogspot.com) no later than mid-afternoon tomorrow.  If anyone is outside tomorrow or watching the weather and wants to weigh in on the decision, please send me a text or call. 

 

Close Up of the New Bikes

 

Tate and Clint Test Ride Their New Cross Bikes

 

Brian just finished putting together new cross bikes for Tate and Clint so we took them out for a little spin earlier today.  With the current popularity of cyclocross and gravel races and fondos, this is a very hot segment of the custom market.  I guess it is not a big surprise that the bikes turned out great and the test ride went flawlessly.  I pity the guys that have to race against Tate and Clint on the new bikes.

140 Sweet Cube Photos. Courtesy Brandon Fell

 

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.216394678531598.1073741830.208192822685117&type=1

 

Blue Goose Cyclocross in Idaho Falls

Hey Dave!

The guys in Idaho Falls are going to host the ‘First Annual Blue Goose Cyclocross’ race! I’ve been talking with Brandon at Bill’s in Rexburg and it seems like it’s going to be a great event. Tate is designing the course and Brandon said they are planning on delivering some great prizes. I know this conflicts with some other great races that people might have planned. I plan on going and hopefully we can get a few more people from Rexburg out there as well.
The race cost $15 and there is no online registration. Bill’s has a form to fill out in the shop or you can pay at the race. I attached a picture of the form. It looks like everyone will get a shirt for the race as well. Bill’s knows this was planned last minute but hopes to turn this into a great race for the area in the future. Thanks for helping spread the word Dave!
Sincerely,
Weston Dunn 
"It never gets easier, you just go faster."
                                   ~Greg LeMond>
 

The TNR Winds Down

     We are planning on only two more Tuesday Night Rides this year; this week October 22th and next week the 29^th.  The cold and darkness are already arriving pretty early and the switch back to Standard Time is always the final straw for an evening ride.  A couple of days ago, I rode Webster’s Road for the first time since the repaving and thought it was pretty nice.  Maybe we can find a way to utilize it on one of the remaining two rides.

     I think most people would agree that 2013 was good year for the Tuesday ride and for cycling in Rexburg.  Support for the ride was very strong throughout most of the year.  For the most part, I think we were pretty successful in providing a positive experience to riders with a fairly wide range of cycling experience.  The quality of a group ride is only as good as the individuals who make up the group and I feel like we have been very fortunate in that regard.

     Here are a couple of pictures that we took with Steve’s phone on one of the end-of-season rides.

                              

When Was the Last time You Finished a Race With a Fistful of Cash?

Okay, so it’s not a million dollars, but anytime you walk away from a bike race with a few bucks in your pocket, it’s a big deal.  Tate won the Crosstober Cyclocross Race in Sun Valley yesterday.  He is too modest to say this, so I will say it for him.  If you have ridden with Tate, you know he is very talented, hard working, and is often at his best in difficult conditions. A cross race with a 100 meter sandpit would be a pretty tough sell for me.  I asked to Tate to write something up for the blog.  His story is below.

                                                                                      

              

This weekend I travelled to Hailey Idaho to race Crosstober festival, which is held in conjunction with the 10^th annual October festival of Sun Valley. The racecourse was fast and technical it included a 100-meter sandpit (which couldn’t be ridden), an 8 stair run up, and 3 barriers. Unfortunately due to the fact that I didn’t do the time trial the night before I was forced to start on the last row of a packed field. After having talked with Tim Meikle a lot this week on race strategy I decided that this would be a great opportunity to try out a few new tactics and they worked perfectly. Instead of killing myself on the first lap to get to the front then being exhausted once I got there I decided to ride it at an uncomfortable pace passing people when I could while still realizing that there were 60 minutes of racing ahead of me. By lap 3 I was getting in the grove of the course, and with 2 laps ago I attacked my field and managed to get away on one of the long straight a ways into the headwind. All things considered it was an amazing course super fun.  Everyone needs to put it on their calendar for next year. On a side note the spectators were awesome I don’t doubt that Octoberfest had something to do with it but regardless it was fun plus I got paid big time for the win and won a first place belt buckle. Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures to share due to the fact that I travelled alone and didn’t want to wait till 6pm for the podium awards.

 

 

Randy's Private Idaho

     A few days ago, I commented on the Sidewinder Trail.  It is a well marked, well maintained trail with a clear beginning and a clear conclusion.  This is the story of its opposite.  The guys from the Snake River Mountain Bike Club have done a lot of work exploring and mapping the maze of trails in the Kelly Canyon and Moody Creek areas.  They recommend that you ride these trails with a GPS or with someone who knows the area well.

     I have a decent mental map of the Kelly Canyon side, but things get pretty hazy for me in the Moody.

I have been fortunate to ride a Moody-Kelly-Moody linkup a couple of times this year with Randy Huskinson.  Randy likely has the most complete mental map of the trails in the area of any person alive.  He knows every road, trail, cow trail, and game trail in the area.  He knows where they start, where they end, and where they are in relation to each other.  The animals in the area ask him for directions.  Seriously, when I ride the Moody with Randy, I am happy to have a general sense of where I am and a vague idea of how I got there.  In contrast, you could drop Randy into the area at night blindfolded and he could tell you precisely where he is and how far a trail junction is in any direction.

     The routine is like this.  You are riding an unmarked trail in the middle of nowhere and Randy says:  “Be ready for a hard right in 20 meters” and you turn onto an even fainter trail. Our ride today was classic late season mountain biking, cool and a little muddy, golden leaves still on the aspens, and small flurries of snowflakes falling from time to time.  Our plan was to take the grand tour of the area, linking up most of the major trails.  We had to scale our expectations back a little on the Moody side due to mud which was heavy in some places.  You can probably tell from the pictures that it was a great day.

     On a sad note, there has been quite a bit of logging in the Moody Creek area.  Some of the best areas that we rode today are already marked for logging.  Generations will pass before the old growth forest returns.

MooseCross Day 1

    

     MooseCross continues tomorrow, but here a few comments on Day 1.  First of all, apologies to Zac and Weston who both rode well today, but were not around when we took this picture.  Tony and I arrived in Victor with light rain falling and scrambled to switch to mud tires.  The rain did not continue for long.  It left the ups and downs on the grassy hill pretty slick, but actually improved the dirt sections.  MooseCross is a cyclocross event without parallel in Southeastern Idaho.  Every field is deep, fast, and competitive, including the women’s field.  The organizer, Victor Velo, takes MooseCross very seriously and never fails to put on a memorable event.   The picture that I should have taken was the kids’ race.  I have been to a lot of bike races and never seen anything like the kids’ race today.  Every child in Victor between the ages of three and ten must have been there.

     The Upper Valley and Kelson riders have always looked forward to MooseCross and been among its most dependable participants.  Today was no exception.  Notable finishes included Kelton winning the junior race and Tim finishing second in the cat-4 race.  We were very happy to have a number of people come over to watch the race today including Bob Yeatman and his family, Dan and Shea, and as always tons of support from long-suffering wives, kids, and family members.

The Big One is This Weekend

Sidewinder Trail

    

Yesterday, I finally got the chance to go with Tony to ride the Sidewinder Trail.  This trail is accessed through an M-shaped gate just to the left of the Stinking Springs trailhead.  According to Tony, The Snake River Mountain Bike Club was heavily involved in the design and construction of the trail.  They deserve to be congratulated for their efforts.  It is a fine trail, one the best in the area, maybe the very best.  Unlike the Stinking Springs Trail which mostly climbs through canyons, the Sidewinder Trail winds back and forth on the face of the hillside in a long series of switchbacks.  The trail climbs steadily and predictably almost from the start, traversing some fairly steep slopes often producing a significant sensation of exposure.  Sadly, it is only about 2.8 miles in length.  Sidewinder connects into the Stinking Springs Trail near its midpoint, just less than two miles from the top of the ridge.

     Sidewinder bypasses some of the loose rock that characterizes Stinking Springs after years of erosion.  It connects to a portion of the trail that is rutted, but rideable.  However, Stinking Springs gets pretty ugly again as you go higher.  The Sidewinder Trail consists of narrow singletrack with fairly tight corners.  It is unlikely to be a super high speed descent for most people.  The Sidewinder Trail is a great example of the quality of trail that can be developed with good design, solid engineering, and access restricted to motorized vehicles.  Hopefully, at some point in the future, it can be extended or incorporated into a series of similar high quality trails.   

Kelton Wins the Junior Race at UTCX

 

Congratulations are in order for Kelton Williams on winning the UTCX junior race today against a deep field at Fort Buenaventura in Ogden.  This is a tough, miserable course with huge cobblestones and lots of sand.  Tim Meikle also had a good day, narrowly missing the podium.

Cube Recap

     Today was a great day for cyclocross with cool temperatures and bright clear skies.  All in all, I think it was a pretty successful year for the Cube.  The numbers fell short of our expectations, but the depth of talent and the overall quality of the event were outstanding.  Tate’s course was fast fun, and challenging. It takes a little imagination, but the Nature Park is a great venue for cyclocross.   Several people commented to me and Tate afterward that this was one of the best cross races they have done anywhere.  We owe a debt of gratitude to everyone who raced today as well as Tony, Zac, and all the people who helped set up the course and City Rec Director Bob Yeatman who took a chance on the Cube again.  We had a lot of support from Joe at Sticks and Stones and Brandon at Bill’s Bike Shop.  Brandon got on the phone and helped motivate a bunch of the Idaho Falls guys to come up. Both shops were very generous in terms of prizes.  Chris Huskinson supplied our signature prize, bags of new potatoes. Brian Williams donated the top raffle prize, a custom bike fit.  We also received support from the Rexburg College of Massage Therapy and other local businesses.

Weston

     The field consisted of locals, a strong showing from Idaho Falls, and riders from Jackson and Pocatello.  I talked to Bob afterward and we feel like the Cube has real potential to build back its momentum.  I think we put on a top quality event this year and hopefully that word will get around.  It is probably not a big surprise that Tate won today, but nobody made it easy for him.  There is a ton of video and photos from the race.  We will try to get more of it posted here and on the Cube website.  http://sarahsis88.wix.com/cube  In the meantime here are a couple of images from the Cube.

The Cube Podium: Nate Starnes, Tate, Forest Dramis


 

 

 

Schedule Change for Cube Setup Tomorrow

Here is the new plan for course setup tomorrow.  We will be meeting at the city shop at the south end of the Nature Park at 6:30 p.m.  We will not have a lot of light, so if you can help, please bring a headlamp or flashlight.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

2013 World Championship Highlights Video

For those who didn’t get the opportunity to watch the 2013 UCI world Championship race it can be summed up in two words rainy carnage!  Here is a short video that sums up the race.  Tate

 

Two Days Until the Cube

    

Tate and I worked on the Cube course this morning and it is looking really good. We will be back at the Nature Park at 7 a.m. tomorrow and would be grateful for any extra help that we can get.  If you can be there in the morning, please let me know. Every cyclocross course is unique.  The key to a good course is to take advantage of the resources and character of the venue.  This is the second Cube course that Tate has designed and it makes very good use of the Nature Park.  I think the course will be very popular.

     If you have never done a cross race, this is your event.  If you have not had a chance to see it yet, consider looking at the new Cube website. http://sarahsis88.wix.com/cube

A dedicated cross bike is not necessary to ride a cross race.  You will not be at a big disadvantage on a mountain bike, especially in the beginner race.  Entry is $10 for the kids’ race, $20 for the adult races.  We have about 30 t-shirts remaining on a first-come-first-served basis for pre-registrants and race day entry.

 

Kings Cross. A Message from Tate

Kings Cross is just around the corner, the first race is Wednesday the 9th at 530 pm in jackson hole, if anyone is interested in going let me know I may or may not be going.

Here is the link: http://kingcross.athlete360.com for more information you can look at their Facebook page too.

Cheers, Tate

Xterra National Championships 2013

Right in our backyard, there is a lot of fun stuff to do.

The Xterra National Championships have been at Snowbasin Resort above Ogden for the past 5 or 6 years. Athletes who race in the national championships race are there by invitation only. I was lucky enough to get an invite. Others who want to race the event can sign up for a long course or a short course at the same venue but are not considered for an invite to the World Championships in Maui, HI. Altogether, including pros, there were about 350 athletes who got invites and raced in the national championship event. My age group represented 20 of these triathletes from all over the USA. Another 450 athletes raced in the long and short courses.

Just like all other triathlons, this race included swimming, biking, and running. The difference is that the biking and running were all off-road. After a mile swim, the bike course was roughly 18 miles from Pineview reservoir to Snowbasin Resort to Sardine Peak and finally back to Snowbasin Resort. The run was a 10 km trail run loop to the south of the resort. Another difference between a regular triathlon and an Xterra triathlon is that you have to stay focused on the bike and the run. There is no “zoning out” during these disciplines. You must remain totally alert about your environment and the trail. About a 1 mile from the finish line on the run, I snagged a toe on a rock and crashed into more rocks. Fortunately my injuries were minor.

I finished 13th in my age group. Although it wasn’t fast enough to get an invite to the World Championships, I really enjoyed the opportunity to race at a nationals level. I recommend trying one of Xterra races -- they are a lot of fun and the people who race them are great. For example, the two other athletes highlighted in the video are some talented Tri/Xterra friends from Boise, who have both had very successful racing seasons.

Thanks Lana for putting together the Xterra Video. You’re the Best!

Written by Tony Perkins, Video by Lana Grover

Good Luck to Bill's Bike Shop in Their New Rexburg Location

    After many years in business in Idaho Falls, Bill’s Bike Shop has recently opened a satellite store in Rexburg. Along with Sticks and Stones, Kelson, and other local businesses Bill’s will be providing support to the Cube on Saturday.  Bill’s is a full service cycling and running store.  You can visit them across from Porter Park or read more about the business on their website.  http://www.billsbikeandrun.com/