Halloween Ride

Thanks to Daniel for hanging back for the photo.  Things looked a little nasty for the Halloween ride with a 20 mph SW wind until our pace car showed up....

From Jeff: Final Call for TCI Kits

Cycling Friends,
We're nearing the critical numbers needed to submit our TCI kit order.
If you'd like to join in please submit your order online at
http://www.dnacycling.biz/tci/team-gear.html
We plan to close the order next week. Hopefully we'll have the orders back in time for the holidays.

From Thomas: Happy Halloween from SLC

Road Ride Tomorrow

Unless the weather takes a real turn for the worse, we are planning a road ride tomorrow afternoon departing from Sticks and Stones at 2:00 p.m.with an anticipated duration of two and a half hours or so.

Spooky Cross

 

Classic cyclocross conditions for Victor Velo’s final race of the season.

FB Link to Heather's Cube Photos

I have not see the pictures yet since I do not have a Facebook account, but I am confident that they are great.

www.facebook.com/heather.b.williams.7

Gear Patrol Honors Brian Williams On Its List of Top 11 Steel Bike Builders

If you are wondering about how big a deal this is, look at the other builders on the list. Brian is not really big into self promotion, so I hope he will forgive me. The first thing I said when I heard about this was: “I’ve got to tell some people!” A big congratulations to Brian and Kelson Bikes. Most of our readers know that Brian is equally proficient in working with carbon and titanium. If Gear Patrol decides to compile a list of the best handmade carbon and Ti bikes, add Brian to that one too.

http://gearpatrol.com/2015/10/27/best-handmade-steel-bike-makers/?read_single=1

 

From Chris: Fitzgerald's Fat Tuesday Fat Bike Ride at St. Anthony Dunes Tonight

Starts at 6 p.m. They will have Trek Farley demo bikes available. Bring your own pedals. Details here: https://www.facebook.com/events/438613776331291/

DNA Fixes My Jersey

 

A lot of local cyclists have experience with DNA team kits (Kelson, Sticks and Stones, TCI, others) and know what a great product they provide. Plus their customer service is unrivaled. At the Kross Kickoff, I cut in too close to a tree and tore a gruesome abraded hole in the back of my Kelson jersey. I sent it back to DNA and this is what it looks like after a zero-cost repair.

Spooky Cross Thursday, Final TNR, Road Ride Saturday (?)

I just received a message from Gabe Klamer that Spooky Cross in Victor is indeed on for this week, but it will be on Thursday instead of Friday with the schedule as follows: kids’ race 5:30 pm,  costume race 6:00 pm, main event 6:30 pm. I realize several there are several difficult things about the date and time. It is fairly short notice and not the easiest time to get to Victor on a weeknight. However, I am a sucker for a cross race and willing to rearrange my schedule to go. If anyone else is interested in going to Spooky Cross, please text me to coordinate logistics and transportation.

As a reminder, Tuesday night will be the final TNR of the season 5:30 at Sticks and Stones. We will have to cut it a little short due to the early sunset. Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to an outstanding season of the TNR.

I have received some requests for a Saturday road ride and I think this is a great idea, particularly since most of our recent Saturdays have been dedicated to cross. I am going to toss a tentative plan out there for a midday ride of two and a half hours or so. The details will be contingent upon the degree of interest in the ride as well as the weather. The forecast right now for Saturday is rain, but a lot can change in a week. Like the message above on Spooky Cross, the best way to give me some feedback on the Saturday ride is probably text. If we can agree on a plan for Saturday, I will post it on the blog.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Dave

 

Great Pumpkin, The Cube, Some Random Comments on the Weekend Cross Races

It has been a pretty eventful weekend for local cyclists. We had another great day at the Cube yesterday with so much support from the City Rec Department, sponsors, volunteers, and participants. I am very grateful to Lana for her Cube video and post. Any meaningful thing I have ever posted on the blog can be traced directly to Lana and Jeff who have mentored me in this project from the beginning. I hope when people watch the video, they can get a sense of what a fun day this was for everyone. The Cube may never become a huge event, but I am very proud of our efforts and gratified by the positive feedback we receive year after year.  A number of people with broad cyclocross experience tell me the Cube is one of their favorite races anywhere. It continues to draw high quality regional talent as well as locals and first-timers. Kellen’s course got rave reviews from riders ranging from the newest to the most experienced.

Gabe Klamer was the winner of the men’s “A” Race yesterday, but Kelton made him work a little finishing second. Shae was the only woman to ride the “A” race and held her own among some of the faster men. In addition the content Lana posted earlier, we will be following up with a link to Heather’s Cube photos and perhaps some other odds and ends. If anyone has content or comments they want to add, let us know.

The night prior to the Cube, Jeff, Kelton, Kellen, and I went down to Idaho Falls for the Great Pumpkin Race. It was the first time I had ridden at the Community Park.  The venue has some fun features including a number of little hills, but the course was a little rough around the edges. It included a sand pit in the parking lot at the bottom of a little hill which was constructed by filling a 2 x 4 frame with wet heavy sand. If the sand did not crash you, one of the buried 2 x 4’s was likely to. Many people, myself included, crashed heavily there. Kelton and Kellen finished second and third respectively.

Many of you are aware of the tremendous popularity of fat bikes among the Idaho Falls cyclists and several of them rode fat bikes at the Great Pumpkin. I mentioned this to Scott Hurst last night and he proposed an interesting idea for next year’s Cube. How about adding one additional race: a fat bike only cross? Please let me know how you feel about that Idea. No promises, but anything is on the table for next year.

Gabe told me yesterday that there is a good chance that Victor Velo will be putting on Spooky Cross on Thursday night. That is a change from the original Friday night schedule. We will confirm that information as soon as we are able.

CUBE CYCLOCROSS • Race Highlights

October 24th was a beautiful day in southeastern Idaho, albeit uncharacteristically warm for cyclocross racing. Many thanks to all of the out-of-towners who travelled to Rexburg to participate in the CUBE cyclocross event. We appreciate all of your support. 

Video: A Race

A & B Races

From Stephen and Thomas: Big Cottonwood Canyon MTB

 

Report: Universal Sports channel will shut down next month | Cyclingnews.com

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/report-universal-sports-channel-will-shut-down-next-month/

Cycling and the Heart. Lennard Zinn Responds to a Skeptic.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/10/bikes-and-tech/technical-faq/the-heart-and-masters-cycling_388002*

-From Jeff: The complexity of the human heart truly defies our comprehension.  My take on the article is that the poster and Leonard both grossly oversimplify Leonard's unique case and then in turn over-generalize the possible implications.  

In the overwhelming majority of cases folks will be much better served getting out and riding, and occasionally riding hard, than just riding slow all the time, and even that is better than not riding at all.  If you have any concerns about your individual case speak with your physician... and unless you have an abnormal EKG he or she will probably tell you the same thing.

Final Countdown to The Cube

We have received a generous amount of support for the Cube which is now only three days away. We will be setting up and marking the course at 4 p.m. Friday afternoon and putting up the barriers and taping at 7 a.m. Saturday morning. If you are able to help with the setup, we would be very grateful. That is especially true for people who have been doing some previews and already know this year’s course. Our need for volunteers is probably a little greater for Saturday morning than Friday afternoon. Additionally, we can help by encouraging friends and family to participate or to join us as spectators.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Dave

Darklight. A Mountain Bike Film

DARKLIGHT - 4K Full Film by Sweetgrass Productions from Sweetgrass Productions on Vimeo.

The Fats You Don't Need to Fear, and the Carbs That You Do - The New York Times

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/10/19/the-fats-you-dont-need-to-fear-and-the-carbs-that-you-do/?hpw&rref=health&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0

Highlights of Redbull Rampage 2015

From Dan: Great Weekend at Bozeman Cx

Some pictures from the super prestige today. Hands down our favorite of the two Bozeman races. The course was gigantic and full of sand. Shae took first in wemen's cat 4 and Kelton rode an entire lap on a flat before he was able to hit the pits and grab Brian's bike. He was still able to rally back to 3rd place in cat 4. Amazing weekend. Shae also took 1st in the Grand Prix the day before.

GMBN Are Fat Bikes Fun to Ride?

Kelly Canyon Kountdown Tomorrow. Get Out Your Body Armour.

http://www.skikelly.com/promotions

World's First BMX Triple Front Flip

Registration Link for Great Pumpkin Cyclocross

This event is organized by the City of Idaho Falls Rec Department and takes place at 7 p.m. on Friday October 23rd at Community Park in Idaho Falls. I did not know the location of this generically named park, so I consulted Google Maps. The park is located on South Holmes at 25th Street, just south of the Home Depot.

http://www.activityreg.com/selectactivity.wcs

Bengal Cross Announcement

Heather's Moose Cross Photos

You can see even more of these great photos on the Kelson Bikes Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/KELSON-Bikes-118600729909/timeline/?ref=mf

 

 

Tomorrow's TNR

As far as the TNR is concerned, tomorrow’s plan is the same as last week. I will be at Sticks and Stones at 5:30. Kellen will be at the Nature Park at 6 p.m. Pick your poison.                           

Madison County High School Race Report: Part II

Note: This is an additional (late to the game) report of the HS race that Joe reported on earlier in the blog. A couple more pictures and some additional commentary. Submitted by Tony P.

Madison County Composite High School Team Flies at the 3rd Race of the Season

Zain Wood, Oliver Hancock, Hunter Brown, Tristin Merrill, and Dugan Merrill represented the Madison County Composite Team in Boise last weekend. All riders improved from earlier races and 3 of the 5 landed podium positions. Many Kudos to both Dugan and Hunter for working through the competition on very tight single track. Both displayed great sportsmanship and patience during the race.

High speed cycling accidents sometimes happen as in the case of Oliver Hancock. He displayed toughness and durability after an rough accident during the final run-out to the finish line. Despite the deep and multiple road rashes, he finished fine. After the race he easily showed more blood than any other accident of the day and he is already prepared to race again. The State Championship race is October 17th in Boise.

Hunter Brown ready to start

Zain Wood ripping it up

Dugan Merrill finished 5th in the JV Boys category despite starting about
30 places back during the start staging order

Oliver Hancock during a big jump...

Oliver after his big jump – seen here displaying his grit
after finishing his heat in the Freshman boys race

Tristin Merrill crushed his fellow competitors by finishing 1st in his group

Hunter Brown improved for the third consecutive race finishing
2nd Overall in the Sophomore Boys category

Moose Cross Images from Dawn