Bike Hugger 

The local cyclocross race season’s pretty much wrapped up, but that doesn’t mean you need to hang your cyclocross rig up for the year. Good story in the Seattle Times about off-road/on-road touring, written by Mike McQuaide who rides out of Bellingham.

The USA Cycling 2007 Cyclocross Nationals are well underway in Kansas City this week, with results from the first day already starting to roll in. Races continue today through Sunday, and over 2000 will be racing. Several of the Elite champions will be attending to defend titles. However the most interesting development will be something we all love to talk about: the weather – 2 to 4 inches of snow are expected on the course by Saturday morning. This will definitely make the later races more… exciting. Best of luck racers!

Quite possibly the best video ever made … at least for cross racers

and that completes our thong coverage for the year, which began with Thong Boy at Le Tour.

Here’s a pre-race write up of the West Hill Shop Cyclocross Race in Putney Vermont. It’s a great taste of Cyclocross on the other coast. It sounds like the fall in VT has been a bit more autumnal than what we’ve been having here in Seattle this year, wood stoves and cider are par for the course. What I like most about the HUP write-up is the focus on the locals. It seems like great spectators is a universal feature of cx races no matter how unique the locals are.

The race was actually last weekend, but here are the results, some photos, and video of this years race just went up a few days ago.

It’s time to start making your weekend plans, and decide which cyclocross races to go ride or see. There are two races queued up this week – Cyclocrazed Tractor Cross near Bellingham, and the Washington State Championships near Bremerton (a bit closer to Seattle).

For those of you not sure what to expect from a cyclocross race, here’s an older introductory article on what you’ll be in for. One of the benefits of cyclocross races for spectators is that the courses are usually quite compact, so you can see almost all of the action without having to shuttle around the course.

See you at the races!

Dan Kaufman from CrankMyChain, a unique tricycle powered video blogger from Portland captured this video of some of the hot cyclocross action out at Barton Park this last weekend.

Not exactly comprehensive coverage, but Dan’s site is great for its video driven take on cycling culture. For example check out his next post on the badass challenge results – winner gets a purse (literally) for riding out to the races, racing, and riding back home. Give Dan’s site a good once over, there’s some great stuff there.

I finally got my single speed cross bike setup. Saturday was a shakedown ride, and today was the Redline Cup at the Kelly Creek Cross Race. I’ll spare you the details of the race, but will tell you that hanging out with a bunch of ‘crossers is a great way to spend a Sunday. The atmosphere at a cross race is like a party with people bundled up for the fall weather, tipping back some beers, snacking on bbq, ringing the cowbells and yelling for all they are worth. That, and it’s a GREAT way to have a go at racing. It’s a no-pressure environment, most any bike is welcome, and you can get a 1-day license for $10. Interested? - post a comment with questions and we’ll do what we can to make sure you have what you need to get started.

While you were still asleep, nestled cosy in your warm bed (Ok, maybe it was just me) the hardmen of Woodland Park were doing hard core CX Training in the rain, coached by Todd Herriott and Russell Cree of Herriott Sports Performance. And they’re making it look easy.

Busy cyclocross weekend coming up in Seattle – The Seattle Cyclocross Series #1 is on Sunday the 30th in Snohomish (directions) and promises to be a great event.

If you’re looking to do a bit of brush up before the race you can get some tips from Jonathan Page and Frank McCormack on Friday (28th) and Saturday (29th). Herriott Sports Performance and Cascade Bicycle Studio will be hosting the Jonathan Page Cyclocross Weekend, including two 3 hour workshops on Saturday and a evening presentation and auction on Friday. Page is America’s premiere cross racer and the best American in history in this discipline. Great chance to see a master at work!

I got the family ready early Saturday morning for Starcrossed. My 5 year old picked out a boiled wool coat, winter mittens, and pink cowboy boots (nee shitkickers). The incredibly good weather was not just surprising, but left me flat out broke for the mud-faced splatterfest I’d promised. Regardless, we all had a great time watching the races. The crowd was very friendly, and I managed to get in a few photos (bikehugger photostream!) during the races. Great teamwork by some of leaders in the Mens 3/4 35+ category, with a team from Boston taking the early lead.