Team Newsletter 11-12-08

submitted by Dave Byers

What a great weekend of cross racing! The Rexburg organizers came up with their best course yet and Sam Krieg down in Poki-town created a monster of a cross course on the ISU campus. It was long, hard, fair, and fun! A great turnout by the orange train on both days made for a fun weekend of racing and traveling with friends.

The Weekend Double-Header

The CUBE Race #3 - Rexburg, ID, Sat Nov 8th

Fitzy and Jannine won the Men’s A and Women’s A series overall titles respectively on Saturday! Bergy rocketed up the standings by taking another win and claimed third place in the overall after only racing two events. Big thanks to Fitzy, Jannine, and JayP for sending the great pics and to Trevor Garner for an awesome writeup. (see below)

The CUBE Race #3 and Overall Results

The King & Queen of Cross - Pocatello, ID, Sun Nov 9th

We had a great turnout in Pocatello for the King & Queen of Cross race and the orange train represented well with several podium appearances.

King & Queen of Cross Results

Trevor Garner sent in this report from the weekend:

“Hello. My name is Trevor. I’m a cyclocross addict.

I can’t help it. So after not doing one single workout for the entire week since Mike and I did a seven hour trail run the previous Sunday, I began preparing Saturday morning for another double-header weekend of cross racing at a couple of our somewhat “local” races. First, on Saturday, the final race in the three race Cube Cyclocross Series in Rexburg. Then, on Sunday, the inaugural King & Queen of Cross race in Pocatello.

The Rexburg event was alot like the races held last year; Same location and much of the same course I remembered. Given what the course designers had to work with (no hills and limited space), they did an amazing job putting this race on. They made a great course with alot of tight corners and a variety of features and surfaces including a grassy mud bog right after a barrier section coming into the start/finish line!

Apparently, I took two minutes too long on my pre-race nature break cause when I arrived back at the start line, everyone was patiently waiting on me. Sorry! Sorry everyone! Thanks for waiting! As I took my place at the back of the ten or fifteen guys lined up on the narrow bike path(three others of which were covered in the orange/green Fitzy colors: Bergy, Byers, and Fitzy himself). No sooner did I have my warmup vest off than we started. Boom! On came that warm familiar instant oxygen sucking sensation and that comforting burning sensation in my legs. Ah, maybe a ride in the past week may have helped.

The first lap was spent dodging traffic until things cleared up a little and I began my chase of Bergy who was having his typical turn-and-burn style race. Every time I’d see him exit a corner twenty seconds in front of me, there he’d be, up out of the saddle gettin back up to speed. So I spent the rest of the race chasing him around the course and except for the one lap where he toyed with me and let me get ten seconds closer to him, he continued to add to his lead with every lap until, by the end, he had a minute or so. Whew. This cross stuff makes my body hurt. But no time for that now son, you’ve got another race tomorrow morning.

After the race, I stopped for lunch in Rexburg at one of the local eateries generous enough to put up a gift certificate for the post-race raffle where I was fortunate enough to grab it. One pulled pork sammy, a side of mashypotatoes, and a huge salted supapretzel later, and I was back on the highway heading south to Mike’s place in Blackfoot for the night. A quick bike cleaning, a bit o pizza, and a li’l relaxy time and it was time for bed.

Mike went for an hour-fifteen run in the morning, we ate breakfast, then loaded up and headed down to Poki where I was introduced to one of the greatest cross courses I’ve ever had the opportunity to meet. Brilliant. Designed for a crosser, by a crosser. It even had the same big inflatable bengal tiger the football team uses for their pregame introductions! And we got to ride right through it’s mouth! Sam did a magnificent job with this thing. Kudos, dude. We need more events like this.

Again, the Fitzy gang was out in force. Lots of orange and green. Every race had some. It’s pretty cool to see out there. The men’s race had a good crowd of maybe 15-20 riders. Off the gun, Sam went out with a dash with the rest of us strung out behind. Bergy bobbled getting clipped in off the start for some reason, but I expected to see his snakegreen bike come hissing by me any moment. Shonuff, there he was, passing me in a fury only until I got him back in another corner just ahead. Then he passed me again and I stuck on his wheel. Into the SOOOOOOPER tight tree section. I nudged his back wheel. Giddyup! Then, on a slightly tricky section transitioning from a concrete pad onto slightly off-camber grass, his front tire washed out and I, being a wheel length behind him at the time, promptly ran him over. I’m talkin completely ran him over monster truck style. Rear wheel, frame, both legs, fork, and front wheel. A perfect crusher maneuver. I couldn’t believe I didn’t go down. It definitely surprised me and I stalled a bit looking back to see if Bergy was ok and saw he was already getting to his feet. Well that’s a good sign, I thought. I hope he’s not injured or damaged. Before I knew it, he was back up to me and passed me again. I wanted him to get up there and go like I expected he should and then, he was gone. Up ahead and out of sight in pursuit of the leaders. I settled in to my usual anerobic threshold pace. A good cross racer has the ability to unleash short bursts of speed and power over the course of the hour during the race, but due to all my ultradistance running this past year, my legs don’t possess this ability. I’ve trained them not to. So I become Mr. Consistency out there, favoring instead to maintain the same pace over the duration of the race. And I admit, the 50 yard sandy run-up was a KILLAH! Even for these runner legs.

If I haven’t mentioned it before, the course was a B-L-A-S-T. I just wish I could go faster. This was one of those courses where faster was funner. I’m working on it. Feeling better with each passing race, but I’m running out of time. The season is winding down and now it’s very dark and cold and scary when I’m released from my pen at work. All I wanna do is go run or ride, but it’s tough when it’s dark and 20 degrees. (Oh shut it you whimpering sissy and go train).

J9 took a second in the women’s race after powering around the hilly course in her 42 tooth single ring. Sam ended up winning with his usual commanding style. Bergy was third. Fourth wasn’t far behind him. And I was fifth, a couple minutes behind. Double-whew. Now I was feeling cooked. “Hey Mike! Wanna go run stairs?” Mike was hanging out during the race and our plan was to go to the ISU minidome and run bleachers for an hour or so after the race (his brilliant idea to prepare for the thousands of stairs lurking in the depths of the Grand Canyon waiting for us in three weeks.) Well, the minidome was closed. So we did a run outside for an hour along some of the trails above Poki. I guess that served as a good cool-down?

Next up? A cross race in Salt Lake City this coming weekend. Then a weekend off. Then the Grand Canyon after Thanksgiving. And then… Portland! Another double-header cyclocross weekend and getting a long trail run in the Gorge on dirt! (The plan: Ruckle Ridge to the PCT then down Eagle Creek)

Hup! Hup!” - Trevor Garner

Serotta Season of Change Sale!

Team Newsletter 11-05-08

his newsletter is dedicated to those of you who are still thinking about which PSI to run on the grass, which cantilever brake pad compound will prevent squealing and fork shudder, and which degree of “hotness” to choose for your embrocation .

We had seven team members converge on Rexburg this past Saturday for a fun day of racing followed by pizza and beers on the way home at Tony’s Pizza in Driggs. What would a cross day be without a beer?

Your last chance to do a local cross race in 2008 is this weekend. We have The CUBE Cyclocross race #3 in Rexburg followed by the The King & Queen of Cross in Poky on Sunday. Not to sound like a broken record, but we have the opportunity to grow our cycling community by showing our support for events like these in neighboring towns. Join us for one or both races this weekend!

With Daylight savings time ending, our 5:30 PM cross practices on Wednesday night have come to an end. However, the barriers are still up and you practice any time you like. Hup Hup!

Thanks to everyone who sent in reports this week!
The CUBE Cyclocross, Race #2
Rexburg, ID

November 1, 2008
Our neighbors in Rexburg, ID took it to another level for Race #2. The guys behind The Cube Cyclocross are passonate about cross and they did a great job with Race #2. The course was improved, the start/finish area was more convenient, and the field was deeper. 29 men lined up for the combined A & B start! Not too shabby eh?

It would be great to see another big showing from Jackson this weekend at Race #3! You can chop wood later!

Many serious questions will be answered this Saturday in Rexburg:
1) Will Schildog come out of retirement two weeks in a row?
2) Will Fitzy ride a clean race and claim The Cube Series overall victory?
3) Can Jannine continue to suprise her fans with a new sock look each week while winning the series overall?
4) Will I finally manage to get through a pre-ride and a race without crashing?


The CUBE Race #2 report from Schildog:
“Despite my best attempts to avoid racing ever again, my semi-retirement lasted a total of 6 weeks before Bergart and Fitzy guilted me into to going to Rexburg to try my hand at cyclo-cross. Not that I don’t know full well that cross is an absolute blast and basically the most fun you can have with your heart rate over 300, but I had successfully resisted the peer pressure until I finally ran out of excuses this weekend. Knuckling under, I hauled my 25+ pound 2003 Specialized Epic over to Victor and picked up Bergy and his brand spankin’ new lightweight Salsa cross bike.

By race time I was a total pro at dismounts and remounts despite my unique left-handed switch leg style (hey, at least I didn’t stack into the barriers during warmups like someone else wearing an orange jersey riding a green Salsa). Fitzy gets the award for blasting off the line like an Italian climber, but after dodging and weaving through the first set of turns boxed in by some less-than-confident bike handlers, I can understand his strategy. He had 45+ seconds on the field about 200m into the race.

Soon enough, things settled in. Bergy threw in a few attacks to bridge, we caught Scott, and then started to pull away a little. I tried to get comfortable in 2nd on Bergy’s wheel, but quickly started feeling the effects of the heavy, slower-accelerating MTB vs. the light and nimble CX ride. I could close the gap on the twisty sections, but the straightaways and pavement sections were taking the juice right out of my legs. Without much technical stuff, the gap grew steadily by about 2-3 seconds/lap. Soon I found myself in no-man’s land, but some skinny kid in 3rd kept me honest enough to have to keep working consistently.

Every 3 laps or so, I’d focus on ramping it up and would actually shave Bergy’s gap by a good margin. Cagey racer that he is, he would detect this and throw in some attacks of his own and I’d be right back to where I started. Bastard. I also was in constant fear that my untested legs and lungs would suddenly give out, and I would come to a screeching halt in spectacular barrier crushing/technique meltdown fashion, but the one good thing about getting older is you tend to have more resistance to drastic changes in pace. You also don’t have the ability to put the hammer down, but it doesn’t seem to hurt as bad as when you’re young and stupid. I managed to keep my 3rd place challenger at bay (although I shouldn’t have been too worried-one good kick to the sternum and he would have been out for weeks anyway), and came across the line 30 seconds or so back from Bergy. Not too bad for a comeback race on the completely wrong equipment.

All in all, it reaffirmed my belief that cyclocross is stupid good fun, and seems to be a great way to spend a Saturday-great vibe, good exercise, fun people. Plus, the 10 lb. bags of potatos in the raffle made the drive to Rexburg totally worth the trip.” - Schildog

Another CUBE report from Jannine Fitzgerald:
“The second race of the Rexburg Cube series turned out many fitzy-tards! 4 Daves, 1 Brian, and 2 Fitzy’s turned up to the start line! They changed the course for the second race and proved to be quite challenging! Fast into the barriers, sharp and slippery into the turns and a couple of slick bridges to keep us all on our toes. I had Amanda Riley to chase down the entire race. I was feeling really good and was able to maintain Amanda’s wheel for most of the race (not without wanting to puke…she is a power house)…but after my wheel almost popped off in the woopty doos (Amanda kindly waiting), sliding out on a wet, leafy turn, and just plain old “blowing up” I happily settled in for second. The boys all raced hard and had great races! It was great to see so many team folk come and I hope even more will show up this Saturday for the last race. We all headed home with sacks of Idaho potatoes…we all know what we are bringing to potluck Thanksgiving parties! Pocatello on Sunday will round out the double-header weekend! Grab your cross bike or mountain bike and come out! ” - J9

Here at Fitzgerlad Bicycle’s Team World Headquarters, we have heard rumors of the cross race exploits of our own TK from across the country. There were rumors that he was in Portland, then Seattle, and then Boulder for the Boulder Cup racers, etc. But all we have is this crappy low-res pic of TK in a 2007 Fitzy kit and a bunch of guys chasing him. This could be anywhere. Until we actually see a first-hand report we have to assume he at home stuck to the rug with tubular glue and unable to type or race cross.