Cascade Cross Series

A new cyclocross series in the Seattle area is announced! It is called MFG Cyclocross, and it's brought to you by Terry Buchanan of Star Crossed fame, Zac Daab of Hup United, Jim Brown of Rad Racing GP, and yours truly!

The full announcement is here. You can also follow them on Twitter for the most rapid news updates.

While you're out battling snow and freezing rain at the road races, you can imagine yourself at exciting, warm, festive CX races all the way to next fall! We wish you luck. Please do the same for the awesome factor of the new series.

For those of you on the Web 2.0, social networking, mobile phone gadget bandwagon, I will be Tweeting (and reading) about all things cycling here: http://twitter.com/cascadecross.

Look for specific updates related to the series when the 2009 season gets closer!

Thanks, sports fans.

In a big push before I hit the road for the USGP Portland Cup, I just got the lap counts and times into the results for Viking Cross! These are time adjusted for the staggered starts, so now you can see how you stacked up against all the other categories. Note to math buffs: all lap counts should be + 1/2 lap (so 3.5, 4.5, and 5.5 for C,B,A respectively).

I'm also getting rolling on a new photo gallery feature. Got Patrick Mean's B race pics showing up from Belly Cross, and a few of my own from the A race at Viking Cross. Joe Martin had us covered at DocKore Cross (along with most other races this season). I'll be working on a ton of photos from the beautiful day at Woolley Cross when I get back!

If you have any photos from our first season, you can send them , or if you just get them on Flickr and a link to it, I can make magic happen!

There is talk of some Seattle folks meeting at a pub in N. Portland known as “The Nickel”, so maybe I will see you there, or maybe (just maybe) I will beat you off the line along with all the other 90+ B Men at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning! If not, I'm certain to try again on Sunday. Drive safe.

Overall is posted!

I will make some small tweaks over next day or so, correcting team names and adding times for Viking Cross. If you see any obvious problems, please !

We had some awesome racers grace the Viking Cross course on Saturday, one even showing up early on Friday to help with the set up.

That volunteer was Debbie Driver of Ragnarok, with perfect attendance in the series and therefore 1st overall in the Women's B category. This note came from her:

This is a note from Phil Pons, Mens C racer and 4th place overall in the series, addressed to me and the Bellingham Parks department:

That nicely sums it up, Phil! I would just like to know why I wasn't invited down for that $100 in food and drink? We do appreciate your endless supply of PBR at the run-up, 3 of which kept Toby Swanson fueled and motivated during his long foray off the front, and your spirited Viking horns.

This is a note from Zack Phillips, first overall in Mens C after taking 2nd at every Cascade Cross race:

Thanks also to some great score keepers and data entry volunteers, overall results were announced throughout the day at Civic Fields. Looks of blissful amazement were expressed. Lewd podium shots were taken. Monday night I plan to publish just the facts, ma'am.

After that, I will write a brief race report, get prizes made up based on your size requests and mailed out, post photos from all the awesome races, and finally start planning next year's series!

No rest for the weary, but we really had so much fun, who wants to stop now? We're just getting rollin'.

Big thanks (to name just a few) to Wick, Sean Wittmer, Mark Peterson, Marshall Will, Tela & Ian Crane, the WWU Cycling Team, Jeff & Clayton Cummings, Dick Henrie & Lance Romo of Bellingham Parks Dept. for helping make the 2008 cyclocross season a memorable one with fresh faces and cool places.

Here's looking forward to 2009! Now go, fight, and win down in P-town!

It's just a half hour past Thanksgiving, and I'm pleased to announce the overall after 3 races is calculated. Check it!

I scored from 1st down to 18th place. Everyone in that range will show points, even if you only did one race. That's so you can see where you stand going into tomorrow's race! Also known as “preliminary”.

After Viking Cross, the results will reflect the two race minimum, which should break up a lot of the ties. The number of repeat racers in this series is much lower than you might think! Consistency rules.

Regarding the Overall

With our final location finally established, I can devote part of my Thanksgiving holiday to riding, and part to getting the overall calculations correct (and maybe a tiny part eating - but not too much!). They will be posted here as well on WSBARacing.com.

If you have done at least two races including Saturday, you will have an overall standing. We do not drop a "worst" race. We do not award double points. You race, you get points. You don't race, no points. So simple it's brilliant!

Prizes will go to the Top 3 in each category, and will be custom embroidered tech vests (1st), brimmed beanies (2nd), and shop aprons (3rd). If you are in such an enviable position following Saturday's race, be sure we have your correct mailing address and preferred garment size (see the sizing info at the links above). We will hopefully do podium shots to cement your glorious deed into the annals of infamy, but your prize will be unceremoniously mailed.

Happy Turkey Day! Hope to see you well rested but not too fat on Saturday morning.

Dry those mud-soaked tears. Our cyclocross-friendly supporters within the Bellingham Parks Dept. have once again ridden to the rescue. We will very likely be racing at Civic Field, in the heart of town and the original site planned for Belly Cross back in October. This time there are no scheduling conflicts with football games, so... Game On for the Cascade Cross Final!

My sincere apologies for the late notice, and to those down south. We honestly tried to locate in your neck of the woods, but decided this was better than no race at all!

Please plan at least one more trip to Bellingham for 2008, because WWU Cycling needs your support going into Nationals, and because you will like (if not love) this course!

Still in a daze from my crash at Evergreen State Fairgrounds, I struggle to see clearly through the fog to next Saturday's race location. Plans A, B, C, and now D (in the form of Skagit Speedway) have all fallen to the curse that is landowner bureaucracy.

Do not dispair, my cyclocrossing kiddos. The Muerto Man never gives up whilst he has a last gasp of breath in his body. Plan Z is officially underway - I've asked for a bailout package from my local government. I would do anything to not disappoint on the final weekend.

Stay tuned. Meanwhile, let me distract you with the politics of application deadlines in U.S. road racing.

Woolley Cross results are up on WSBARacing.com. Overall calculations are forthcoming.

Negotiations are intense for the final location. Many possibilities have been flying around, opening up opportunities to perhaps expand the series next year. Meanwhile, hold onto your hats - we'll announce the final as soon as we can!

Did you ever imagine you would be racing 'cross in November in shorts and short-sleeve, staying warm, and getting muddy? Well, it happened, last weekend at Woolley Cross. It was the most beautiful Saturday in several weeks, the setting was smack-taculous, and there was much rejoicing.

We had about 100 folks take advantage of the Northern State Recreation Area, a gem in the Skagit County Parks system. It had sluggish short grass combined with gravelly descents, a stout run-up (rideable by Nathan Bannerman, the A Men winner), a mucky field, and few, short crank-straining up sections. We were surrounded by the ruins of a 1920s dairy operation - dilapidated barns with towering concrete silos, crumbling little bell towers, and decaying vegetable matter (a pile of which I landed squarely on the chest of Derek Shiers during the Master Mens A Le Mans start).

Frisbee golfers on an 18-hole course waited to tee off while racers splashed through trickling water on the trails making its way to Hansen Creek. Dog walkers paused to consider this strange occurrence before them. Ghosts from the mental hospital of yore moaned from the property beyond the creek. Tall, green mountains peered over us from the north and south. I was nearly sunburned. It was just a great day.

Okay, okay. I will stop waxing poetic and start punching in the results. Marshall Will, Tela & Ian Crane, and other volunteers from Skagit Cycle Center and the Skagit Bicycle Club got your results written up lickety-split. I just need to digitize them with my lightening fast fingers. I only wish my legs were so fast on that course!

I know you are also chomping at the bit to hear our final location (I may have even saw some froth). Just rest your weary, little helmet heads and know that all will be taken care of, and we promise you won't be disappointed! You also won't be driving halfway to Olympia (or Portland, depending on where you start).

Overall results are coming along somehow. Winners will be declared at the final and adorned with sexy outdoor apparel.

Happy November to you! It's cold, it's wet, and it's 'cross season!

The muddy affair at Seattle's Donida Farms event last weekend reminds us of how good cyclocross can be when the rains finally come. Mud challenges your equipment, your handling, and your power to the max, not to mention your washing machine!

The latest (sad) news in Cascade Cross-land is that we were just turned down for the site we planned for our grand finale. We had hoped to offer up a Ft. Flagler-like experience at nearby Fort Casey State Park on Whidbey Island, next to the Keystone ferry landing. The Asst. Regional Park Manager, John Krambrink, has decided that cyclocross did not fit with their mission of preserving our nation's historical heritage (or something to that effect). If you disagree with this decision and are feeling especially empowered to participate further in our nation's democracy, feel free to send the Washington State Parks agency a message! Contact the NW Region office, 220 N. Walnut Street, Burlington, WA 98233, (360) 755-9231, or anyone influential you happen to know. Cyclocrossers are citizens, too!

The event will still most certainly happen, as it is a critical fundraiser to send the WWU Cycling CX team to Nationals in December. Tela and Ian Crane have been hard at work securing another site in the Seattle area. Stay tuned, stay hopeful, and stay in shape!

Now some happy results news! We got your laps up on the results at WSBARacing.com - even if you DNF'd we tried to give you credit for as much racing as you did. I am just finishing up the changes need to calculate the Series Overall. If you have raced in both races so far, you will have an overall standing! Two events is the minimum. In the meantime (for your entertainment), Colin Reuter has imported them into CrossResults.com, so you can rate our event, compare your standings across series, and identify your rivals!

If you're feeling really ambitious this weekend, be sure the check out the SSCXWC08 in Portland this weekend. The final will follow the Cross Crusade race at PIR. I guarantee it will be off-the-hook madness!

Finally, get your soggy steed and lascivious legs ready for Woolley Cross in just one week! This new course is shaping up to be a barn burner!

Belly Cross results are posted on WSBARacing.com. Your lap counts are recorded but not displayed in that screen - I am working on that. In general, the 1 o'clock race had 9 laps, 11:30 did 7, and the 9:00 a.m. racers were out for 5.

Thanks to everyone for coming out! Check back for a race report from MP later this week.

The weather has been magnificent thus far this fall - almost unreal. I can think of no better place to spend one more cool, sunny Saturday than in Cornwall Park of Bellingham. And I can think of no better way to spend that time than racing and watching cyclocross this weekend!

A couple local yocals hit up the Vancouver scene last Sunday at Vanier Park and challenged the Canucks to come down and show us how they race. Bellingham is an ideal neutral proving ground for the differing 'cross scenes of two bordering countries to clash tires. We're like Switzerland. Hey, we are even taking CDN entry fees at par! You won't find this much fun any cheaper than this.

Also up this weekend is the first race in the Crank Bros. USGP down in Louisville, KY. The first World Cup of the season was just last Sunday over in Belgium. The 'cross season is just picking up a head of steam - it's not too late to dive into the action!

Thanks to all that showed up to race last Saturday at North Seatac. The kick-off race for Cascade Cross was a success on many fronts. We had a nice turnout. The port authority is stoked that we are back using the park. The rugby players were cool with us using the park on the same day. AND 'CROSS RETURNED TO NORTH SEATAC!!!! The goal would be to make even a sweeter course next time. We almost lost this park as a venue. Come out and use it. There is a nice system of trails for running, walking or riding.

Also in the news, the Seattle series has announced that the race at Kelly Creek this weekend will be moved to S. Seatac instead.

Joe Martin has been taking some sweet shots of NW cyclocross races so far this season (and racing himself), including last weekend's showdown at N. Seatac. Check out his Picasa Web Albums. Thanks, Joe. We hope to see you at all our races.

Also, there are still a bit of extra features to come in the results. I will input laps. We did not do total elapsed time, but will try to get this dialed in the future. I did update anyone with an existing WSBA profile with any changes to their name or team. Just so you know what I am working on!

I'm pleased to announce that DocKore results are officially live on the web at wsbaracing.com. We may not get record turn-outs, but we may have set a record for fastest post of full results on the internets. There was a minor hiccup getting the Men A up until about 10:30 tonight, but hopefully you had enough time to check out who was going well on Saturday so you can target their wheel on Sunday!

Do keep in mind, there was a disproportionate amount of DNFs due to flatting. Either the riders didn't heed our warning about running their tire pressure a bit higher to provide some extra cushion against the advanced rock features, or there were a few brambles lurking in the dust following Sean and Wick's excellent trail restoration work.

Irregardless, a good time in the chilly wind but often warming sun was had by many, and we were all happy to see the return of North Seatac Park in all it's burliness. And if those kind of courses don't suit you, do not fret, for up next is another classic with a smoother style. We hope to see you at Belly Cross in Cornwall Park in two weeks! (you can bring the sun again, too, thanks)

Fall weather has finally arrived, and that means we're fired up to race in some true 'cross conditions. What luck - we're bringing it to you this very weekend at N. Seatac!

Ryan has been busy jamming away at the keyboard to bring you OBRA-style results live at the event, then afterwards on WSBARacing.com. The 1200+ turnout at last weekend's Cross Crusade series opener tells me this web application can crunch some numbers!

Speaking of crunching 'cross numbers, I talked to the man behind CrossResults.com and got him to compile the CycloCrazed series overall from last year. If you raced at one of my epic Bellingham races, you'll want to see this!

It's only two weeks to our premier event, DocKore Cross at N. Seatac, and we're getting excited! The record turnouts at the Seattle series last weekend are an encouragement that this sport is growing and there is room for more racing action!

I've updated the website to provide the details you need to get going on race day, our categories and registration information is forthcoming.

I'm also experimenting a lot with how to manage this website. Pardon me if you discover something a bit unexpected. You might be watching me play around with the content in real time. Be sure to hit the refresh button often while we get up to speed!

It's warm and sunny out, so it's hard believe that 'cross season is officially underway. We've had two races thus far in the PNW, Labor Day CX and 542 'Cross. It looks to be another jam-packed season full of action!

Of course, we are here to help you with that eternal problem, that is... How to occupy ourselves on yet another wet, cold fall day with something active, outdoors, and fun? Why, more cyclocross, of course!

Our promoters are ironing out their dates and cooking up some cool new locations to keep you interested, month-in and month-out.

We are partnering with CycloCrazed of Bellingham to bring an exciting new racing format to the Northwest cyclocross scene.

Details are trickling in like lactic acid into your legs - it's a slow burn. Be sure to check back soon for dates and locations!

Also, we plan on affiliating with the WSBA for numbers and supplying results. If you already have a membership from the road season, please hold onto your number. We will post the details as soon as they become available.