Sponsor Update

Cyclo-Cross friends and sponsors,

 

I should probably wait until after coffee to send out the first press release of the year, but here it is, nonetheless. As with every year, my goals is to update all of you on the weekend's events every Monday or Tuesday. And starting tomorrow, I begin a dizzying 10-day, 6-race trip that takes me from Boston to Dallas, Vermont, Las Vegas, New Hampshire, and Boston again, not to mention I'm the organizer for one of those races, and I've got to do some Interbiking in there, too. So I figure I better get this out today. That trip looks like this:

 

 

This year, we have some new sponsors, and an entire 40+ person grassroots team to go with my privateer program. I'll tell you more about that as the season goes on, but the whole project is remarkable. I didn't expect the amount of interest there'd be in the grassroots team, and I'm glad we're able to bring such an awesome group of folks together who share 'cross in common, and identify with Cycle-Smart in such a way as to want to represent me and my business.

 

One of the new sponsors is Bikes Not Bombs. It's not accurate, exactly, to call them a sponsor, since in this case the support is going the opposite direction. I was looking for a way to make my bike racing mean a little bit more this year, to have an impact in my neighborhood, and think more about how I could help other people experience the transformative power that bike riding and racing has had on my life. Bikes Not Bombs was the perfect match, and over the summer I was able to meet with them and discuss what it would look like if I donated a sponsorship spot to them. I'll be talking about BNB a lot more over the year, and we'll have a dedicated press release about it soon. But I'm proud to help them get more exposure for their mission, and hopefully help them with development and fund raising in the process.

 

 

Of course, there was bike racing last weekend, so let's get to it! It was the season opener for me, at the UCI Nittany Lion 'Cross in PA, and then the local season opener, Quad 'Cross in Bedford, MA.

 

Last year at Nittany I was second to Davide Frattini, and with Jeremy Powers out with a broken finger, I was very motivated and hopeful that I might finally take the first UCI win in my career. It's a fast, grassy course, with small hills and some difficult off-camber turns. The course calls for good bike handling, hard sprints out of turns, and encourages drafting between sections. It had my name all over it.

 

Unfortunately, Luke Keough has exactly the same skill set as I do, and last year I only narrowly beat him for 2nd by being first to the last corner and making sure no one could get by. At the set of barriers about a minute from the finish line, I had been remounting and riding the U-turn that follows, where most had been running the whole section. When I noticed Luke had bobbled while remounting on the last lap, I attacked immediately, and had a gap coming into the final set of S-turns. Unfortunately, just as I entered the final turn, Luke reconnected, unknown to me, and I didn't protect my inside line. As I swung out to take the fast line, Luke flowed into that crack like water, doing to me what I did to him the year before. He got underneath me in the turn, forcing me wide, and keeping me against the tape as he sprinted through the turn. Game over, and another opportunity to finally win a UCI race down the drain. Beaten at my own game on top of it!

 

I tried to smile, I swear:

 

 

There were a lot of good photos, and coverage of the race:

 

CyclingNews:

 

• Van Dessel Cycles - cyclo-cross frames

• Verge Sport - team clothing

• Mud and Sprockets - Mail order supplier

• Bikes Not Bombs - Community Service

• Lazer - helmets

• Williams Cycling - wheels

• Challenge - Tires

• Ryders Eyewear - eyewear

• TRP - brakes

• crankbrothers - pedals

• Mavic - shoes

• EIS - bars, stems, seatposts