Skills Clinic with JPow

Andy ponders some JPow wisdom.


Dan needs a little more work on his starts.


Practicing starts with JPow.


Q&A.


Ho working the barriers.


To hop or not to hop?


To hop.


Blue Sky Nation at Centennial.

J Pow in the House

Jeremy Powers hung out with some of the the Blue Sky Nation cross freaks today and showed us all his secrets for why he's one of the top cross racers in the country. This guy is a class act!

Blue Sky Velo MTB'ers construct Spring Brook Trail

On September 27th, a contingent of Blue Sky Velo mountain bikers joined several dozen other volunteers to construct a section of the new Spring Brook trail south of Boulder. The day started off with a hearty breakfast (provided by the club) at the Walnut Cafe. And, after a full day of trail work, we celebrated our accomplishment with a round of drinks at the Southern Sun. Everybody agreed that trail work offers excellent cross-training opportunities (no stick-like roadie arms for us :^) A few photos from the day follow:

Michael smooths things out.

Jessica handles her Pick Mattock with aplomb.

Uh-oh, looks like it's time for Phil to take a break.

Howard and Sasha get their hands dirty.

Darrin checks the grade. Verdict = Perfect!


The finished product. Very nice. Where's my bike?!

Blue Sky Velo Cyclocross Mens Open Video

Zip Up Dummy!

I don't know if anyone noticed but there was a great race put on by some very enthusiastic folks last Saturday right here in Longmont. As Cross races go, it was one of the very best I have done and I am not saying that just because I helped put some of those lovely stakes in the ground. Instead, it was a great race because of the support from Xilinx, our sponsors, and the Blue Sky Nation!
 

 

Needless to say, your intrepid reporter did not have high hopes given his cold of the last two weeks and only riding 3 days in that period. But the sun was shinning, the Enervit was cold, and Horatio was ready to "take one for the team" (more on that later). At the start line Ho and I got our customary call ups (have I mentioned the importance of going to that first BCR/BCT weekend) but it was Dan's call up of Dave "The Crusher" Kilmoyer that stole the show, "in the first row hailing from Longmont, Colorado and weighing in at 125 pounds sopping wet...THE CRUSHER..."

And yes Dave can really shred a skinsuit that way!

Since I had a spot on the front row and knew from setting up the course the night before that the rider who got to Bob's ramps first would have a big advantage going down the hill, I decided that it was time to actually take the hole shot as opposed to just slotting in near the front. So on the whistle I got my foot in quick and slotted in for the first hundred meters to the Start/Finish and then took off like it was a Power Loop going down the hill. I got to the ramp first going full speed, hopped up on the grass and almost immediately took the first hard right like I was being chased by the paper boy from "Better Off Dead." I want my 2 dollars...

Fortunately for me (not for him), Horatio had slotted into 4th going down the hill and decided that the first right would be a great place to lay it down and give three of us a nice big gap! (Now that is team work!)

So by the bottom of the hill on the first lap, three of us were already off the front and probably had 5-10 seconds on the first chase group. At this point, I just tried to keep it smooth and easy at the front. After going back up the hill together and through the first technical section, I blew the remount on the second set of barriers which dropped me to the back of our little group. Luckily this turned out to be a good thing as it allowed me to see how strong the other 2 guys were while getting a little draft back there for the next lap and a half.

After lap 2, we were finally joined for a while by a 4th rider who had bridged up from the chasers. Since we were actually going fairly easy, I thought the group could become 6 or 8 if we didn't pick up the pace soon. Luckily at about that time, and perhaps thinking the same thing, Scott Fliegelman from Fast Forward Sports went to the front and upped the pace enough to drop everyone but me. However, sitting on I thought that I was a little faster than him in the technical sections and was still plenty comfortable. So with about 2 laps to go I came through and picked up the pace a little more.

While I would love to say that something dramatic happened on the final two laps to get me away, it was just not like that. I simply kept the pressure on in all of the technical sections and it appeared that Scott kept getting more tired each time he had to close the gap until the last lap where the bungee cord finally broke.

Luckily coming into the finish strait up the hill with about 5 seconds in hand, Rob, the consummate professional, had the good sense to yell "Zip Up" before I crossed the line!

Finally I would like to say thanks to all the BSV'ers out there encouraging us and working so hard to put on such a great race! It was probably all that yelling which actually made the race for me and BSV is one of the most fun cycling clubs I have ever been involved in!

Want a Free Picture of Yourself?

Head on over to Mark Woolcott Photography and look through the pics from our cylcocross race from this past weekend. If you find one of your mug that you really like, e-mail me at bill@blueskyvelo.com. First ten (10) non Blue Sky Velo peeps who e-mail me will get a special code to get a free 4x6 picture courtesy of our great sponsor Mark Woolcott.

and even more pics

Three more sites with pics of the Blue Sky Velo cyclocross race.

Check here and here and here.

A few of my favorite photos

From the raddest race in America.

Lee and Ryan compete in a little-known cyclocross sub-discipline, synchronized barrier-running.


Rob Love demonstrates that gold is the new white.


Isaac and Bryan Harwood take on the logs.


Freeride McGrew wins beer for his bunnyhopping efforts. Yes, he cleared this, after going OTB on the logs and throwing himself under Rob's feet as a surprise barrier. You never know what's going to happen at the Blue Sky Velo Xilinx Cup!

...and some more

More pics can be found here.

And some pics of the mens open race can be found here.

More Pictures from BSV Xilinx

Mark Woolcott, our official race photographer has posted up pictures from yesterday's race here.

Also, D. Moyniham has pictures of the race here.

Big Wheels has a few pictures here.

And Rob O'Dea pictures can be found here.

Video

Got this from Mud and Cowbells. Check it out!

Blue Sky Velo Cyclocross Classic Video

Epic Day at Blue Sky Velo Xilinx Classic

Wow! What a day cyclocross racing at the first ever Blue Sky Velo Xilinx Classic. A big shout out to the Blue Sky Nation for all your tireless efforts both in planning and executing this epic event.

Check out some of the stories and reports on the race.

- Times Call

- Georgia Gould

- Mud and Cowbells

More pics later, but here are some to chew on for now.

xilinx

today was absolutely so badass it brings a tear to my eye.

thanks,
rob.love.

And then there was one...

...one day left, that is. Our club has put a tremendous amount of effort into this race and it was really awesome to get the following e-mail yesterday.

"I just want to say what an awesome job your team is doing at promoting Saturday's race. It was so cool to open the Daily Camera webpage and see a cyclocross racer on the front page! There are so many other nice touches too (online registration, bikereg fees covered, course map, etc.) . Most importantly, I really appreciate you giving equal prize $ to the Mens and Womens Open fields. Those are the type of efforts that make me really excited to race your race. Good luck on Saturday and thanks for being such an awesome promoter!"

It's thanks to the generosity of our race sponsors like The TRIspective Group, that we are able to offer great prize money to both the Open Men's and Women's fields. Have fun jumping over these tomorrow!

Course build begins today. Check back later for some pics and we'll see you at the race!

HUP HUP!

Only 4 more days until the BIG SHOW. Bob the Builder has constructed us some sweet curb ramps, and bridges. Got your HUP HUP on?

Thanks to the generosity of our sponsor, Digital Retirement Solutions, we've added some I-pod nano's to the prize list.

Online registration ends Wednesday at Midnight. Save yourself $3 bucks and get it done now.

HUP HUP

Frisco CX - The Fun Sufferfest Continues

What is red, white and blue and stood out more than the changing fall leaves all over the Frisco Nordic Center on 10/5 and 10/6? The BSV CX team representing in the largest numbers to date! The weather was chilly and a little light drizzle dampened the course at times. Families were bundled up in the winter gear and racers smothered their legs with embrocation. Check out some of the pics...sorry we didn't get everyone, more photos to come from the professionals (Isaac & Jenna got some great videos!).

10/6 - SW Open

Susan racing to the front during the start
Susan showing the women how it is done over the barriers

Pam rockin' down the sand pit

Michelle holding on thru the barriers

Michelle sticking a leg out to make the sand pit turn

10/7 - Mens 35+ CAT 4

Dave K -'Birthday Boy' - charging the barrier

Kevin A. putting the fear in his field thru the barriers

Ho bombing downhill in the sand

Dave K. with some skills

BSV Compound

Fans/Cheering Section

Folks in the BSV Crash Pad

Thanks to everyone for the great times! - Michelle V.