September 27, 2012 (Nanaimo, BC) – As the Friendly Giant says… “Look Up, WAY UP” ’cause we are heading up island to Cumberland on Sunday for COTR #2. We have heard some rumours of course changes, DJ’s, Advanced heckling… Powsey is already sharpening his wit… the BMX track concession will be OPEN AGAIN and their food was GOOD last year!!
Car Pool if you can!!
OK we are always trying NEW THINGS at COTR. This weekend will be something different again.
YOUTH
We are going to run a YOUTH ONLY race start. Please get the word out to your clubs and friends. This will be run at the 11:00am Start time and on the course at the same time as the Beginners. We will be giving the YOUTH about a half lap head start and the race will be about the same time as the beginners so around 30-35 minutes.
This will be open for any YOUTH that are what is considered U17 which really means they are 16 or younger for the entire 2012 year. All the youth that want to race in this category are free to do so. Girls and Boys will be started at the same time. We will score: 15/16 year olds. 13/14 year olds and 12 and Under.
If you are already racing Intermediate as a U17… you can choose to continue to do that and get your series points OR race the Youth race… or race both. Your choice.
If you are registering in ADVANCE just register for Beginner and we will put you into the YOUTH category based on your age.
This is a TEST EVENT so we hope to see a good turn out for it and we will see how it goes.
KIDS
We will ALSO have our ‘Lil Nutcase kids races for any kids that do want to race the youth race or are not old enough; push bikers, trikers, training wheel’ers, new riders… 2 years old and up? This will be on a separate kids course and will be held after the Intermediate and before the Masters/Open Women races so around 12:45.
Pre-Race Clinic
We will start the clinic a bit earlier this Sunday (10am) to give those in the first race a bit more time to practice. We hope to have Drew MacKenzie and Steve Lund helping out with it and a few of the Trail Bikes team as well.
Pre-Register
Save yourself some paper work on race day. Save yourself some time on race day. Save us some paperwork on race day. Allow us to plan better. Help us get your call up correctlyŠ..Pre-Register. You don’t have to… but it is much-much better! Link on our Website.
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Hey junior rippers!!! Fastest junior in the Expert category gets $100 courtesy of Comox Valley Nissan. Oh… and it’s for the guys and gals.
Will we see Nigel Ellsay out there this weekend fresh off the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS for Road?? Check out his post race interview HERE.
BIG NEWS (SCHEDULE-VENUE CHANGE)
We know that pretty much all the COTR news is BIG and you guys read every word of these newsletters… but this one is really BIG.
The COTR Race #6 scheduled for PISE in Victoria is having a venue change. We are heading back to Western Speedway on that date (November 11th) for the Binab Property Group GP organized by the Pro City Cycles team. Western Speedway was a LOT of fun last year and it is nice to not have to worry about tour busses with 100’s of tourists… like at the Gorge during the Masters race!
While PISE was supportive of our event and have had a Wednesday nighter there we needed a bit more property and their neighbors were not as receptive. We will keep working on it and if anyone in our community has an in with that community (you know who the “neighbors” are and can help us out) we would love to try for that venue again in the future.
Photos and Contest
We are going to do our Photo Contest again this year. We will ask for you best submissions close to the end of the series. Post them on the site. Get our panel of judges to vote on them. Award something to the winner at the series final and it will be cool!
In the meantime feel free to fire us your gallery links and we will post them in our newsletter and on our site.
This one comes from COTR #1 from Scott Mitchell from Trek Bikes/Pro City Victoria:
Check out some of my better Condo cross shots HERE.
Some shots from Dave Morrison HERE.
Edited
The Complete Master Blaster Guide to the 2012 Cross on the Rock Race Season will be receiving an EDIT and re-posting before next week. Updated will be:
– Forgot to mention the “DROP” of one race if you do 7 events. Only 6 races score per person.
– Updated schedule with the Kids races included.
– Updated Bike shop supporters to include Ozzie’s Cycle in Port… not sure how we forgot them
– Updated Club/Organizers to include ASS and AVR… also from PORT.. .not sure how we forgot them too!!
– And a few other things. All EDITS will be highlighted and in a different colour FONT.
Number Placement: We can (and have to) do better!
We CAN DO BETTER… The first race of year saw some awesome number placements… and some not so awesome. We aim for 100% on this. If you want your results to be close to accurate using our state-of-the-art-non-chip-timing system then help us out. Get your number in the right spot. Check at registration as to how it should be pinned. Makes sure it is pinned well, visible and not going to fall over during your race or after you SQUEEEEZZZE yourself into your skin suit. You don’t want to be the person holding up the start and getting the people around you to re-pin your number. THANK YOU IN ADVANCE! While you are at it… keep your pins and bring them again to your next race. Just throw them into your race kit etc. No need to go through 40 pins each this season. We don’t want your numbers back as it makes our job harderŠ.but we can at least save the pins.
Have you looked at YOUR STATS LATELY?
I was browsing our web site after Condo Cross. Looking at my personal stats. Talking e-mail smack with Scott Mitchell when I noticed at the bottom of my stats page something called “EPIC BATTLES”Š.have you checked it out yet?
Roland added this after last season to his feature full web site and it shows some of your closest nemesis(s) out on the race course… check it out.
Clinic Coming up this SATURDAY
Clinic: Cyclocross 101 – CX Fundamentals
– Date: September 29th, 2012
– Time: 9:30-12:30pm
– Location: Victoria, BC
– More info HERE.
Clinic Topics and Drills Include:
– Bike Set-up Basics
– Equipment selection and set up.
– Understanding and selecting clincher and tubular tires, and the importance of tire pressure.
– Bike Handling and Cornering
– With many cross courses contain over 30 corners per lap, cornering skill and ability is one of the most crucial elements in cyclocross.
– Shifting and braking, weight shifts/body positioning, line choice and techniques for tricky terrain and challenging conditions such as sand, off-cambers, steep drops, and mud, snow, loose gravel, etc.
– Dismounting and remounting skills
– Carrying and shouldering the bike.
– Techniques for barriers and stairs.
– Race Preparation
– Pre-race routines, race day nutrition and racing strategy
– What to expect in your first season
– keys to being prepared
– Skillz drillz
– Practice race starts and holding position.
– Clipping in, weighting, surface assessment for traction and other drills to develop cx skills.
Thinking Ahead… Provincials and Nationals
The ferry is SUPER EXPENSIVE. That is part of the reason why we are developing this series and helping us all limit our travel. However once in a while you have to EXPAND your horizons and see what is happening over the sea. Two reasons to get on the boat this year are Provincials and Nationals.
The Provincial Championships this year are being held at Mahon Park in North Vancouver on October 21st. This is a course that has been used before for Provincials. You could even double down and do the Wooley Cross across the line on October 20th if you wanted to.
BC CX Champs info HERE.
Jeff Van Mulligen the race director has dedicated spots for our COTR series riders based on our rankings after 4 races. This will apply for Elite, Women and Masters at Provincials and I will work with him to make sure those riders are called up correctly.
You do need a proper license for this event and can not buy a day-of-race license so keep that in mind.
AND YOU HAVE TO PRE-REGISTER if you want to take advantage of your COTR Status for call up.
Weekly Cross Rides on the Island (IF you know of more please let us know)
NOTES:
– Nanaimo’s ride night changes to Thursday this week and going forward. Possibly some track time to get ready for Cumberland?
– Courtenay is planning on riding at the Village Park tonight to get some time on the course.
Courtenay
Courtenay’s Trail Bicycle Eatmore Sprouts Team will be hosting a weekly Wednesday night cross ride from Trail Bicycles, meet there ready to ride for 6pm and please bring lights and warm clothes as we will be out there until dusk.
Victoria
Wednesday Nights – CROSS CLUB 2012 –
– $20 cash money for the 8 event training series
– September 5th, 12th, 19th, 26th and October 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th
– E-Mail: crossclub@gmail.com
Victoria
Cross season is on, so starting this Friday: CX ride leaving from Broad Street Cycles after work (6ish). Everyone welcome, bring lights.
Nanaimo
To give a gentle introduction to cyclo-cross, MIVA (Mid Island Velo Association) is holding its second year of CX clinics where participants can learn and improve their skills at dealing with all kinds of obstacles, dismounting and remounting, cornering, riding cross camber sections, and even what to look for in their pre-riding of CX courses. Each clinic ends with a short race where riders can practise their skills and techniques and have a qualified coach offer constructive advice. Last year, a number of the more experienced competitors found the clinics invaluable in improving their performance.
Some participants use mountain bikes for the clinics and even for the Cross on the Rock races but, if you have a cyclo-cross bike or a road bike that can be modified, most of the courses favour these. One of the clinics will have a section dealing with bike modification.
Clinics are held at Beban Park and dates and times can be found on the Cross on the Rock web site and also on MIVA’s web site – www.bikeracing.ca. If you need further information email info@bikeracing.ca
Series is Organized by the Cross Council: With the following cycling clubs: MIVA, VICC, Trail Bicycles-Eatmore Sprouts Cycling Team, The Cowichan Cycle Cartel, ASS and AVR
Supported by:
– Oak Bay Bikes in Victoria, Westshore and Nanaimo
– Trail Bikes in Courtenay
– Experience Cycles in Duncan
– Cowichan Cycles in Duncan
– Cycle Therapy in Duncan
– Frontrunners in Nanaimo
– Straight Up Cycles in Victoria
– Dodge City Cycles in Cumberland
– Ozzie’s Cycles in Port Alberni
Sanctioned by: Cycling BC
Did you hear there will be a world wide shortage of BaconŠ.what are we going to do about the Bacon Hand Ups??