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Cyclocross!
Wow- it's October already and it's time for the kick off of the Cross Crusade! Tomorrow is the season opener for the storied cyclocross series. The venerable series has been the benchmark of cross events in the nation- no other series in the US is larger.
Check out this great Cross Crusade gallery by Bikeportland.
 An oldie but a goodie- click for the video.
T'was the night before CrossCrusade, when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The tubulars were all stretched and glued with great care in hopes that a podium finish soon would be near.
Crusaders were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of leg searing run-ups danced in their heads.
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter. Away to the window I flew like a flash, tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
When, what to my wondering eyes shown in the light, But an orange & green Winnebago, piloted by eight shiny Knights.
With a dastardly old driver, so conniving and cross, I knew in a moment that it must be Brad Ross. And sitting beside him full of Brandy and Crimson was that devilish course designer, Mr. Andy Wilson.
More rapid than Trebon & Wicks his coursers they came, and he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!
Now Raynak! now, Potestio! now, Slingsby and Splinter! On, Candi! On, Terri! on, Humberston! and Meyers! To the top of the barrier! to the top of the wall! Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!
As dry leaves behind the wild pack do fly, when they meet with an obstacle, they leap to the sky. So over the run-up the coursers they raged, Wilson and Ross, dangling behind, were showing their age. (totally upstaged)
They may be without retired Brian Witty but not the pile of swag supplied by River City.
And then, once again, I heard such a clatter the Cow Bells and screaming of each cross crusader.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around, through the front door he came with a bound. Faster than a sprinting Marianne Voss, it was the King Crusader himself, the grandmaster Brad Ross
He was dressed all in chain maul, from his head to his foot, and his armor was all tarnished with Alpenrose mud, and Barton park soot. A bundle of Swag he had flung on his back, and he looked like a peddler, just opening his sack.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old Knight, And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of my plight! He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work, handing out Deschutes to all, then turned with a jerk. With a wave of a beer and a smile on his face he gave a big nod and took off for the race.
He sprang to his bus, to his team gave a kick, and away they all flew like on the legs of Kevin Hulick.
But I heard him exclaim, 'ere he raced out of sight, "Happy Cross Crusade to all, and to all a good-night!"
Good Luck tomorrow Crusaders !
Cross-Curious?
Curious about cross and wanting to know what it's like? Stop by one of the races or read about the experience of a new racer!
Newb on the tracks: My first cyclocross race
I never intended to do a cyclocross race.
I’d been to a race before, several years ago when a roommate was competing at Barton Park. But the actual racing part of the affair was entirely lost on me as I happily settled into what I assumed was the True Meaning of Cyclocross: drinking beer under a tent, with the faint sound of cowbells clanging in the distance and the occasional blur of muddy spandex warriors providing momentary yet unimportant distractions from the rotation of hot dogs on the grill.
Racing myself seemed entirely out of the question. My position in the bicycle world has always been firmly ensconced in the advocacy and bike-fun camps. My bike-related skills consist of dressing up like David Bowie for Pedalpalooza and sending indignant tweets to @PBOTinfo about drivers parked in the bike lane.
Updates, updates.
Photo by Kenji Sugahara
Big congrats to OBRA member Justin Yuen, Grouptrail Cycling who will be taking over as Board Chair for the Bicycle Transportation Alliance. He is taking the reins from Stephen Gomez of Super Relax Concept!
Thanks to the Super Swap block party! They donated 10% of the profits to OBRA to help with the Alpenrose renvation project. (see story below)
Remember if you are changing categories that you must obtain a new cross number at registration! Otherwise your result will likely be attributed to another racer!
If you received an e-mail from Candi Murray letting you know that you have a mandatory upgrade- that means that you must race in the category that you were uprgaded to!
As per last year- there is NO self selection to Category A in cyclocross. That includes both A and Master's A. Anyone racing in A without a category A license will be disqualified.
Did you see that crazy new video from Danny Macaskill? If not- check it out!
Alpenrose Renovation
If you're racing Alpenrose this weekend you'll notice that the Velodrome has a brand new apron. Alpenrose has been hugely supportive of bike racing in Oregon- much of our equipment and many of our vehicles are stored there. They host all of our track races, the Cross Crusade and Blind Date races. They do all of this without receicing a single dollar. Help support this renovation and donate to the renovation fund. Donate here. OBRA is a 501(c)3 organization and your donation may be tax deductible. Consult with a tax professional.
Oregon Scenic Bikeways Survey
SURVEY CLOSING SOON- PLEASE COMPLETE IF YOU'VE RIDDEN A SCENIC BIKEWAY!
Please help cycling in Oregon by completing this survey if you have ridden or plan to ride an Oregon Scenic Bikeway. This has a huge impact on policy makers' perspetives on cycling- especially from rural areas. Help make a difference.
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Here in Oregon we love bicyclists and are on the move to help make the bike-experience even better for our visitors and locals.
Have you ridden on one of Oregon’s Scenic Bikeways this year, or plan to? If so, Travel Oregon would love to hear from you!
Complete the first-ever Oregon Scenic Bikeway survey:
RideOregonRide.com/Survey2014.
And please do share this with your networks… that would be greatly appreciated and help get broad survey participation.
Oregon is the first state in the nation with Scenic Bikeways and this survey will help Oregon better understand:
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What the economic impacts of the Bikeways are to our state;
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How we can help make Oregon an even better place to ride;
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More about the bicycle traveler in Oregon; and
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Provide valuable data for statewide partners and networks to utilize.
The survey takes approximately seven minutes and will help improve the Oregon cycling experience for all. Answers supplied will be kept strictly confidential and used for statistical purposes only.
2014 Membership News
It's October- it's close to Halloween- Charlie dressed as an Angry Bird.
If you'd like to check the status of your membership, click this link to see whether it has been processed. If you haven't received your membership after two weeks, please contact membership@obra.org with your name, race you signed up (if signed up at a race)- and your mailing address. We receive a number of memberships back because of bad addresses.
If you do sign up for your membership at the race venue, you will receive a temporary membership card. These not only serve as your proof of membership but will also provide you a link where you can check whether your membership has been processed!
As a reminder to teams- your team name will not appear in results unless your club has paid 2014 dues. If a majority of your team members are out of the OBRA service area (Oregon, SW Washington, Northern California) , please contact kenji@obra.org for special consideration. Team dues are $100 per year unless your team puts on a race, volunteers at races or gives back to the cycling community in some way (e.g. helping build or maintain trails, volunteering with the BTA or helping teach kids how to bike). If your team does so, your dues will drop to $35 the next year. Dues are always $100 the first year.
Photo by David Mackintosh
NEW RACERS: Are you a new racer or race like I do (pictured above)? Or do you have a friend interested in racing who wants to know how to get into the sport? OBRA has been working with Katie Macarelli and Kris Thompson over at 303Cycling based out of Colorado to get good information out there for racers. (There are some specific Colorado links and information in there but most applies to racing everywhere.)
A few reminders from our officials- remember to not to recross the finish line after you have finished your event! This can cause issues with scoring! Make sure your race numbers are put on correctly! And finally- as an annual reminder- please do not urinate in public at race venues. We lost our Piece of Cake venue in 2012 because of urination issues. A few neighbors saw some racers peeing and were not pleased.
If you haven't checked out our page on concussions, please do. It's important that we all know how to recognize head injuries when they happen. The best link to follow is the first one under "Player".
Help STOP Bike Thieves
I get e-mails about stolen bikes almost everyday . This past week 2 bikes were stolen in Vancouver- one of which was built for Dean Tracy in his bid for the London Olympics. Starr Walker's Surly 1x1 Mountain Bike was stolen.
Help increase the chances of getting your bike back.
Developed jointly with law enforcement, Project 529′s bicycle registration service not only captures your bike’s information, it also works to deter theft, help respond if a bike is stolen, and aids in recovery.
Register: To register, download the 529 Garage app (from the iTunes Store or Good Play) or go to their website at www.project529.com. Once there, follow the prompts to capture the detailed photos and key information about your bike to aid in recovery.
Respond: If your bike is stolen, press the ALERT button in the 529 Garage app. You will be prompted to answer a few quick questions before everyone in the nearby 529 community is notified of the theft. The 529 Garage also helps produce high quality posters you can print out in just a couple of clicks.
Recovery: When your bike is recovered, you will have all of the necessary information in one place to prove ownership and reclaim your bike.
Have kids?
Do you have young children and want to find them a bike that doesn't weigh a ton and isn't a department store bike? One great option is Isla Bikes (pronounced eye-lah). They opened up their US operations in Portland last year and are starting to make an impact in the area. Their bikes fill a niche that the major manufacturers haven't addressed. Their main focus is 2-11 year olds. They have balance bikes, cross bikes, road bikes, and mountain bikes. They have a fitting studio at 2113 SE 7th Ave in Portland. For more information visit their website.
I can personally vouch for these bikes- not only are they lightweight they can take a beating. Click on pic below for a video.
OBRA Chat
GRUMPY CAT SAYZ: DON'T PEE WHAR U NOT SPOSED TO!
Remember that being an OBRA member does not mean you are automatically signed up for the Chat List. You must sign up here. You must also sign up for the list to post to the list. Because of the volume of e-mails we recommend that you choose to receive the digest version.
As an etiquette piece, please remember not to reply all when you are responding to an individual. Check who you are replying to in the "To" field especially when you are only wanting to respond to the original sender.
Teams, Race Results and the BAR
If you results are not correct your first action should not be to contact Kenji or Candi. Both of us receive between 100-150 e-mails per day on busy days. Please contact the Chief Judge for the event. They are listed at the top of the event results page on the OBRA website. This will help us out tremendously.
BAR
For other issues- team results may not appear in the BAR because of a multitude of issues. Some are technical and some are because of missepllings in Team names. Please first check in with the Chief Judge to confirm that your team name has been entered correctly in results.
If you did not receive individual BAR points, it may be because your name has been misspelled. If this is the case, please send an e-mail to kenji@obra.org.
Teams
If your team has paid dues but your team name doesn't appear in the results, please first e-mail the Chief Judge. They are the name that appears on the results page for each race. Do so within 24 hours of results posting. If the Chief Judge has your team name listed in the results but they still don't appear, please send kenji@obra.org an e-mail. It may be a matter of misspelling.
Upgrades
So a couple things for racers- we've been getting a lot of upgrade requests. To make everyone's lives easier and simpler- please provide the following when you submit your request to upgrades@obra.org-
A list of qualifying races with the following:
Date of race, name of race, category of the racers (1/2/3 etc), placing and number of racers.
We do not automatically track upgrade points. The points that you see next to some of your races are likely BAR points, not upgrade points.
If you race outside of the category listed in the OBRA database- you will be disqualified.
Here are some discipline specific guidance and some common issues.
Cyclocross
1. Cyclocross categories are self selected except for A. If you would like to upgrade to A- send an e-mail to upgrades@obra.org.
2. Sandbagging is not tolerated.
3. If you self select a higher category, you may only downgrade if you request a downgrade and the request is approved.
More on upgrades and downgrades can be found here.
Social Media
Have you checked out our Facebook page or Twitter feed @ORBicycleRacing? Catherine Cooper has been doing an outstanding job keeping our membership informed through both! Another great Facebook page to visit and like is the Let's Race Bike page!
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