In The Crosshairs

Junkyard bear?

The Internets can’t seem to get enough of the junkyard cross scene. Good thing we had some helmet-cams out on course Sunday afternoon to catch a little more of the action. Thanks to Sean and Ryan of TOMS Shoes p/b Kindhuman Sports for strapping on the cameras and capturing the action. If you missed the first video of the chaos that is junkyard cross, you can check it out here.

For today’s soundtrack, we turn to the smooth sounds of Washington D.C.’s Rattler. You can check them out at www.partywithrattler.com.

Thanks for watching.

Update:

Check out this video Joe Kalucki filmed at the Bilenky race. It is super sweet and I guarantee you that when you get to the thirty-second mark, expletives will leave your mouth. You will then rewind and watch that part again. TRUST ME.

Update Update:

Pat over at Surlyrider sent over a link to the video he put together of the race. The goodness from this day knows no limits. Check it out here.

Dogs love 'cross.

Rockburn Cross, day two of the Howard County Double Cross, took place November 21. Yes, that was a month ago and we are playing a little bit of catchup here at CXHairs HQ, but this way the video has a tinge of nostalgia to it.

If you have watched the preview commentaries we have been posting throughout the season, there are several themes that come up in almost every episode. One of the most important is to know what you are going to do, before you do it. This is especially true for mud and sand sections. If you are going to run, commit to it early. Don’t decide at the last second.

As you will see, early in lap one, this rule is not followed. And the result is some really nice close-up footage of the grass before the entrance to the sand pit. Lesson learned. Maybe.

Soundtrack is by Nine Inch Nails. When Trent Reznor released the Ghosts albums a couple years back he allowed people to use the tracks in personal film projects. The soundscapes give some nice atmosphere to film projects and as long as you’re not selling the finished product, anybody can use them. Pretty cool on the part of Reznor.

Video from the MABRAcross champs race is still waiting to be posted and the CXHairs action team is out this weekend filming races in Pennsylvania. So it looks like the mothballs are going to have to wait a couple more weeks before we put the lid on the CX season.

Thanks for watching.

The Cheat At Schooley Mill

Schooley Mill Cross, day one of the Howard County Double Cross, took place November 20. The course set up dry and fast with a couple more twists and turns than last year. The mud wasn’t there this year, which made this race a bit faster, but the added technical features seemed to keep everything in check.

For our soundtrack today we sliced and diced some beats in the CXHairs lab. Boy, it’s amazing what you can do with today’s technology. My apologies in advance to Bad Brains, Noir, Queen Latifah and Warren Zevon.

Thanks for watching.

Tille churns Rockburn sand

Rockburn Cross, day 2 of the Howard County Double Cross and race #9 in the BikeReg.com MABRAcross series, takes place Sunday, November 21. Twists, turns, ups and downs make Rockburn a favorite for many cyclocrossers in the Mid-Atlantic. Although there may be a different turn here and there, the word I get from the race organizers is that the course will not undergo any major changes for 2010.

Back with us again for course commentary are the dynamic duo of Dan Tille (fulcrumcoaching.com) and Chris Mayhew (JBVcoaching.com). If you like the work these guys have done on the previews, let them know this weekend. Maybe even buy them a slice of pie. Mmmm pie. Chris will be a sporting a blue JBV Coaching kit and rocking the mic on Saturday at Schooley Mill. Dan will be decked out in the black and orange of Fulcrum Coaching and piloting the XXXL Guru cyclocross machine.

Thanks for watching.

Rockburn Cross

Ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space.

We have a bit of a science project for you today. This is the masters 3/4 race from Tacchino Ciclocross, which took place November 7 at Rosaryville State Park in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. The video combines the helmet-cam footage and rear-facing seat-stay cam footage with a little image stabilization sprinkled on top. The result is hopefully a steadier picture that is easier and more interesting to watch.

Lots of cameos in this clip. Ryan Douglas, Chris King, Sol Schott, Carlo Alfono, Ken Woodrow, Bill Browne, Mike Neary, Rick Mellendick, DJ Arnold, and many more.

For tunes we have an encore performance from Baltimore’s Caleb Stine. He was featured on last year’s Tacchino video and we have some different tunes to sample this year. If you like what you hear, go buy a CD from Caleb at calebstine.com.

Thanks to Squadra Coppi for a great day of racing and thank you for watching. If you have a minute, let me know what you think about the site, the video, or whatever else is on your mind. Leave a comment or shoot me an e-mail at cxhairs at gmail dot com.

Tanner Browne at Ed Sander Memorial CX

All Hallows Cross took place October 30 at the Oak Ridge equestrian park in Hughesville, Md. Racers were treated to two long sand crossings through horse show rings, a trip through an abandoned barn and a fun single-track ascent. Instead of showing you the same backs of the same riders, we handed off the helmet-cam to Tanner Browne (Bike Doctor-Bayside Velo) to get a look at the category four race.

For those of you scoring at home, Tanner is 13 and lined up for the Cat 4 race a couple hours before winning the junior 10-14 race.  Tanner does a nice job working through the field on this first lap coverage. We also get a good look at a Gripped Racing rider hopping the steel pipe barrier that forced most to dismount. This happens at about the 5:25 mark on the video.

Thanks again to John Cutler for adding some atmosphere with his sound beds. And thank you for watching.

Padam cruising to gold at DCCX

For most promoters, a full slate of MABRAcross racing is plenty. But the go-getters at DCMTB wanted more so they added races for rookies, single-speeds and tandems to the DCCX slate. For those that stuck around late in the day, these races were some of the most entertaining on the schedule. 

The tandem race, in particular, did not disappoint. Twelve teams signed up and eleven were brave enough to toe the line. Many of the racers were lining up for their third race of the day.

Looking at the start list, it was safe to say that the race favorites in the tandem class were familiar names to MABRAcross prognosticators.

Jared Nieters, MABRAcross series leader, and Joe Dombrowski, the winner of the day’s elite race, looked strong on paper as they squeezed their Haymarket Bicycles-SEAVS rig onto the front row. But a slow start and nagging mechanicals seemed to dog them along the way. 

Lined up next to Nieters and Dombrowski was the Adventures for the Cure tandem piloted by Adam Driscoll with Pat Blair as stoker. If you don’t know much about these guys, let’s just say they spend way too much time together. They have ridden across the country together on fixed-gear bikes, completed the two-man Race Across America, and are pretty much inseparable if the activity has anything to do with bikes. In fact, they get mistaken for each other so much at bike races that I believe they just take on the other’s persona when someone can’t tell them apart. 

I point this out about Driscoll and Blair because their communication on the bike is incredible. You can hear it on the video in the turns and through the barriers. 

Another team that does a nice job communicating is the TOMS Shoes p/b Kindhuman Sports team of Matt and Chad Bartlett. The brothers have more fun on a bicycle then should be allowed. We get to hear them discussing the set up to their big air moment and also heckling the other TOMS Shoes rig. Needless to say, these guys also get confused for each other. Maybe that’s the key to tandem cross success. 

If you like what you see and want to try it out for yourself, you can do just that at Rockburn Cross, day two of the Howard County Double Cross. Early word is that this is going to be an epic rematch of the top three teams, with other strong challengers on hand to make it spicy. 

For the video we went into unchartered territory. Three helmet cams, one camcorder outside the tape and a whole lot of footage. I’ve edited it down to about 13 minutes but I’m sure there is a whole lot more to go through that was left on the cutting room floor. 

Thanks to John Cutler for the background music and thank you for watching.

DCCX takes place Sunday at the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Washington, D.C. With over 600 racers already registered, this event is going to be huge.

Despite the ever growing popularity of DCCX, the organizers are never satisfied with last year and are always looking to give participants and spectators the best experience possible.

DCMTB, the club responsible for bringing us DCCX, is not one to blindly follow conventional wisdom. They like to mix it up a bit on course design, venue layout and fun extra activities like tandem races, a Saturday women-only CX clinic and a rookie class.

Women interested in the Saturday clinic, led by 2009 DCCX champ Arley Kemmerer (C3-Athletes Serving Athletes), need to do nothing more than show up at the AFRH on October 23rd at 2 p.m. Let the guard at the Upshur St. NW and Rock Creek Church Rd. gate know why you are there and he will point you in the right direction.

We met up with DCCX promoters Marc Gwadz and Matt Donahue to run through the course and get an idea of the new twists and turns. Many will be happy to learn that the long, exposed out and back on the far side of the course is gone. However, a new uphill barrier will join the existing uphill obstacle (steps replace last year’s barrier) to make the course no less painful.

For this course preview everything was done on location, which is a CXHairs first. We rode and filmed the course and immediately downloaded the file. The mobile crosshairs studio was set up on a hay bale leaning against a telephone pole around where the frites will be served on Sunday. Matt and Marc got on the mics and recorded the commentary in the field, which means you get some authentic DC background noise, like the medevac helicopters landing at Washington Hospital Center, mixed in with the commentary.

For more information and updates on DCCX, check out the DCMTB blog.

Thanks for watching and we will see you Sunday.

Getting dizzy at HCX. Photo by Joel Steen

Hyattsville CX went off October 10 under sunny skies and seasonably awesome temperatures. Was it traditional cyclocross weather? It was for Hyattsville, your fast and sunny race in the MABRAcross series. We have helmet-cam footage from the Masters 3/4 race. I had the seat-stay cam hooked up but it was too shaky to watch. I think the multiple early season crashes have loosened up the mount. Probably about time to reapply the superglue.

Stoked to have  tracks from Park Police and Qway for this latest video. I think you are going to dig these bands. Good, driving pop/punk tunes. The kind of stuff you pop into the ears warming up for a race. You can check out more from Park Police at www.myspace.com/parkpolice and Qway at www.myspace.com/qway. Thanks to Neil Schirmer for putting me in touch with these guys.

Alright, go watch the vid and then meet back here soon for DCCX coverage and much, much more. Thanks for watching.

The Winchester Apple Harvest Cross, which took place October 3, offered riders a true gem in the BikeReg.com MABRAcross series. With rolling terrain, an epic “Belgian Wall,” dirt trails, and plenty of twisty turns to keep you honest, the organizers pretty much hit it out of the park.

The video is from the helmet-cam only and takes us through a full lap of the Winchester course. I should have both cameras running this Sunday at Hyattsville, so all your waving and gesticulations won’t be in vain.

The music accompanying the suffering comes courtesy of Haymarket-SEAVS’ John Cutler. The first track is Cutler’s former band Going Gone, the second is John on his own. Good tunes, indeed.

Thanks for watching and we will see you back here soon.