In The Crosshairs

Steevo shows some PRO technique on the run-up.

DCCX, the undisputed queen of the MABRAcross series, went off Sunday, October 24, at the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Washington, D.C. The event attracted over 700 racers and many more spectators. A new course designed by race organizers DCMTB and The Family Bike Shop set the stage for a day of hard racing under ideal conditions. The weatherman helped out the party atmosphere with 70 degree weather and sunny skies.

The elite men’s race was won by wunderkind Joe Dombrowski (Haymarket Bicycles-SEAVS), who looked like his main priority on the day was to open up his legs for the tandem race scheduled for later in the afternoon. Chasing Dombrowski for the entire 60 minutes and taking second place was C3-Athletes Serving Athletes strongman Wes Schempf. Olympian Bobby Lea (Van Dessel) slotted in for third.

Haymarket rider Stephen Cummings followed Lea in for a solid fourth place. Steevo, who has graced the pages of VeloNews for his cyclocross prowess, was kind enough to spend a couple minutes with us after the race.

Thanks for watching.

We caught up with Jared Nieters the winner of the elite men’s race at Winchester Apple Harvest Cross to talk about the race and check out his new bike set-up. Nieters has played the good teammate for the past couple weeks. But with Joe Dombrowski not in attendance, Nieters took it upon himself to animate the race, which became a two-man battle between Jared and C3-Athletes Serving Athletes’ Wes Schempf. Nieters and Schempf have been spending a lot of quality time together in the MABRAcross series and this race was no different.

Donning the Verge Sport MABRAcross leader jersey he wrenched from his teammates shoulders, Nieters talked tactics, skills and what it’s like to ride the Shimano Di2 gruppo in a ‘cross race.

Big thanks to Peter Niccoll (superluminalmedia.com), who used his PRO filmmaking skills to make my little non-pro production shine. Seriously, check out the camera work. Classy, on the fly, stuff going on there.

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.

Hyattsville CX, the fourth race in the BikeReg.com MABRAcross Series, takes place October 10 at Magruder Park in Hyattsville, Md. This race features flat power sections broken up by fun technical sectors. The City of Hyattsville is 100 percent behind this race so the atmosphere and amenities are top notch. Bleacher seating, indoor restrooms, moonbounce and playground, huge parking lot adjacent to the course. And it’s all 10 minutes from downtown DC.

Sounds great, right? So what are you waiting for? It’s not too late to register (you have until tomorrow at midnight), so go do it now.

For those that did the race last year there are a couple changes discussed in the course preview video. For those that are new to the venue, get prepared for no hills, two dismounts, and some good fast ‘cross racing.

Thanks for watching and see you Sunday.

The BCA mud (custom churned by Mike Birner)

The Breast Cancer Awareness Cyclocross Challenge was held this year at a new location, moving from the Hagerstown Fair Park to Fort Ritchie in Cascade, Md. The week before the race it rained. Really rained. That made conditions on the course thick and slow. With long flat stretches and not much technical riding necessary, other than the ability to drive your bike through slop, racers with big engines definitely had and advantage.

We are going to take a look at a full lap plus a little more of the BCA course. It’s a bit bouncy, a bit frenetic and a bit crazy out there. For music to match that atmosphere, we are stoked to get the green light to feature Baltimore’s own Double Dagger. This trio has been around for a while but have now gone and got themselves all blown up with a new record out on Thrill Jockey. We have some older jams on tap for this video from Ragged Rubble, an album from their days with Stationary (Heart) Records. To see what they are up to now, and you should, check out there killer site.

Thanks for watching.

Erin Silliman powers through the BCA Cross mud

The Breast Cancer Awareness Cyclocross Challenge presented by Antietam Velo Club took place October 2 at the historical Fort Ritchie in Cascade, Md. The course endured several inches of driving rain for days before the race. Although sunny skies met racers on Saturday, conditions were muddy and dense.

For today’s episode, we concentrate on the top of the women’s field. The weekend turned out to match two riders’ strengths to a tee. On Saturday, the long straights and wet conditions favored the powerful riding of Fruit66/Artemis rider Erin Silliman. On Sunday, the windier, hillier aspects of the Winchester Apple Harvest Cross favored a technically skilled rider like Haymarket/SEAVS’ Patty Buerkle.

We caught up with Patty and Erin at the conclusion of the BCA race. After going 1,2 in this event they traded top positions the next day at Winchester.

First up we have the winner, Erin Silliman.

And now the runner-up, Patty Buerkle.

Thanks for watching. And thank you to Dave Tambeaux (Adventures for the Cure) for his camera work on these interviews. We will be back soon with more coverage. Lots to get to this week.

Winchester Apple Harvest ‘Cross takes place October 3 in Winchester, Virginia. In its second year, and first in the MABRAcross series, the Apple Harvest ‘Cross offers a nice hilly course in a scenic locale.

Here is a rough outline of the course set up:

Winchester Apple Harvest Cyclocross

We enlisted Kenny Morris of race organizer the Winchester Wheelmen to run us through the course. And joining us again to provide commentary is Ken Woodrow (Squadra Coppi), who is the MABRAcross technical advisor for Winchester Apple Harvest Cross.

UPDATE: We had a question in the comments about barriers. They will be located behind the registration/podium area. On the video, this is at 10:11. The right hand turn behind the shelter.

Thanks for watching.

This is the part of 'cross that Masters 3/4 racers do better than most.

Ed Sander Memorial Cyclocross took place September 26 at The Lilypons Water Gardens in Adamstown, Md. In recent years the course has been slow and muddy. This year it was dry and fast. What we have for your viewing pleasure is a lap and a half of the Masters 3/4 race. The footage starts off quickly and then ends prematurely and abruptly. A pattern we here at CXHairs.com hope not to continue repeating.

I’m still struggling on the tunes front. We will get that sorted out in the coming weeks. In a pinch, though, you can’t go wrong with Soul Coughing bootlegs from 1997. If you have a band and want to be featured in a CXHairs video. Please, drop us a line.

Thanks for watching.

New twists and turns at the 2010 Charm City Cyclocross. Photo © Joel Steen

The 2010 edition of Charm City Cyclocross included two days of gut-wrenching, chest-burning racing. The festivities kicked off early Saturday morning with a new course layout at historic Druid Hill Park in Baltimore, Md. More twists and turns than the usual set-up but no less demanding or fun. The course still included Charm City Cross landmarks such as the staircase, natural barrier and double-sandpit.

Here at CXHairs, the 2010 game plan is to again try and record the races we attend using two cameras. One camera is on the helmet and a second, rear-facing camera is on the seat-stay. Instead of trying to fit both camera views onto the screen at the same time, as I did for a handful of races last year, I am going to post two videos. They will be close to identical in music and length. The only difference is that one will be the forward-facing view and the other the rear-facing view.

For music this year I hope to once again tap into the great bands supported by Mid-Atlantic labels. If you hear something you like, check out the labels website and buy some music. 

Charm City Cyclocross had me diving back into the archives for a couple of my favorite tracks from Exotic Fever Records alums. For this race we have tracks from Pash and Eulcid. Not to highlight my dumb mistakes, but you may notice on the video I had a 2:00 a.m. typo and misspelled Eulcid. My apologies to the band. My goal is to get that changed and reloaded soon.

Enjoy and thanks for watching. 

Forward-Facing Camera 

Rear-Facing Camera

When it comes to race day gear, Mayhew is a man of excess.

One of the unfortunate rituals many bike racers maintain is the race-morning cycling-gear scavenger hunt. It usually goes something like this, “where did I leave my gloves … why can’t I find my helmet … have you seen my sunglasses?”

Our goal today is to break you of this pre-race stresser. And it turns out that the solution is easy. All it requires is a designated gear bag that contains everything you need to race.

Shoes, helmet, embrocation, skinsuits. It all stays in the bag. Let me repeat that, because it is key. It all stays in the bag.

Wash what you use and then put it back in the bag. It sounds so simple yet I cannot tell you how many times I have arrived at races to find a friend fretting in the parking lot because he forgot some critical piece of gear. 

The one difficult part of the process, other than training yourself to keep everything in the bag,  is figuring out how to initially stock the race-day gear hauler. Instead of just giving you a checklist, we thought it would be a bit more interesting to dump out a well-stocked bag and see the gear laid out.

Here to help us do just that is JBV Coaching Associate Coach and CXHairs contributor, Chris Mayhew. On the road most weekends during ‘cross season, Chris is the perfect person to show you all the right bits to have readily available in your gear bag. 

Thanks for watching.