Germany

Over the Winter holidays I were in Germany to visit my grand parents. I also attended some more cross races. Before I went over I decided to race the German national championship too. The German nationals were on January 10th. To prepare I did 3 races in Switzerland. The first race in Dagmersellen went for me really good. I started from the last row and I still got first place it was a sprint finish. That race was also wired because it was just put against a mountain. It just went up  the mountain on a paved road, down on frozen grass and the bottom were it was flat again was paved so it was more like a road race but still a hard race going up that mountain 6 times. 

Then I got to train for 4 days again before I had my next race. The next race was in Beromuenster, Switzerland. I started in the last row again but that didn't matter for me. I went right up to the lead group. I didn't have an excellent of a race because I was just sitting in waiting for the sprint because i didn't have enough power that day to ride away. So in the last lap a guy attacked and I could hold him so he just rode away from me. On the end I finished 2nd 2 seconds behind the leader.

 

 Then I got a 3 day break/ training time before I had my last race before Nats. This last race was in Duebendorf, that was also in Switzerland. This was the last race that I could prove my self that I am ready for Nats. I started of course in the last row again. This race was on a military airport so it was a lot of fun.  But this time there was a French guy there to that had one every single race he raced in Switzerland. After the start I were in 5 place and than on the pavement I attack right before a steep hill. After that I hammered it like for 2-3 laps and I opened a big gap. Midway through the race I was more then 40 seconds ahead. In the last lap I slowed down a little were I also crashed then. But when I crossed the finish line I were still 20 seconds ahead. From that day I knew I'm ready for nats. 

Two days before nats. I felt that I am not feeling so good. I had a bad cough and I just felt really bad. 

On the race day I surprised by an official commissar that they forbidden me to race in my so lovely Clif Bar race suit. Fortunately I could barrow a apparel kid from my previous home town club. I was very upset about this. After this action to change jersey's I tried to get back to my routine to study the course very carfully. It was a real nice course. It was just frozen ground and on the side of the course it was snow. It was a real fast course just how I like it. At this race I started in the last row of a field of 60 racers. After 1 and a half lap I caught up to the lead group of 10. Three laps to go somebody attack and I was stuck behind some other guy. So two rode away and when I had the chance to pass my guy I rode right back up to the other two guys. In the last lap we were down to 2 racers for the victory. The 3rd guy had a gap of 2 or 3 seconds. So i came in the sprint with the leader of the german race series. I thought I could take him in the sprint but I couldn't do it. I ended up 2nd place less then a wheel length behind him. I were proud of my self because I started in worst position and rode all the way up to second place.

It is always good to get a chance to race in a different country to see how good you are especially knowing the Swiss and german are ranking up in the the top nations worldwide. 

During my European races I always had top material and no defects. With this said I want to thank you to our sponsors for supporting us with all the best material, and a big thank you to Ben Turner and his support team for their great  work and support over the entire cyclocross season.

See you next season 

Nor-Cal Nevada Cup series win

On January 4, I completed in the last race of the NCNCA Cup, which is made up of six races from different series in Northern California and Nevada. I attacked from the start and gained on my lead. Isaiah, a fast junior from Kaiser/Team Oakland, was with me in the beginning but I attacked early and got a lead that lasted throughout the race. We started a minute behind the C men and I went through the field ahead of us and finished the race over a minute ahead of the first place C man and all the juniors. It was a fun course in beautiful Monterey Bay. Being race winner and series winner is awesome! Here are some pictures from winning the NorCal/Nevada Cup and bringing the junior championship to Clif Bar - Thanks for all your great support this season. Bjorn

3rd Place in Sacramento Men's A race


I was car-pooling to the Sacramento CX race with Josh Snead, Rock Lobster, and he joked with me that I should go out and place 3rd in this A men's race. So that is what I did. At the start, Josh got away from the whole field and I was at the back of a 5 man chase group. I decided to try to go faster, went around them, and got a gap on them, was is second place - chasing Josh! This surprised even me. I held on to second place for 2 or 3 laps before anybody caught me again. I rode in a 3 man group for another three laps, with one rider from the 35+A group and another A man. I am used to racing 30 or 45 minute races so this 60 minute race was pretty hard. I didn't think that I could keep us this pace much longer, but I did! I held on to 3rd place for the finish. Bjorn

Clif Bar Team bus, R.I.P.

Photos copyright Brad Kaminski

Unfortunately, the Clif Bar Team bus met it's fate early last Thursday morning about 5am.

The Olde Stage Fire - that started last Wednesday afternoon just north of Boulder city limits - began to spread east of Highway 36, and traveled down a little valley next to the commercial parking area where the bus is stored during the off season. High winds blew burning debris that started the bus on fire, with the front end destroyed before fire fighters arrived to put out the fire.

Link to story about the fires in Boulder is here.

Thanks to everyone for their support in making the team bus project come together in the fall of '07, and for keeping it rolling strong this past 'cross season. It was a huge team effort getting the bus ready for bike equipment, making it functional and look great, and especially driving all over the country. Having the bus at the races was a huge help to the team, made for a great sponsor presence, and was a lot of fun for people to see.

The former Dartmouth Big Green Bus had a great run as the Clif Bar Team bus, and there may not be another cycling team vehicle quite like it again!

1/03/2009 Lyons cross

Well this past weekend there was one last cyclocross race of the season right out side of Boulder in Lyons, same place where States were last year but different course. I was looking forward to one more race but was not too sure how I was going to feel, since it was my second time touching my bike since nationals which was about 2 weeks ago. Got to the race early to check it out and make sure my bike was still working from nationals. Pre-riding the course got me excited to race, it was a really cool course. With a steep run up and a barrier, little drop/roller, pump-ish section and a steep mound of dirt all made for a sweet course.

At the start line I think everybody had at least one goat head in there tire and was hoping for the best. The weather was nice and cold in the high 20's i think, cold enough. Though I had a really bad start getting cought behind a wreck on the steep run up falling back about 20seconds or so. After I got threw the mess I caught a group of two and sat with them for a while till pulling threw to try and catch Brady, Mitch and Pacocha. By the time I caught up to there group Mitch was off the front and Brady was spinning out on his single speed. So i decided to sit for a while and attack on the flat. Though I never did catch Mitch, who finished a good 10-15 seconds ahead of me I was able to hold on to second with a good 30-40 seconds on third. So the team finished up 1st and 2nd. Not too bad to start off the new year. With that two week rest I felt so rested and relaxed it seemed to help a lot. Mountain flyer did and article on the race at: Mountain Flyer Magazine

Nationals report: Friday (Juniors)

By Friday, the frozen ground of the Nationals course had given out under the pressure of Thursdays herds of B and Masters racers, and succumbed to sunshine and warming temperatures...creating a slippery, goopy mess of mud more suitable for holding wads of grass together for the walls of a primitive prairie home. Instead, this went on the bikes as they slid around the course, spinning for traction on the uphills and trying to stay in control through the turns.

The 10am Junior events featured some truly weight-gaining mud. Zack Gould's rig probably doubled in weight before he pitted with a rear derailleur broken by its struggle against the thick adobe building material clinging to his bike. He got a good workout running half the course with a 30+ lb. bike slung over his shoulder! Kudos to Zack for not giving up and hanging in there to finish a really solid 11th place in the 13-14 race.

In the 15-16 race, the CLIF BAR foursome of Yannick Eckmann, David Kessler, Bjorn Fox and Zane Godby went to work against a strong field and the mud. Yannick resumed his friendly rivalry with Delaware's ace junior Jeff Bahnson (the two had traded wins in the Cat. 2/3 races at the New Jersey USGP weekend). Bjorn looked to continue his hot streak after winning both under-16 junior races at the Portland USGP the previous weekend. David made his Cross Nationals debut, and 14-year old Zane stepped into his first race with the 15-16 category. Yannick raced hard and rode with Jeff for several laps, but before long Jeff's amazing mud riding skills and awesome fitness created a winning gap. Yannick powered home strong in 2nd, and both David and Zane had amazing races to finish in 4th and 5th, respectively. Bjorn was having a great race before he was sidetracked with a flat, but he came back strong to finish 8th. Three CLIF BAR 15-16 Juniors on the podium, and all 4 in the top ten!

The 17-18 crew was shorthanded from our usual USGP squad, with German Robin Eckmann having to race the B race on Thursday. Cody Cox and Andrew Barker rode strong races, starting out in the main chase group, fading a little bit after some blistering opening laps, but recovering to hold on to strong 9th place (Cody) and 13th place (Andrew) finishes.

Cody will now head off to Belgium later this week to begin his first European race experience at the Euro Cross Camp with National Team coach Geoff Proctor.

Nationals report: Thursday (B race)

Junior Robin Eckmann wins the B race! Since non-US citizens are not allowed to race US Nationals once they reach age 17, CLIF BAR's outstanding Junior 17-18 racer Robin Eckmann, who is from Germany but now calls Boulder home decided to race the B race for fun this year at Nationals.

He killed it! Robin moved up to the front of the race on lap one along with another junior ace - 15 year old Jeff Bahnson from Delaware, who was using the B race as a warmup for Friday's Junior 15-16 event. The two rode together off the front for several laps before Jeff completed his "opening" workout at 30 minutes. Robin then was joined by one other competitor, who stuck with him until the final lap.

One strong attack heading onto the pavement though kept his lead comfortable and he cruised in for the win.

Bay Area Super Prestige

Today I had a great race at the Bay Area Super Prestige series in Golden Gate Park. I went hard from the start getting 5 to 10 bike lengths on 2nd place by the end of the first lap. Then 2nd place got a mechanical that put him down one place. I kept a hard tempo making a bigger and bigger gap until the end of the race. Which led to my win!
Two weeks ago I also won the race which finally put me in the leaders jersey. It has been a tough season battling fast juniors, but hard work has helped turn the series around.

Bjorn

On the Cross

Today was the On the cross race at Chatfield. And about 5:00 last night the snow came in, and it snowed a lot in just an hour. So I knew it was gonna make for a muddy and fun race. The course was mostly single track which got muddy after all the races went before us. For our team we had Andrew, Yannick, Robin, Kevin and myself racing in the Open race. After the first lap in the lead group there were about 8 guys including Robin, Yannick and myself. Then the race began to break up some more and then we all found ourslelfs chasing the lead group of 5. So it was Yannick Robin and myself working together to get back into it. Though around one of the muddy corners I was on Yannicks wheel when he hit the deck, causing me to use his real wheel as a ramp and pulling a superman over him. We got right back up and kept on chasing. Then with about 3 laps to go I found myself alone trying to chase down the lead group of five. Then on the last lap on the last corner I just had to hit the deck causing the guy 10seceonds behind me to catch up and pass me in the sprint. So I eneded up 7th place which was not too bad. And Kevin was unable to finish due to his pedal coming completly off on the third lap.

Of course I am just starting to feel good on the bike and I can't even race tomorrow. Because we have to leave ealrly tomorrow to try and make it back up to Grand Junction for school on Monday. The passes are already snow packed and are expecting anywhere from 2-12 inches up in the mountains. And we can't even bring our cross bike back, because we drove down in a little Honda Civic which will not make it back over, so were catching a ride with our room mate who has all wheel drive but has no room for our cross bikes. So I guess we can't even ride cross again until Nationals. Unless we can make it back next week for states but im guessing the weather will be similar to how it is now on the passes.

Mercer '08 Elite Men | NY Velocity

Mercer '08 Elite Men | NY Velocity

CROSS!
Check out these nice photos of the Mercer race. Some good shots of team and pit action! (just click on the link above!)

Jersey Cross Life

Late Flights, Food Blights, Mudd

Jersey Pike, No Left Whole Foods

"Out of the way Hoke"

Ride On/Go Green

Mitch