Two Sports - Twice the Fun

Spring is just around the corner and the 11^th Annual God’s Country Fat Tire Festival is fast approaching. Off-road multisport events like Xterra triathlons and mud runs are rapidly growing.  These events are popular because many athletes enjoy the adventure and added challenges of running and biking on off-road trails.  Off-road events also tend to be friendlier and more “low-key” than their road counterparts.  They appeal to trail runners, mountain bikes and anyone who likes adventure and doesn’t mind getting dirty during a race.

Hurry and save...due to our recent winter weather, regular registration for the off-road Duathlon has been extended until 3/5/13.  This is also the date to guarantee an event t-shirt as we will be placing our order on that date.  Visit http://fattireduathlon.blogspot.com for a direct link to registration.

Are undecided about racing?   If you sign up early and can’t attend on race day, we can rollover your registration fee to next year or apply the fee to one of our other events on the calendar.  Now you can have peace of mind and not have to worry.  This guarantee is for both the Duathlon and our Mountain bike event.

Wintery Mix #2

Cross racing in February........apparently so!! I represented Cow Town in the CAT3’s at the Wintery Mix #2. They started the 1/2 field at the same time as the CAT3’s, so it was good to start and test my fitness and skills with the elite guys in the area. I hung in with the field for the first ½ to ¾ of a lap, then the 1/2 field started to open up a gap (need to get a little faster before I ever think about upgrading). I felt OK for most of the race, but regretted doing a LT test the day before, as I think if maybe I had been well rested that I might have possibly made the podium. I had one mishap during the race, where I hit one of the dips a little hard while seated way back on my saddle and knocked the nose pointing almost straight up. I rode as best I could on the saddle and grabbed my Ritchey pit bike to finish out the race with 2 to go (I will be switching to a 2 bolt post before next season). I actually enjoyed the course, although the softer areas were tough to power your way through, as it was that thick, unforgiving, wheel grabbing mud. The section with “the ditch” was a blast. The wind was definitely a factor and there was no hiding from it. I ended up 6th for the day and I am happy with the result.

My props to Mark Thomas and crew with the course design.  I had heard it was pretty rough at previous races, but a little rain did wonders.
 
I want to thank Roger Harrison again for giving me a jump start. I had left my lights on and my battery was dead after the race. Roger is a truly selfless person and has been an important part Kansas City bike racing for years. Thanks for all you do Roger!

2013 God's Country Fat Tire Festival

***UPDATED****

Dear Cycling and Multisport Enthusiasts

As President of the Cow Town Cycling Team, I invite you to join us in Lawrence, Kansas March 23 & 24, 2013 for the God’s Country Fat Tire Festival.   Our team has two fun filled days of off-road excitement planned. 

Our festival...Saturday brings us the 11th Annual God’s Country Off-Road Duathlon.  For over a  decade this has been a fun and challenging multisport event for all ability levels.  This year we increase the fun opportunities by offering both Long and Short course options.  Age-Group, Clydesdale, Relay Teams and Unicycle divisions are available.  It’s a great event for first timers.  

Early Bird Registration  is open for the Duathlon.  Register for the God's Country Off-road Duathlon

Sunday is the popular God’s Country Mountain Bike Classic.   This will be the opening round of the 2013 Unified Federation of Dirts West series.  Traditional cross country mountain bike classes including Kids, Clydesdale, Single Speed and Marathon.  New this year will be a Grand Masters (60+) division and First Timers division for those new to off-road riding that would like to give racing a try. 

Registration is open for the Mountain Bike race: https://www.usacycling.org/register/2013-459

The venue...Off-Road heaven is what some call it.  The Lawrence River Trails (LRT) which are maintained by the Lawrence Mountain Bike Club offers a trail system that is fun for all ability levels and is rideable by absolutely anyone. The trails have the perfect combination of flowing dirt single track, hairpin turns, berms, and rolling hills. Expert to beginners will all enjoy the LRT.

Festival features...Professional event timing and finishing services, custom awards for both events, custom t-shirts, post-race food and beverages, free photographs and cash payout for Cat 1.  Hammer Nutritional products will be available both days.  The Wheel Cyclery will be available to offer bike support.  We will have plenty of Chamois Butt’r for all your comfort needs.  The Lanterne Rouge will be on hand with entertainment and  event support.

A field limit of 200 is set for our events.  Please register early to save your spot, get a call up to the front row for the start, save money and get your event t-shirt and raffle tickets for some cool swag. 

Chris Locke

President, Cow Town Cycling Team

God's Country Dates for 2013

Save the date(s):
God's Country Off-Road Duathlon - 3/23/13
God's Country Mountain Bike Classic - 3/24/13

Cross News Shorts - 12/25/12

December has been a very busy month for any cyclo-cross enthusiast.  Iowa, Missouri and Kansas all crowned their 2012 state cyclo-cross champions earlier in the month.

Iowa Championship Results
Missouri Championship Results
Kansas Championship Results

Congrats to Christopher Locke of Cow Town for earning a silver medal in the Missouri State Championships.  Dave Wathen earned at 9th  in the Men's 40 -44 division.

Racing continued last weekend with the Lost Trail Cyclocross race.  A new event held at the Louisburg Cider Mill.  An interesting venue and fun race.  It brought back old memories of past cyclocross races with a very MTB friendly course.  Complete Lost Trail results

Congrats to Chris Locke for taking his first CX win in many, many, many years. 

Tige Lamb came out of cross retirement to earn 2nd place in the Masters 40+ class.

Interested in trying out some cyclocross races yourself?  Well right here in KC we have 3 events to pick from over the next week.

Boxing Day Cross - 12/26/12
Grote Prijs - 12/30/12
Cross off the New Year - 12/31/12

Possum Scramble Success

The rescheduled Possum Scramble Mountain Bike race was moved into December.  It is not often that Mountain Bike races are held this late into the season due to cold weather. This did not deter the Whiteman Adventure Group from hosting a fun event at the Knob Koster State Park and they were rewarded with a perfect 68 degree day.  Proceeds from this event went to help continue to build the trail system there and groom their trails.  Hopefully this will encourage more riders to visit this beautiful park just East of Warrensburg, MO

The top rider on the day was none other than the climbing god Garet Steinmetz who navigated the hilly 8 mile course in under 30 min with a total winning time of 1:00:27.  Top women on the day was Amy Pych with a winning time of 1:53:02.

Special thanks to Andy Schuette for officiating and the Whiteman Adventure Group for hosting a fine event on a perfect fall day.  It is great to see more events held during the fall.  A trend that looks like it will continue into 2013 with more UFD Series events being planned.  Look for the 2013 MTB calendar to be out soon.

Class winners on the day:

Arturo Sotelo - 1st Marathon Men
Brian Prosser - 1st Cat 1 Men 40-49
Robert Loffler - 1st Cat 1 Men 50+
Marc Thierry - 1st Single Speed
Dylan Bartlett - 1st Cat 2 Men 19-29
Brad Crain - 1st Cat 2 Men 30-39
Michael McGaha - 1st Cat 2 Men 40-49
Rich Kiser - 1st Cat 2 Men 50+
Andrew Rau - 1st Cat 3 Men 19-29
Bryce Werner - 1st Cat 3 Men 30-39
Mark McBride - 1st Cat 3 Men 40-49
Mike Jacobs - 1st Cat 3 Men 50+
Tyler Mattoon - 1st Junior 13-18
Joe Vorce - 1st Kids 12-Under

Complete Results: 2012 Possum Scramble Mountain Bike Results

Possum Scramble MTB Race

Possum Scramble has been rescheduled for December 2nd 2012. Event flyer below:

Berryman Epic - A Great Time!

Another edition of the Berryman Epic is in the books.   Each year this event grows (249 starters this year)  and has become a "must do" event for anyone who calls themselves and endurance mountain racer.  The promoters and Bass River Resorts put on "overall a great race" said endurance racer Tim Greene who enjoyed the day despite some mechanical issues to finish in the top 10 in the Male 50 - 59 division. After the race participants of the BT Epic enjoyed 2 kegs of beer and a bonfire and some great BBQ to replenish the fuel used for the race.   Great time.....

Cow Town Team Results:

 84th overall - Keith Baker
127th overall - Tim Greene
135th overall - Brent Gowin
139th overall - Jeff Arnaud

Complete results are up - 2012 BT Epic Results

BE on film:

Ritchey BreakAway TI Cross

Cow Town would not exist without the support of our many generous sponsors.  As a thanks, we are going to start posting reviews of some of the products we use to get the word out and help consumers make educated decisions when making their next purchase.

I finally got my Ritchey BreakAway TI Cross frame built up the way it should have been in the first place and I thought it was time to post a thorough review.  Anybody who knows me, knows I am a Titanium freak and I love cyclocross.  So when I considered getting a travel bike to take with me when I fly, I knew I was getting a Ritchey BreakAway from my team sponsor Ritchey and I knew it was going to be the TI Cross model. 

I have had this bike for a few years now and have put quite a few miles on it.  It has flown to Rapid City, SD and St. Louis, MO several times with no issues or oversize baggage charges.  Tom Ritchey really outdid himself with the BreakAway design.  It is so simple that it is genius.  The seatpost is the connecting rod for the first joint and a special fitting with flared ends is joined by a clamp on the downtube for the second split in the frame.  You can check out the Ritchey site for a more detailed explanation and a great video of how to pack/unpack and assemble the bike.  The frame just has that classic look and appeal that I would expect from Ritchey.  With my build kit of Campagnolo Record 10-speed, custom carbon tubular CX wheels, Crank Brothers 3TI Eggbeaters and a full complement of Ritchey WCS componentry;  the bike came in at 16 pounds.  

I was very skeptical about how much rigidity the frame would have, given that it splits into 2 halves.  I knew from the first time I rode it, that I was wrong.  I did not notice any flexing around the BB area when climbing out of the saddle or any twist when putting it through a technical CX course.  I wasn’t really surprised at how smooth it was, but the lack of flex was a huge shock.  So, this bike is comfortable, yet stiff and splits in two so you can take it with you in your travels.  The rear triangle has rack mounts, so you could easily set it up for touring or add some fenders. What more could you ask for?  I am not sure; as my only complaint is that they do not offer a hard travel case for it yet.  The soft case is still going strong, but I am always nervous when I fly with it.  The baggage handlers aren’t known for their respect of passenger luggage. I have been waiting for Ritchey to release a hard case, but I may just end up buying an S&S hard case before I travel next time.  

 

Some of you might ask if this could be your “A” race bike. I am here to tell you that I have raced the bike in some local cyclocross races and it rocks! The bike handles awesome. It has never once gotten sketchy on me; whether the course was rough, soft, muddy or even when misjudging a corner. There is plenty of mud clearance, as well. With a race weight of 16 pounds, it is easy to shoulder up the most demanding run-ups. I have never had to tighten any of the fittings after any race. The list of benefits just goes on and on. Wow, I am impressed.

Not only does Ritchey produce some of the best components on the market, they also make an unbelievable cyclocross bike that just happens to double as an airline size travel bike!

 

 

 

Wyco's Revenge - Beware of the Goblins

Final Updates for Saturday’s Wyco’s Revenge Mountain Bike Race.....

First, thank you to all our sponsors and supporters:

·         The Wheel Cyclery

·         Lanterne Rouge Kansas

·         Bike Source

·         Trail Masons Association

·         Midwest Mountain Bike Patrol

·         Santa Fe Trails Bikes

·         Epic Bike and Sport

·         Earth Riders

·         United Federation of Dirt

-Course maps and event updates are posted at http://wycosrevenge.blogspot.com

-Shelter #3 at Wyandotte County Lake Park is the Start/Finish/Registration area.  Limited parking is available at shelter #3 with overflow parking along the road leading to shelter #5 & #7. 

-Online registration is open through 11:59pm, Thursday, October 18, 2012.  Register at www.usacycling.org.  Help us and yourself – register by tonight.

-Raceday registration is available and opens at 3:00 pm.   Registration closes at 4:30 pm. 

-The Wyco’s Sprint event has been reduced to 1 lap (8 miles).  No lights are required for the Wyco’s Sprint distance event.

-Complete the full Wyco’s Revenge and earn your finishing shirt.  Awards will be presented to the top 3 in the Wyco’s Revenge and Wyco’s Sprint in the following classes: Male, Female, Male Junior, & Female Junior. 

-Piping hot chili, hot dogs, soft drinks and coffee will be available.  Please feel free to bring your favorite dessert or side dish to share.

-Charge those lights!   The full distance Wyco’s Revenge will require lights.  Two light sources are required – primary and secondary.   It is advised to begin the event with both light sources.  No rider will be allowed to begin the second lap without a light source.

-Weather forecast, 68 degree highs with temps reducing to low 50’s quickly once the sun sets.  It gets cold at night so be prepared and dress with the proper gear.

Wyco’s Revenge Mountain Bike Race

October 20, 2012 – 5:00 pm Start Time

Wyandotte Country Lake Park

Kansas City, Kansas

See you Saturday Night and beware of the Goblins of Wyco!

Cow Town Cycling Team