2008 NorCal HS Schedule

The 2008 NorCal High School schedule has been posted:

"Tentative 2008 NorCal HS Race Schedule
March 2 - East Garrsion (Fort Ord)
March 9 - Granite Bay (Folsom)
March 30 - Grants Ranch (Santa Clara)
April 13 - New Melones (Angels Camp)
May 4 - Toro Park (Salinas)
May 18 - Boggs Mountain (North of Calistoga)"

Via NorCal HS website.

2008 Lemurian Open for Registration

Some more registrations are open:

2008 Lemurian registration is now open at active.com. Entry forms can also be downloaded at shastalemurian.org.

Thanks to reader Ron for the tip.

Bike Monkey Magazine

An announcement from the North Bay MTB community:

Bike Monkey is publishing a magazine about cycling, and it is almost here! Its release will coincide with the Tour of California as it rolls through Santa Rosa on February 18th. It will deliver things that are utterly relevant to cyclists and non-cyclists alike. The people who are working on publishing this magazine are extremely passionate and dedicated to the cause - to bring us something new and unique that underscores who we are, and where we live. But more importantly, something that will positively affect our community, and those that are connected to it.

We are dedicated to producing a top-rate magazine that symbolizes the passion that went into it; a magazine that does something. To emphasize this, we are taking 2% of all profits, and giving them back to advocacy organizations that bust their keisters every day to bring a better place for us all to live, work, and play. Starting with the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition and the Sonoma County Trails Council - these two organizations provide exemplary services to our community by advocating and acting on behalf of safer places to ride and stewardship to open more space for us to experience the outdoors.

In order for Bike Monkey Magazine to be successful we need to find 1,000 subscribers for the first year! That's a lot of cyclists, and we are asking for your support, either through a donation or by subscribing to help us take off. We are also asking you to encourage your cycling friends to subscribe as well. Please distribute this solicitation as you see appropriate so we can deliver Sonoma County's first ever culture-centric cycling magazine for many years to come!

You can subscribe here.

CA State Championships at Northstar

Sharp-eyed reader Michael noticed this race scheduled on Team Big Bear's 2008 Schedule:

I just checked the Team Big Bear schedule for the SoCal series, and noticed they have the CA State Championship scheduled for 9/20 -9/21 at NorthStar.

I have no idea what this is (maybe a return to the 2005 CA Championships?), but I'll get to the bottom of it. Thanks for the tip, Michael.

CCCX Dates Changes

A few date changes have been made to this Spring's CCCX XC and DH schedules:

• The first DH has been moved back switched to March 9 and the final is now June 22 (So the last race is July is cancelled).
• On the XC side, the first race is Sunday, February 10th and second race will now be the following weekend on the 17th.

I should have the schedule updated here and on MTB Calendar sometime on today.

Ride424 to Live Cast Coolest 24

Some interesting news about this year's Coolest 24:

"We're stepping everything up this year! At The Coolest 24 Hour Race Against Cancer on May 3rd and 4th, Karl from Ride424.com will be providing live audio casting to the Ride424 website so that listeners can tune in to the progress of the event. Thank you Karl for your hard work in bringing the Coolest 24 Hour Race to your listeners." (Via Global BioRythm Events - Home)

New NMBS Website

The National Mountain Bike Series (which used to be called the NORBA Nationals) finally redid their website and it kinda makes sense now. Wander over to the new NMBS Website and find out details on the series events. They've even posted the 2008 US Nationals schedule.

I think the old site (http://norbanationals.com/) is being abandoned.

15 Greatest Mountain Biking Crashes

Courtesy of the new owner's of YourMTB.com:

"As any mountain biker knows, taking your bike off-road means dealing with a plethora of obstacles and dangers created by Mother Nature (or in some cases, your friend Steve). When a mountain biking trip goes successfully, you’re left with a strong sense of pride and accomplishment afterwards. When it goes unsuccessfully, you get hurt really, really badly." (Via 15 Greatest Mountain Biking Crashes)

Yikes.

SCAR Announces 2008 MTB Endurance Schedule

UPDATE: These races have been canceled.

Sierra-Cascade Adventure Racing Sports has announced their 2008 MTB race schedule. It features three six hour endurance races held in three different venues:

• 9/06/08: The Sonoma Sol Six (Six Hour - Sonoma, CA)
  The race will be held at Lake Sonoma, at Liberty Glenn Campground located in the scenic coastal foothills of Sonoma County, California. The area provides rich natural diversity and surrounded by world famous vineyards. The 5-6 mile loop will feature mainly single-track with great climbs and twisting descents.
• 10/04/08: The Sublime Six (Six Hour - Granite Bay, CA)
  The race will be held at Granite Bay in Folsom Lake State Recreation Area located at the Sierra-Nevada foothills. The 8 mile-course features fast rolling and twisting hills on mainly single- and double- track trails.
• 10/18/08: The Quick and The Dead (Six Hour - New Almaden, CA)
  The race will be held at Almaden Quicksilver County Park, located in south San Jose, near the town of New Almaden. Almaden Quicksilver provides spectacular natural diversity and a landmark of California mining history. The 10 mile-course features multi-use, double track and wide-track trails that loop much of the park. Trails will likely include the Randol Trail, Mine Hill and Castillero Trails. Trail terrain may include sand, roots, rocks, packed dirt trail, and mud with some great climbs and descents.

These look like a worthy addition to the schedule, especially the last one in Quicksilver Park. Although I used to live in the South Bay (Los Gatos), I believe this is the first South Bay MTB race I have ever mentioned on this blog (in 2+ year). These are all still quite a few months away, so I will revisit them this spring/summer when we have course information.

ABR Cyclocross National Championships

This weekend marked the 2007 American Bike Racing CX championship down in Fresno, CA. A report from the race:

Current UCI World Four Cross and UCI World Cup Champion Brian Lopes(Oakley) made a appearance at the SportsMobile Fresno Cyclocross Series Final race. The event takes place at Woodward Park in Fresno and the race course features some sections of the MTB Progression Park. The course took advantage of the awesome berms and rollers at the MTB Progression portion of Woodward Park to create a fast course that was technical and challenging. Keith DeFiebre (Scott/Ritchey) was the overall SportsMobile Fresno series winner for the 3rd straight year. The ABR Championship main event race came down to a four rider break-away of Lopes, DeFiebre, Fresno's Steve Ray (Stevens Bicycles), and California State Cross Champion Sam Ames (Simply Fit) of Bakersfield. The four riders came into the last lap even, but after a flurry of attacks it came down to DeFiebre and Lopes sprinting for the win. DeFiebre gapped Lopes going into the last turns near the finsh, but clipped a pedal allowing Lopes to get back on terms. Then World Champion Brian Lopes added another win to his credit taking the photo finish sprint over Fresno Series Champion Defiebre by a small margin on the line. Local phenom Steve Ray claimed the bronze medal on the day with his third place finish 5 seconds back.

Lopes, who is sponsored by SportsMobile, will not be representing GT in 2008, but will be staying with all of his other sponsors, such as Oakley, Kenda and SportsMobile. His bike sponsor will be finalized soon. For info on Lopes you can go to BrianLopes.com, and for info on Keith DeFiebre's Central Coast MTB race series which starts Feb 10 in Monterey you can go to www.cccx.org.

There sure seems like there is a lot of racing going on in Fresno these days. I may have to take back my comments about the Sierra Foothills being the hotbed on racing for 2008...

UPDATE: The good folks at Sicklines.com also have some coverage.

The Big Sandy XC Race

Wow. Another Fresno-area MTB race this Spring:

"Mountain bike racers get ready to ride some of the best single-track in North America on April 6th, 2008. Central California Off Road Cyclists is hosting the Big Sandy Race.

The race starts at San Joaquin River Gorge (formerly known as Squaw Leap) and will finish 15 miles down river Finegold Bay. The race is a celebration of over 11 years of work by the club building the San Joaquin Trail and the bridge at Big Sandy to create over 50 miles of single track. The race consists of rolling hills followed by a massive climb and downhill to the finish."

It looks like the course is about 15 miles with 2990' of climbing (map courtesy of CCORC):


View Larger Map

The race will be held April 6th, 2008 outside Fresno, CA (nearest town looks to be New Auberry, CA -- see the website for details).

Complete details are available at the race website or MTB Calendar.

RACE RESULTS: MTB Kick Start

Mountain Bike Kick Start Division and Overall results have been posted over at TBF Racing's website.

In addition, James Pratt Photography has their photos of the event online.

And I'm happy to see that I didn't DFL :>

RACE REPORT: MTB Kickstart

Today marked the start of the 2008 MTB season with TBF Racing's MTB Kickstart. Billed as a shorter MTB Challenge XC race, it was held on largely the same course as last year's MTB Challenge races, with the subtraction of the Beek's Bight section.


View Larger Map

The course measured about 6.7 miles and 900 feet of climbing per lap.

I raced the MTB Challenges for two years now and ride in Granite Bay frequently, so I knew what to expect. However, this morning's bitter cold (about 37F at race time) was certainly a twist. I got out to a decent start (about 1/2 way back in the Sport pack) but new I was in for problems at the first climb. Since I had just gotten back from overseas on Saturday, my legs just weren't in it. And my back started cramping up pretty early. Which are both excuses for a crappy finish towards the back (if not DFL) of the pack.


Results should be posted sometime tomorrow (unless TBF takes the day off for MLK). TBF Racing's next race is the first MTB Challenge on February 3rd.

UCI MTB Schedule

For those of you with a bug for travel, here is the 2008 UCI (worldwide cycling body) MTB race schedule:

* May 10-11: Maribor, Slo (4X/DHI 1)
* May 31 - June 1: Vallnord, And (XCO 4, 4X/DHI 2)
* June 7-8: Fort William, UK (XCO 5, 4X/DHI 3)
* July 26-27: Bromont, Can (XCO 6, 4X/DHI 4)
* August 2-3: Mont Sainte Anne, Can (XCO 7, 4X/DHI 5)
* August 30-31: Canberra, Aus (XCO 8, 4X/DHI 6)
* September 13-14: Schladming (Aut) XCO 9, 4X/DHI 7
* June 17: UCI MTB WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS Commezzadura - Val-di-Sole, Italy

Interesting choice of Australia to host an event, as it will be their winter time in August.

CCORC Short Track 1/13 Postponed

I am a bit late on this, the CCORC Short Track for this weekend has been postponed:

"Mother Nathure has play her hand again. Due to fresh dirt and alot of wonderful rain we are ask to postpone our Tri Sport Short Track this weekend until a better weekend for the park.

Please this this info to all you know to get the word out to everyone." (Via ccorc.com - Short Track Postponed)

Thanks to John for the heads up.

Cannondale Recalls 2008 Scalpel

Yikes.

"Cannondale is recalling its 2008 model year Scalpel, including the Scalpel Framset, Scalpel Team, and Scalpel 1/2.

The frame can break while in use, causing the rider to lose control and suffer injuries from a fall or collision. The firm has received six reports of frames breaking. No injuries have been reported.

According to Cannondale:  ‘This recall is a result of discovering that the chainstays in these frames may be improperly bonded. There is a risk that the chainstays may separate from the rear dropouts, with risk of an accident or injury. Please do not ride your bike until the frame is replaced.’

‘In the US, if you wish to confirm whether your serial number is subject to recall, or have any questions please contact Cannondale Customer Service at 1-800-BIKE-USA (245-3872).’" (Via Cannondale Recalls 2008 Scalpel)

Ghost Ride

So most of you have already seen this, but if you haven't:

Boggs III Update: Registration Closing

An update on the 2008 Boggs III race:

Boggs III Registration will CLOSE on Wednesday, January 9th. We are just past capacity, and have decided to let the event grow only slightly from its size last year - baby steps. We are very much of the mindset that if it ever looks like there are too many people - THERE ARE TOO MANY PEOPLE. Last year was nearly perfect with room for just a few more entrants. And that's what we have this year - just a few more.
There will be no same-day registration. So make sure to get your entries in by Wednesday!

Tentative 2008 Prairie City Race Series

The good folks at Prairie City Race Series have posted their first cut at race dates for 2008:

"Tentative Race Dates: 12 (TWELVE!) races (almost) every Wednesday evening from April 2nd until June 25, 2008 (We will count your 10 best finishes toward your points total)
APRIL: 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30th
MAY: 7th, 14th, 21st, (NO RACE the 28th!)
JUNE: 4th, 11th, 18th, 25th
JULY: BBQ & Awards "
(Via Prairie City Race Series at RACEMTB.COM)

Pre-register to make sure you get in on the awesome goody bags and t-shirts.