Stone Racing To Present Short Track Race in East Bay

I'd heard a few rumors about a new bike park in the East Bay (hopefully to fill the void with the closure of Sand Hill) but Ryan dropped me a line announcing an upcoming short track race:

Welcome to Stone Racing. Host of the 2010 Inaugural Stone’s Throw Short Track Event to be held February 21, 2010 at the newly constructed Bailey Bike Park in Pittsburgh, CA.

• $20 entry
• Heavy rain cancels
• Race Day Registration Only

Men, women, and junior categories (pro/expert/sport/beginner – 34 and below, 35 and above)
Raffle, schwagg, food and drinks after the event

Via STONE RACING website.

CCCX Fall DH Finale Preview

This weekend is the finale of the CCCX Fall Downhill series and here's a preview:

After some steady rains the dirt at Toro Park is in the perfect condition for trail maintenance and construction. The CCCX Crew has been hitting the digging pretty hard the past week and now the final race course of the 2009-10 Winter Series is dialed in fully. The course is going to be very similar to race #1. Speeds will be super fast right out of the start. The top roller coaster fire road section has been cleaned and re-built for ultimate numbers to be reached on riders speedometer's. The start section of trail is like a freeway, mixed in with gravity filled roller coaster dips that make a rider feel as if they are on some type of Olympic style Ski run where tucking and aerodynamics bring out extra M.P.H. for the racers. The race route then dips into a new cut section of trail with some air opportunity for the jumpers and some berm chances for riders who can ride a rail to maintain speed. More single-track switch back sections are to follow, before the trail flows into the finishing area. This course has the highest speed average of all the Toro DH trails, and the dirt traction is the best it has been all year. The racing is going to be top notch, and the entire trail will be ripping. Division Champions will be crowned at the end of the day.

The CCCX race is held at Toro Park between Monterey and Salinas, California on Sunday.

New Date For SB Racing Winter #1

and the new date for this weekend's rained/washed out SB Racing Winter Series #1 is ...

NEW ROUND 1 DATE: Saturday, FEBRUARY 13th. Mark it down...See you there!

We have confirmation from the rangers that we can officially reschedule this weekend's opening round event for Saturday, February 13th. Weather willing and after a few sacrifices to El Nino, we will plan for the NEWLY Scheduled Round 1 to go off without incident and under what we hope to be much more fun trail conditions on a course that will be fun and challenging enough on its own! This leaves two more weekends to hit the pedals and enter this first round at the level of fitness that we were all hoping for! Can't wait to see everyone on the 13th! Thanks again for your patience.

The calendar is already is updated.

SB Racing Winter #1 Postponed

It looks like the heavy rains this wake have claimed their first race casualty:

IMPORTANT ROUND 1 ANNOUNCEMENT:
Due to excessively rainy and wet conditions the park rangers have asked us to re-schedule Round 1 of the series to be held at Santa Teresa Park. More details with regards to a new date to follow soon. For all you "pre-entries" you will be able to use this entry towards a future race. Again, stay tuned, there will be more information to come as we learn it. Thank you for your patience. -SBRacing.org

Via SB RACING

Tonight's Rodeo Cross To Benefit Haiti Relief

Come out for the first day of sunshine in FOREVER and support a great cause:

NEXT EVENT: is Wed night practice on Jan 27th.
THIS RACE WILL BENEFIT the RED CROSS/HAITI FUND!
100% of proceeds will go to the American Red Cross. Please come out, have some fun and support a worthy cause. Also last NIGHT in Sherwood Forest! Online registration is now open!

Via Folsom Rodeo Cyclocross

SB Racing Winter #1 Decision Tomorrow

Due to the heavy rains across NorCal the past few weeks, the first round of the SB Racing Winter Series may be moved:

Faithful following,
An official decision for the first round event at Santa Teresa this weekend will be forthcoming tomorrow (Wednesday). We realize that El Nino doesn't want to be left off the starting line and would also like to participate in our events. However, our primary concern is cooperating with the parks department and promoting the best possible event for our racers! Check back tomorrow for the official announcement. Thank you for your patience. -SBRacing.org

Via SB RACING.

We'll have an update as soon as we hear something ... check back tomorrow for the official decision.

2010 MTB Kickstart Results

Results are up for yesterday's MTB Kickstart:

• Overall results
• Divisional results

Congrats to Jared Kessler, who won the Men's Experts, and Karli Haugen, who took the Women's Experts.

James Pratt Photography has posted pictures from the event.

TBF Racing starts their three race MTB Challenge series on February 7th, 2010.

Whistler Bike Park For Sale

Interesting news about Whistler's Bike Park (with a slight NorCal angle):

Whistler Mountain Bike Park in Canada, site of the Kokanee Crankworx and Red Bull Exodus, is being put on the auction block on February 19.  Intrawest ULC, owners of the Whistler and Blackcomb mountain resorts, are reported to have missed payments on a $1.4 billion (yes, with a ‘B’) loan last month.

The lenders, which include Lehman Brothers and Davidson Kempner, hope for a speedy sale of Intrawest  in one transaction.  The assets include more than a dozen resort properties, including Mont Tremblant in Quebec, Steamboat and Winter Park in Colorado and Squaw Valley in California.

Via Bikerumor.

MTB Kickstart Tomorrow, Demos Today

The kickoff of the NorCal MTB winter "preseason" is tomorrow with TBF's MTB Kickstart, but today you can head out to demo some bikes and pre-ride the course:

Trek Bike Demo: Join TBF for the Trek Women Bike Tour Demo – the bike industry’s first women’s specific bike tour. The Bike Demo Tour provides women of all abilities an opportunity to test ride a Trek WSD bike and experience the WSD difference first hand. Please visit fitforwomentour for more details.

Pre Ride: TBF mountain bike race course Practice on the 7 mile mountain bike course that will be featured in the TBF Kickstart MTB race on Sunday January 24.

You can find out more about tomorrow's Kickstart in the archives or at TBF Racing.

Tentative 2010 Team Bigfoot Endurance Schedule

Team Bigfoot has posted a tentative version of their 2010 Endurance races:

2010 Team Bigfoot Endurance Series

• 5/22/10: 12/6 Hours of Weaverville (tentative)
• 7/24/10: 12/6 Hours of Humboldt (tentative)
• 8/28/10: Kirkwood 9 to 5 #1
• 8/28/10: 24 Hours of Kirkwood
• 9/18/10: Kirkwood 9 To 5 #2
• 9/19/10: Kirkwood Six Hour Super D NEW FOR 2010 !

The XC calendar should be coming along soon at Team Bigfoot.

USA Cycling Releases 2010 National Calendars

For those of you wanting to compete for the stars and stripes jerseys at the USA Cycling National Championship (Granby, CO this year), here are the national calendars (which are most of the qualifying events):

• USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Gravity Calendar
• USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Cross-Country Calendar
• USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Ultra-Endurance Calendar

You can also qualify in state and regional championships (most not announced yet).

Full information at www.usacycling.org.

Updated Mac Dashboard Widget (v1.1.1)

As many of you have noticed, the race calendar on the right sidebar now shows race types (cross country, downhill, etc) in the parentheses instead of state (CA ... duh). Less of you probably noticed that this change completely fubar'd the old Mac Dashboard widget. For those of you not in the know, this Dashboard widget allows you to see all the upcoming races in NorCal (or any other region in the United States) at your fingertips by simply touching F12 on you Mac. It looks a little something like this:

It's isn't difficult to use, as you can see with this short walk through:

You can download (or upgrade) the MTBcalendar dashboard widget from http://slashk.github.com/mtb-calendar-widget/. You can also get a link to the source code there.

Thanks to Juan for getting me off my ass to finally change this.

Downieville Registration Opens February 19th

Downieville registration will open on 2/19/2010 at 8pm PDT:

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT REGARDING 2010 EVENT!!!!!
After some mental hardship and several lengthy meetings with Downieville residents, local business owners, County Planners, wildlife biologists, hydrologists, Forest Service Rangers and Congressional Representatives (that's right, we said Federal Representatives, because this race is damned important to our Country) the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship has secured a special-use permit to operate the Downieville Classic in both 2010 and 2011.

In observance of this magnificent achievement, we would like to announce that Santa Cruz Bicycles is back as title sponsor of the event. Mike Ferrentino, Santa Cruz Bicycles marketing guru declares, "We are equal parts proud and honored to be returning to the Downieville Classic as title sponsor. Our relationship with this event goes all the way back to it's roots, not long after we started out as a company. Our employees come to Downieville on vacation, or engineers come here to test bikes and ideas, and we consider this to be our "home" race."

While we're making announcements, we would also like to make known that registration for the Cross Country and All-Mountain races will open February 19th at 8:00pm. Right here, using www.active.com.

Via Downieville Classic.

Yes, we will have reminders that week so you don't miss out.

Bump N Grind Bows Out Of 2010 Pro XCT Series

The drama continues with the 2010 Pro XCT series ...

Just when the US Pro XCT calendar seemed to be finalized, the six-race national-level series shrunk to a five-race series on Wednesday. The Bump 'n' Grind, in Birmingham, Alabama, which was to be round four on June 5, decided not to pursue UCI categorization, and because all US Pro XCT series events must be UCI-sanctioned, the race will no longer be part of the Pro XCT series in 2010.

2010 USA Cycling Pro Cross Country Mountain Bike Tour (Revised as of January 13)
March 27: US Cup Fontana - Fontana, California (C1)
April 18: Sea Otter Classic - Monterey, California (C1)
May 29: Mellow Johnny’s Classic - Dripping Springs, Texas (C2)
June 26: Subaru Cup - Mt. Morris, Wisconsin (C2)
July 10: Carmichael Training Systems International Classic - Colorado Springs, Colorado (C2)

Via Cyclingnews.com

The Big Sandy Returns for 2010

The Big Sandy, Central California's point to point race, is back for 2010:

Well we are at it again for our third year. Up to 23 miles of singletrack through the river valley with the wildflowers. We are in the process of getting everything together. Courses are the same as last year. Pro/Cat 1 do a loop on the Ridge before heading down river. We will be capping the number of riders this year. We are growing pretty fast and we want to make sure its still fun for volunteers and racers. Pre-register to make sure you get in. All the info will be updated soon and registration will open as soon as I have signed permits in my hands. Don't miss our trail work days, starting in late January. Check ccorc.com for trail work days

The race will be March 28th near New Auberry, CA. Check out previous year's coverage for more details.

Sea Otter Added To 2010 ProXCT

Looks like USA Cycling's Pro Tour will come to NorCal:

USA Cycling announced today the addition of a pair of races to the USA Cycling Pro Mountain Bike Cross Country Tour. With the inclusion of the Sea Otter Classic and the Mellow Johnny’s Classic, the Pro XCT calendar will consist of six UCI-sanctioned events throughout the United States, providing world-class athletes with a national stage on which to accumulate UCI ranking points and top prize purses.

Following the series kick-off at Fontana, the renowned Sea Otter Classic will serve as the second stop on the USA Cycling Pro Mountain Bike Cross Country Tour. Sea Otter’s elite/pro men’s and women’s mountain bike races on April 18 will operate at the UCI C1 level, offering maximum ranking points to top riders. The Pro XCT will then move south to Lance Armstrong’s renowned ranch in Dripping Springs, Texas as the Mellow Johnny’s Classic plays host to the third series’ stop. The Mellow Johnny’s Classic is set to take place on May 29. The nation’s professional cross country mountain bike series will then continue as planned with the Bump ‘N Grind in Birmingham, Ala. on June 5, the Subaru Cup in Mt. Morris, Wis. on June 26 and the series finale in Colorado Springs, Colo. on July 10. 
 
2010 USA Cycling Pro XC Mountain Bike Tour: 
March 27: US Cup Fontana – Fontana, Calif.
April 18: Sea Otter Classic – Monterey, Calif.
May 29: Mellow Johnny’s Classic – Dripping Springs, Texas
June 5: Bump ‘N Grind – Birmingham, Ala.
June 26: Subaru Cup – Mt. Morris, Wis.
July 10: Carmichael Training Systems International Classic – Colorado Springs, Colo. 

Via USA Cycling Pro XCT for 2010

DirtBowl Fundraiser Scheduled for SuperBowl

You didn't really want to watch Indianapolis win the Superbowl anyway:

Six-time Leadville 100 winner, and former US Mountain Bike team member, Dave Wiens, will lead a new annual cycling event for the Bay Area, The Dirt Bowl, to be held on Super Bowl Sunday, February 7th, 2010.

The Dirt Bowl is produced by Marin County Bicycle Coalition in partnership with the The NorCal High School Mountain Bike League. It is a benefit ride to ensure that kids have safe roads and great trails. Proceeds from the Dirt Bowl will support the ongoing advocacy work being conducted by both organizations.

The ride is sponsored by Specialized Bicycle Components and Mike's Bikes and is for both recreational and competitive cyclists. Road cyclists are also invited to participate in the Dirt Bowl and will be supported by the Marin Cyclists. The start is at the San Geronimo Golf Course west of Fairfax, California.

Participants are required to raise a minimum of $125 to join this fundraising event. There is no upper limit on fundraising. Fundraisers will receive:

• Saddle time with mountain bike legend and all-around great guy, Dave Wiens
• A commemorative event T-shirt
• Pre-ride hot drinks and snacks, and a BBQ lunch with sausages, turkey burgers, garden burgers, pasta, green salad, potato salad, and beverages
• Entry into a raffle with great prizes
• Special prizes for the riders who raises the most money

For more information, and to enter the fundraising ride, visit www.dirtbowl.net

2010 CCCX DH #4 Results

Yesterday's 2009-10 CCCX Fall Downhill Race 4 Results have been posted.

Congrats to Ben Cruz (Novato WTB) who edged Ian Massey (Stone Racing WTB) by 0.04 seconds for the Men's Pro/Semi-Pro crown and Karin Hanzi (Specialized) who turned in the fastest Women's time.

UPDATE (01/04/10): Josh Maurer has posted photos.

Boggs V Registration Opens Today

Registration for Boggs V (8 Hour MTB Race at Boggs Demonstration Forest, Cobb, CA on April 3rd, 2010) will open this afternoon !

Head over to http://boggs.bikemonkey.net/register/ to see if the BikeMonkey folks are ready to take your money.

CCCX DH #4 Preview

Tomorrow is the first MTB race of the new decade:

Trail traction is optimal currently at Toro Park. Recent rains have made the traction sweet and the forecast is set for a clear weekend of racing action. A course similar to race #2 of the Fall/Winter Series will be used for race #4. Please have a look at the photos from race #2. Berms and additional jumps have been added to the new trail created for the CCCX DH races. The course is going to be railing and very high speed for race #4, as the trails at Toro Park keep getting better and better. This time of the year trail work is being done on a regular basis to the Downhill routes in Toro Park. The berm turns have been built up and new additions to the trail have been added. Course #4 is going to be good!

Via 2009 CCCX Downhill Race Series.

2010 Pro Gravity Tour NorCal Stop ?

The folks over at Bike Rumor! have a scoop on this year's Pro Gravity Tour ... and there's a stop in NorCal:

The “Official” schedule isn’t announced yet, but we’ve got the inside scoop on the tentative 2010 Pro Gravity Tour downhill mountain bike race schedule. With six planned events, the series will have two central, two West Coast and two East Coast events as it stands.

April 24-25 – Port Angeles, WA
May 22-23 – Plattekill Mountain, Roxbury, NY
June 26-27 – Northstar-at-Tahoe, Truckee, CA
July 3-4  TBD – (TENTATIVELY Deer Valley Resort, Park City, UT)
July 31 – Aug 1 – Winter Park Resort, Winter Park, CO
Sept 11-12 – Whiteface Resort, Lake Placid, NY

Go read the entire article over at Bike Rumor -- they are also having a logo design contest.