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NCNCA cyclocross news
Updated 3/5/03

Last update of the season (3/5/03)

Well, the 'cross season is officially over for this year, even in Europe.  But, if you're here reading this, clearly you haven't got your fill yet.  So check out these last minute changes: our final update of the classifieds, and a late revision of the last-ever NCNCA BAR rankings including the final EBCX race.  See you next fall...only six months until 'cross 2003!  --Dave Carr

USA misses out at Worlds (2/5/03)

With high hopes for their best team result ever, USA's world's team plunged into the Worlds' last weekend in Monopoli, Italy, but came away with what could be described as an average performance--decent showings but nothing like the multiple medals and top-10s that appeared to be within reach.  NorCal's best results were 11th in the women's race by Gina Hall and 13th by Rachel Lloyd.  For team diaries and rider commentary check out cyclocrossworld.com; for reports see Velonews and cyclingnews.com, and for full results and a few Graham Watson images go to the UCI site (M, W, Jr, U23).

Meanwhile, the best NorCal performance in a CX World Championships came from Henry Kramer--the previous week at Masters Worlds in Mol, Belgium. Henry took 6th in Master 45+, along with a host of other USA contenders led by France-based American Lilian Pfluke, bronze medalist in Women 35+. Full results are here.

NorCal national team prepares for Worlds (1/27/03)

The seven NorCal riders on the USA worlds' team are now over in Italy preparing for the upcoming Worlds' this coming weekend.  One of the USAC team staff, Emily Thorne, has been posting updates at the cyclocrossworld.com site.  Our women did great, taking the top three spots at a local warm-up race, but Andy J-M crashed hard and separated his shoulder (again)--but he expects to line up at Worlds anyway. Stay tuned.

Final BAR rankings announced (1/27/03)

Casey Kerrigan has compiled the final results of our season-long BAR competition.  Congratulations to our champions: Justin Robinson (Senior Men); Hillary Daniels (Sr Women); Mark Howland (Master 35+ Men); and Daniel Dye (Junior Men).  Check out the rules and full rankings here.

Natz and World's videos (1/27/03)

Cyclocross entrepreneurs have come out with more new CX videos for you.  Paul Weiss has DVD video of the Women's Elite at Natz and has the men's race coming soon--details here.  And Pro Cyclocross Video will soon have DVDs of this weekend's upcoming Worlds' - all four categories.

Deals on tires and stuff (1/27/03)

With the local 'cross season finished, many retailers are clearing out CX merchandise.  For example, Excel Sports is blowing out the venerated Michelin Sprint tire at half price (which may no longer be available anywhere due to the release of the newer CX Jet) as well as Redline frames and Mastercross sewups.  Other vendors have similar deals going - check our links section for retailer listings.

More new classified ads (1/27/03)

As promised earlier, our classified ads are still active as long as we have submissions--and we have a few more this week.  You also might consider posting them at the NCNCA Feedzone classifieds as well.

Complete World's team announced (1/3/03)

Congratulations to all the Nor Cal riders who were named to the U.S.  Team for the Cross World championships.  The complete team listing:

Elite Women: Ann Grande (Des Moines, Wash.), Carmen D'Aluisio (Watsonville, Calif.), Rachel Lloyd (San Anselmo, Calif.), Gina Hall (Richmond, Calif.), Christine Vardaros (Sunnyvale, Calif.)
Elite Men: Jonathan Page (Northfield, N.H.), Marc Gullickson (Boulder, Colo.), Andy Jacques-Maynes (Berkeley, Calif.), Johannes Huseby (Medford, Mass.), Jackson Stewart (Los Gatos, Calif.)
Junior Men: Jesse Anthony (Beverly, Mass.), Konrad Lebas (Ansonia, Conn.), Zak Grabowski (Lafayette, Colo.), David Fleischauer (Olympia, Wash.), Steve Cozza (Petaluma, Calif.)
Espoir Men: Adam Craig (Corinth, Maine), Josh Anthony (Beverly, Mass.), Barry Wicks (Portland, Ore.), Ryan Trebon (Ft. Bragg, N.C.), Alan Obye (Mendon, Vt.).

Competition at the 2003 World Cyclo-cross Championships in Monopoli, Italy commences on Feb. 1 with the junior and espoir men's races. The elite men and women will compete on Feb. 2.  You can get info at the UCI site as well as the very cool World's promoter site.

Also, did you know there is a Master's world's the previous week in Belgium?

Happy New Year - 'cross ain't over yet (1/3/03)

We have a new year to look forward to, but just as in Europe our NorCal 'cross season is not done yet.  In the calendar we have at least one more local race at Central Coast this weekend, after which we will get the final BAR rankings out.  Additionally, we have a new series to report, the Redwood Cyclocross on the north coast.  This series stretches all the way into spring (!) - an idea whose time has come (in Europe as well).  The  promoter notes: "Any rider pulled at the Cross Natz can bring their number bib to recieve one free entry."  Now that's good karma.

Classified ads continue (1/3/03)

Now that the season is almost over for most people, maybe you'd like to unload some equipment.  I will keep the classified ads going as long as we get new submissions- and we have a new one this week.  You also might consider posting them at the NCNCA Feedzone classifieds as well.

Jonesin' for 'cross videos (1/3/03)

Now that the big action in 'cross has moved over to Europe, most of us can only get race coverage by video.  There are a few videos of past worlds' available at World Cycling Productions.  If you're looking to build a more extensive library, I also recently got a nice DVD from Pro Cyclocross Videos, which has coverage from major events throughout the Euro' season.  But, it will help if you speak Dutch...

More Natz news (1/3/03)

Now that the mud and flood have dried out sufficiently, we can take a clearer look back at Natz.  There has been a bit of backlash about the course and lapped rider rules for Saturday (for example, the NCNCA mail list and Patrick O'Grady's rant at Velonews), but overall I haven't seen too much stink over it.  Besides, according to the race coverage Velonews' recent issue, the master's and collegiate races didn't even take place--that is, they weren't even mentioned.  Maybe next year there should be a separate CX Master's natz just like in road and track...?

In World's news, Carmen D'Aluisio was named as one of the automatic qualifiers to USA Cycling's world's team, by virtue of her top spot on the inaugural USA cyclocross racing calendar points (CRC).

Also, we have a number of Natz photo sites trickling in.  Here are a few for your perusal:  Abbiorca.com, Sabine Dukes/Velo Bella, Cheryl Willson, cyclingnews.com, Jonathan McElvery, Mark Dawson/Fat Tire Fotos, etc.

Other coverage: Velonews, cyclingnews.com, Santa Cruz Sentinel, Napa Valley Register, etc.

Lance Armstrong wins 'cross race (1/3/03)

It's true... see the report at cyclocrossworld.com.

Natz: ALL the names (1/3/03)

Some of you noted that our roundup of local placings at Natz had several omissions - those are mostly due to results that weren't posted when I did the original list.  Dave Gill of CCCX has graciously and exhaustively compiled the following updated list, which should be complete:

Elite Men - Andy J-M 5th, Jackson Stewart 8th, Ben J-M 12th, Justin Robinson 14th;

Women Elite - Rachel Lloyd 2nd, Gina Hall 3rd, Carmen D'Aluisio 6th, Christine Vardaros 7th,  Shari Kain 11th, Stella Carey 15th, Hillary Daniels 16th;

U23 Men - Akria Wong 23rd;

U23 Women - Jennifer Franklin 5th;

Jr Men 17-18 - Steven Cozza 4th;

Jr Men 10-12 - Davis Smith 4th;

Jr Men 13-14 - Blake Anton 11th;

Jr Men 15 - Adam Switters 3rd;

Jr Wom 15-18 - Michelle Gibson;

Collegiate Women- Kate Maher 1st, Anya Hinkle 7th;

Collegiate Men - Ben Jacques-Maynes 1st, Matt Dubberley 2nd, Lance Doherty 7th, Roman Kilun 9th, Ben Haldeman 15th, Aren Timmel 17th, Brian Ort 24th, David Gill 29th;

Master Men 30-34 - Aaron Kereluk 19th, Jonathan Owens 23rd, Anastacio Flores 29th;

Master Men 35-39: Todd Hoefer 1st; James Coats 5th, Chris D'Aluisio 7th, Rich Maile 9th, Mark Howland 12th, Doug Ott 13th, Pat Schott 15th, Mike Matthews 22nd, Gannon Myall 25th;

Master Men 40-44: Larry Hibbard 3rd, Thomas Hayles 7th, Robert Meighan 9th, Sam Giles 11th, Mark Abele 12th, Larry Nolan 14th, John Senkier 18th, Thomas Feix 20th, John Suzuki 21st, Mike Bohn 22nd, James Kelleher 26th, Tom Dunlap 27th;

Master Men 45-49: Jim Gentes 4th, Randy Denton 5th, Henry Kramer 6th, Doug Hatfield 7th, Norm Kreiss 8th, Cass Laizure 12th, John Brown 13th, Rich Stone 14th, Chris Allen 15th, Jonathan Sek 19th, Tim Wykle 21st, Kem Akol 22nd, Robert Harbuck 24th, Gary Erickson 25th, Steve Lamont 26th, Tom Sullivan 31st, Paul Ryan 32nd, Doug Smith 33rd, Nicho Ybarra 36th, Paul Sadoff 37th;

Master Men 50-54: Bob Guglielmelli 4th, Dave Samples 5th, Robert Kurosawa 7th, Rick Eklund 10th, Frank Cuaresma 13th, Chuch Scarpelli 15th, John Silva 19th;

Master Men 55+: John Elgart 1st, Gary Noe 3rd, Dan Spisak 5th, Steven Seaweed 8th, Peter Dahlstrand 9th, Dick Rebozzi 12th, Mike MacDonald 13th;

Master Women 30-34 - Kathleen Lenno 1st, Allison Baumhefner 2nd, Lauren Constantini 4th, Helene Drumm 5th, Janie Dalton 6th; Melanie Dominguez 9th, Shauna Potocky 11th, Julie Brothers 12th;

Master Women 35-39 - Shari Kain 1st, Shelly Wisenhant 3rd, Colleen Wanty 7th, Sheila Moon 8th, Kathleen Bortolussi 11th;

Master Women 40-44 - Andrea Mackie 4th, Celeste McCartney 5th, Marguerite Meyer 7th, Monica Nielson 8th, Kathleen Meyer 10th, Jessica Hickel 11th;

Master Women 45+ - Linda Elgart 1st;

Men B - Matt Young 3rd, Cameron Falconer 4th, Josh Snead 8th, Tom Regan 9th, Jeremy Sarrow 10th, Brett Hondorp 11th, Joe Ball 13th, Jerry Ionette15th, Henry Rabas 17th, Heath Maddox 18th, Tony Leal 19th, Keith Wegener 20th, David Samples 22nd, Munsur Nurullah 23rd, Martin Suro 26th, Mark Fitzsimmons 36th, Ross Ellison 39th,Todd Paoletti 41st, Hans Kellner 42nd, Jason Rahlwes 45th, Page Hadden 46th.

Men C - Aram Casparian 4th, Kenneth House 5th, Brian Jensen 7th, Bruno Colchen 16th, Steve Pelaez 17th, Curtis Inglis 18th, Jeff Bramlett 19th, Pavel
Pietryka 20th, Eric Lowe 21st, Christopher Holmes 23rd, Mark Kurashige 24th, John Wallingford 25th, Erio Brown 26th, Bob Malhiero 29th, Patrick Kelly 30th, Bill Pennings 32nd, Mark Mastoras 35th, Robert Ford 36th.

Women's B - Ann Cigan 1st, Jessica Runyon 2nd, Robyn Fuchs 4th, Heather Kirkby 5th, Lindsey Collins 7th, Octavia Edelstein 8th;

Women's C - Brenda Cranford 1st, Mary Perez 2nd, Alyson Lowery 3rd

Natz: All mud, all the time (12/16/02)

With a storm of biblical proportions headed for Yountville, we knew it was going to be an epic weekend.

All season Todd Wells and Mark Gullickson have been so dominant in national calendar races from coast to coast, everyone assumed the nationals would be  theirs to win.  But in their rush to coronate the Mongoose pair, the pundits  failed to take note of Jonathan Page, who quietly went across to Europe this  fall for a full season of 'cross racing against the world's best.  On Sunday,  it only took a couple of laps to show who was boss.  Page blasted out of a  three-up with Gully and Wells and never looked back.  "School is in session,"  remarked Rad Racing's Jim Brown from the sidelines.

One of those often  overlooked skills Page demonstrated: the art of laying off the brakes.  On  one tricky transition from a steep paved downhill into a critical section of  mud, Page let go the brakes and rocketed through the corner, gaining seconds  every time through while the others braked cautiously.  By the end Page's  margin of victory was a full minute, a stunning gap at this level of 'cross  racing.   The pace was so fast that only a third of the field finished on the lead lap.   NorCal riders turned in great performances as usual; while a flat took Justin  Robinson out of a leading position, Andy Jacques-Maynes came up through the field for a brilliant fifth place ahead of 'cross legend Tim Johnson, and  Jackson Stewart took eighth. Ben J-M finished twelfth in his second race of  the day after earning a stars-and-stripes for UC Santa Cruz in the morning's collegiate championship.

In the women's elite race, the expected domination by NorCal's women did not quite materialize.  Gina Hall took the early lead, and Rachel Lloyd was in  contention for the win until late in the race, but on this day the title belonged to Anne Grande, the perennial runner-up from Seattle who earned a  popular win in Seattle-like conditions.  Rounding out the top 10, Carmen  D'Aluisio captured sixth and Christine Vardaros matched her '01 Natz result with seventh.   D'Aluisio, while missing the win many had predicted, is still considered a lock for USA world's team selection by virtue of her overall  lead in the national cyclocross points series.  This first-year ranking takes a bit of the pressure off Natz by giving the best riders a second chance to earn a World's spot through consistent finishes in national calendar races.

In addition to the riders listed above, a host of NorCal 'cross stars brought  home stellar results in the many races of the weekend, led by Todd Hoefer's win in the Master 35+ race Saturday.  A natural in muddy conditions, Todd  split open a close three-up race against Andy Applegate and Jonathan Card  with two laps to go, throwing down a sharp attack into the toughest section  of mud.  Todd's jersey will go in the closet next to the one he earned in the  30+ class two years ago in Kansas City.  In what may be a first for Natz, John and Linda Elgart took twin titles in the Master 55+ men and Master 45+ women.  Other local riders winning titles included Kate Maher (1st Collegiate Women), Kathleen Lenno (1st Master 30-34 Wom) and Shari Kain (1st Master 35-39 Wom).

Apart from the tough competition, one of the key factors of this weekend's  racing was the course itself, rendered a soupy mess by torrential rain in  Yountville amounting to nearly a foot of rain over the weekend.  Worse, the potential for vineyard erosion at Domaine Chandon led the race organizers  to chop out almost a third of the course.  The result was short  laps (barely over four minutes in some fields), with very little running.  That combined with draconian lapping policies meant that all  riders were pulled left and right in every race, sometimes after only a couple of laps.  To put it another way, out of nearly a thousand riders who showed up to race over the weekend, fewer than 50% were allowed to finish; in some of the larger fields as much as  60-70% were pulled.

Images from Andrew Wellman: (click for enlargement)

Wells and Frischi school 'em (12/11/02)

Last weekend's big races saw impressive fields with top riders from all over the world including Thomas Frischknecht of Switzerland, Lynne Bessette of Canada, and a host of domestic contenders including national champ Todd Wells, Tim Johnson, Jonny Sundt, Dale Knapp, Travis Brown, Bart Bowen, Anne Grande...the list goes on.  Our riders did well despite the tough competition--the out-of-towners took the men's races but our women cleaned up on Sunday.  Check out all the results for the Coyote Point CX and Redline Cup.

Race photos online (12/3/02)

As you have been racing out there this fall maybe you've noticed a lot of people pointing cameras at you.  WE're lucky to have a number of local photographers working our events this year.  For example, check out Nancy and Russ Wright's site (www.AbbiOrca.com).  If you have other links send them in.

Old news: See the news archive.
Big weekend in NorCal (11/26/02)
NorCal makes a statement at Northwest UCI races (10/22/02)
Flying with bike? Get on the scale(10/22/02)
Check your license for Natz(10/18/02)
New articles and team info (10/16/02)
Interbike: All 'cross, all the time(10/16/02)
New cyclocross teams(10/16/02)
USAC announces Worlds qualification info, national calendar, and rankings(10/7/02)
You know it's cross season when...(10/1/02)
Traveling with your bike?(10/1/02)
Review: Bianchi Cross Concept (9/5/02)
Supercup series cancelled (8/19/02)
Redline Cup and USCF Nationals in NorCal this fall (8/11/02)
USAC announces first national CX calendar (8/11/02)
CX training camp in Seattle by CTS (8/11/02)

CX redux: previous season info (8/11/02)
Looking for old CX pages?  Follow these links to 2001 NCNCA front page and calendar/results; 2000 and 1999.

Novice racer Q & A
Q: How do I get started in cross?  A: Try this introduction.
Q: Do I need a license to race?  A: Yes. Read the license notes in the calendar.
Q: Where do I find a clinic?  A: Check the calendar again.

Q: Can I race on my mountain bike? A: Use the Surf City guidelines:
"Vehicle: Any complete, functioning bicycle with two wheels and knobbies.
Bar ends must be removed or turned backwards."

Q: What category should I enter? A: Categories are self-selected. Basic guidelines:
If you are new to racing, or a beginner MTB, or cat 5 on road, enter "C."
Sport MTB, or cat 4 or 3 road, try "B".   Expert MTB or a cat 2 road or higher should do A's.
If you don't like the category you picked, try another!

 

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Editor and mud-man: Dave Carr davidlcarr@aol.com Copyright © 1997-2002 NCNCA  All Rights Reserved