Race Report
Superprestige, Surf City, New Jersey and Western Mass.
After spending several weeks racing and training on the East Coast, we returned home to race (Nov 8th) at the oldest cross series, Surf City Cyclocross Series. In the elite races, Andy and Jackson gapped the field and sprinted for the finish with Andy beating Jackson in a sprint for the first time… ever. Carmen and I were also 1 and 2 for the day. The Big Hunk bars at the registration definitely helped my recovery for the next day of racing. The Master’s 35 and 45 Clif Team raced successfully;
Masters 35+ Master’s 45+
1st Rich Maile 2nd Norm Kreiss
4th Chris D’Aluisio 3rd Anton McGready
4th Chris Allen
The second race of the weekend (Nov 9th) was part of the UCI Pilarcitos Super Prestige series held at the scenic Coyote Point Park just south of San Francisco, great for dog walks on the beach and cross racing on the grass. The big guns showed up for both the elite races, everyone competing for UCI points and a spot on the world’s team. The course had it all, elevation gain, fun technical descents, long road sections and tricky barriers.
In the 35+ race Clif Bar’s Chris D’Aluisio 1st, Rich Maile 3rd and Rob Meighan 5th had to navigate a very slick course. The 45+ Clif Bar riders charged to 2 podium spots with Norm Kreiss in 3rd and Anton McGready in 5th.
Carmen D’Aluisio and I again were 1 and 2 despite the hard racing against Ann Grande-Knapp and Rachel Lloyd. The Elite Men’s race was filled with talent. Trek’s Travis Brown thrilled the pit crews by launching off and literally flying airborne down a loose descent, landing with ease on a tricky left hand turn mean while pedaling through the entire process. An amazing sight on a cross bike with drop bars. The finish of the men’s race came down to a long sprint with Andy Jacques-Maynes slipping into the 3rd spot. Jackson Stewart coasted in for 5th after doing an incredible amount of work at the front of the field for the first half of the race.
Then the team was loaded back on a plane headed east for what would turn out to be a break through weekend of racing for Andy Jacques-Maynes and Jackson Stewart and more top 2 spots for Carmen and me. Maybe we were motivated by the 50mph winds we had to endure while descending into Newark, NJ on a roller coaster plane ride from hell. I turned several shades of green barely making it off the plane without losing my lunch. Others in the back of the plane weren’t so lucky.
On November 15th, at the Highland Park Cyclocross Race in New Jersey, the wind became the major obstacle on a rather flat and benign course that had only one run-up. In the Elite Men’s race, a select group made their way off the front in the early part of the race. The lead traded between Todd Wells (Mongoose) Mark Gullickson (Ritchey/Redline) Andy Jaques-Maynes (Clif Bar) Jackson Stewart (Clif Bar) and Ryan Trebon (Kona). Dangling just off that group was Belgium racer Ronny Poelvoorde (Duratec-Zewieties) who came to the USA to test out our courses and scoop up UCI points. No one was able to break away from the group due to the gale force winds, but the attacks continued relentlessly. In the last quarter of the final lap, Jacques-Maynes started to slip off the back of the group and the Clif Bar pit crew’s hearts sank. But, Andy didn’t give up. He caught the group and charged past them to WIN, Andy’s first UCI victory. Carmen and I felt confident at the start, but with the strong winds, a couple of women including Saturn track star Sarah Uhl were able to tuck into our draft and hang onto our wheels. I finally sat up to give Carmen a gap and make the others work a little in the wind. Once she established a solid gap, I attacked the other women and pulled away to for second. I battled the relentless winds, but could never make time up on Carmen, who won.
That incredible win fired up Jackson Stewart and the next day at the Cyclosmart International Cyclocross Race he demonstrated why he is so successful at road racing. In the start of the race, Stewart jumped off the front, taking the west Flanders’s racer Poelvoorde with him. With the Belgium rider content to just sit on his wheel, Jackson kept the pressure on the front until the chase group finally caught them. The Clif Bar crew thought it was over for Stewart after the effort he had put out at the start of the race, but he surprised us and the other racers by launching another strong attack. Only Wells could follow the surge and the two put a good gap on the chase group of Andy Jacques-Maynes and Gullickson. Jackson’s road racing savvy took over and he flew past Wells in the final sprint to take the second Clif Bar win for the weekend, also Jackson’s first UCI victory.
For the women’s race, the crowds had swelled as well as the competition with Seven Cycles’ pro Mary McConnollogue showing up to defend her lead in the Verge Series. The course was typical East Coast, long flat sections, slippery corners and a sand pit called the litter box. The weather had also changed to freezing cold, probably hovering in the high 30s to low 40s for the day. Carmen and I charged to the front early in the race with McConnollogue hanging for a lap before we opened up a gap back to her and the rest of the field. Carmen was again able to slip away at the end, crossing the line a couple of seconds ahead of me.
Clif Bar’s Rich Maile won both the Master 35+ races for the weekend and then wrenched on our bikes, making sure everything worked perfectly for our races.
Meanwhile, back at home Clif Bar founder Gary Erickson found some time and form to race at the Sonoma Valley Infineon Raceway Cyclocross Race. He finished 10th in his first cross race for the season, a prep for the National Championships. Other Clif Bar Master’s finishes:
2nd Norm Kreiss
4th Anton McGready
5th Chris Allen
11th Pineapple Bob
gina hall
Team Clif Bar