Euro Cross Camp Update

Hello World,

Its been awhile since we updated this thing but I will try to give you a quick rundown of whats been happening. After Louisville, the next team race was the Bend USGP everybody except Curtis made the trip, and we had a pretty good showing. The following week (December 15) Spencer, Curtis, Jordan, Zane and me (Kolben) all went to Belgium for the ninth edition of Geoff Proctors Euro Cross Camp. That brings us to the present...
We all have been here for about a week and a half now, and we have a little under one week to go. Its been a good trip so far with fairly nice weather, lots of mud, and we are getting tons of great experience, plus a few good results.
One of our jobs here at the camp is to write a Cyclingnews.com diary on one day of the camp. So far Curtis, Spencer, and Kolben have all written one, and they can be found:

Here-Spencer

Here-Kolben

Here-Curtis


We encourage you to read them, as they are meant to shed light onto what it is like to train, race, and live in Belgium.

Louisville USGP

The USGP always brings the top racers for all categories, and they are all competing for UCI points in the UCI races and not to mention the Exergy USGP leader’s jersey.  Also in 2013 the World Championships will be in the same Louisville venue as this past weekend.

This was the second big race weekend for the Clif Bar juniors, because this was the second weekend in a row with UCI points. All of the racers showed up to race, there were 29 starters on Saturday and 30 starters on Sunday. This is one of the deepest fields that the juniors have seen all season.

On Saturday’s race there were all the key players at the front of the field: Drew Dillman, Curtis White, Zane Godby, and Tobin Ortenblad. They made the race very fast, but after the first couple of corners there was a crash about half way through the field. Both Jordan and Spencer were caught in it, which makes for tough chasing.

On Sunday it was pretty much the same players, and thankfully there wasn’t a crash so everyone got through the start cleanly. The front group was the same: Dillman, White, Godby, and Ortenblad. With 3 laps to go Dillman attacked and dropped the other three riders, and they worked to bring him back. But Godby bobbled in the sand pit, White and Ortenblad rode away from him. Then Ortenblad got White in the sprint.

In addition to Zane and Curtis gaining UCI points, Zane ended the weekend taking over the Exergy USGP leader’s jersey.

Saturday:

1. Andrew Dillman (Bob’s RedMill)

2.Zane Godby (Clif Bar Development Cross Team)

3. Curtis White (Clif Bar Development Cross Team)

4. Tobin Ortenblad (Cal Giant)

5. Yohan Patry (Ride with Rendall)

10. Jordan (Clif Bar Development Cross Team)

14. Spencer(Clif Bar Development Cross Team)

 22^. Zack (Clif Bar Development Cross Team)

Sunday:

1. Andrew Dillman (Bob’s RedMill)

2. Tobin Ortenblad (Cal Giant)

3. Curtis (Clif Bar Development Cross Team)

4. Zane (Clif Bar Development Cross Team)

5. Logan Owen (Team Redline)

11. Jordan (Clif Bar Development Cross Team)

16. Zack (Clif Bar Development Cross Team)

19. Spencer (Clif Bar Development Cross Team)

Cincinnati CX Festival

This weekend's CIncinnati UCI 3, a 3 -day midwest cyclocross classic, attracted top racers with 3 days of racing and Sunday's C1 status. This year the promoters snagged UCI status for the juniors for saturday and sunday, which brought America's top riders  to CIncinnati for a three-day weekend of muddy action

The weekend served up two separate venues for the juniors and two very different courses. Saturday was flat and fast with many sweeping grass corners and one set of barriers. Sunday offered up a more hilly course that was significantly muddier, one muddy corner actually had most of the junior and pro fields running it. There was a long uphill drag to the finish of each lap which then sent riders straight into a long slightly up hill sand pit. This was hands down voted the hardest section of the course by the Clif Team.

Saturday saw Zane Godby and Curtis White immediately at the front with friend and rival Andrew Dillman of the Bob’s RedMill team. The three of them got a significant gap off the rest of the field. Unfortunately for Team Clif Bar neither of our dynamic duo could stick with Dillman’s pace and he went on to win. Jordan Cullen suffered some bad luck on the first lap getting caught behind a rider with the dropped chain at the beginning of the first lap, but the level headed Cullen never got down on himself and rode back up to 4^th place almost giving Curtis a run for his money for the last podium spot. Spencer jammed a chain pretty good and had to run a majority of a half lap to the pit to get his spare bike, but then put his head down and got to work riding out the rest of the race. Zack Gould got a lot of homework done on what it takes to race at this high level after being out for most of the fall with a broken collar bone, hurting a little bit now often means fresh legs in December and January.

Sunday started much the same way with Drew, Curtis and Zane out to an early lead. Jordan took an easier start and moved up during the whole race. Curtis and Zane were sitting very strong until Curtis rolled a tire and had to ride slowly to the pits. Zane wasted no time and gave it everything he had to catch Drew on the last lap, coming with 15 seconds of him. Cypress Gorry of Whole Athlete Specialized team was able slip past Curtis. Jordan had another great ride rounding out the top 5.

All and all it was a great weekend for the Clif Bar Developmental Cross Team, once again asserting itself as the US's premier junior team.

Saturday

1. Andrew Dillman (Bob’s RedMill)
2. Zane Godby (Clif Bar Development Cross Team)
3. Curtis White (Clif Bar Development Cross Team)
4. Jordan Cullen (Clif Bar Development Cross Team)
5. Cypress Gorry (Whole Athlete Specialized)

Sunday

1. Andrew Dillman (Bob’s RedMill)
2. Zane Godby (Clif Bar Development Cross Team)
3. Cypress Gorry (Whole Athlete Specialized)
4. Curtis White (Clif Bar Development Cross Team)
5. Jordan Cullen (Clif Bar Development Cross Team)

Zane and Drew Post Race

Podium Day Two

Zane Gets Work Done in the Sand Pit

Team Before the Start on Day Two

Thanks and Follow us on Facebook and Twitter @ClifBarDevo

Boulder Cups

This weekend Zane, Zack and I raced the Colorado Cross Classic on Saturday at the infamously goat-head riddled Boulder Reservoir, and the Boulder Cup on Sunday at the newly built Valmont Bike Park. On Saturday all three of us raced the very short junior race, this was Zack's first race of the year after his broken collarbone earlier this season. The course was fast and fun with a couple corners becoming very muddy as the day went on. By the way the mud is not typically Colorado cross weather, the races seem to only be muddy when the big races come to town. Normally the courses here are dry, dusty and fast. On Saturday, Zane finished 1st, I finished 2nd, and Zack in 4th... After a mere 15 minutes of racing, kind of ridiculous.

Sunday was a different story all together, this was the first year the Boulder Cup was held at the Valmont Bike Park, and the crowd turned out in numbers. The tunnel of noise on the 5280 run up was awesome. The amount of people at the race was almost rivaled the Superprestige in Zonhoven, at least as far as American cross goes.  We raced for a full 60 minutes, another ridiculous amount of time to be racing for. The Boulder Cup was even more muddy than the Cross Classic, mostly due to the nature of the course. Pit changes were basically mandatory or your wheels pretty much stopped spinning all together. Zane and I went 1,2 again after passing over 100 CAT 3 racers during the course of the Day. The weekend in Boulder was amazing, the size of the events shows how much this town loves their cycling.

Zane and I on the Podium

Zane Zack and I at the Boulder Res

-Spencer Downing

@spencerdowning on twitter

Granogue Cross,

The Clif Bar Development Cross Team had a great weekend at the first US Junior UCI race of the 2011/2012 season. Granogue is the first of 4 race weekends that have world ranking UCI points for juniors. These points are very important for qualifying for Euro Cross Camp and the World Championships.

On Saturday, Curtis White out foxed Bobs Redmill rider Drew Dillman to take the win. Zane Godby chased hard by himself all day and finished third. Spencer Downing overcame a poor start and held on for 12th.

Sunday presented another difficult course. Curtis and Drew road hard on the front for the whole race until the last lap when Drew got an advantage and took the win. Going 1 and 2 on both doth days, Drew and Curtis are now tied in points for being the Worlds top ranked junior rider. Zane, or Mr Consistency road in for another strong 3rd place. Spencer improved on Saturday with a 11th place finish.

The team was very well supported by Tom McDaniel and Mike Gavagan. Tom does an amazing job of supporting development in cyclo cross and promoting an amazing race. If you have the chance, attend this race next year.

Check out some of the interviews and video from the race from our friends at CyclingDirt.




Watch more video of Granogue Cross 2011 on cyclingdirt.org



Watch more video of Granogue Cross 2011 on cyclingdirt.org



Watch more video of Granogue Cross 2011 on cyclingdirt.org



Watch more video of Granogue Cross 2011 on cyclingdirt.org

Gloucester 10.1-2

This past weekend was the opening to my season, in "Glah-stah" MA. On day one, a nice front had dropped a bit of rain on the course, so things were going to get pretty sloppy. With it being my first race, I had a poor starting position, 7th row. As soon as the whistle blew, I tried to get to the front as quickly as possible. Within the first half lap, I had found myself off the front with former teammate, Nate Morse. Unfortunately, as soon as I got up to the front, I flatted. When I got a new bike, I had dropped down into 8th position. Over the next few laps, I tried to get back up to the front, but was held up by several more crashes and mechanicals. In the last lap, I was fighting for 2nd place in a group of three. Leading into the sandpit, I opened up a small gap and held it to the line, taking 2nd.

Going into day two, a strong wind was coming off the ocean, so the course dried out a bit, making things a bit faster than day one. Shortly after the start, I had a small gap, but got a little too excited and slid out going around a corner. I was able to get back into the flow with no issues. Soon after, a lead group of 7 formed. The group widdled down, bit by bit up until 2 laps to go. Nate Morse put in an attack, and instantly got a gap. Almost right after Nate went, I bridged up to him. Going into the last lap, it was mano a mano. I started to put the hurt on him, and almost gained a gap a few times, but Nate was able to shut it down. Going into the barriers, with 300 meters to go, we were together. Coming around the last turn, I opened up my sprint and held it to the line, with Nate close behind. All in all, it was a great weekend of racing.

That's all for now.

-Curtis

Up the run-up on lap one of day 2. Photo credit to Marty Allen.

Trying to shake Nate on the last lap of day 2. Photo credit to Wil Matthews.

Standing on the top step, day 2. Photo credit to Emma White

CLIF BAR Team Camp

During the last week of August all the team members came to Boulder Colorado for a team training camp. It was a chance for us all to get our beautiful new bikes all dialed and get some good miles in on them before 'cross season gets in full swing. Also it gave us opportunity to spend some time with each other, some team bonding if you will... Below are some photos to give you a peak into how it all went down.

Getting the new bikes all built up for the guys.

Next we all went to RETUL to get our bikes fitted. They have a really cool system for fitting. Lots of cameras, infra red lights, and 3D imaging. Here we see Curtis getting strung with infra red lights 

Todd Carver from RETUL Working his magic

Practicing 'cross out at Valmont bike park

The "Sand Pit"

No 'cross camp would be complete without some run-ups!

Team photo shoot at Valmont 

More photo shooting...

 In between everything you saw in the pictures above we were out logging some miles on the new bikes and we were all having to much fun on the new mounts to take any pictures.

Well that's it for now. Be sure to check back soon as the race season gets underway!

Thanks for reading,

Kolben Preble

A New Season

Back for 2011 the Clif Bar Development Cross Team will be coming to a race near you.

Look for us at

Fort Colins USGP, October 8th and 9th
Granouge Cross, October 15th and 16th
Boulder Cups, October 30th and 31st
Cincinnati UCI 3, November 4th, 5th and 6th
Louisville USGP, November 12th and 13th
Jingle Cross, November 25th, 26th and 27th
Bend USGP, December 10th and 11th
Euro Cross Camp December 16th through January 1
US National Championships January 4th to the 8th

The team is retaining its squad from last year except for Mitch Hoke who has moved to the Clif Bar Pro Team.

Kolben Preble and Bjorn Fox will be moving out of the U19 category into the Elite/U23 Ranks. Zane Godby, Spencer Downing, Jordan Cullen, Curtis White and Zack Gould will be looking to dominate the U19 fields in the US and Europe.

The team started the season of right with a Team Camp in Boulder Colorado. Todd Carver of Retul got all the kids bike fits dialed on their new Ridley X-Fires. Retul will be joining the team as a sponsor for 2011-2012 season.

Team Ride with Brady Kappius and Colby Pierce

More updates to come. Also look for us on Facebook and Twitter as ClifBarDevo and Keep an eye out for Team Clif Bar at Cross Vegas, Start Crossed and Madison USGP