Organic Farming Fights Climate Change

Organic Farming Could Sequester 40% of Greenhouse Gas Emissions!
Tell Congress: Organic Is the Answer to Climate Change!
Take Action Now!

Watch this new video from the Rodale Institute's Demand Organic campaign and learn how, if the world’s 3.5 billion tillable acres were transitioned to organic agriculture, organic farms could sequester 40% of yearly carbon emissions. Then, tell Congress: Organic Is the Answer to Climate Change!

Team preview on Cyclingnews.com

Nice summary of the team's roster and goals on the weekly Cross News round-up from Cyclingnews.com.

Reduce Your Carbon Foot Print with Mitch!

AIR DRY YOUR CLOTHING         

   A great way to save energy and carbon emissions in Colorado is to use the sun and wind to dry your clothes. We are blessed with a dry climate and 300 days of sun per year, which makes drying your clothes on a clothesline viable for most of the year. According to the website www.consumerenergyreport.com your dryer uses the second most energy of any appliance in your house except for your refrigerator. This equates to about 85 dollars a year. So drying your clothes outside for 6 months during the warm part of the year will save over 40 dollars a year. This is about 700 kilowatt hours a year and savings of around 1000 pounds of CO2 per year. If Kwh don’t really mean much too you that’s okay. This is roughly the equivalent of 45 gallons of gasoline. That’s 3 tanks of gas for a Subaru Outback and well over 1100 miles traveled. So next time you do a load of laundry consider the clothesline approach. It is best done outside but a relatively well ventilated space inside can do the trick for year round drying.

Check out this site for more energy usage info

http://www.diversepower.com/watt_uses_watt.php

Cheers, 

Mitch Hoke

Weekend results, 10/3-4

Saturday:

Frisco Cross #1, Frisco, Colorado
Open Men
2nd - Yannick Eckmann
6th - Alex Howes
7th - Robin Eckmann

Cat 3 Men
1st - Zane Godby

Gran Prix of Gloucester #1, Gloucester, Massachussets
7th - Nate Morse
10th - Curtis White

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Sunday:

Gran Prix of Gloucester #2, Gloucester, Massachussets
5th - Nate Morse
10th - Curtis White

Coming Soon: New film by Sam Smith

'CrossNatz Trailer from cyclofile.com on Vimeo.

Verge New England Cyclocross Series rounds 1&2

Last Saturday and Sunday was the start of this year's Verge New England Championship series. As a first year in the U19s, my expectations weren't too high. But for Curtis and me, the season got off to great start.

The weather on Saturday was sunny and clear. The course was nice and dry. I got the hole shot, but went out too hard, but faded back to about 7th place by the end of the first lap. Curtis stuck with the second group, who were chasing the leaders from EMD/Serono. I attacked the guy I was with and started moving my way up. Curtis was having a problem with his crank and fell back from the group he was with. Next I was riding with Curtis and Kiernan Orange. I felt great, so I picked up the pace, hoping that Curtis and I could drop Orange and hopefully catch back up to the chase group. The next think I knew, I had a gap and was pulling in Jesse Keough and Connor O' Brien. I rode with the chase group for the rest of the race. At the final corner, Josh Lehmann (Sunapee S&W) started to sprint early and grabbed 3rd place, leaving Keough and me to sprint for the points. With a close finish, I had thought Jesse had beat me, but the camera showed his body in front of mine, but my wheel in front of his. Having taken a bike change, Curtis was not far behind.

Sunday was rainy, cold, and muddy. Perfect cross weather. From the start, all 4 Canadians took the lead. The next group was Jesse, Curtis, and me. We stayed together the whole race, taking turns at the front. On the last lap, Jesse attacked. I managed to stay with him. Curtis was chasing to get back on and I tried to slow the pace so he could get back with us. Coming into the finishing straight, it was another sprint between Jesse and me, with Jesse taking the sprint for 5th. Curtis finished right behind in 7th. Considering that we were some of the youngest U19s in the race, I feel like it is going to be a great season for team CLIF BAR.

Saturday 9/26 results

Boulder Series #1, Louisville Rec Center - Photo courtesy Daimeon Shanks

USGP #1, Madison, WI
Yannick Eckmann 2nd, Jr 17-18
Robin Eckmann 3rd, Jr 17-18
Troy Wells 14th, Elite

Verge New England Championship Series #1 - Williston, VT
Nate Morse 4th, Jrs.
Curtis White 8th, Jrs.

Boulder CX Series #1 - Louisville Rec Center
Conor Mullervy 11th
Kevin Mullervy 14th

New England and Boulder Series kick off this weekend

Today in Louisville, CO is the first round of the BoulderRacing Cyclo-Cross Series - most of the Colorado crew will be there; meanwhile, in Williston, VT this weekend marks the opening round of the Verge New England Championship Cyclo-Cross Series, where the team's new east coast juniors will be representing.

Eckmann brothers, Wells line up for CLIF BAR in first USGP weekend

The CLIF BAR crew at this weekend's opening round of USGP races in Madison, WI will be Troy Wells in the Elites side, and Robin and Yannick Eckmann in the Jr. 17-18 race.

Wells is coming off an strong 6th place performance last weekend at Star Crossed, while both Eckmanns have been ramping up their form in the early Colorado races.

Call to action on climate change - Oct. 24: 350.org

Dear fellow cyclists:

Riding our bikes on roads and trails, we have access to parts of the world few of our fellow citizens ever see, and enjoy scenery that most people don’t notice whizzing by at 65 mph. By being active outdoors during all seasons, we as cyclists surely take note of our changing climate patterns – and we are able to directly impact climate change by choosing to ride our bike more instead of drive. We're asking you as a cyclist to take action on Oct. 24 in a one-day project that we hope will have some measurable impact on changing the world.

You spend much of your time riding your bike out in the elements. It is likely that you’ve noticed your local weather patterns getting less stable, less consistent, and more volatile. Climate change is having a direct impact on our world weather through significant melting of glaciers. In fact, scientists who have drilled glacial cores around the world tell us this melt is happening ever faster, to the point where in our lifetimes it may endanger billions of people, ecosystems, food production and more. So far, though, the political response to climate change has been too slow!

The cycling response has been great: 350.org is lucky to have the CLIF BAR Development Cyclo-Cross Team, Kashi Leuchs, Ted King, Adam Craig, Tom Danielson, Heather Irmiger, Lea Davison and more riders and teams supporting our cause.

Now, with the crucial negotiations looming on the horizon at the United Nations Climate Change Conference this December in Copenhagen, we can do something to help change that. The world's foremost climatologist, NASA's James Hansen, and his team last year declared that 350 parts per million co2 was the most carbon we could safely have in the atmosphere. That's a tough number, because we're already past it. At the moment, the atmosphere holds 387 ppm co2, which is why glaciers and Arctic sea ice are melting. Indeed, this research team cautioned that unless we got back below that number, then eventually the earth might well be ice-free.

The planet will scrub some of that co2, but only if we stop pouring more in. To move political leaders to take this seriously, 350.org is organizing a huge global day of action on Oct. 24, designed to drum that number into every head on the planet. So: we urge you to ride somewhere notable and visible on October 24 – by yourself, with a group, or at a race - and figure out some way to make the number 350 visible. What we'll need by day's end if possible, is a photo, uploaded to the web, of whatever 350 bike ride action you've figured out to do. We need a picture of you and 350.

A few days beforehand or a day or two after will work as well - the goal is simply to take this obscure number, arguably the most important number in the world, and make it the most well-known 3 digits on the planet. If we do, then it will set the bar for negotiators. At the very least, we'll have helped let the rest of the world know what the crucial reality facing the planet is.

If you can help, please contact Jamie Henn at Jamie@350.org.