Green Mountain Cyclocross NECCS 1 & 2

This past weekend was my first big cross race of the season up in Burlington, Vermont. It seemed like a really fast and dry course. With over 100 guys starting, it was crucial to get to the front. From the gun, there was a selection. By the end of the first lap, Yohan Patry from Canada and I had a gap over the cat. 3 field and the juniors. Every lap, the gap grew. With one lap to go, I dropped my chain. I found out as I tried to sprint out of a corner. By the time I got the chain back on, Yohan had a gap and kept it all the way to the finish. I finished second behind him.

Day two was very similar to day one. A selection was made, this time with Karl Hoppner, again from Canada. We established a gap over the cat 3 field and the juniors. With 2 1/2 laps to go, I tried to bunny hop a log, but failed. Karl got a 10 second gap and was able to hold it for the remainder of the race. Again, I finished second, but I obtained the points leaders jersey with a 15 point lead over Nate Morse, former Clif Bar teammate. Hopefully I can hold the jersey at the next NECCS race!

Day 1- Chasing the lead. Day 2- Chasing, again. Me in the leaders jersey.

Cross, Worlds and Vegas Baby!

Well, it is officially game on. The first cross race of the season never fails to remind me of one thing, cross is real hard. I mean you are either coming off the mountain bike with disc brakes and suspension or the road bike with smooth roads. Then you do an hour long suffer fest on bumps in hot sun. It can't even be cold for the first race. My hands hurt, my back hurts and must of all my skills are hurting.

But the race was pretty awesome. It is always nice to ride from your house to the race. The race was pretty well attended and it was good to have Zane and Brady there. Brady and I rode together off the front until the 3 laps to go then he flatted. I had to ride away with out him. Allen from Boulder Cycle Sport was coming up fast so there was no sitting up.

Our new Ridley X-Fire are pretty dialed. Super stiff frame with good cross geometry. The really cool trick set up we are using this comes from the help of Mavic, Stan’s NoTubes and Clement Tires. Running clincher tires tubeless makes it really easy to race cross and budget while still have multiple tire choices and running low pressure. I was able to us the PDX tire on my Ksyrium Wheels at 32 PSI.

In other news I had a really awesome time at MTB Worlds a couple weeks ago. Some good friends from the East Coast came up to watch and one was even kind enough to shoot and edit some video from his iPhone.

I ended up 40^th which I was pretty stoked about.

Now I am mentally preparing for Vegas. I am not so much worried about the race, but more about entering the bizzarro world that is Las Vegas and industry juggernaut know as Interbike. I flew over Vegas once and that was over whelming. No plan to get to and from the airport, so if you see some lost kid in LAS, it is probably me. Cycling Dirt will be streaming the race live.

See you out there

Mitch Hoke

New Web Site for the Team

Check out our new website in the works that includes info on riders, staff and our sustainability projects for the season.

Click here for the site

Mitch

Hello everyone,

Im Kolben Preble and this is my first year with team CLIF BAR. Im super stocked to be on such an awesome team, that stands for a noble cause. Ill be racing the Portland Cross Crusade series and some national events around the country. Im sixteen years old and going into my second year in the 17-18 category. Cyclocross is my all time favorite discipline of cycling, but i also participate in road and mountain. This year in my "off season" i decided to tackle the road monster. I had done a few RR before but was still a cat five. I struggled early in the year but then improved and was able to make it to a cat three. The part i had the hardest time with was figuring out what i was supposed to do. In cross you have a clear goal: go as hard as you can for an hour. pretty strait forward right. Well in road it took me awhile to figure all of the tactics and decisions you must make in a race. In the end it has paid off because it helped to get something i lacked for cross. Straight up power. As the year progressed i began to move more towards Cross country racing. Then on to short track. Both of these im very familiar with. I like to use cross country to brush up my technical skills before moving to short track to work on some good old anaerobic fitness. Any way thats a little bit about me and what i do.

Catch you later!

Team Clif Bar Gearing up for 2010

Everything is falling to place for another successful season with the Clif Bar Development Cyclo Cross Team. We have added some great knew sponsors and are excited to be taking on more races and more environmental advocacy. Look for an official Team announcement soon.

Hope to see you out there

Mitch Hoke

Euro Cross Camp blogs

See how CLIF BAR Development Team members Yannick Eckmann and David Kessler are enjoying their holiday cross racing trip in Belgium:

David Kessler's blog post.

Yannick Eckmann's blog post.

Great results for CLIF BAR Devo Team in Belgium

At the Noordzeecross in Middlekerke, Belgium, today, Yannick Eckmann rode to an amazing 2nd place, just 7 seconds behind. David Kessler came through with an awesome 11th place.

Results on cyclingnews.com

Nationals results

The CLIF BAR Development Cyclo-Cross Team turned in an impressive showing this past weekend at the US Cyclo-Cross Nationals in Bend, OR.

Starting off the weekend, the Junior 15-16 race was icy and exciting, with all four team members cruising into the top 10. Zane Godby took the hole-shot and led the race for several laps before a late-race crash set him back a few spots. Zane battled back for an incredible 2nd place ride. Curtis White rode steady all day and finished 3rd. Nate Morse helped the team set an early fast pace in the front group and finished 6th, and Zack Gould rode steady in the top-10 all day to finish in 10th.

In the Junior 17-18 race, Euro Cross Camp member David Kessler ended up down for the count with the flu, so he did not make the trip to Bend. Californian-via-Sweden Bjorn Fox showed all of his hard training and cold-acclimation paid off, with a strong race where he moved up every lap and just barely lost the sprint for 5th.

In the Under-23 race, all four CLIF BAR teammates got themselves into good position early, with Mitchell Hoke and Alex Howes contributing strong efforts to the chase group, and the Mullervy twins moving up steadily. In the end, all four would suffer untimely crashes and/or flat tires, affecting their finish placings, but they had great races. Conor Mullervy ended in 7th, Alex Howes in 8th, Mitchell Hoke in 13th, and Kevin Mullervy in 19th.

Sunday ended the Nationals weekend with Collegiate and Elite races. In the Division II collegiate race, Mitch (Colorado College) and the twins (Mesa State College) went to battle for their respective schools. All three were in on the action and finished well. Mitch took 3rd, Kevin 5th, and Conor 11th. In the Division I race, Brady Kappius took the hole shot and traded the lead with a Fort Lewis rider. Eventually Kappius had a crash and dropped to 3rd, but held on for a strong finish.

In the Elite race, TEAM CLIF BAR's Troy Wells took 13th, and Kappius came back for his second race of the day to get an impressive 23rd.

Yannick Eckmann is Junior USGP Series Champ!

On Sunday Dec. 6 at the final USGP race in Portland, OR, CLIF BAR Development Team's Yannick Eckmann continued the strong history of the team by capturing the US Gran Prix of Cyclo-Cross Series title for Junior 17-18. Eckmann battled again in the final USGP race with Cal-Giant's Cody Kaiser. The two raced neck and neck all season, with Kaiser winning many of the USGP races and Eckmann sweeping the New Jersey weekend. Eckmann's consistency paid off, with no finishes below 2nd place in the Series, and he locked up the overall title with a second place on Sunday in Portland.

Yannick Eckmann 2nd in Portland on Saturday

Yannick Eckmann, in the USGP Leader's Jersey heading into this final USGP weekend in Portland, took home a hard-fought 2nd place on Saturday, battling back and forth all day with Cody Kaiser (Cal-Giant). Kaiser is in second place in the Series points standings. After taking an early gap, Eckmann crashed, Kaiser took the lead, Eckmann returned, and the two sprinted to the line with Kaiser getting him by a wheel.

Robin Eckmann rode to a strong 4th place.

In the Elite race, Troy Wells showed good form coming back from sickness, finishing 13th; Brady Kappius suffered a rolled tubular but managed to come back up to 26th place.