Greetings

We have a spent a little bit over a week at the EurocrossCamp in Belgium. It has been very cold, around freezing the whole time. On the rides the roads are either slushy, getting really wet, or super icy, making it hard to stay upright. We have spent time preparing for racing either at the house or out riding.

The first two races I did in Belgium were last Saturday and Sunday. The first race was a local race on an icy farm field and the second race was the Kalmthout World Cup race near Antwerp. On Saturday’s race most of us from the Eurocross Camp had enough UCI points to be called up to the front row. I had a great start and lead the race in the beginning; then I had a mechanical and dropping back a little to finish in third place. At the World Cup, I was called up in the 3rd row, didn’t have a great start but I had a blast in the race. I finished in 44th place, the first American. It was really fun racing with people from all different countries, an orange Dutch guy there, a small blue, red, white French guy there. Fighting against the best of all the different countries. The course was fast, icy, muddy and hilly.

Today is Christmas Eve, we woke up at 8:30am and went for a ride. I did a prep ride along the canal in town. The canal has a pretty cool bike path, but it’s icy and slippery which, is actually great cyclo-cross training combining handling and power. This afternoon there was a trip to the Tour of Flanders Museum. Today we had a special Christmas Eve dinner with the table set very nicely. Some family of the people who are in charge of the house joined us for food and it was a good time. We had a toast (only an Aquarius orange drink for us; champagne for the staff), dinner, and cake for dessert.

Bjorn

Belgium Update

Today marks the one week anniversary of my adventure here in Belgium. Im going to use this post to list the most interesting things that have stood out from my trip thus far.

1). Raced my first race outside of the U.S.

2). Raced my first World Cup

3). Bumped elbows with a Belgian in a World Cup

4). Crashed in my first world cup

5). Ate Speculoos

6). Had my first Belgian pastry

7). Got completely lost on a training ride

8) Tried white Asparagus.

Everybody on the team has their bikes now, and we were all able to pasticipate in the training race. While none of us won and got of the chores we all had a good time, and it was nice to mix up the training a bit.

I did notice some cool Practices here in Belgium that the US should adopt. The coolest thing is the recycling. The Belgians have really got this down. It really to see how much they care about the recycling, and how much the people here do it. Another thing is grocery bags. at the grocery stores if you want a bag you have to buy a reusable one, and most everybody brings bags to the store to reuse. I know I know "they have this already in the states" you say but the the difference here is that the ALL the Belgians reuse their bags, and its comes naturally to them. Anyways its dinner time now, but I will leave with some pictures.

Screen at the World Cup

World Cup Kalmthout

Riding along trail the canal

My Bed for two weeks

One Of the Team USA vans

Snowy Daze

The whole team arrived last week safe and sound. Bjorn Zane and Kolben safely navigated the Wold Cup in Kalmthout which is a tall order for the second race in Europe.We are looking forward to a little bike scrimage tomorrow with the whole EuroCross Team tomorrow.

Unfortunately no bikes for me yet, but I will have a CX bike to borrow tomorrow and hopefully trusty steads arrive soon. This is is supposedly the biggest snow event they have seen since WWII, they don't plow road hear and the Belgians don't really know how to handle the snow. Flights keep getting canceled because the planes don't have any de-icer which is being delivered but the trucks are stuck on the roads which aren't plowed.

Wings of airplanes curve a when they don't have any more petrol

New Training Bike, note that side walked is plowed better then the road

One Whole Gallon

Check Back soon

Mitch Hoke

First Day in Izegem

Well day one of racing is done here in Europe. The boys had a successful day. Bjorn finished 4th and Zane and Kolben treated the race as opener and got a couple hard laps in at the front and then took some easy laps. They should be going good for tomorrows World Cup in Kalmthout.

I unfortunately got delayed and put on a train from Frankfurt so i have no bicycles yet.

Check in Later for more pictures and results.

Mitch

USGP in Portland

Everyone had great races at the second of the USGP in Portland.

In the mens 15-16 race Jordan Cullen conquered a challenging course to take the win. He looks really strong coming into nationals.

The 17-18 race was dominated by former team member Yannick Eckmann. Zane and Bjorn scored some UCI points coming in 4th and 5th and Kolben came in 7th for another super strong ride

I had the best GP yet finishing 17th.

More photos to come and stayed tuned for updates from US National Championships and from Europe after that.

Thanks

Mitch Hoke

Europe Bound

Great news. We are sending 4 riders to Euro Cross Camp this year.

Kolben Preble, Zane Golby, Bjorn Fox and myself will be heading across the pond after nationals to race. You can follow are adventures here and find more info on the camp at www.eurocrosscamp.com.

Check back for more.

This weekend the team is off to Jingle Cross in Iowa City followed by rounds 7 and 8 of the USGP at the infamous PIR course in Portland.

Sea you out there

Mitch Hoke

New Name Stickers

Check in later for more about this weekends New Belgium Cup!

Mitch

Weekend Update: November 6th and 7th

Jordan Cullen competed in the Behing Bars VeloCross at the National Sports Center in Minneapolis Minnesota, he finished 2nd in the Mens 1/2 field after.

Curtis White got to race one of my favorite races in the states, The Cycle-Smart International in Northampton Massachusetts. On Saturday Curtis fought with a strong group that kept shelling riders until there were just 3 left. Curtis attached on the barriers to get 2nd. Sunday was a little less fruitful as he suffered a 1st lap mechanical but fought his way back up to 9th in a field of over 150 riders.

Bjorn Fox represented Team Clif Bar in California this weekend at the Sacramento Cyclocross Series Race#3 and the Bay Area Super Prestige #2. He finished 2nd in the Elite mens field in Sacramento and 6th in San Francisco.

Spencer Downing and Zach Gould returned to the Boulder Res on Saterday for School House Cross this weekend. Zach got 18th in his first open mens race (which was won by are Clif Bar step teammate Brady Kappius). Spencer really stepped up his game and placed 3rd in the 3's race.

On Sunday Brady and I went for the old Clif Bar oneTwo at the Castle Cross in Castle Rock Colorado.

Bjorn on the Podium

Jordan at VeloCross

Thanks
Mitch Hoke

Clif Bar at the Boulder Cups

This weekend was Boulder Cups in Colorado and was a great showing by the Clif Bar Development Cross Team.

Saturday was the always challenging Boulder Reservoir course. This year was no different with multiple sections of sand over 50 feet. Zack Gould took his first win in the ACA 3's category after going off the front the entire race with with Michael Dessau. They went in the final couple of turns elbow to elbow, Michael took to hard of line and went down and Zach came through for the victory.

Zane Golby, Kolben Preble and Spencer Downing took on the Junior Mens race. The race was dominated by former Development Team Rider Yannick Eckmann. Yannick road through the enitre single speed and 3's feild but was followed closely by Zane who finished second. Spencer and Kolben also rode to strong 5th an6th place finishes.

I competed in the Elite Mens race and got ride multiple laps with step teammate Allen Kruegoff and finished 27th on the day.

Zack on the Sand Steps

Zane on the Beach

Spencer leading Kolben up the Steps

Mitch in the Dust

Zach on the top step of the Cat 3's Podium

Yannick and Zane on the Junior Mens Podium

The next day was a new venue for the Boulder Cup at the Flat Irons Mall. This course was all about off camber traverse, crashes and run ups.

Instead of competing in the 3's on Sunday Zach decide to join the rest of the team and compete in the Junior Mens race. Again the Juniors started behind the Cat 3's which meant are boys had to move up through the pack. This was very challenging on the off camber sections. Yannick got tangled up with the some riders so Zane was able to take the lead for a while. Eventually he came around and opened up a large gap to the rest of the field. Zane and Zach took the 2nd and 3rd places on the podium. Kolben and Spencer finshed up 6th and 7th.

Zane and Yannick passing Spider MAn

Kolben

Spencer

Zach on the Run Up

Mitch Hopping the Barriers

Yannick, Zane and Zach on the Podium

Thanks for reading and supporting the team. Thanks to Hannalore Eckmann for the always amazing photos

Mitch

Weekend Update: October 23rd and 24th

The Clif Bar Development Team had another successful weekend around the US.

Jordan Cullen and myself made the trek out to Louisville for the 2^nd stop of the USGP, the Derby Cup. The race was hot and dry, the first lap resemble more of a dustbowl then a cross race. Despite the weather the folks in Louisville are doing a great job with their new venue that will host the World Championships. Super big thanks to the McShane and Haley families for helping out Team Clif Bar.

Jordan soled off the front both days to win the 2/3s field. Keep in mind this is a 15 year old kicking but in a field of grown men. I fished up 27^th and 28^th on the days starting from back in the Elite field.

Curtis White stayed close to home and finished 6^th in the 1/2 field in Saratoga NY after a hard fought race with big group of chasers.

Kolben Preble got treated to a real muddy race at Cross Crusade # 4 at the infamous PRI in Portland. Kolben fought his way up through the pack to finish 15^th, his highest placing in Cross Crusade to date. He has also been working with the promoters of the races in Portland to set up better recycling.

Zack Gould and Spencer Downing were defending Team Clif bar home territory in Boulder Colorado this weekend. Zack had a great ride at Xilinix this weekend finishing 2^nd in the 3’s. Spencer placed 20^th in the large field.The next day they finished 7^th and 16^th respectively in the 3’s field at 3^rd installment of the Boulder CX series.

Mitch racing in the Louisville dust bowl.

Jordan getting it done of the barriers

Thanks

Mitch Hoke