Nor-Cal Nevada Cup series win

On January 4, I completed in the last race of the NCNCA Cup, which is made up of six races from different series in Northern California and Nevada. I attacked from the start and gained on my lead. Isaiah, a fast junior from Kaiser/Team Oakland, was with me in the beginning but I attacked early and got a lead that lasted throughout the race. We started a minute behind the C men and I went through the field ahead of us and finished the race over a minute ahead of the first place C man and all the juniors. It was a fun course in beautiful Monterey Bay. Being race winner and series winner is awesome! Here are some pictures from winning the NorCal/Nevada Cup and bringing the junior championship to Clif Bar - Thanks for all your great support this season. Bjorn

3rd Place in Sacramento Men's A race


I was car-pooling to the Sacramento CX race with Josh Snead, Rock Lobster, and he joked with me that I should go out and place 3rd in this A men's race. So that is what I did. At the start, Josh got away from the whole field and I was at the back of a 5 man chase group. I decided to try to go faster, went around them, and got a gap on them, was is second place - chasing Josh! This surprised even me. I held on to second place for 2 or 3 laps before anybody caught me again. I rode in a 3 man group for another three laps, with one rider from the 35+A group and another A man. I am used to racing 30 or 45 minute races so this 60 minute race was pretty hard. I didn't think that I could keep us this pace much longer, but I did! I held on to 3rd place for the finish. Bjorn

Clif Bar Team bus, R.I.P.

Photos copyright Brad Kaminski

Unfortunately, the Clif Bar Team bus met it's fate early last Thursday morning about 5am.

The Olde Stage Fire - that started last Wednesday afternoon just north of Boulder city limits - began to spread east of Highway 36, and traveled down a little valley next to the commercial parking area where the bus is stored during the off season. High winds blew burning debris that started the bus on fire, with the front end destroyed before fire fighters arrived to put out the fire.

Link to story about the fires in Boulder is here.

Thanks to everyone for their support in making the team bus project come together in the fall of '07, and for keeping it rolling strong this past 'cross season. It was a huge team effort getting the bus ready for bike equipment, making it functional and look great, and especially driving all over the country. Having the bus at the races was a huge help to the team, made for a great sponsor presence, and was a lot of fun for people to see.

The former Dartmouth Big Green Bus had a great run as the Clif Bar Team bus, and there may not be another cycling team vehicle quite like it again!

1/03/2009 Lyons cross

Well this past weekend there was one last cyclocross race of the season right out side of Boulder in Lyons, same place where States were last year but different course. I was looking forward to one more race but was not too sure how I was going to feel, since it was my second time touching my bike since nationals which was about 2 weeks ago. Got to the race early to check it out and make sure my bike was still working from nationals. Pre-riding the course got me excited to race, it was a really cool course. With a steep run up and a barrier, little drop/roller, pump-ish section and a steep mound of dirt all made for a sweet course.

At the start line I think everybody had at least one goat head in there tire and was hoping for the best. The weather was nice and cold in the high 20's i think, cold enough. Though I had a really bad start getting cought behind a wreck on the steep run up falling back about 20seconds or so. After I got threw the mess I caught a group of two and sat with them for a while till pulling threw to try and catch Brady, Mitch and Pacocha. By the time I caught up to there group Mitch was off the front and Brady was spinning out on his single speed. So i decided to sit for a while and attack on the flat. Though I never did catch Mitch, who finished a good 10-15 seconds ahead of me I was able to hold on to second with a good 30-40 seconds on third. So the team finished up 1st and 2nd. Not too bad to start off the new year. With that two week rest I felt so rested and relaxed it seemed to help a lot. Mountain flyer did and article on the race at: Mountain Flyer Magazine

Nationals report: Friday (Juniors)

By Friday, the frozen ground of the Nationals course had given out under the pressure of Thursdays herds of B and Masters racers, and succumbed to sunshine and warming temperatures...creating a slippery, goopy mess of mud more suitable for holding wads of grass together for the walls of a primitive prairie home. Instead, this went on the bikes as they slid around the course, spinning for traction on the uphills and trying to stay in control through the turns.

The 10am Junior events featured some truly weight-gaining mud. Zack Gould's rig probably doubled in weight before he pitted with a rear derailleur broken by its struggle against the thick adobe building material clinging to his bike. He got a good workout running half the course with a 30+ lb. bike slung over his shoulder! Kudos to Zack for not giving up and hanging in there to finish a really solid 11th place in the 13-14 race.

In the 15-16 race, the CLIF BAR foursome of Yannick Eckmann, David Kessler, Bjorn Fox and Zane Godby went to work against a strong field and the mud. Yannick resumed his friendly rivalry with Delaware's ace junior Jeff Bahnson (the two had traded wins in the Cat. 2/3 races at the New Jersey USGP weekend). Bjorn looked to continue his hot streak after winning both under-16 junior races at the Portland USGP the previous weekend. David made his Cross Nationals debut, and 14-year old Zane stepped into his first race with the 15-16 category. Yannick raced hard and rode with Jeff for several laps, but before long Jeff's amazing mud riding skills and awesome fitness created a winning gap. Yannick powered home strong in 2nd, and both David and Zane had amazing races to finish in 4th and 5th, respectively. Bjorn was having a great race before he was sidetracked with a flat, but he came back strong to finish 8th. Three CLIF BAR 15-16 Juniors on the podium, and all 4 in the top ten!

The 17-18 crew was shorthanded from our usual USGP squad, with German Robin Eckmann having to race the B race on Thursday. Cody Cox and Andrew Barker rode strong races, starting out in the main chase group, fading a little bit after some blistering opening laps, but recovering to hold on to strong 9th place (Cody) and 13th place (Andrew) finishes.

Cody will now head off to Belgium later this week to begin his first European race experience at the Euro Cross Camp with National Team coach Geoff Proctor.

Nationals report: Thursday (B race)

Junior Robin Eckmann wins the B race! Since non-US citizens are not allowed to race US Nationals once they reach age 17, CLIF BAR's outstanding Junior 17-18 racer Robin Eckmann, who is from Germany but now calls Boulder home decided to race the B race for fun this year at Nationals.

He killed it! Robin moved up to the front of the race on lap one along with another junior ace - 15 year old Jeff Bahnson from Delaware, who was using the B race as a warmup for Friday's Junior 15-16 event. The two rode together off the front for several laps before Jeff completed his "opening" workout at 30 minutes. Robin then was joined by one other competitor, who stuck with him until the final lap.

One strong attack heading onto the pavement though kept his lead comfortable and he cruised in for the win.

Bay Area Super Prestige

Today I had a great race at the Bay Area Super Prestige series in Golden Gate Park. I went hard from the start getting 5 to 10 bike lengths on 2nd place by the end of the first lap. Then 2nd place got a mechanical that put him down one place. I kept a hard tempo making a bigger and bigger gap until the end of the race. Which led to my win!
Two weeks ago I also won the race which finally put me in the leaders jersey. It has been a tough season battling fast juniors, but hard work has helped turn the series around.

Bjorn

On the Cross

Today was the On the cross race at Chatfield. And about 5:00 last night the snow came in, and it snowed a lot in just an hour. So I knew it was gonna make for a muddy and fun race. The course was mostly single track which got muddy after all the races went before us. For our team we had Andrew, Yannick, Robin, Kevin and myself racing in the Open race. After the first lap in the lead group there were about 8 guys including Robin, Yannick and myself. Then the race began to break up some more and then we all found ourslelfs chasing the lead group of 5. So it was Yannick Robin and myself working together to get back into it. Though around one of the muddy corners I was on Yannicks wheel when he hit the deck, causing me to use his real wheel as a ramp and pulling a superman over him. We got right back up and kept on chasing. Then with about 3 laps to go I found myself alone trying to chase down the lead group of five. Then on the last lap on the last corner I just had to hit the deck causing the guy 10seceonds behind me to catch up and pass me in the sprint. So I eneded up 7th place which was not too bad. And Kevin was unable to finish due to his pedal coming completly off on the third lap.

Of course I am just starting to feel good on the bike and I can't even race tomorrow. Because we have to leave ealrly tomorrow to try and make it back up to Grand Junction for school on Monday. The passes are already snow packed and are expecting anywhere from 2-12 inches up in the mountains. And we can't even bring our cross bike back, because we drove down in a little Honda Civic which will not make it back over, so were catching a ride with our room mate who has all wheel drive but has no room for our cross bikes. So I guess we can't even ride cross again until Nationals. Unless we can make it back next week for states but im guessing the weather will be similar to how it is now on the passes.

Mercer '08 Elite Men | NY Velocity

Mercer '08 Elite Men | NY Velocity

CROSS!
Check out these nice photos of the Mercer race. Some good shots of team and pit action! (just click on the link above!)

Jersey Cross Life

Late Flights, Food Blights, Mudd

Jersey Pike, No Left Whole Foods

"Out of the way Hoke"

Ride On/Go Green

Mitch

My Global Cooling Speech!

What is global cooling? We all know what global warming is. Today I am going to tell you about global cooling. Global cooling is basically trying to stop global warming. We can start global cooling by riding our bikes or walking to school, instead of taking a car which releases pollution into the atmosphere decreasing the ozone making it hotter. The things that we want to prevent from happening in order to start global cooling are greenhouse gasses, solar variation, and temperature changes. To start, greenhouse gasses are caused by human-activity that mostly started when the industrial system was started. The greenhouse effect was discovered by Joseph Fourier and he says “It is the process in which absorption and emission of infrared radiation by atmospheric gases warm a planet's lower atmosphere and surface.” Another example of Global Warming is Solar Variation. As stated by two researchers at Duke University, solar variation is caused by the sun. A different hypothesis is that variations in solar output, possibly amplified by cloud seeding via galactic cosmic rays, may have contributed to recent warming.
Now onto a simpler example, when you drive your car you are releasing CO2 emissions into the atmosphere helping create global warming. Think about that the next time you want to go somewhere but you are too lazy to walk, run, bike, skateboard, or even take a bus. If you ask your parents to drive you, then your laziness is making the atmosphere full of CO2 emissions, also known as ruining the earth. Another kind of emission is called methane. Methane is also known as poop gas from animals that live on a farm. Say you had a hundred pigs on your farm and they all pooped twice a day. In a year that would pile up to be a bunch of methane polluting the atmosphere. Methane is also the gas that is a fart. So the next time you are about to fart, just be selfish and keep it to yourself and don’t pollute the environment with your fart. Rotten trash also forms methane.
Who likes snow? I sure do! So by starting global cooling we can have more snow days. Another way to start global cooling is to recycle and compost. By doing this we can reuse our natural resources instead of dumping it into a landfill and have to use up more energy to create paper and bottles. To help global cooling we can put solar panels on the top of our houses to get energy from the sun instead of Excel Energy. Some materials that are appropriate for recycling are: glass bottles and jars of all colors, aluminum cans, pie pans and clean aluminum foil, plastic bottles and jugs with a #1 a #2 or a #5 on the bottom, paper milk boxes, juice boxes and drink boxes, #2 and #5 plastic tubs and cups, scrap metal, most paper items, and phone books! Also, if you eat a whole banana and you are about to throw away the peel, stop, think and remember that all vegetables and fruits can be composted. Even napkins, plates and many other things too! So the next time you drink a soda and you are about to throw it in the trash, think and remember that it can be recycled!
There is one bad thing, and that is that not everything is recyclable or compostable. Some items that are not recyclable are: orange brownish envelopes, construction paper, tissue paper, wrapping paper, paper towels, tissues, waxed items, frozen food or ice cream containers, pictures, and stickers. An item that can not be composted very easily is meat. This is because it takes a long time to decompose, and it also attracts rats and mice to your compost pile.
Obviously, global cooling is the way to go!
By Zack Gould