BASP #5 - the Finale - Coyote Point

The biggest (racing) turnout for Team AC this time, as we had 8 racers in all (including myself, my FIRST cyclocross race ever ;-)

It was cold and foggy, and temperatures were down in the 50’s for most of the day, but the sun peeked out at the end, after the Single-speed race was over.

Lots of photos, and more to come, as Jack French was there doing his usual stellar job, joined by Ken Howard with his camera.

Here are the photos captured on our camera:
http://picasaweb.google.com/glocalize/200812BASP5CoyotePointCyclocrossFinal#

As for the results, almost everyone wound up on the podium, except for a couple of us n00bs (me and Claire) but we were happy with our results too…

Junior Men Under 18

Isaiah Rapko – First Place, and First Place for the BASP series!

Junior Men U14
Spence Peterson – First Place - a hard fought race between Spence and Bob, with Spence crossing the finish line 4 seconds ahead of Bob. Spence won the race, and the series, and some nice Schwag including Sheila Moon jacket and hat, and some other goodies.

Bob Siegel – Second Place – he was out there gunning for the win and the series win, and almost had it at the end, but finished with a strong second place (two first places, and three seconds) for the race, and the series. Also some good schwag at the end!

Alex Taylor – Third Place – he rode a good strong race, and finished consistent with the other races, third today, and third for the series.

Skyler Taylor – Fourth Place – looking stronger today than in the past, Skyler powered ahead of the much bigger U14’s and took a solid fourth today, and in the series.

Men’s Masters 45+ B
Blair Peterson – when we talked afterwards, Blair had felt down on power today, so wasn’t happy with his eight place finish, but he took home Fourth Place in the series against a number of strong riders he’s been battling all season long! Looks like it will be Masters A 45+ next season for Blair!

Rich Siegel – I completed the race, and passed some guys during the race, though I was re-passed later. I’m pretty sure I was last, but since I raced Men’s B and not Men’s C, I was very happy with the result. I had a great time doing the race and am looking forward to more in the future!

Special Mentions – to Nicole Taylor and Julia Howard who brought a bounty of sausages, eggs, and other snacks for our hungry group today, to Megan Siegel for doing the same during the past couple of races, to Jack French for his dual skills of photography and grilling, and to ALL the parents of the Team AC boys for all of their tremendous support this season! Really a fun group to hang out with and I look forward to our upcoming Mountain and Road biking seasons in 2009!

Race Day Sunday - BASP #4 - Golden Gate Park

This was a hard-to-believe day of cyclocross racing for the end of November – we had beautiful sunny weather, great trail conditions (but not enough mud?) and a fantastic turnout.

We had more than 20 people out to support Team AC, including all families of the Petersons, Taylors, Howards, Foxes and Siegels, as well as Chad and Ian from Above Category, Jack French our team photographer/griller, Megan’s brother Chad, and our friends Heather and Jay (probably others that I also lost count of).

I know that several people had cameras, notably Jack French, Ken Howard and the Taylors, but all you get at this point are my very quick shots – here are photos from today:

http://picasaweb.google.com/glocalize/200811BASP4GoldenGatePark#

In addition to our usual suspects (Skyler, Alex, Spence, Bob, Bjorn, Isaiah, Blair and Tom Fox), Claire returned for more racing, and a new first timer, Cole (also from MV Middle School) decided to try his efforts at ‘cross. We had seven riders sporting Team AC colors, one of the largest (and most frequently heard over the PA) teams on the roster.

There was copious food for all, with special thanks to Meg who brought huge quantities of grilled chicken skewers, potatoes, sausages and other snacks. The Petersons brought all the barbeque equipment and the Team AC tent, and also loaded us up with sausages to keep everyone well fed!

Results were as follows (as far as I can recall):

Junior Men - U18
Bjorn Fox – First Place (Leader’s Jersey)
Isaiah Rapko – Third Place (mechanical)
Cole Campton – finished his first cyclocross race!

Junior Men – U14
Spence Peterson – First Place (Leader’s Jersey)
Bob Siegel – Second Place (tied for lead in series)
Alex Howard – Third Place
Skyler Taylor – Fourth Place

Masters Men 45+ B’s
Blair Peterson – Fourth Place (jumped on podium during single-speed race!)

Women C
Claire Siegel – finished her SECOND cyclocross ever

Not sure about single speed – Blair finished pretty well, the boys just cruised it…
SO – our next outing is BASP #5 – next Sunday, December 7th at Coyote Point, San Mateo.

The championship race is on between Spence and Bob, Bjorn and Isaiah! Should be an exciting finale!

Prunedale - Manzanita Park CCCX race

Well, it was a quick morning (except for the 4 hours of driving ;-) but very successful.
The race was at Manzanita Park, Prunedale – about 2 hours South of Mill Valley (or 1:40 if I drive).

We had a partial turnout of the team members, but good success overall. Today because of the specific classes for this race, Spence and Skyler raced in “13 and under” and Bob and Isaiah raced in “18 and under” – so they were up against some BIG “kids” this time…

The course started and finished on an uphill paved road, which made the run to the first corner exciting at the start, and the uphill sprint at the end equally exciting.

Great riding by everyone, with (now usual?) stellar results:

13 and Under:
First Place – Spence Peterson (First in State)
Second Place – Skyler Taylor (Second in State)

18 and Under:
First Place – Isaiah Rapko (First in State)
Second Place – Bob Siegel (by about 6 inches on an incredible sprint finish) (Second in State)

The schwag included lots of strawberries again, along with “State Championship” medals for the top 3 finishers.

Pictures are up at http://picasaweb.google.com/glocalize/200811PrunedaleManzanitaParkCCCXRace#

This was an exciting race in watching how all of the boys outraced both the C Men and the bigger teenagers. Really impressive and their form really shows watching how they pace themselves and pass others throughout the race.

The weather was perfect – about 65 degrees and sunny, and the course had a lot more vertical than many recent races, plus a good runup.

Race night! BASP #3 - Sierra Point Cyclocross Bonanza

What a great event – the racing started at Sierra Point early afternoon, and continued into the late hours of the evening.

This time we had a special guest racer – Claire (our daughter) on her FIRST ever ‘cross race. She had not been on her mountain bike in months, but went for it anyway, and did Team AC proud! Several different races and racers – the boys did the Junior race (U18 for Bjorn & Isaiah and U14 for Spence, Alex, Skyler and Bob), Claire did Womens’ C race, Blair did Men’s 45+ and Tom Fox raced Men’s A (I think). Then Blair, Spence and Bob did the singlespeed race at night (it started around 9 PM).

So it was a long day/evening of racing, and barbequing – Jack French spent the day pulling double duty as photographer and griller. Can’t wait to see his photos from this one ;-) Ian Tuttle and a couple of his friends also came to cheer on the Team AC singlespeed squad, so it was a full house in the Team AC tent! We arrived a bit before 2 PM and stayed till past 11 PM.

Pictures of all this at http://picasaweb.google.com/glocalize/200811BASP3SierraPointNightCXRace# - but the photo quality of the night shots isn’t great.

Jack has uploaded some of his (excellent!) photos to Flickr – I suggest you check them out at
http://flickr.com/photos/jackfrench/sets/72157609601366990/

Now, the results:

Junior Men – U14:
First Place Bob Siegel (held on to the leader’s jersey)
Second Place Spence Peterson
Third Place Alex Howard
Fourth Place Skyler Taylor

Junior Men – U18:
First Place Bjorn Fox
Second Place Isaiah Rapko (keeps the leader’s jersey)

Women C:
Claire Siegel 29th Place (out of 37 – for her first race, with NO training!)

I didn’t capture Blair’s finish at the Men’s 45+ race but he seemed to do very well – maybe top 5?

The singlespeed race was a long (60 minute) grueling event and everyone was pretty wiped, but Blair actually looked surprisingly good at the finish!

It was a really fun event – the night racing is an excellent addition to the cross scene, and we were amazed by how warm it was (for mid-November, or for any time at that location). Everyone had a great time.

Sacramento CX Race - Discovery Park - NCNCA #3

Despite the rain last night, it was about perfect for the cross race today at Discovery Park in Sacramento. The park was a big, flat, grassy park with little to no climbing on the course.

The main challenges (according to the riders) were the tough handling in lots of switchbacks and chicanes, and a very treacherous tunnel that went from one half of the park to the other - it was filled with slippery mud, lots of sliding, long grass sections and both Bob and Alex crashed in it.

Overall, it was all about the boys again:

Isaiah Rapko - First Place
Bjorn Fox - Second Place
Spence Peterson - Third Place
Alex Howard - Fourth Place (including a crash) Bob Siegel - Fifth Place (including a crash AND a flat)

Blair Peterson also raced with the Big Dogs - Men's A class, including Ned Overend! He did great, and really hammered out a strong performance!

Here are pictures from today:
http://picasaweb.google.com/glocalize/200811DiscoveryParkRaceSacramentoCX4#

BASP #2 Cross Race - Nov. 2, 2008 - Candlestick Point - Team AC Rules Again!

Today it started rainy, but turned out great - fine results from everyone:

Junior - Under 14
Bob Siegel - First Place (Leader's Jersey)
Spence Peterson - Second Place (tied in points w/Bob)
Alex Howard - Third Place
Skyler Taylor - Fourth Place

Junior - Under 18
Isaiah Rapko - First Place (2nd Leader's Jersey)
Bjorn Fox - Second Place

Masters Men 45+
Blair Peterson - Second Place (fantastic race!)

Here is a link to the photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/glocalize/200811BASP2CandlestickPointCXRace#

The next race should be exciting to watch the battle for first within Team AC!

Surf City Halloween Cyclocross Race

A fine day of racing today – lots of good riding for the four boys (Isaiah, Bjorn, Spence and Bob), and another successful domination of the Junior A class:

1st Place – Isaiah Rapko
2nd Place – Bjorn Fox
3rd Place – Bob Siegel
4th Place – Spence Peterson

Plus there was the special “Halloween Race” event, with many hilarious costumes and antics.

Here is a link to the photos and video from today – I shot more video of the racing AND the Halloween activities. I think you’ll find some of it amusing (or incomprehensible ;-) Enjoy the photos and let me know if you would like any high resolution versions of the shots:

http://picasaweb.google.com/glocalize/200810SoquelHalloweenCXRace#

By the way, for those who DIDN’T make it, there was very good schwag for the podium finishers!

BASP #1 - McLaren Park - the BIG runup!

It was a fine day of racing for Team AC and the extended family (Isaiah and Bjorn).

Here are the results:

Juniors 10-14:
1st: Spence Peterson (with the Leader’s Jersey)
2nd Bob Siegel
3rd Alex Howard (nee Haywood)
4th Skyler Taylor
5th Irrelevant

Juniors 15-18:
1st Isaiah Rapko
2nd Bjorn Fox
3rd-5th Irrelevant

On the “adult” side, Peter Sobrero and Blair Peterson held down the Masters 35+ and 45+ respectively, and finished close to each other at the end.

We took some photos, which can be seen (and downloaded) here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/glocalize/200810BASP1McLarenPkCXRace#

Our friend, Jack French, came out to watch Bob and the boys run the course, and took a number of really nice shots (he has both better camera skills and a MUCH better camera than we do ;-) – I expect we’ll have a Flickr link for you soon. Some of his photos may be suitable for framing ;-)

I’m sure Blair and Peter may have comments about the course – it looked very tough and appeared to never let up – the steep run-up was followed by one hard charge after another – but the weather was cool and cloudy which made it much more bearable for all.

It was a great morning of racing, and Team AC seems well positioned to dominate the BASP series!

Also, I posted a short video of the run-up section – all of the boys are in it – Bjorn, Isaiah, Spence, Alex, Bob and Skyler…

http://picasaweb.google.com/glocalize/200810BASP1McLarenPkCXRaceRunUpVideo#5260349210443514066

LARPD - Livermore, and Laguna Seca CCCX #2

Congrats on a weekend of furious 'cross racing with AC well represented and placing well.

On Saturday in Livermore, Bob, Spence & "Slayer" hammered a new course hard, mixing it up in the Men's Open B. Nice work.

On Sunday, the Dawn Patrol (Alex, Bob & Spence) hit Laguna Seca to race another new course, for CCCX #2 - this course may be used again in next year's inaugural Sea Otter cyclocross race.

These guys gave it their all in the Junior 14-18yr old group. Isaiah-from-that-other-CX-team won. Spence nipped Bjorn Fox's heels for 4th, Bob a few seconds later for 5th and Alex powered in for 11th.

It should be noted that other racers Ben Jaques-Maynes, Ned Overend and Don Myrah were all asking who these hotshot AC guys were and where can they buy the cool AC kits!

Here are a few pictures that Megan took from the Monterey cross race – including a couple of good ones of Alex on the course….
http://picasaweb.google.com/glocalize/200810CCCXMonterey#

Cat's Hill Criterium - Los Gatos - BIG Hill

This was one of the first crits the boys entered - very tough place to start with the big hills:

At the warmup:


And then they were off - up and around for 5 or 6 laps:

Snelling Road Race - 2008 Photos

Snelling Road Race was one of the first road races the boys did - it was a very windy day, but they had a great race. Here are some photos from the event last year.