Boggy Cross # 3

On Sunday, October 28th Ciclistas del Rio hosted

Race # 2 for the Marilyn Fund. Combined the two

races raised $515. A big thanks to all the spectators,

all the racers ,and all the contributors.

Top 5:

1. Cale Redpath

2. Chad Wells

3. Greg Lewis

4. Greg Carpenter

5. Colin Osborne

Twenty-five riders made the official start.

Cale gives ...

and Cale receives.

Ciclistas del Rio

The Ciclistas del Rio club was represented at the 24 Hours of Moab mountain bike race this year by a 4 person team consisting of local riders; Brian Bluemle, Jeff Fox, Terry Gorsuch and Tom Miller. We overcame a few difficulties (me suffering from a miserable cold, Tom flatting on Pugsley in the middle of the night, Terry suffering vision problems during his 1:30 a.m. lap, and Brian breaking a crucial pivot bolt on the bike borrowed from John Tomac right before his first lap) to finish 13th out of 94 teams. Everyone stayed upright and avoided injury which is always foremost in importance during any bike race.

We had a blast, although it may have been hard to convince us of that fact during that 3rd night lap in the early a.m. hours. There is a special feeling about being out on course cranking away through the desert when the majority of the world is sound asleep. For those that have done a 24 hour race, you know exactly what I am talking about, for those that haven't, I recommend trying it, even it is in the "Just for Fun" class. Next stop on the tour is 24 Hours of Old Pueblo in Tucson, AZ during February. We have one local team organized for the single speed class but it would be great to show up in force with a couple of teams. There are solo, duo, and 4 person classed. Any interest?

Here is a link to a cool slide show of this years 24 Hours of Moab:

http://www.grannygear.com/Races/Moab/2007/Webcast/Moab_07_Slide_Show_800x600.wmv

Boggy Cross #2: Race for Marilyn and Gareth

Boggy Cross #2 was well attended with 14 riders contributing $264.00 towards the medical expenses of Marilyn Cieszykowski.

Top 5 Results:

1) Travis Brown
2) Rob Schmidt
3) Cale Redpath
4) Jesse from FLC
5) David Paquette





Steve showin' some skills.




While Jesse and Dave ran,

Cale rode the rocky climb in style

Gilby's knee survived the log barriers.

Rob rode the really steep run-up. Well done!

Travis won and smiled even brighter when he selected a growler of Stout from Dolores River Brewing as his prize.

Gunni-Cross

Day 2 we raced in the rain. Fortunately I'm ahead of this chasing group; unfortunately, I'm chasing two guys. Fortunately, the chasing group never caught me; unfotunately, I never caught the two leaders.

Chasing another orange LeMond -- I wonder if he's running clinchers?

Day One ended after 15 minutes. It helps when the tire stays glued to the rim.

Report from Boggy Cross

Dogs included, spectators out numbered riders 1.5 to 1. Alas, Michael laments, no beer tent.




There are some fast sections ...



A hill to ride or to run ...

Some logs to run over ...

And a really steep wall to run up.

Boggy Cross will run again on Sunday, October 7th at 11:00 AM -- if we can confirm at least 5 starters. Comment here or send an email to confirm your interest and for directions to the course. Mountain bikes are welcome.

It's not the World Championship Course in Hooglede-Gits, Belgium. There won't be many spectators; there won't be a giant white beer tent; there probably won't even be as many racers as in this picture.

But, a CX Practice Course has been set on Boggy Draw. It's located off the main road (FR 527), about 2 miles up from the parking lot just east of the cattle guard at the end of CR W. It has some fast single track, three dismounts, one steep run up, and a surprsingly difficult rock strewn power climb. Check it out.

On Sunday, September 30th, the Ciclistas del Rio will host a practice race beginning at 11:00AM. Riders can choose to ride for either 30 minutes or 60 minutes. Mountain bikes are welcome. There is no entry fee for Ciclistas members, but non-members are encouraged to make a donation. Prizes will mostly likely include pints from the Dolores River Brewery, and whatever else we can round up.

The roads weren't quite this wet on Sunday, but we did get wet. It's incredible that we started Sunday rides back in June and that it took until September for it to rain on us.

Note to Ciclistas -- it never hurts to have rain cape. See Scott at Sol Cycles if you need one. Steve would agree that it's $20 well spent. Similarly, if you ride bare-legged in the rain, you might want to consider some 'verwarmende balsem' --that's warming balm from Belgium.

Boure Bike Fest

Boure Bike Fest runs next week in and around Durango from September 16-22. Check out http://www.boure.com/ for a complete schedule including routes, start times, start locations, and opportunities to ride with Ned Overend. To the right is last year's group picture taken at Lemon resevoir. I rode the Coal Bank Pass Day; our group only numbered about a dozen at the top of the Pass, but we had great fall weather and a gas station lunch at Needles. Yum, Yum!

Pretty Bike

Ciclistas del Rio's team of journalists has scooped the world wide web debut of Mara Abbott's custom US National Champion's custom Orbea frameset. Mara is the US Women's Cycling Development Programs premier rider. Anyone notice the stacked rock of the Dolores Library?

Check out her latest diary at Cyclingnews. http://www.cyclingnews.com/riders/2007/diaries/uswcdp/?id=uswcdp0713

And VeloNews has a story on Mara linked via the RSS feed in the upper right corner of the blog.

representin' at Esalante

Hola ciclistas, here are some pics from some sightings of the sweet club jersey at the Escalante Days race this year. Tough race, but the Ciclistas pulled through!