Now THIS is Christmas.

Thanks to Brent at R+B... Onward and upward!

BC Cup Finals

Jay climbing his way to Kentucky...

(pics courtesy of Doug Brons)

The last BC Cup Race was this past weekend in South Surrey.  Results:

Elite Men:  Meat 5th

Open Women:  Stacey 4th

Masters Men 3/4:  Jay 17th

Men 3/4:  Ashley 9th

And Overall BC Cup Results:

Elite Men:  Meat 10th

Elite Women:  Stacey 5th

Meat playing in the sand with the Big Boys now (upgraded to Elite).

Stacey

BC CX Champs

A good lower mainland drenching all day Saturday left the kids with some real good mud to play in on Sunday up at Mahon Park for the Provincial Championships.

The Legendary Loder

(Photos courtesy of Doug Brons)

Masters Men 50+:  Lowball Loder 3rd

Elite Women:  Stacey 6th (excellent Appleton feeding technique)

Elite Men:  Meat 13th (a little spillage but took the most feeds)

Paul 15th

Masters Men 30-39:  Ashley 20th

 Stacey with the game face on.

 Meat with the game beard on.

 Paul looking smooth.

 Teen Wolf.

This Thing: The Cycling Version

I'm not crazy about the lack of attention to detail in the font choice—but hey, I'm one of the people who chases down your creaking bottom brackets...

click to make big

SSCXWC 2011

SSCXWC 2011 Report By Ashley(.ca)

On a weekend that had a gap in the local CX calendar, I decided to head to the City by the Bay for the Single Speed Cyclocross World Championships. It was an adventure from the start and filled with 3 wonderful days of riding. The Hodala/Raleigh Team (ed. note - this page has some excellent photos) was great in welcoming this wayward northerner in to their space, and provided a base that was 10 minutes ride from the race venue.

There was a qualifier that unfortunately had a pose-down component, as well as a 150m beach run-up and California St Hill Climb, all 3 things that I need to work on.

hooligans

I raced the Men's C race and the Men's SS EAW.   I missed the call-up for the C's and started 10 seconds off the back of the pack, I ended up in 8th and some worn brake pads to thank for increased corner speed.   

The course was really sloppy and rainy 2 hours later, when the Mens SS EAW race went. A great course with a steep hike a bike,  It's all about climbing in San Fran. The EAW was a consolation for all the folks that lacked the ability to pose, climb, and cheat their way to a position in the Mens Main. I ended up in 28th not bad, unlike my outfit:

are you sick?

Next year, SSCXWC is supposed to be in Santa Cruz. I will be trying to bring Mighty to the Main Event, and hopefully drag a few accomplices with me as well.

*I'll be there next year; based on the report from Stevil, who I do not know, I missed far too much whiskey in my friend's pants: http://www.allhailtheblackmarket.com/2011/11/ok_now_what_the_hell_just_happ.html

Bare Bones Track Race

While the CX kids were busy cross-dressing in the rain/mud/yuk out in Surrey last week, Ryan and Claire rode around in endless circles.  They were competing in the Bare Bones Track Race at the Burnaby Velodrome last Saturday and Sunday.  Ryan finished 5th Overall in the C's while Claire was 4th Overall in the B's.

Pictures courtesy of Tony Hoare

 Mighty alumni Jenny.

South Surrey CX Race Report

SO.

There was a race. And it was in South Surrey. And it was good.

Real race report HERE.

Mighty Riders had a huge volunteer showing to make this happen, thanks to all of you that showed and stood in the close to 0° weather, taking numbers, money and placements, while slanging chili dogs and verbal harassment.

I don't have any photos of the volunteers; let me know if you got em.

Because of the volunteers, many of us were able to race. Results:

Citizen Men

10th - Meshkat Javid (crushing Andrew Summers)

Men 3/4:

1st - Meat Hornland (now upgraded to Cat 1/2...)
4th - Paul McCloskey (same deal with that whole Cat 1/2 thing)
12th - Ashley Stotts (also known as the waffle man)

Masters Men 3/4 (31 starters!):

16th - Jay "What-Time-Show-Time" Loder

Thanks to Matt Kennedy for letting me borrow his shoes and also for not coming down with a case of hypothermia.

Pics from the races here and here.

meat

South Surrey Cyclocross Nov. 12th

Hey there kids. Interested in the South Surrey Cyclcocross race coming up November 12, 2011? I KNOW I AM. This COLLAB is with Daryl-Evans and is in our favourite place, the South Surrey Athletic Park.

Preregistration is now open! Check it out HERE.

Permanent details HERE and you can see the outrageously colourful poster below:

Thanks to everyone who has volunteered or intends to! We'll organize jobs and whatnot and keep you in the loop.

Pumpkin Cross

Last weekend Barry and friends from Local Ride hosted some Halloween fun in the mud of Maple Ridge.  Lots of costumes were to be seen and one world champion.

Catharine Pendrel, the 2011 World MTB Champion was out getting dirty and edged out the win.  Check out her Interior Cross Series.

Barber made the 'costume podium' as Angus.  And actually did a lap with the guitar...

Mighty Results:

Women    Haley 7th

Cat 3/4 Men     Meat 4th, Paul 6th, Ashley 19th

Cat 3/4 Masters Men     Jay 14th

Photos courtesy of Doug Brons.

Red Bull Minidrome

Crazy ass stuff.  More here.

Lyle qualified for the elimination round and had an intense and super-close heat.

Tpick made it to the round of 16 and ended his racing with a spectacular wipeout while leading his 2nd match race.  Fun stuff!  Photo courtesy of Linnaea.  Much more on her Flickr.

EV Grand Prix of Cross 2011

Mud.  Technical corners.  Hard.  CX fun!

Meat was 2nd in the Cat 3 Men, Ashley was 3rd in the Cat 4 Men and Jay was 10th in the Masters Cat 3/4.

Photos courtesy of Doug Brons.

2011 Pacific Populaire Photos Surface

A bunch of Pacific Populaire photos just surfaced from this year (yes the ride was months ago).

The photos are all up here.

Its nice to see so much Mighty representation.

Pan Am Games

The Canadian Women's Pursuit team of Steph Roorda, Jasmine Glaesser and Laura Brown won gold at the Pan American Games in Mexico on Tuesday.

In the Qualifying Round they set a new Canadian record of 3:25.093 (previously 3:27.255) over 3000m.  In the Final they won gold and set a new record, improving by an amazing 3.6 seconds!  Hopefully they can ride this momentum through the winter and into the 2012 Olympics in London.

I have raced for nearly 20 years and invariably, at least once a season, I am asked why I race.  I have always answered the same way:  racing brings out the best in me.  When I race, competing against others will help me push myself harder than I ever will in training.  I strongly believe the adrenaline of competition appeals to something deep down in our DNA.  And having teammates there on race day and in training will help me push those boundaries even more.  I don't view myself as externally motivated but I still know that on a cold winter ride with teammates, I will do things I would find difficult to do by myself (see our Spring Training Camp).  And I will do them harder and faster.

I think the women's performance in Mexico is a perfect example. The three of them challenge each other every day in training (they are based in LA for access to a world calibre training site and good weather).  They then go to an International event and go faster than any other group of Canadian women has gone in competition.  And finally, with the increased adrenaline of a gold medal final, the three of them dig even deeper and improve that record by almost 2% 

That kind of improvement is usually found over entire seasons, not from the morning till afternoon.  It will be interesting to talk to Steph more about it (celebrity call out: our Liisa is her 'life teammate') but i think the team probably just raised their level a little more due to the excitement and pressure of competition.

So... ? Race your damn bike!  Whether on the track, in the mud, or on the road, you will push yourself farther and faster.

*Here* is a link to an interview on Canadian Cyclist with the coach and Jasmine.

Important Message From the Big Kahuna

Every team rider is required to come in to the shop and see Ed about having their stem slammed. That's right, we're throwing away years of sleepless nights thinking about head tube lengths and the relationship between head and seat tube angles, and doing fit strictly based on aesthetics now. 

See Darrel's new Mighty Team Edition Masi winter trainer (90"+ gear on the street or you'll get heckled out of the shop) for a PRO example:

Ed's been on a "slam that stem" kick for a while now, a fire that was only further fueled by the appearance of Darrel's commuter Jamis (which we recently converted to drop bars and slammed) on the site.

COMMON MAN SLAM

So come on in and get your new PRO setup—we've got 130 and 140 stems in various levels of drop. Don't let Darrel Domenko and Dave Groves be the only people on the team doing it right. 

Now THIS looks like my kind of cross race!

Vanier Park CX

A great turnout yesterday for some racing right in the city.  In the beautiful sunshine Meat (needs some proper CX rain and mud) was 5th, Paul 6th and Ashley 25th in the Cat 3/4.  Sidic was 12th in the Elite Men.  Basse 15th in Masters 1/2.  In the Women's Open Jenny was 5th, Stacey 8th and Haley 13th.  And Timo (Basse's wee one) narrowly edged out Sophie (Stacey's little 'un) for 3rd in the kids race.  

Check out the great pics by Doug Brons.