www.usacycling.org -- New cyclo-cross categories

So, it looks like USA cycling has decided to reform their cross categories from the traditional A, B & C... This is going to wreak havoc on those of us that race cross as our primary discipline (or those of us that race fixed road (no cat), single speed mountain (again no cat), and geared cross... What's a boy to do?

The new breakdown looks something like this:
Cat 1 CX = Cat 1 road and pro MTB
Cat 2 CX = Cat 2 road and semi-pro MTB
Cat 3 CX = Cat 3 road and expert MTB
Cat 4 CX = Cat 4 or 5 road, and beginner or sport MTB

Which would put me as either a Cat 3 or 4... (I used to race expert mountain, but never made it past cat 4 on the road and now race the 'freak' categories.

More info: attached -

http://www.usacycling.org/news/user/story.php?id=2221: "change was made to acknowledge the tremendous growth and specialization in cyclo-cross, and the fact that road categories are often not indicative of CX ability. Given this possible discrepancy, if you feel that your USCF road or NORBA XC category did not translate "

Cross Crusade Schedule Posted

Yippee - Only 6 weeks till 'cross!
Time to whip out the knobbies & add running into my training routine!

The cross crusade schedule has been published:

October 1
Crusade Series Race 1
Alpenrose Dairy

October 15
Crusade Series Race 2
Hillsboro Stadium

October 22
Crusade Series Race 3
Horning's Hideout

October 29
Crusade Series Race 4
Flying M Ranch

November 5
Crusade Series Race 5
Barton Park

November 12
Crusade Series Race 6
Estacada Timber Park

November 19
USGP Finale at Hillsboro StadiumRacing for all but not a Cross Crusade Series Race
Hillsboro Stadium

November 19
USGP & Cross Crusade Awards Party

Airborne...

Portland Short Track #4

Portland International Raceway (PIR)
Motocross coursePortland, OR
July 31, 2006

airborne!

I didn't realize I was a jumper, but apparently I think I am based on this picture and this one.

I raced the 4th race in the Portland Short Track Series on Monday night. Due do vacation plans, this will be my final race in the series so this report will also act as a summary 'thus far'.

As usual, the Single Speed race started at 6:30. Again the course was modified. Again I had a relatively slow start and played 'catch up' for the rest of the race. Fortunately, I was pretty fast, unfortunately I got off track (how do you 'get off track' in a short track race???) and had to back track back into the switch backs and thus lost a few places.

End result, I took 9th place - pretty much the same place as the past 3 0f 4 weeks (last week I didn't finish due to a mechanical). I'm actually pretty excited about the top 10 finishes.

I'll be on vacation next Monday for the 5th race and the 6th race (series final), so my short track season is over. All in all it was a fun series. It was fun to be doing a mountain bike race after so many years and it was fun to race Single Speed - actually, I think for this particular series, gears would have been a disadvantage. I can almost guarantee that I'll do the series again next year, if for the only reason that it was a great primer for 'cross!

Series summary:
#1 - 9th
#2 - 8th
#3 - DNF
#4 - 9th