Racing

CNW Racing is proudly supported by:

We are a group of good friends, career racer nuts, Elite and mixed category athletes that love and support the sport of cycling. Our common passion for competition and camaraderie make racing fun for everyone. We compete in Mountain Bike, Cyclocross, Road and Nordic Ski racing throughout the Northwest. Read on for racer nerd news and tid-bits from around the PNW.

Meet the Team

NEWS

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Big Jeff and George tackle MFG CX Pre-Season #2 in style…

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Leadville Trail 100 MTB Race Across the Sky – Aug 13 2011 – Russell’s complete experience

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Raleigh’s Mid Summer Nights Cross – July 21 2011 (Part of the MFG Cross Series)

Coverage from CX Magazine here

Russell’s take on a fun evening of cross biking and beer drinking in a grass feild in Roslyn, Wa.

“Cross in July! Ya buddy… and it was a hit too! I had put this one on my radar about a month ago but in all honesty did no specific training what so ever to be prepared to race my cross bike. I’ve been racing on the road mostly this year (Seward Park and SIR on a weekly basis) so I’ve been on the bike enough to be fit. Mix in a few MTB races and I’d say I’m on some decent form. I went out to race MTB Nationals in Sun Vally last weekend but came home pretty dejected. It wasn’t a very fun weekend. I flatted in the first lap of what I’d call the hardest MTB course I’ve ever done. So coming here, having the power I had and not having a mechanical was a bit of a pay back…and I’ll take it!

Craig Ritchey and I went out of the gate fast. Zach McDonald was never really in it. He had TKO’d himself racing last weekend and was all wrapped up in bandages. I knew he’d still be strong though and remained the guy I was most worried about. After a first lap crash, Zach was about 15sec back of Craig and I. We put in a few pretty fast laps to hold a gap at about 30sec. I bobbled a few times up the run/ride up but was able to close it back to Craig fairly easily. I knew I had the legs to win after the first few laps.

Shortly after, Craig flatted. Lucky for him he was very near the pits and was able to get a wheel and continue. I never knew how far back he had slipped (6th I think) but it didn’t matter. I had to take control now and ride my own perfect race. With abut 35min to go I was alone and “managing” my effort. I had great power on the bumpy grass sections and was putting in some big digs ever chance I could. In the technical rocks I was actually backing it off. With a lead now I was playing it smart. It’s never over till it’s over right? And all it takes is one bad line or another bobble to lose a race. I was dead set on winning and went into total  focus mode. My chain had been dropping off the outer ring(probably cable stretch of a bike that had been hardly ridden) so about three times per lap I’d consciously down shift in anticipation of my chain falling off. I also had a lose head set but that’s not an issue worth losing sleep over.

With two to go I knew I had it. My bro’s Mark Landsaat, Dave P and Doc were giving me splits. I think the gap was out to 3min to Zach by the finish. I never really let up until the pavement on the last lap. Across the line I was pretty stocked. This was the biggest prize I’ve ever won in cycling! seriously…I don’t think a Pro MTB race even pays half!

Big thank you to Raleigh Bikes and MFG for putting on a top notch event. Grand thanks to Brian Sully (Raleigh Marketing Guy) for making such a purse happen for our race as well as the women’s Elite and Single Speeders. Pretty sure that’s higher payout than a European UCI race?

After all this greatness I also too have to thank Diamondback for their generosity in supplying me with the race wining bike, a 56cm Steilacoom RCX. I believe CX mag makes mention of that fact that I was on a “Big-box chain retailer” bike. To the contrary of what that statement is supposed to mean, DB’s bike is solid and worthy of any core racer’s heart and sweat. We took a stock frame and hung some SRAM force, Easton tubular wheels and FSA K-Force bits on it to come up with a 17.3lb alloy bike, the same bike you can find in stores for $1300. Add in Shimano pedals and file tread Dugast 32′s and you have a bike competitive with anyone’s out there. I did only ride the bike about 90min prior to racing but it didn’t matter, I was right at home and comfortable from the gun. Diamondback knows off-road bikes and this is yet another winner of their stacked bike line.

All for now kids…

Great “start” to the CX season? Who knows… maybe cross year round? Why not!

Russy

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Race Report: Final West Side Series Race #6 at Maple Ridge Trails, April 17, 2011

By Jeff Elston

CNW Team Member Results:

Aaron Mickels, Nobile Bikes, Expert, 3^rd place – and finished 3^rd in the Series!

Mark Landstaat, Nobile Bikes, Expert, 7^th place – Nice!

Jeff Elston, Cycling Northwest, Sport,  1^st place – Fastest time overall in Sport category!

Maple Ridge Trails near Maple Valley was the site of the final installation of the 2011 West Side Series MTB race.  With spring break and Eastern Washington road races happening, there were only 3 Cycling Northwest team members in attendance – but they all did very well.  Of course, Mark and Aaron were flying the Noble Bike colors.

The course began with a long sprint start down a gravel road down to a nearly 180 degree turn- also on gravel.  As you might expect, it was the site of some nasty falls.  From there, the track headed up a hill and into the woods for a lot of single-track/climbing, then out to a fire road for more climbing.  That first climb became an opportunity for an early selection.  At that the top, you entered into another dense and dark forested area with a maze of single-track, then pop back out for a sprint down the fire road and into the downhill single-track section. Check this video on how tight the course was, “go go go go go go go”

Then more turns and some more turns.  Riding Into the lower section of the course,  the  track took the racers over several  log piles and “gotcha” areas , through an uphill soggy grass area,  then uphill to the finish. The course length ended at about a 4.5 mile loop.  Due to the high number of turns and single-track, it was not a particularly fast course. Each lap took 30-40 minutes.  Thus, the Experts went 3 laps, and Sport completed two.

The Experts: I arrived just after the start of the Expert race so the action was already underway.  It appeared that Jeff Cummings (40-49 yo) was able to get a gap on the first lap and held it in the men’s race.   Aaron battled and did very well to stay close to the leader.  Aaron finished on the podium, 3^rd in his group.   Way to go! For the women,  Jo Markham (19-29 yo) got the “W”.

Jeff’s Sport Race: This was my first race in Sport class, and 3^rd MTB race overall. After taking significant ribbing from Russ for racing Beginners twice before, I lined up with the Sport group.  There’s a ton of people in Sport! Luckily, the wave of 40+ yo guys started first.  Before the start was able to slide into a decent position off the side in the 2^nd row.  At the gun, was able to move forward  into 2^nd position going into that first corner.  My line was a little cleaner than the leader, but didn’t want  the front  - so was more than happy to follow.  The guy ahead of me was the series race leader and had won most of the Sport races thus far, so was strong.  I just followed his wheel up through the single-track.  By the time we hit the fire road, we had already built a sizeable gap on the field.  We then entered into the single-track at the top of the course.  He was going well, but bobbled a little and then soon had to dismount in a mud bog.  I passed him there, and then never saw anyone again.  I was nervous that my lack of MTB experience would catch up to me, so tried to keep pushing and stay upright.  At the finish, I waited… the 2^nd place finisher came in over 2 minutes later.  After that, bigger gaps.  I was surprised but stoked!

OK, the P.S. on this story…  Somehow I managed to hit the same exact tree on BOTH laps with my left shoulder. I’m not talking about a little “brush” or scrape, but a full-on dead stop.  I let out an agonizing groan on the first pass, and an even louder one the 2^nd time through.  Jeez, that takes some real “skill” to hit the same tree twice!   I have a nasty picture of the bruise on my shoulder, but probably not something you want to see.  Let’s just say it definitely left a mark.  Oh yeah, throw in a picture-perfect  “Endo” on the last log obstacle to complete a super smooth race day.

Jeff

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April 9 . 2011 – Logan shot this during our Beezely Burn pre-ride lap. Geez these new cameras make things look fast!
Russ – 2nd overall, Logan 3rd. Spencer Paxon took us both to the house! NOBLE!

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Russell’s Cyclocross Nationals Report – Bend OR 2010

Here’s a collection of various media from the weekend. Tim Gasperak Photography, Logan’s Blog, Debbie Driver’s photo album, Bike Hugger coverage, Velonews USGP coverage, Courtenay McFadden’s Collegiate report, Wheels in Focus and a collection of great shots from Lee Smith

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Seattle CX Series Final – Evergreen Fairgrounds 11/28/10After my race I stayed out there shooting and recording some of the CNW crew as well as some other CX pack animals. Everyone did a great job. Aside from my win Whitney and George also took wins in their categories. Courtenay ended up 3rd overall in the Elite Women’s field after just 3 races. Loren ended up 3rd in the Men’s Elite. Pretty great way to end the season. As for me? What a day….cold, wet, windy….pretty epic conditions. If your’re looking for my race report…well, It’s pretty strait forward. I went to the front on lap one and that was that. I was feeling it and was able to hold off the field for the day never battling anyone but myself. I wanted to end the local season on a high and not having won a race yet I was pretty motivated. The last few weekends I have not really felt my best and have lost to teenagers! It’s humbling but very encouraging at the same time. I am 100% supportive of the young guys coming up right now. I will be eagerly watching some these kids take it to the top.

I fought through a crash that left my left knee bloody, however I think I set my best lap immediately after that. My stiffest fight was with the cold temps and numbing limbs. I just about lost a finger after a nasty squall drenched all of us being dressed to race with only a minimal Lycrs kit. With about 3 laps to go I was just trying to stay warm , literally crossing the line, flipped a U-turn and headed to the warmth of the tent and van. It took a good hour to gain my core temp back causing me to miss out on the podium presentation!

I can say this… Dugast Rhino Tubulars are awesome. I took one lap on my B bike and was blown away at how much faster and harder I could push the wet turns on the Rhino. My B bike had a more traditional Typhoon tire set up. Great for most everything but in conditions like these the Rhino was above all. Go get some…

I am off to Oregon later this week and staying down there for Nationals. We all are! So we’re not done yet. Stay tuned….

Russ

Thank you Amara Boursaw for the great pics! www.wheelsinfocus.com

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La Ruta de los Conquistadores – Nov 17-20 2010

Matty Luhn went down for his La Ruta #6.  I haven’t spoke with him (Matt’s the only person I know that doesn’t have a cell phone) since he went down but I finally got some tid bits.  He had a major mechanical the first stage that turned into a 10 hour day.  Stage 2 he puked his guts out on the bike.  He rallied for 22nd overall on stage 3 and 26th overall on stage 4.  Dam impressive.

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SCX #2 – Beverley Park, WA 10/10/10

“When the doctor says pain or the forecast says rain, just keep on given’er.” – deaner

SLOP FEST!

The race on Sunday was so muddy! It was that deep, grassy, dryish kind of mud that required every available watt just to move forward. After seeing hundreds of mud caked and painful faces, I began warming up for my race. One warm up lap later I knew I was in for some pain. Chris Ellis kept me amped up though and I headed to the start to giv’er for the next hour. The sloggy, slow course conditions favored some and blew up most. It was one of the hardest races I’ve done. After taking a post race mud puddle bath, I feasted on Whitney’s amazing chocolate caramel oatmeal bars. Each of our bikes had gained 10+ pounds worth of mud and ironically I think I gained 10+ pounds worth of oatmeal bars. So good!

Great day of racing and hanging out with the Cycling Northwest gang! Loren, Mike, Ian, Toby, Mark, Jeff, Nikole, Courtney, Whitney, Aaron and Suzie(sick)all present. Get better soon Suzie!

Aaron Mickels

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The CNW was crushing it at Evergreen last weekend! Suzie, Courtney and Whitney all had outstanding first races as well as the usual bro’s Loren, Toby, Mike Aaron and Ian. Courtney took the cat 3 win! Here are some great Race Day Pictures

Nikole’s Race Re-cap – CNW – at Seattle Cyclocross / Evergreen High School  [9/26/10]

The first Seattle Cyclocross event of the year, Evergreen High School, normally conjures up images of beautiful sunny fall days and fast conditions. Setting up the CNW tent on the inside field in the morning, it was clear (foggy pun intended) that race conditions were going to be a little out of the ordinary and fun early on this season.  A few light rain showers passing through the morning set up nice tacky conditions on the course, and a few challenges on some of the off-camber stretches for the morning racers.

Being the first race we’ve brought the tent out for, things worked out pretty well, and we had a great group to hang out with. Tent, table, carpet, chairs and the big blue changing bus were all put to good use. Aaron, Whitney, Courtenay, Chris and Suzie were out, among lots of other drop-ins for early season meet and greets. THANKS to our good friends at CLIFF Bar for hooking us up with pre and post race nourishment for the day. We wound up handing out as many bars to our drop in visitors as we used ourselves – a nice life-saver for those of us who hadn’t quite adjusted to early morning preparations yet.

It was great to have Whitney & Courtenay come down from Bellingham for the day!  Courtenay casually stated before her start that she was ‘just gonna go for it’ and see how it went, and so she did and brought home a nice W for CNW, putting an impressive win in her Wmns 3 race. Whitney taking a slightly different approach started in the back of the pack and worked her way through the Wmns 4 field for an impressive 10^th place finish. Can’t wait to see how she does when she doesn’t start 5 rows back! Suzie was all smiles at the start in her BRAND new kitt. Putting in a solid race, Suzie finished 6^th in the Womens Master 4 field. Check out our Flickr photos to see Suzie rip around moving objects on the big descent with her mountain biking skills.

Aaron rocked the Apple CNW kit with the Bro Tour boys in the Men’s ½ race. Looking fast from the start, Aaron finished an impressive 9^th overall.

Finn, our high energy mascot, stood guard at the tent in anticipation all day until he finally found a kindred when Aaron’s niece Gracie showed up to play. All in all a great day at the races.

We’ll be out to the races again this coming Sunday for the MFG SCCA/ Starbucks GP race. Feel free to join us, or drop in for a visit. Look for the black CNW tent, and the blue Eurovan that we’ve now coined the big blue changing bus. We’d love to see you out there!

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Cross Racing in Montrevel en Bresse, France – 9/25/10

The CNW boys Russ and Logan did a Cross Race in Montrevel en Bresse, France yesterday. What a blast! Our friends Travis ad Jesse also raced along with our cheer squad and media pro’s Shaun, Robby, Adam and Ian. Apparently the locals did not know what to think of our loud, abnoxious beer brinking brethren roaming the course! And from what I could tell…no Cow Bells?

Lined up early of course because we don’t speak much French and thought we raced at 2:30. Nope, 3:30. So more spinning around before the start trying to stay warm. It was pretty wet, on and off rain with a pretty stiff wind all day. The course was drying up for our race and the mud was becoming classic PNW goop that piled up on tires, brakes and drive trains. No spare bikes here, just one set of wheels for 4 racers. Just charge it!

Go! We were 4 rows back out of maybe 5 1/2. Funny thing, they mixed Senior men with “Senior Men”. Looking around at our competition there were some 50+ grey hairs on the 2nd row! No matter, after a few laps it all, as usual, it sorts it self out. I got a decent start up the left and into the grass somewhere in the top 35. Every chance I got I pinched, chopped and sprinted to the next wheel. I moved through guys pretty fast. The course was super fun! A mix of up and down greasey grass turns, sand pits, a long beach section and some in-field tech. I had my tires about as soft as you can go and was easily picking through the crud. 4 laps into 8 (the race was only 45min long) I was up to some faster groups. Sean and Robby were awesome! Every lap, in multiple places they were screaming for us. Must have been a funny site that 4 Americans had the loudest fans…

Counting down the laps I was still pushing it. Legs were actually quite good considering this was my first CX race of the year. There were definatley some strong guys here. Before the race we were stalking a Cofidus Pro in the parking lot, watching him unload his A4 with about 12 wheels bags. Must be nice to actually be a “Pro” Cyclist. We didn’t recondize any other big dogs but it was clear that whoever was up front had some game. With three to go I had made it as far up as I was going to go. I was battling with a 3-4 man group for line rights. It was pretty windy so I played them as best I could. On the beach I’d sit and let them pull then jump hard into the muddy up-hill where I was stronger and faster in the turns. After a few laps of this game I finally shook them and rolled in just in front of my last victim. I don’t know where I finished, maybe just outside the top 10. We really didn’t pay attention. But it was a great battle and a great time for everyone. Logan came through maybe 1 min or less behind me for a top 20? Jesse and Travis got er done a bit further back. Everyone has all smiles as we stood and washed bikes.

I think we made a good first impression! And we plan to do at least one more race, maybe two. Later in Oct we’re going to Switzerland to watch the first World Cup. No, not racing…not qualified but some great pictures I’m sure. Stay tuned!

Here are the CNW race shots on Flikr – also,  Logan’s Blog – Pictures compliments of Adam Aisen and Ian “Yen” Terry

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Jeff Elston takes the season’s first win at the Labor Day CX opener. Here are a few PICS

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Eric Atwood takes 3rd at US Exterra Nationals!

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NOBLE Bikes announces 2011 Grass Roots Racing program. Russ, Logan, Aaron and Mark all present. View PDF

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Logan WINS the Gearjammer! See local coverage here : Logan’s Race Report here

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Few shots here from Whidbey Island Mudder. Russ won the Open race…

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Bro Tour in action at Ski to Sea. Brother Logan won the bike split by 2 min!