1/27/2012
T-Shirt!
We have an official SCCX T-shirt and full zippered Hoodie this season, and best of all it sports a FUCi Approved Event endorsement. The first, and so far only, of its kind thanks to Hans Kellner. The shirts and hoodies will be available at the Final Event and County Championships this weekend, and can be previewed our recently revived schwag page.
1/26/2012
Fairgrounds, Fairgrounds, Harbor High
OK, so we will be at Harbor High School this season after all. As someone once said, "The warmest summer I ever spent was a winter in Santa Cruz", and these unseasonably warm and dry conditions have made it possible for us to return to the High School. We're throwing in some additional grassy chicanes which are downright rideable as compared to the denture rattling terrain of the Fairgrounds, and a new run-up which can't be ridden, barriers or not. We've said it before, but we mean it this time...
1/25/2012
County Championships this weekend
The 2012 Santa Cruz County Cyclocross Championships will be held this Sunday at the last Surf City CX race of the season. The highest-placed County resident in each of the 19 categories gets a coveted County CX Champion cycling hat.
You know you want it...
1/3/2012
Fairgrounds, Fairgrounds, Fairgrounds
Harbor High School is off the table for this season, but we hope to get it back on the schedule for 2012-2013, so three Fairgrounds events it is. It's a flexible venue which allows us to change things up for each course. We're still looking for a grading contractor whose willing to resurface a dirt running track - contact if you have any leads or other related info...
12/16/2011
Location, Location, Location
Despite the closure of the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds due to budget shortfalls, our Dec 18 and Jan 29 events will go on as scheduled. Apparently we have enough history with them (13 years and counting) that they're willing to let us keep doing our thing. Three dates down, one to go...
Santa Cruz Aleworks beer and Verve coffee will be presented to the top three podium finishers in each category, and Verve will have fresh brewed coffee and pastries for sale throughout the day. As Megan is fond of saying, "Yay for caffeine and sugar!".
11/10/2011
Schedule Change
Please note that the November race, originally scheduled for 11/13, has been moved to Jan 8 2012.
A significant reason for the move is that the Harbor High School Athletic Director has requested we submit a mitigation plan for any rutting which may occur in the event that it rains during the race, or the ground is substantially saturated prior to race day. This was the case for both races held at Harbor High last season where we were rained on at the first race, resulting in some deep ruts in the running track, and the following race in January in which we left about 150 meters of ruts around the practice baseball diamonds.
Before making random calls to grading contractors, we'd like to see if anyone in the racing community has experience with this type of work (leveling of dirt roads and/or running tracks) and, as a bonus, access to the necessary equipment (a tractor with a box scraper or other grading attachment which can level 1-1.5" deep grooves in hard, well compacted dirt).
Harbor High's Athletic Director is very supportive of cycling events on the school grounds - he raced road with the UCSC cycling team in college and commutes regularly to work by bicycle. However, due to the lack of funding available for anything but the most basic ground's maintenance, groups (coaches, students, and their families) which use the track and field areas of the campus must fund and implement all improvements themselves. Because it's not possible for us to "leave no trace" in wet conditions, it's extremely important that we're able to take corrective measures that indicate to these groups that we're responsible users of the grounds.
10/31/2011
CX1 Recap
Sun, moderate temperatures, and the dry conditions of a waning indian summer set the backdrop for the first event of the 2011 Surf City Cyclo-X Series. Held on the hilly landscape of Aptos High School, the course, which consisted of essentially two sections (one up, one down, connected by sandpits) was destined to become the hardest course in the series, if not the world. No exaggeration. Comments to the organizers heard variously throughout the day ("Hardest f*****g course I've ever ridden!", "G*******m" that was hard!, and "I hate you!") were obvious indicators that a good time was had by all. A helmetcam video by Hans Kellner documents the conditions during the first lap of the Men's 45A race, and second place finisher in the Men's Elite race, Jim Hewett, put his experience into words in his blog.
While the event didn't quite break prior attendance records for the first race of the season, an estimated 450 riders (including the kid's and costume races) graced the start throughout the day. An encouraging development was the year over year increase in attendance for the kid's race. Roughly 50 children, aged 3-10 rolled up to the line, more than doubling the numbers of last season.
Another encouraging development was the number of volunteers who showed up Saturday to setup the course and finish area. Thanks to the coordinating efforts of Marianne Hunter, her lovely husband Rick (is tall), and Charles (that's Mr. Hess to you) Hesse's Aptos High Bicycle Maintenance class, we had a thirty strong workforce of team Hunter/Freewheel riders and Aptos High School students pounding stakes, pulling tape, and finagling crowd control fencing. By 2 pm we'd placed everything we could prior to race morning, finished our burritos, and had left the building. A course setup record.
Thanks also to Katie DeClercq, Director of Project Bike Trip, for coordinating the race day volunteers. These people had the thankless task of managing the three roadway course crossings and coordinating the in/outflows of the main and remote parking areas. Thanks to all who made this first event a success and hope to see you at the next one.
10/25/2011
Useful info
A chart which may assist in keeping your mind straight for this weekend's event at Aptos High School:
10/11/2011
Duty Now For The Future!
The belated 2011-12 schedule is up on our special, web 1.0 enabled schedule page.Many courses are TBA, but the dates are solid. You can bank on them, put them in your pipe, you can even load them into your smartphone, but then you'd get those annoying 10 minute warnings before each event.
If you haven't already guessed it, this year's costume theme: DEVO. Or, if David Gill had his way, DEVO, 24/7. Get in costume now and assume the mindset so you won't forget later.
Or just dress however you thought people would dress thirty-five years after 1985 and everyone's hair was made of PVC. Enforced merriment at SCCX. You will be happy!
1/6/2011
Race #4
is happening this Sunday as scheduled at Harbor High School in Santa Cruz.
Though the track coach wasn't happy with the condition of the track
after our slog through it during first rains of the season, the
facilities administrator (and fellow cyclist) was kind enough to allow
us another event on the campus as long as we avoided the track entirely,
completely, and unequivocally. Meaning no.
So we've compensated by adding extra twists & turns in the upper campus to maintain the previous length of 1.7 mi., though at the expense of adding a some add'l meters of pavement. The parking layout remains the same (perimeter of the school along LaFonda Dr. and the lower parking lot adjacent to the tennis courts), the finish area has been moved to the upper parking lots, and the start will be on the paved road above the run up.
Hope to see you out there.
11/12/2010
Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!
The course at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds for Race #2 has taken shape - it includes many classic elements from years past, but the liberal application of bulldozing equipment by the fairgrounds maintenance crew has turned what used to be a narrow, bumpy channel bounded by a chain link fence at the top of the course into a fast thoroughfare, and made possible a grassy side slope run-up which will be appreciated by the runners in the group. The GPS shows it to be 1.7 miles around and we're expecting 6:30 laps or so for Men A. Same gradual uphill start and grassy finish as last year. Hope to see you out there!
10/21/2010
Updates
We have a location for the first race! See the schedule page for more details.
Ciclista Bonita is conducting a training clinic on Oct 30, the day before the first race.
Amazing but true, SCCX now has a facebook page. It's got basically the same info you'll find here, but in a social networking wrapper, and now you'll know who likes it!
10/14/2010
Not So Fast
The death of SCCX has been greatly exaggerated, and at long last our schedule is now current. Thanks in part to the efforts of Miss Mary Perez of the newly formed Ciclista Bonita, the annual costume race will indeed happen on October 31. The Course is still TBA, and because the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds are unavailable that weekend, will likely be at Harbor or Aptos High School. We'll update the the schedule as soon as we know what's up.
Note that our December date no longer conflicts with the final event of the Bay Area Super Prestige series. It's now on Dec 12, the last day of Nationals. Finding a date in December was tough: Christmas weekend wasn't an option, and we felt a conflict with Nationals would have less of an impact on local ridership than an overlap with BASP. To accomodate local riders who will compete or spectate/support friends at Nationals but want to remain competitive in the overall SCCX standings, we will have one throw-away race.
Thanks for your patience and see you out there...
