No Drugs at the SoCal UCI CX Race
by Bryan on October 24th, 2007
This past weekend was a windy mess of dust, tree branches and shredded course tape strewn all over the Hansen Dam Recreational area and park. Among that were a hundred or so dedicated cyclocross racers who showed up to race balls out in a furry of spandex skin suits and enjoy every minute of lung busting competition. The top notch locals and the few out of state CX junkies that came where there to score some bonus UCI points.
Hansen Dam CX Race Official Site
As for the Evomo crew, we were there Saturday and Sunday of this 2 day event to help set up the course, work the SoCalCross.org booth and cheer on the racers. No racing for us only because we were dedicated to getting the race put on and help bring some great sponsors on board. Without the sponsors, such as Pricepoint.com, SockGuy, Simbree, Redline Bikes, Hammer Nutrition and so many more and the persistent dedication of Dorthy Wong and Jeff Herring, this race and many of the SoCal Prestige Series races would never happen. Thanks Dorothy and Jeff!
Saturday was pretty slow over all, the winds were not too bad and the temps were in the high 80s. We got there bright and early to set up the course with tape courtesy of our friends at Crank Brothers. Once the course was set, we hung sponsors banners and set up the podium with custom mural artwork painted by Jeff Herring. After that it was race time! Greg and I hung out at the SoCalCross booth and supplied everyone with sponsor info, stickers, drinks and cx swag like hats and t-shirts.
I went over and set up another booth and table with all the Hammer product, including a load of energy gels they donated for our race. I have known a lot of racers and most have stuck with Hammer products for years. Quality product and it really works. Brandon, Rob and Mikel all have “special” mixes of Heed they run during race events. Its almost like guys tuning the engines of their muscle cars - getting the fuel-air mixture just right for the maximum performance. Simbree sent down a few boxes of their delicious energy bites and I got to be honest, I don’t know which flavor I like the best. Try them all - organic and natural. I also handed off a huge and seriously heavy box of goodies that Price Point shipped out to give away as prizes to the racers. A big Thank You goes out to all the sponsors for your support!
Sunday was a whole different day for sure.
A pre-production meeting we had earlier in the week included a discussion about whether or not to leave up the course over night in fear of “hobos” stealing the stakes and course tape. For what I dont know? Hobos ended up being the least of our worries as the winds did plenty more damage. The winds picked up the previous night and were already hitting gusts of 70 miles per hour at 7am when we arrived. The funny thing is as we made our way around the course repairing sections damaged by the wind we came across some hobo wrapped up in a blanket and Crank Brothers blue course tape! He seemed cool and just said: “hey you guys goin to race bikes again? Seems to windy for that”.
Dorothy and her team had created a wind block using large support trucks and motor homes. A few people started to show up bright and early to register for their races later in the day. Putting up sponsor banners was almost next to impossible with the wind, but the crew did what they could. The podium display and booths were not really happening as well. It was kind of a bummer, but I guess we should be glad nothing was on fire.
Mr. Bill rocked the Evomo issue wind and dust goggles as he made the hard core repairs on the course with his 2 Thor hammers.
Bryan takes the Thor hammer and bashes down a section of tree to give the CX racers some more barriers on the course.
The Calfee bamboo bike on display… yes BAMBOO!
The men line up to race directly into 70mph wind gusts courtesy of the Santa Ana winds.
Pool Guy pimps the Prestige Series Leaders Jersey wins the 55+ (This guy takes no prisoners.)
The UCI implemented dope (drug) testing which Evomo was happy to facilitate. We brought our portable “porta-potty” drug testing unit and implemented ‘Controle Anti-Dopage’ which is the French Tour de France standard of testing. Lucky for the 8 racers we tested and the 1 park employee, we found no substances or signs of abuse. We didn’t bother testing the Russians or Sedrik, cause - well you know, we didn’t want to turn a good thing sour.
All in all it was a pretty good weekend except that some asshole stole Jeff Herring’s Cross bike, a REDLINE 60cm CONQUEST PRO. If you know who has it, tell them to give it back and go get a f&*king job and buy their own bike.
For more race coverage check out:
Outside All Day and SoCalCross
October 24th, 2007 at 10:26 am
It took a couple of days to get all of the grit out from under my eyelids. I should have brought some goggles too!
October 24th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
I think you should mob that bamboo bike down the course like a rock star.