Black. And. White. Two complete juxtapositions in every sense. And it’s is the only way to describe my experience at the USGP’s in Fort Collins this weekend…

~Sideways rain versus glorious sun.

~Greasy mud track versus pristinely buffed and tacky ‘hero dirt’.

~Minimal crowds who I do not blame for passing on standing in sleet and rain versus hoards of screaming fans, New Belgium beers in hand screaming their guts out. Black and white.

E V E R Y T H I N G was different between these two days for pretty much everyone, but for me in particular it felt amplified. It was extremely memorable…

The USGP’s are huge for National Cyclocross racing and Colorado in particular when the circus comes through.

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Elks will go down in history as the worlds crappiest park yielding the most unbelievable 'crossers. Ever. Six National CX Champions train here religiously, a smattering of top US pros come and visit her ever now and again and now a son of Belgium flowing on its singletrack. We need a shrine.  

Here’s a brief video shot by Allen Krughoff at the BCS ‘Mastering Sand’ Clinic featuring Ben Berden.

Our good friend and sponsor, Donn Kellogg, of Clement Cycling made Christmas happen early today by dropping off the first release of the LAS Tubular. Below they are seen glued up on Ben Berden’s FSA Carbon rims. Mass shipments will be happening soon so stay tuned. As with any Clement product (like the PDX), bike shops will be able to obtain these from QBP.

A true 33!

The side knobs are fantastic with tremendous bite.

A classic diamond-shaped pattern occupies the body of the ‘all purpose’ file tread.

We're having a fun time hanging with Ben while here in Boulder this week. Home boy misses his lady and kids but working and scoping out the scene here. Chris Milliman captures Ben and his style amazingly in this video short. 

Welcome Ben. 

Stoemper Presents Ben Berden from Stoemper on Vimeo.

I’m not sure I will ever master high altitude racing. Each year I travel up the hill I have a game plan on how to manage the efforts required for cross at 9,200ft above sea level. Don’t go too hard off the gun/monitor efforts/Know that everyone is suffering/Ensure a killer warm up before the gun…

It all cycles through my head when heading to Frisco or Breckenridge Nordic Centers (when we used to race there). This past weekend was the Frisco cross…a double header weekend with Day 1 being a ‘Colorado Cross Cup’ points–chasing race. Tim and Scott do a great job with this event, busting their carcasses to get it right…always asking the racers for feedback, likes/dislikes etc. It’s a good thing to go and support those guys for what they do to give us a fun time.

My body is firing pretty good these days. Sleeping well, getting on the bike in the cool air of the fall mornings here in CO. Besides a small head cold, I was amped to race and stay clean. Robson and Faia are absolutely on a stratospheric level…racing just superbly and putting us on the ropes. The ‘second group’ is where the racing has been with each of us in this (frankly) freakishly similar level of fitness which has made the racing super tactical and forcing you to stay super smooth…

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Learn How To Ride The Sand!
A Special Cross Clinic with Belgian Ben Berden
Wed. Oct 5th/5:30pm/Boulder Reservoir

Greetings Cyclocross Riders!

We are happy to announce a special clinic with one of the world's top cyclocross racers! Belgian's Ben Berden (Ops Ale - Clement) is in town to prepare for this weekend's USGP race in Ft. Collins and will be sharing his tips and tricks for riding through sand pits this Wednesday evening at the Boulder Reservoir. Ben is one of the top sand-riders in the world with 15 years of racing experience. He is also a 3-time winner at Koksijde, Belgium, one of the most difficult sand courses in the world and site of this season's World Championships. His techniques will also be useful for riding mud and snow, conditions we are sure to encounter later this cross season. Of course, we will also be working on mounting and dismounting and other cross skills with BCS CX Team Ambassadors Pete Webber, Kristin Weber and Brandon Dwight.

Details:
When: Wednesday, Oct 5th at 5:30, sharp! Ready to ride
Where: Boulder Reservoir main parking lot. Map Here: http://ow.ly/6LWeh
How Much? It's free!
Other: If you drive, you will likely need to park outside of the gate and ride to the meeting spot. If you ride to the clinic, please bring a light because it will be dark when you ride home. THERE WILL BE NO REGULAR CLINIC AT BCS-NORTH THIS WEEK - you will have to join us at the Res!

Clinics. Seminars. One on one training with friends. Group training with the Boulder Cycle Sport Cyclocross club team. Junior coaching…we spout the gospel of cross and we LOVE it! The Boulder Cycle Sport Ambassadors team site is now live for you to learn more about our great sponsors and keep up with the latest news of our Ambassador team members Brandon Dwight, Allen Krughoff, Pete Webber, Kristin Weber and yours truly.

While the rest of the country was getting bombarded with rain, the high country was as dry as a bone. This weekend brought only a single day of racing, the Boulder Racing Series (no. 2) at Xilinx. It’s a favorite course for Coloradoans with just enough elevation gain, pavement, woods, obstacles and off-camber. A little something for everyone if not more favored to the roadies of the group given it’s long power-paved sections.

35 Open Race

Here in ACA-land call-ups this year are being handled by our East Coast friends at Cross Results. This is interesting as it is using some pretty neat algorithms to assemble the order of riders based on data the ACA provides…which shows a precisely wrong but generally correct ordering of the crew. These guys are data geeks like me and I appreciate the time they are taking to make this all right for us around the country.

The 35 Open crew was called to the line using the Cross Results-generated list and clearly folks had their game faces on. All of us wanted to show well…and at least make it a bit hard for Robson who is absolutely ripping (and never seems to un-rip!).

And so there we are. Lined up. Waiting. All of us know that feeling before the start…

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My bud from my west coast family, Brian Vernor, sent this along. If you are in SF, you MUST go and attend this. I miss that scene, those people, those races dearly.