Schempf, Buerkle Win DCCX
Weston Schempf of C3-Sollay.com claimed his second consecutive victory in the City Bikes DCCX Cyclocross Race in
Schempf rode away from the rest of the men’s field early in last year’s race, but had a much more difficult path to victory in the second-annual event. The hard work of teammate Mike Gallagher and untimely crashes by two other members of the five-man lead group allowed him to pull away for the victory. Gallagher held off U.S. Olympian Bobby Lea for his second, second-place finish of the day.
Whole Foods’ women’s elite race Patty Buerkle of Vanderkitten took a flier from the leading group of women’s riders and got into a two-woman breakaway with Kristin Gavin of Human Zoom/Pabst Blue Ribbon. Buerkle broke away later in the race to win it all. Sobe - Cannondale’s Betsy Shogren, who won the event last year, ended up third.
The race, the only cyclocross race held in the nation’s capital, had more than 400 registered riders, and hundreds more spectators who came out to enjoy the grounds of the AFRH, the frites prepared by biking legend Scott Scudamore and lots of free-flowing refreshments.
The Belgian Embassy chipped in too, sponsoring the Li’l Belgians kids’ race, which had more than four-dozen competitors ranging from age three to 10. Anxious parents were treated to a tasty Cote d’Or chocolate after their kids’ raced.
The race was held on a classic, European-style cyclocross course, with lots of transitions from road to a grass. The course was softened but not thoroughly muddied by a pounding rain the day before. It had a tricky barrier and some slick roots to keep things interesting; even a few of the top riders sported bloodied shins or lips by the end of their races.
The DC Mountain Bike Team sponsored DCCX with the assistance of sponsors City Bikes, Whole Foods Market - P Street, Sticky Fingers Bakery, Sonoma Restaurant and Wine Bar, DrinkMore Water, Looking Glass Lounge, CX Magazine and the wonderful Belgian restaurant Granville Moore’s, which supplied its horseradish sauce for the frites.
Whole Foods upped the payout for the elite women this year, and the field of 22 starters was nearly four times as big as last year’s and the largest women’s elite field in MABRA’s history. Mid-Atlantic cross “just seems to get more and more competive,” said Gavin, who drove in from Philadelphia for the race.
The elite men’s race, with 35 starters, had a field twice as big as last year’s. It showed. Schempf, who lives in nearby Bethesda, moved out front with a group of five riders early in the elite race, including teammate Gallagher. They put distance on any chasers, but with ample open road sections, no one could break free of the pack.
With a few laps to go, two members of the group crashed coming on to a small bridge, and Schempf jumped free. Gallagher, who had his bike slide out from under him as he vied for the lead in the elite master’s race a few hours earlier, avoided that crash and stuck close to Schempf for second.
“It’s a deceptive course,” Schempf said. “It was nice to know I didn’t have to do all the work alone.”
Blair Saunders of Henry’s Bikes, who led a futile effort to catch Schempf in DCCX last year, instead rode away from a stacked field in the elite masters race this time around. Saunders eased off the gas as mountain-bike legend Gunnar Shogren of Sobe - Cannondale and Mark Kutney of Van Dessel Cycles fought it out for the first-lap prime. He put an attack on them just a few minutes later.
“They weren’t motivated to chase,” Saunders deadpanned. From that point, only Gallagher could fight his way onto his wheel, but “he took the corner too hot, and that was the race,” said Saunders, who won by 10 seconds. “I wish every course could be like this, with this many road sections.”
The Cat 3/4 race was also decided by a crash. The race leader hit a slick root on the back of the course, went flying, and took down Adam Driscoll of Adventures for the Cure, who was cruising along just behind him. His brother Alex, in the third spot, just steered clear of the carnage, but wasn’t so lucky a few minutes later when a lapped rider swerved into his path. Ian Mathias of Hunt Valley Bicycles won the race, Alex was second and Adam third.
In the women’s 3/4 race, which had a Mabra-record 34 pre-registered riders, mountain-biking ace Lynne Oliver of DCMTB crushed the competition in her first-ever cyclocross race.
Results are here.
Photos: Joe Foley on Flickr
Video is here.
Photos and blog here: http://www.gwadzilla.blogspot.com/
Best Costume
Break out your best costume for Sunday’s DCCX race. The rider judged to have the best getup will get a box of premium Belgian chocolates, donated by the Belgian Embassy.
We’re also going to give a box of candy to the first rider spotted bunny hopping the barriers and as a prime to the leader of the women’s B race after the first lap.
Good luck to all the contestants!
DCCX Food Update
Forget racing, the food at DCCX is shaping up to be the highlight of the day. We’ve already induced mountain bike legend Scott Scudamore to man the frites tent and Sonoma Restaurant and Wine Bar to donate beer.
Now there is this: the DC Dutch Club has agreed to show up and make “poffertjes“! (Dollar size pancakes served with butter and powdered sugar.)
Granville Moore’s, Washington, D.C.’s best Belgian restaurant, has agreed to donate a horseradish sauce for the frites and Karen LoParco, a referee and former chef, has jumped in and will offer her own special, homemade andalouse sauce, too.
Frites, poffertjes, beer, Stickey Fingers baked goods and Drink More Water. Yum.
DCCX Gets Some Press
The Washington Post had a great article about cyclocross and the DCCX race this past Sunday called, “Hoist and Ride: Cyclocross Returns to DC.”
Key quote: “It’s technical, it’s hard, but it’s a great way for people to start, to get their feet wet.”
Check it out here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/16/AR2008101603290.html
Another great article is here, in VeloNews: http://www.velonews.com/article/84382/historic-venue-for-city-bikes-dccx-cyclocross-race
DCCX
DCCX, the only cyclocross race held in the nation’s capital, will be held on
October 26 on the grounds of the Armed Forces Retirement Home in NW Washington, DC. Registration is now open on BikeReg.com.
http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=7143
For the second-annual event, race promoters DCMTB/City Bikes are building on
last year’s exciting, successful race and will offer improvements to an already awesome race experience — and provide even more extra-curricular fun for
racers, kids and spectators. DCCX joined the MABRA cross series this year.
Three ways the fun continues from last year:
- The race is held on a classic, European-style cyclocross course. It’s fast
with lots of transitions from grass to pavement to gravel and back. There are some tricky barriers and roots. Amateur archeologists from DCMTB uncovered a stone, Paris-Roubaix-style path before last year’s race, and that has become DCCX’s signature feature. The layout is great for first time cyclocross racers and a fast, challenging event for veterans. - The Armed Forces Retirement Home is the site of four National Historic
Landmarks, including the Lincoln Cottage. Lincoln withdrew to the
Soldiers’ Home each summer to escape the heat in the White House. It’s difficult to get on the grounds the other 364 days of the year; with a registration you can drive right in and check out the grounds, and schedule a tour of the Lincoln Cottage. - Beer. Yes, indeed: Racers will once again be able to enjoy a beer after
their race courtesy of Sonoma Restaurant and Wine Bar in Washington, DC.
Three ways the race will be so much better this year:
- We’ve upped our payout for elite racers. Whole Foods-P St. has expanded its sponsorship of the event so that the winner of the women’s 1/2 race will for the first time get the same payout as the winner of the men’s 1/2 race. City Bikes remains as the title sponsor of the men’s elite race, with both races paying $700 total, seven deep. Other category winners will get cool loot.
- Li’l Belgians will be sponsored by the Belgians. This year, as part of the MABRA series, DCCX is adding a race for kids, and we’ve pulled in as sponsors the Belgian Embassy, which will be offering all participating kids a special (and tasty) prize.
- Frites! Just adding to the Belgian ambience, we will be serving free — yes, free — frites (that’s Belgian for French fries) to riders and spectators. Oh, and there will be delicious, vegan cookies from Sticky Fingers bakery and Drink More Water for those opposed to beer and frites.
What you need to do:
- Register early at BikeReg.com. Last year’s race drew 240 participants, including a sold-out 80 for the Cat 4/beginner category. Given the great buzz that followed last year’s event, this year’s race is likely to be even more popular, and so register now to get into the race of your choice - and get a better call-up. (As of Oct. 2 there were already 51 Cat 4 racers registered.) http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=7143
- Bring an ID on race day. You may be asked to present an ID upon entering the base; please be prepared. Also, there will be day-of registration, but it is guaranteed to be a royal pain in the neck. No money can change hands on the grounds of the Armed Forces base, and so you will need to drive back out to an undisclosed location to make your payment before you race.
- Remember that Oct. 26 is also the day of the Marine Corps Marathon. There may be traffic issues. I-395 is open to traffic from the south (except the HOV lane). Road closures can be found at:
http://www.marinemarathon.com/Assets/Street+Closings+Release+07.pdf - AFRH address: Rock Creek Church Rd, NW & Upshur St, NW, Washington, DC 20011
Other Notes:
DCCX is also sponsored by Cyclocross Magazine.
Course layout can be seen at:
http://tinyurl.com/4r6nve
Use the satellite view. Distance 2 miles. In last year’s dry conditions the top B and masters riders did 5 laps in their 45-minute race. The winning elite men averaged seven minutes a lap.
Photos from last year’s race: http://picasaweb.google.com/ou98dtbiggs/DCCX
The write up of last year’s race is here: http://www.dcmtb.com/blog/archives/222
Starting order will be based on the most recent MABRA 2008 CX Series standings, order of registration, and promoter discretion. The most recent MABRA-Cross standings will be used to call up the first 2 rows (16 spots), then racers will line up row by row, as determined by order of registration/bib number. There are no call-ups for the 9am/Cat 4 Men race. Racers will line up by row based on order of registration.
Iron Cross VI-Two Mark’s Views
39 Mark Drajem DCMTB/City Bikes 5:03:59.2
As I slogged up the big last climb of Hogshead hill, three-
quarters of the way through my third Iron Cross race, I did a quick
calculation and realized I was in good shape for a fast finish — at
least fast for me. “All I need to do is avoid a mechanical failure
or a physical breakdown,” I thought.
Cue the ominous music.
The race had gone well up to this point. I started closer to
the front, and was able to get into some faster groups on the road. I
handled the trail section better than I had before — even passing a
few tentative roadies.
Now, probably halfway up this 30-minute climb, there was a
short, fast descent on the gravel road. I must have nailed a sharp
rock because may back tire punctured. It wasn’t good, but thats’ just
par for the course on these rough roads and rocky trails. Then the
disaster: I pulled out a new tube from my bag to find the sickening
sight of a schrader valve. What a numbskill packing job on my part. I
had two spare tubes, but I might as well as carried rocks in my bag.
There were two guys stopped nearby but neither had a tube. I decided
to start hiking. After about five or ten minutes of walking a good
Samaritan offered help. He tossed me a tube and a few moments later I
was back on my way.
The last 12 miles of the race is through some fun single and
double track. It was fun riding, until the short climbs hit. My legs
were rebelling; they had no juice and were starting to cramp. It was
a slog up every uphill, but I redeemed myself by passing this DC Velo
roadie in the singletrack and holding him off when he took a slight
wrong turn on the final road section. In the end I finished in 5:04
to the cheers of my kids and parents.
Mark Wigfield was the other DCMTB rider out there, and he
finished just a few minutes later, looking strong and happy.
I’ve been singing the praises of Iron Cross these past few
year and love the mix of climbing, pack riding on the road and trail
sections. Those last few sections of hike-a-bike on the trail,
though, are incredibly miserable. I’m not sure I can bear it again
next year. Who knows, though. In another 350 days I may feel
differently.
49 Mark Wigfield DCMTB/City Bikes 5:18
The most fun part about this race for me is riding singletrack on the cross bike. You can find a good line most of the time, and it’s just a blast picking your way through it. Also gives mtnbikers an advantage because lots of people walk stuff or take it slowly. The first stretch of singletrack has a long downhill section threading through rocks, and the roadies were standing on the side of the trail watching. I’m not sure why it’s so much fun — it’s probably the trail itself, the novelty of it, and it takes me back to when I was a kid in pre-mtnbiking days and would sometimes take a sidetrip on a trail w/ my schwinn 3-speed. Didn’t work that well but was fun! Near the end, before you get to Drajem’s bane (a deceptively steep climb out in the sun on scrabbly, energy-sucking dirt trail cutting through what looks like some kind of reclamation site), the single track is fast and swoopy through the woods and I passed a lot of folks. Felt good. That said, I would say only about 10% of the course is singletrack, so you have to be ready for lots of fire road, gravel road and blacktop ridng. I was running 35s at 50 psi, which worked well enough for me.
There are also some screamingly fast road downhills on this course that are a blast, but watch that deep gravel on the back roads. I didn’t see too much blood this year from wipe outs on gravel, but one woman last year lost a lot of skin. The climbing is tough, no doubt. I was able to ride all the road/fire road climbs w/ a low gear of 28/39, but was off the bike a couple of times on the off-road sections.
I think my time was about 5:18 — though not sure. If it was, I was about 3 min slower than last year, but considering i didn’t train for or ride the SM100 this year, didn’t feel bad about the time at all. The everyman goal for this race is a sub 6-hour time. If you want to place, you gotta bust your butt.