^outstanding to hear about two top-10's
Don't look for races that are easier, train your weaknesses!

Solid day for @AndrewJohnson and I at Newtown. Hilly course! Andrew got back into the swing of 'cross and doubled up on a crazy hot, sunny day.  I was overgeared (38x17) on the old All City, but I drove the sucker to 3rd place (of 10 this time ahah) in the SS. Got omelettes afterward.

Good work at Bubble, crew!

Looking forward to Lucky Charm and/or Cooper River next weekend.

I'll have a report tomorrow or something. Long day, out at 6:30am back at 9pm. In the meantime:

Here it is my race report:

https://awjbikeracing.wordpress.com/2019/09/23/2019-09-22-newtown-cyclocross-p-b-the-ccap-and-team-26/

It was really hot and dusty at Bubblecross. Also some really technical sections in the dirt. The sand was not so bad this year. Walked it the first lap and rode it the rest of the time. I think this race is early this year? A good gauge of fitness, or my lack thereof.

Bonus: Got to hang out with teammates

Looking ahead to next week, it appears that there are four people who have committed (@BrianStan, @RobertPeras, @Thierry Bonnaire, and myself) to Lucky Charm CX, and two maybes (@PatrickGrehan, @James Reeder.) Would there be any interest in getting the Team Tent Space? I can bring a 10x10 white popup tent, and up to four folding chairs. How about @AnthonyOtt join us for the fun?

Hi all - returned from a week of backpacking in Yosemite, late on Saturday night. Was beyond words. Summit of Half Dome below:



My dad's going to drive for this one as he's visiting some family friends in NJ after, so worked out well. Look forward to seeing you and racing with some of you! Will definitely connect to see about future drives - I'm regged for Hippo, Westwood, and SCCX as well. 

AndrewJohnson said:

Looking ahead to next week, it appears that there are four people who have committed (@BrianStan, @RobertPeras, @Thierry Bonnaire, and myself) to Lucky Charm CX, and two maybes (@PatrickGrehan, @James Reeder.) Would there be any interest in getting the Team Tent Space? I can bring a 10x10 white popup tent, and up to four folding chairs. How about @AnthonyOtt join us for the fun?

I think I will jump in the 3s. Anyone raced it in the past? Please share course intel

AnthonyOtt said:

AndrewJohnson said:

Looking ahead to next week, it appears that there are four people who have committed (@BrianStan, @RobertPeras, @Thierry Bonnaire, and myself) to Lucky Charm CX, and two maybes (@PatrickGrehan, @James Reeder.) Would there be any interest in getting the Team Tent Space? I can bring a 10x10 white popup tent, and up to four folding chairs. How about @AnthonyOtt join us for the fun?

I think I will jump in the 3s. Anyone raced it in the past? Please share course intel

Tomorrow I plan to reg for the Men Cat 4 at 8:30am and the Men Cat 4/5 40+ at 11:30am as my bonus race. I will also pick up the tent space since @RobertPeras and @AnthonyOtt offered to contribute.

Some photos I took of the Newtown race:

https://awjohnso.piwigo.com/index?/category/121-2019_newtown_cyclocross_p_b_the_ccap_and_team_26

AndrewJohnson said:

Some photos I took of the Newtown race:

https://awjohnso.piwigo.com/index?/category/121-2019_newtown_cyclocross_p_b_the_ccap_and_team_26

I made a Kissena tag for my photo album so you can just see the pics I took of @Ant@AnthonyOtt:
https://awjohnso.piwigo.com/index?/tags/24-kissena

AnthonyOtt said:

AndrewJohnson said:

Looking ahead to next week, it appears that there are four people who have committed (@BrianStan, @RobertPeras, @Thierry Bonnaire, and myself) to Lucky Charm CX, and two maybes (@PatrickGrehan, @James Reeder.) Would there be any interest in getting the Team Tent Space? I can bring a 10x10 white popup tent, and up to four folding chairs. How about @AnthonyOtt join us for the fun?

I think I will jump in the 3s. Anyone raced it in the past? Please share course intel

This is a fun one - assuming they keep the same course as last year - they were able to create a four leaf clover shape with the tape near the finish area. It's a bit of a mess and easy to lose track of what turns you have coming up, but it's fun.

There's a long-ish downhill on gravel that's a welcome rest. A good deal of climbing. Last year they had some belgian steps on a steep hill, that all but the most experienced had to get off an run/walk it. I remember the barriers being pretty low. 

There's a tiny bit of sand due to baseball infield and there were some somewhat deeper sandy portions near a playground, which got pretty rutted. 

Last year it rained all week before the race, so it was pretty slick on the off-cambers. 

There was a hose last year, but they took it away after the first few races because it ended up flooding the start  

T.B.D wrote a report from last year's Lucky Charm, if helpful https://www.tobedetermined.cc/journal/2018/10/lucky-charm-cx

M'kay, I registered for Lucky Charm for the Men 4 at 8:30 am (means an early morning for me) and the Men 4/5 40+ at 11:30 or whatever. I also grabbed tent space and I'll setup my tent and chairs.

AndrewJohnson said:

M'kay, I registered for Lucky Charm for the Men 4 at 8:30 am (means an early morning for me) and the Men 4/5 40+ at 11:30 or whatever. I also grabbed tent space and I'll setup my tent and chairs.

Major thanks Andrew!!!

I picked cooper river as my race for this weekend, but now I'm jelly of all you lucky charmers!!
(also, worth note, cooper will still have a little bit of sand)

I signed up for the Men 4/5 40+ 11:30am race. Anyone driving and have space? One hitch 'tho, I'm trying to be back to Brooklyn ideally before 2pm.

James Reeder said:

I signed up for the Men 4/5 40+ 11:30am race. Anyone driving and have space? One hitch 'tho, I'm trying to be back to Brooklyn ideally before 2pm.

I can get you there, DM where you live.

Thanks Thierry!

If my math is correct, it looks like we will have 7 Kissenas at Lucky Charm.

AndrewJohnson said:

If my math is correct, it looks like we will have 7 Kissenas at Lucky Charm.

and also ex Kissenas

Thierry Bonnaire said:

AndrewJohnson said:

If my math is correct, it looks like we will have 7 Kissenas at Lucky Charm.

and also ex Kissenas

former

I registered last minute for the 50+ field at Lucky. See you all at 🍀 

Does anyone have an old cx bike/frame anything kicking around in their garage/basement/closet? I’m still trying to try out this crossthing and selling my road bike in order to swap it for something cx-worthy isn’t happening as quickly as I’d have hoped so I’m probably going to have to cheaply buy/rent/borrow my way through a couple races this season if possible. Thanks in advance all!!

Jules said:

Thierry Bonnaire said:

AndrewJohnson said:

If my math is correct, it looks like we will have 7 Kissenas at Lucky Charm.

and also ex Kissenas

former

Agree! However the etymology of the prefix ex is more attuned to my latin language roots which is stuck in the deepest reaches of my brain.

If you're a FB guy, check out the market place or some of the buy-sell forums on there. Ive bought and sold stuff on NorthEasy Bicycle Classifieds and had mostly good experiences! 

Also if you don't want to wait for shipping, you can use the Local Pickup and distance filter on eBay to find some more niche stuff than whats posted on Craigslist. 

Probike closet on Ebay is known to be a solid seller.

Thierry Bonnaire said:

Probike closet on Ebay is known to be a solid seller.

Agreed, I bought my old Orbea frame on there for a good deal and was really happy with it. 

See you all at Lucky Charm today! The 5's go off at 1:45 

Setting sights ahead to next week at Hippo - I saw @RobertPeras and @AndrewJohnson
may have rides - could I hop in on one of those caravans? (The 5 race is at 10:20am).