SpaCX - Top Ten

Top Ten Reasons to attend Spa Cross this Sunday

10) Great way to get rid of your Vapor hangover

9) To justify shaving your legs this week

8) Your bike(s) appear to be in perfect working order

7) Can't manage a trip to the beach, but love sand

6) August may be over but you must see racing at the Track

5) Have a fetish of smelling people's knees

4) The only debate will be tubeless or tubular

3) Run-What-You-Brung is back!

2) Ebay score- carbon fiber training wheels for the kids race

and the Number One reason to attend Spa Cross this Sunday:

1) Andrew Bernstein - he's so damn cute you just can't stay away!

Something Something Something Cyclocross

OMFG: Family Guy, Star Wars, Cyclocross.
I just peed myself, but only a little.

I know, it's a couple of years old. 
That said, it may represent the most perfect confluence of significant sub-cultures on the planet. Eva.

Our Humps - Cautionary Tail?

For all you SpaCx voyeurs:

Read your mind. Crazy huh?

For the SpaCx voyageurs:

NYS DOT Update, I-87N somewheres between Exit 7 & 8 (over the Mohawk River)

Our most famous local humps, known in these parts as the 'Twin Bridges', will be under construction on Saturdays and Sundays through the end of October. Please allow extra travel time for this State-imposed inconvenience.

Trying to figure out if I'm aroused or need to call for a plumbing inspection...

RWYB 2012

"Seriously, call Kenny Loggins cause you're entering the Danger Zone." -SM Archer

Many thank to Elevate Cycles for offering to the the presenting sponsor for the Return of Run-What-You-Brung. This is the try-before-you-buy event for fun. One lap, one bike (loosely defined), one helmet, one waiver (we're not THAT dumb). We have some great entries in 2010, who will be able to outdo the Williams in 2012?

It is tough for not all of us can be sponsored riders.

ANSI certified? Did that lid come with a free leg of meat?

Ok-Go: Tilting at Treadmills

The Tosh.0 marathon

A Quioxitic approach to Cyclocross training.

Saratoga Springs may be the August place to be. And if you ask your typical Joey New Jersey walking down Broadway what’s on his mind. The answer for sure will be the trifecta box in the feature. Or the pick six. 

What he will not be speculating upon is how to most efficiently transition between the road cycling season and begin preparation for fall Cyclocross. Ask your Joe Cyclocross what on his mind in August. The answer: running.

When I actually listen to people talking to me, they tell me- “gotta dig out my running shoe and start jogging for ‘cross, ya know, get miles under the legs, and how many miles, and they are slow..." and then my attention span ran out so I forget what the rest of crap they told me. Why do admit to flaking out on my devoted fan-base? Because it doesn’t matter.

During my participation in CycleSmart, Adam Myerson’s Cyclocross clinic last year, the evening session was an in depth look at 'cross training. After a good lecture on cycling/power/life/cross, the discussion opened up to the audience. Now, I’m no stenographer, but I believe it went something like this:

Misty Cyclocross “What should my 10k run splits be for cross?"
Adam “To get faster on your bike, ride your bike more”
Dirk Cyclocross “How many deadlifts should I do for cross?
Adam “To get faster on your bike, ride your bike more”
Bambi Cyclocross “How many yoga sessions should I do for cross?
Adam “To get faster on your bike, ride your bike more”
Billy-Ray Cyclocross “How much faster will PX90 make me for cross?”
Adam “To get faster on your bike, ride your bike more” and this went on for half an hour…

First, Let’s do some math. 6-8 laps per race. Run-up/barriers, about 20 - 40yds. That’s 120 - 480 yards of running. Not miles. From my observation (and own folly) it is less of a Stephen Kiprotich issue and more of a Lolo Jones issue. As we must look good clearing barriers.

Meatballs, ahh the 70s.

We don’t wanna be Spaz, and look good, so I guess we still have to practice.

New York State of Mind

It's back...

Gear Re-vu: Shimano's DIWhy

A mystery, wrapped in an enigma, covered in secret sauce, Shimano latest effort was to be unveiled at Interbike 2012. Some people think they have connections, like those publishing reviews in archaic printed format. But we are scooping it for you, our loyal SpaCx readers, first. How? Well, it's kinda like we say at the alley next to the loading dock, "I gotta guy..."

Imagine, if you will, your happy place, 
where the meadow is not on fire...

...that special sub-neural scenic overlook in your mind's-eye that allows you to make it through just one more day. One more day of having to deal with a MANUAL single speed system. Until now. Now, that southoftheborderofthemind can be reality as SpaCx got their grubby little mitts on the new Shimano DI2 single speed gruppo.

Pedro sez: "the fewer men, the greater share of honor"

In that dork-royale race category that lives the Henry V credo on a weekly basis, these self-proclaimed hardcore cycling aesthetes now have Shimano's Jobs-ian option to push the limits of minimalism and technology. 

We found the installation and set-up time of this group to be as fast if not faster than other non-integrated single speed groups. The gear indexing was right on, battery life was phenomenal and it appears to be the lightest of all of the Di2 systems.  The beautiful brake levers were reminiscent of races past, clean, thin, unobstructed. Kinda like fashion modeling before silicone, collagen and bee stings. Overall, the drive-train appeared to be exceedingly efficient, no excess, or as Robby Naish coined: HiHo- hook-in and hold-on.

I know, I know, classic bend (wanna send me some?)

Short of a drive shaft, where does one go from here? Well, next we will be reviewing Spacely Sprockets and comparing the coefficient of static friction to that of Cogswell Cogs. Stay tuned... rut-ro

2012 SpaCx T-shirts

Order on BikeReg to gurarantee your 2012 shirt. Or, take your chance and pick one up at the race!

2012 Race Flier - REVISED

Spa CX Kids Race

Bring your children. Trust us.

Spa:Cx -New York State Championships 2012

What are you willing to do to win this jersey?

Welcome to the fourth iteration of the Saratoga Spa Cyclocross Race. We are most excited this year to be the hosts for the 2012 New York State Cyclocross Championships. Our hope is to get representation from Plattsburgh to Montauk, Jamestown to Saratoga and everywhere in between. We have some big announcement coming up in the next few month so stay tuned. The BikeReg link is up to date and live, and  David Valvo of Rochester has claimed the Golden Box 2012!

Thank you!!!

Andrew and I would like to express our extreme gratitude to all of our racers, spectators, volunteers, vendors and sponsors for making the race so very successful. It was an awesome event and only 364 days until we'll do it all over again.

We're going to continue to post photo galleries but here's a few that have come in so far:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnbulmer/sets/72157627837965523/

https://picasaweb.google.com/111007621136534702763/Upload?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCJjxsqzhm82iqQE&feat=directlink


https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1586897510&sk=photos

https://picasaweb.google.com/111007621136534702763/SpacxRace2010#

http://www.saratogian.com/articles/2011/10/24/sports/doc4ea4db73d0b3a287424352.txt?viewmode=fullstory

http://www.lovelylindsay.com/race_gallery/race_slideshow.html

The Power of Cross Compels You

Regan sez: I'm entering two races, so I'm sure to throw up.

Sign up for SpaCx now!

Dangerous Curves or A Cyclocross Word of the Day

Booble (n)

The act of a male rider botching a sharp turn, distracted by an attractive female standing at the apex.

SpaCx has witnessed this phenomena over the past few weeks, but will not release any names.
This time.