Race Reports
Starcrossed and Rapha-Focus GP
It was a big weekend for Cyclocross in Seattle. We had back to back races in the same venue – Starcrossed on Saturday and the Rapha Focus GP on Sunday at Lake Sammamish State Park. The spectating was fantastic for both races with a deep men’s and women’s field in the Elite’s including national and world champions. The course was flat and fast.
After a typically long and scattered road season it was nice to get back to focussed CX racing and see the crew. MOFI certainly has a great group racing CX this year. At Starcrossed we had Mark Bender in at 11th and Erik Hundley finishing at 16th in the CAT 4 Master Men’s 35+. Mark’s wife Sarah finished in 6th in Master Women. Cal Spranger moved up from the 8th row in CAT 3 Master Men’s 35+ to finish in 6th. Pretty great results. The following day at the Rapha Focus GP it was even better. Mark finished in 3rd place in CAT 4 Master Men’s 35+ and new MOFI racer Dean Vergillo finished in 2nd place. The MOFI domination of CAT 4 continues. Sarah Bender had even a better result coming in in 4th place as did Cal getting 3rd place in CAT 3 Master men 35+. At Rapha Focus the kiddos got to race too. Gideon and Titus Bender finished in 5th and 10th place in Junior Boys 10-12 and Jack Spranger finished in 16th.
CX season is officially under way – there are races every weekend through December. Looking forward to seeing everyone out there and congrats to everyone on a great weekend!
Also thanks to Audra Fulton for a few of the snaps from Sunday.
MTB Motofish
The Bender boys, Titus and Gideon, are tearing up the Budu racing SingleTrack Cycles West Side Mt. Bike Series. As you can see, both are wearing some jewelry around their necks. Last race of the series is coming this weekend….can you say Podium! 
Volunteer Park Criterium
MOFI racers Greg, Cal, Clive, Dennis, Charles, Elise and Cindy got out for the Volunteer Park Criterium this past Saturday. This event seems like a rite of spring in Seattle and this year didn’t disappoint – we even had close to sunny skies. Volunteer Park is also such a great venue for a race; looking out over the city with the Asian Art Museum as a backdrop and good coffee close by just reminds you what a great city we live in.
So, to the racing – the CAT 5 men looked strong and all rode a smart race. Cal had the best place of the bunch with his typical strong finish. Elise and Cindy looked good in thier race as well with Elise finishing with the bunch in her first ever crit. After the racing we packed it all in and wandered down to the Coastal Kitchen for some well deserved brunch.
Is this what you mean by Sandbagging?
Wait a second, wake up at 6am, in the dark to roll out to a bike race in the pouring rain when its 50 degrees out? That doesn’t sound like a lot of fun. However, once you get used to the idea, get your coffee on, set up, and start your warmup under the tent its not so bad and by the time you pre-ride the course and line up to start you’re ready to go. Then the race is on and the mud and rain become like a run-up or a barrier that you have to get through or over.
Then you wake up the following Sunday and its a glorious fall day. Its still 6am or earlier but its sunny and dry – racing will be easy compared to last week’s mud bog except for the beach. The beach is that 200 yard section of sand that you cross twice, its what makes Silverlake especially tough. You hit it full speed off the start, sit back, hold on and let the bike work its way through. Much like the mud though after awhile it just becomes something in your way to get over.
Better than some overwrought writing though of course are photos of which there are plenty. They show the best of CX racing in the Pacific NW – all sorts of conditions all of which equal fun. Mofi got out there and raced and while some might call it sandbagging we call it 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th and 8th.
Thanks too to Max Ralph and Dana Sweney for getting out and shooting some great shots!
Evergreen SCX #1
Evergreen CX pretty much marks the one year anniversary of Motofish Racing. Last year at this time we had just received our first run of kits and for some of us Evergreen was our first cyclcross race and for others it was their first ever bike race. In this photo you can see the fresh faces coming off a great race smiling in the sun (What you can’t see thankfully are the canyons resulting from some very see through kit).
What a difference a year makes. Not only are our kits less transparent and the weather worse but we have also gained a lot of new riders and friends. We also have a lot more collective race experience. This year at Evergreen we showed up early, set up our tent (also new-ish) and trainers and fielded a squad of six men and two women. The results are a bit better as well; last year the top MoFi was in at 32nd place and this year we had 4 men finishing in the top 10 and one woman in the top 10 as well. Its pretty exciting to look ahead to the upcoming race schedule and know what to expect at each venue in the hopes that the results and fun will continue.
One of the things that the above photo from Evergreen last year doesn’t show is the amount of friends and family that were there to cheer us on and happily that has not changed this year. It seemed as if around every corner there was someone cheering for us and at the end of the race they were there to clean the mud off of our faces.
Starcrossed 2010 – ouch
MFR showed up for the 2010 edition of Starcrossed last weekend in Redmond, WA. For many members on the team this was our first crack at Starcrossed which is otherwise know as the dirt crit. The course is flat and fast with plenty of places to pass and you’re only off your bike twice.
The weather has been the story around Seattle for much of the summer and after getting rain all week it looked like it was going to continue through Saturday making for a very messy course. However, for once our weather was better than advertised and by the time our CAT 4 women were ready to go it was sunny and hot. Course conditions were squishy but offered traction and it was very humid on the infield. After pre-riding the course and a good warmup Elise and Sabrina were ready to go. The ladies raced in a mixed 3-4 field and got after it. Sabrina continued her tear through the early season with a 9th place finish and Elise looked strong as well.
After a bit of a break Motofish CAT 4 35+ men were ready to go. With another huge field start position was going to be very important and thankfully we were leaving it up to random numbers generated by computers so all should be good. As it turned out it was – Travis got the front row and was front and center. Clive and Cal were a couple of rows back and Greg, Chris and Brian were about mid field in row 5. Sitting back there, looking over the shoulders of 30-40 riders makes you realize that you have your work cut out for you. The gun went off and the drag race was on. Cal was quickly off the front and stayed there for most of the race trading first, second and third with a couple of other riders. Greg and Chris got to work and slowly started to move our way up the field. After a very long 35 minutes the race was over and the final results for the men were in including two Motofish riders in the top 10 with Cal in 2nd and Chris in at 6th place.
Once the racing was over it was time to be spectators. Cyclocross is the coolest sport and Starcrossed does it well – waffles, frites, pickle hand-ups and a beer garden by the barriers help to create a great event for the fans, amateur racers and pros. The pros themselves got down to business around 7pm under the lights and in the rain. Trebon made his move but got nipped by Mourey in the final sprint.
One of the best parts of the day was the incredible support Motofish got from our families and friends. It seemed around every corner there was someone yelling for you which makes a very hard race a lot easier. Also thanks to Dana Sweney and Audra Fulton for a number of the photos in this post.
Labor Day Cyclocross Championships … really?
It does seem a bit premature to call the first race of the newly minted CX season a championship, however, if there were no other races that day, and the race was specifically the Labor Day Championships then why not, right? So, this past weekend Motofish Racing dusted off the cross bikes and the cross skills and headed over to north Seatac for the 2010 Labor Day Cyclocross Championships and Samurai Noodle Team Competition.
MFR fielded five riders in the Men’s CAT 4 35+ on a day when it even looked like cross season with cooler temps and light drizzle. Cyclocross is definitely growing in popularity as just in our field alone there were 51 riders. After a solid warmup and and course pre-ride it was time to line up. We realized after riding the course that getting to the large run-up first was going to be key as after the run-up there was a lot of single track and if you were in the back it would be hard to pass. After the start and into the first turns we had four guys in the top ten and were in solid position throughout the race.
The day ended pretty well. Chris took 2nd and Clive rounded out the podium with 3rd place. After a mechanical and crash Greg fought back from 32nd place to 10th. Brian had a very strong race with huge improvements on last year to finish at 17th as did Travis who came in at 30th. After hanging around with our families and friends for the podium it was off to a celebratory breakfast.
The NSLDCXC and SNTC was a fantastic day. We definitely also need to make a special shout out to our cheering section – a loud and concentrated group that helped get all of us up that big run-up. Thanks!
Mofi Derby Days
Motofish Racing spent this past Saturday racing and hanging out at Redmond Derby Days. Motofish Studio is in Redmond so this was our ‘home’ crit and the start as only about four blocks from our studio. The race gave us the perfect opportunity to host families, friends and new teammates on race day as well. Derby Days is a fantastic event with great racing all day and lots of other free entertainment for families as well.
The course at Redmond is a short, square course with the biggest challenges being negotiating the traffic turtles and some off-camber, 90 degree turns. Mofi had 4 riders start men’s CAT 5 and put in a strong finish out of the field with one of our new riders Cal taking 7th, Chris at 9th and Dennis coming in at 13th. Sabrina had a great race in women’s CAT 3 placing 8th. All racers appreciated the great cheering section we had which was certainly the loudest and most consistent all day.
After the racing it was time to eat and relax. Truly a great day and the beginning of a fun tradition. A big thanks to everyone who came out to race, to cheer and to all those that brought food for the party.
Tour of Wenatchee
This weekend MFR headed over to Wenatchee, WA to participate in the Tour of Wenatchee. MFR fielded five riders; Brian, Chris, Greg, Clive and Dennis (aka Laurent Fignon). Wenatchee puts on quite a bike race – fantastic weather, great courses, and a laid back atmosphere all added up to a very enjoyable weekend of racing. While the racing was enjoyable it was also hard, wicked headwinds on the TT return, sketchy pavement and tight turns on the crit and 3600′ of climbing spread over 10 miles on the road race definitely get your attention.
For our first time over we did well too. Chris won the CAT 5 TT while Greg took fifth. Dennis was in the hunt during the crit and made a strong move at the end to finish 8th. In the road race Chris and Greg finished 8th and 9th respectively and Clive and Dennis came in 18th and 19th. Brian jumped in with both feet and hit all three events with full effort. We ended up placing two riders in the top 10 for the Omnium overall with Chris in at 4th and Greg at 9th.
Big thanks to everyone who came out to race, to Wenatchee Valley Velo for putiing on such a great event and to our friends at Full Speed Ahead for providing us with a little extra speed this weekend.
Volunteer Park Crit
This past weekend saw MFR field five men in the CAT 5 race at Volunteer Park. It was a beautiful spring morning and the debut race for MFR riders Dennis, Brian and Greg. Nothing like mixing it up with 65 other riders, shoulder to shoulder, for your first race – happily everyone stayed upright. MFR finished up strong with Chris coming in 7th, Greg, 23rd and Clive 26th out of 31 finishers. Many thanks too to Angie, Sabrina, Zac and Beverly for coming out and cheering us on. Special thanks too to Matt Vaagsland, aka Mattsquatch for shooting some photos. Next race for us is Vance Creek on the 25th …
MFR Evergreen CX
This was Motofish Racing’s first full CX ride. We had a great turnout of both riders and families which made for a very fun event. The great weather that day helped as well. For a lot of us it was our first CX race and we quickly figured out that not only is Cross fun but it also entails a bit of suffering. But with our families cheering us on and the sun shining it all felt great.
