Palmarès

This past Friday Motofish celebrated the end of our first road season with a team movie night at the studio screening the new film Chasing Legends. It was a great way to wrap up the season and to welcome new riders to the team. We also handed out our new kits for the upcoming CX season.

Looking around the room it was pretty fulfilling to see many faces of new friends that have been brought together by a love of riding. It was also a great reminder of the many levels of success that MFR has had in its first year. Certainly the cold and wet days of winter training rides seem far away.

As the seasons eased into Spring and the racing started the results came. After missing half of the season with a broken collar bone Sabrina Hirsch finished 27th in her first year in CAT 3 with 5 top 10 finishes and and 8th place in the LWV Skagit Flats CAT 1-2-3 race. On the men’s side Cal Spranger was our most successful racer notching a 7th in the Redmond Derby Days Crit and 5 wins at Seward Park in the 5:30 race. Given that Cal just started racing about half way through the season his results are even more impressive. Chris Cumming won the Wenatchee Time Trial in CAT 5 and won the Washington State Time Trial Championship in CAT 4-5. Chris also had 3 top 10′s on the road this year. Greg Sweney had his best race at Vance Creek where he got 5th and he also finished 5th in the Wenatchee Omnium Time Trial and 9th overall at Wenatchee. Clive Pursehouse and Dennis Schleder had great seasons as well with Dennis notching an 8th at the Wenatchee Omnium Criterium.

Part of the idea behind the creation of Motofish Racing was to encourage new racers in the sport and to this end MOFI has been successful as well. Angie Morgan had her first race at the Tour de Dung and just a few weeks earlier Greg Sweney, Brian Carlson and Dennis Schleder all had their first taste of road racing at the Volunteer Park Criterium. Brian ended up being one of our most consistent racers.

Motofish is also especially thankful to its sponsors that supported us through our inaugural season. Cascade Bicycle Studio and owner Zac Daab not only provided us with a total of six new BMC’s but he was also was our fit guru, race tactician and friend. Full Speed Ahead provided MFR with component support and helped to create a couple of very fast TT bikes with Vision cranks and wheelsets.

We are now looking forward to the beginning of our second Cyclocross season and we would like to welcome our new riders to the team including Charles Gardiner and Elise Wright. MOFI should be fielding 8-10 men in the CAT 4 Master’s 35+ Category this year. Elise, Sabrina, and Amy Miller will be racing on the women’s side and Charles will be riding as a 3.

There are essentially two definitions of the word palmarès; one is a prize list or list of winners and the second is a record of achievement. On both of these definitions MFR should be proud but we are probably the most proud of our record of achievement. The achievement is not necessarily reflected in the results but in achieving largely what we had hoped when we began which is to encourage new riders to get out there and race. The other part of our idea when we began was to create a small team where we could begin friendships and where our families would be welcome and to that end we have been successful as well. Looking around the studio on our movie night there are kids, wives, husbands, friends – even a few dogs running around and mixed in with that bunch are some bike racers too.

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OTB – Not off the Back, off the Bike.

Motofish has partnered with Ryan MIller and the folks at Arivee Training to provide an off the bike/cross-fit style of training to get our MFR CX racers, and some special guests, ready to roll for the upcoming CX season. Ryan, Nick and Arivee USA Cycling coach Derek Wilkerson bring a wealth of personal, pro race experience and coaching expertise to our classes. The hope is to build some some strength and flexibility in places where cyclists typically lack both while also working on some fundamental skills that will help in CX. The atmosphere is designed to forge a little competitiveness and camaraderie as well. After about two weeks of testing and learning some basic fundamentals we have started to work and hurt in some new spots. The folks at Arivee have made all the classes fun and we’re looking forward to 12 more weeks.

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Team Photo and Kit Details

MFR Team kits showed up last Friday and we had a party at Motofish Studio to dole them out and have a little fun.  They really turned out well.  Some kit detail shots are here as well as our team photo and individual team members shots all kitted out can be seen under the MFR Team Members page.  Check it!

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BMC Day @ CBS

Motofish Racing teammates Greg and Chris took delivery of their new BMC Racemasters today at Cascade Bicycle Studio.  Always fun to get a new bike and the process was made even more so by being able to hang out in Zac’s new space which is coming together really nicely.  After scoping out the new rides and a tape job it was on to the fit.  Since Zac had done fits before ordering the bikes they were already pretty close to spot on – a few tweaks here and there to get them dialed.

The bikes themselves are pretty pimp.  The fit and finish on the Racemasters is first rate and the shapes and graphics all come together to make a very nice bike.  The Ultegra 6700 looks pretty sweet as well.  Both bikes weighed in at about 18.5 lbs built.  We’ll be looking forward to MFR teammates Clive and Angie’s report when they pick up their Roadracers in March.

Also, a few shots of the BMC TT02′s snuck into the mix.  The Timemachine is next up.  Decks and wheels should be in next week …

A big thanks to ZD; he really hustled to get these bikes built up for us while in the process of moving his studio.  His attention to detail and expertise made the experience stress free, a way different approach than buying on-line or at a big shop.  CBS is a studio in every sense of the word and we are very happy to be working with them.

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Motofish Racing fit at Cascade Bicycle Studio

Motofish Racing teammates Greg and Chris went to sponsor Zac Daab’s Cascade Bicycle Studio to get fit for their new BMC’s. Zac’s studio is nestled in Fremont right around Rudy’s Barbershop and is a great spot to spend a couple hours chatting all things bike. Zac’s approach is super thorough and he had great input on both fits. CBS is really a design-y little space and its clean aesthetic is just right – there are enough things to look at without feeling cluttered and the space does not detract from the mission at hand which is fitting and building beautiful bikes.

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Raleigh CX1.0 Morphs into a winter bike

Chris’ Raleigh RX 1.0, which was a fantastic CX bike, has been turned into a winter ride as we await our Motofish Racing BMCs. A bike that was very impressive throughout the cross season for its ride and responsiveness feels as much so with a few tweaks to get it into road shape.

Overall the bike looks super nice. The boys at Raleigh did a killer job with the graphics – super clean. White bar tape and white Conti GP4000′s keep things looking pimp.

Ultegra replaces the Rival at the front and rear.

An FSA K-Force crank with, embarrassingly, a ceramic BB, help keep things smooth and efficient.

If you’re good one of these might end up in your stocking.

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Interbike 2009

Motofish travelled to Vegas this past September to meet with some clients, research some products and schmooze it up in the city of sin. The boys at Raleigh, for the second straight year, had one of the nicest booths at the show. It was a nice trip down there capped off by a fun night at Cross Vegas.

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