Tag Archives: Cyclocross
Bike of the Week: (Brett’s) Rosko Custom Cyclocross
Seth Rosko builds steel frames quietly in Brooklyn with little fan-fare or publicity. As a bike builder, he draws on his experience racing and fabricating vintage motorcycles, and his many years of work under the Brooklyn Machine Works (known for their Gangsta Track, DH and park bikes) banner. Since setting off on his own, Seth seems eager to challenge himself with designing frames to fit the individual rider, from road to BMX bikes. His background serves him well as he succeeds in achieving understated form driven by function, frames speak in pure, purposeful designs for aggressive riding and racing. There are no hand-carved lugs, no polished head-badges, just precisely machined bits from Paragon Machine Works, thoughtfully affixed to quality tubes, in this case Columbus tubes adorned with glittery Granny-Smith green.
Made-in-the-USA Chris King, Thomson, Zanconato, and Parlee components make a bike that its owner calls “Practical Fancy.” The rims are alloy, the brakes are cantilever in spite of the looming disc-for-cyclocross hype, the Challenge tires are glued on, and the ceramic bottom bracket is of the Pressfit 30 variety, to combine the old and new school. The fork’s provenance is, according to the builder, top secret.
The beauty of purchasing a frame from a quality local custom builder is the inherently collaborative design process. In this case, Seth’s long MTB/BMX building experience and Brett’s (the customer) urgent need to dote on details like bottom bracket drop, trail measurement and chainstay taper. With Seth’s execution and precise welding, Brett received, according to him, “the most balanced riding, confidence inspiring bike I’ve ever owned”. And green means “GO.”
thank you, dank u, dank je, merci, danke !
NYC Velo would like to say thanks to Gore Bike Wear, Swrve Apparel, All Hail The Black Market, Gage + DeSoto, Staten Island Cyclocross, Chrome Bags, Kona Bikes, Abraco coffee and those who came out to celebrate the Belgian sweep of the Cyclocross world Championships!
Vacation Cross
NYC Velo “Jack of all Trades” Brett Champlain has a bit of the wanderlust in him, most recently galavanting across the American west (i.e. the land past the Hudson) in search of “The Ride”. In his own words:
From September 28th to October 11th of this past year, I had the opportunity to take some time away from the bike shop, Prospect Park and my diminutive apartment in Brooklyn, to travel to California, Colorado, and Pennsylvania. Many refer to this sort of thing as a vacation but I’ve chosen to dub the trip a “Restorative Vision Quest” because I returned to New York City not just relaxed but with a restored appreciation for riding bicycles and the beautiful thing West of us that is called the “United States of America.”
My RVQ had three distinct foci: a wedding in sunny San Diego, a visit with family and the higher elevations in Palisade, CO, and the big finish, the Iron Cross IX race in southern PA. The plan was to fly to San Diego and drive the return trip with my father in his $1,600 Mercury Marquis…now that’s luxury.
I boxed my ‘cross bike for the trip, disassembling sections of it and wrapping it in absurd amounts of bubble-wrap in anticipation of the tossing it would get from the baggage handlers. I wrote some “Thank You” and “Hup!Hup! Good Work!” notes all over the box as encouragement, but stopped short of taping a couple single dollar bills to the flaps. I’m happy to report that my bike arrived in San Diego in one piece because of those hard working luggage handlers, and Jet Blue didn’t even charge me to check the box as it was my only checked “luggage” and was not oversized. I had no reason to complain about the airline or air travel in general; the trip was off to a good start!
San Diego was warm and sunny the morning of my arrival, quite a contrast to the weather typical of NYC this time of year. After meeting with friends and family, resting a bit from the flight, and assembling the bike, it was time to set off for a little riding. I was staying in the Mission Beach section of San Diego, which is pretty flat, so I rode a few miles North toward Bird Rock and La Jolla to find some hills. It was a short ride before I encountered plenty of enticing hills to repeatedly ride up and down. I breathed the salted air and felt sun that is distinctly different from ours back East. I had plenty of time (before meeting my lovely girlfriend at a nail salon in La Jolla) to get some steep hill work. After a bit of exploration, I even found a nice dirt road to practice some cross skills on. I did some hill repeats and practiced cyclocross mounts and dismounts at speed for about an hour before showing up to the salon dirty and most likely smelly (where my girlfriend was finishing up her complimentary champagne). In spite of the nice weather, the day’s adventure would be the only riding I would do in San Diego (I was there, after all, for a wedding, which proved to be quite enjoyable). I wish the new Mr. and Mrs. all the best now and into the future.
My ladyfriend and I made a short trip North where we met up with my sister, her hubby, my handsome nephew (now almost 2 years old), dear old dad and his dog “Griz.” We spent an afternoon sipping cheap beer before moving on to a glass of decent wine and working on a jigsaw puzzle of a yellow and red bicycle. I spent the next couple days here, the sunny day of the two walking around the mission of San Juan Capistrano. The mission was founded in 1775, then left, then re-founded in 1776 to convert the native population of California into good, tax paying, Spanish citizens. Today, the mission is a quiet, well-kept garden.
The next leg of the trip would see my dad and me driving to my hometown, Palisade, CO. Palisade sits snugly in the Eastern corner of the Grand Valley, where the Colorado and Gunnison Rivers converge, butted up against the Grand Mesa, the Bookcliffs, and Orchard Mesa. The town sits at about 4,600 feet and geographically is one of the most beautiful places one could learn to ride a bike; the Rocky Mountains are to the East and The Colorado National Monument and Fruita (some of the best mountain biking in the country) to the West. The town was originally a good place to grow grapes and produce wine, but when prohibition blew through the area, stone fruits, especially peaches, took over and the little oasis between mountain and desert became famous for this fruit. The last 20 years have seen a swing back to producing wine and thus, “Peach Fest” held in mid-September has fewer and fewer peaches as the wine regains prominence.
Because I was to be in Palisade for only a single day, I had my sights set on a solid ride via Rapid Creek road to the town of Mesa, followed by a visit with Mom. The ride would be about 35 miles round trip but climb to almost 8,000 feet and look to be dirt roads the whole way. In all the years I lived there I never completed this ride and, sigh, I still haven’t. If you look closely at the satellite images and maps on the google (like I did after my “ride”) you’ll see that there are two Rapid Creek roads. One allows for the trip I anticipated, the other just goes off kind of into nowhere, leading you to hike for hours to find the ride-able spots of a laughably steep, rocky trail. Upon discovery of this miscalculation, I figured the ride a wash but no matter what, it would be good training for Iron Cross’ hike-a-bike sections and good to be physically working hard in the thinner air. I hiked for 2.5 hours before meeting a barbed wire fence across the road that forced me to turn around. That same 2.5 hour hike up was ridden back to town, down the rock gardens, quickly through all the gnarly technical sections, to the finish.
The return was dispatched in about 30 minutes and It was this ride home, bouncing and picking lines through volcanic rock, feeling my tires bottom out occasionally with no consequence, that really sold me on the tubeless set up I had decided upon for Iron Cross. I rode my cross bike through some pretty heinous stuff at decent speed and had no worry of pinch or puncture. If you have any questions about tubeless conversions or tubeless specific set ups, stop in the shop and Bill and I will have a whole bunch of informed opinions! Though my ride wasn’t technically a success in that I went from A to B and back, I did brush off my handling skills, took in some nice views, and got over to my mother’s place on time for a much needed home-cooked lunch. There will definitely be a round two with Rapid Creek Rd in the near future.
The final point in the trip was Iron Cross IX. At 100K, Iron Cross is America’s longest cyclocross race. The organizers billed the event as “Ultracross” and said it was inspired by the Three Peaks race in England. The course was designed to favor a ‘cross rider on a ‘cross bike, including some rolling paved roads and a lot of dirt and fire roads. On the other hand, the course designers made you feel dumb for doing the ride on a ‘cross bike by including some technical single track full of roots, rocks, felled trees, creek crossings and “run ups” that no one was running up. The race took place in Michaux State Forest, named for the French naturalist Andre Michaux who went traipsing through the Pennsylvania mountains to “discover” and name plants in the 18th century. It’s a scenic place, with the rolling mountains and the color-changing leaves of October. The route itself was one big loop with a few checkpoints along the way. This year the start/finish was Pine Grove Furnace State Park, which has adequate camping and parking, some nice walking paths and a lot of really good mountain biking. Pre-riding the course is hard, not just because it changes a little every year but it also changed the morning of. I rode some sections Saturday, to see what the feel of the race would be but found very little of what I covered to be included in the actual race. Not to worry though, it just added to the intrigue. We stayed a short drive from the park at a Super 8 in Carlisle. To keep it interesting, we smuggled the dog into the room wrapped in a blanket like a burrito.
The race: Sunday morning during my warm up spin I thought, hmm this front tire is going to be a little too low, I’d better head back to the car and add some air, and proceeded to bunny hop a roller on some slick grass, crash, burp the front tire and get a clump of sod caught between the rim and bead thus losing my sweet tubeless set up. I usually like to crash or something like that right before a race so that everyone can see what they’re up against. I had about 5 minutes before the Pre-Race Meeting so I had to just stuff one of my spare tubes in right off the bat and go tubeless rear, tubed front. Even though not ideal for the race, this would indulge my tire geekery with a sudden side by side comparison, a head to head of Tube vs No Tube. The group of 214 riders all went out at once, and all hit their brakes at once for the first corner, someone rear-ended me here but it wasn’t harmful, just good for a laugh. There were immediately a couple things to string out the riders, a steep-rocky-downhill-sharp-left-turn and a narrow run-up. Both proved helpful in getting the nerves out. Next up was a rising road section to a dirt road that, upon reaching, shocked me at how soon everyone was flatting, I counted at least ten flats in the first 3 miles. We came out to some paved rolling hills to decide the racer that would take the KOM (King of the Mountain) title home, and then ducked into Lippencote trail, the first section of single track. This was my first time riding Lippencote and it was super fun! If you that haven’t ridden it, it’s really worth the trip. It was definitely in the spirit of, “why am I doing this on a cross bike?” There isn’t much room to pass on this stuff so I was behind a slower guy for a while shouting, “let it roll let it roll you can go faster!” till he got sick of me and let me by. I listened to my own advice after I passed him and backed off the brakes, really letting go until Bang! (A pinch flat). I quickly put a tube in and got back to it, with a little more pressure. About 5 minutes later Bang! (Another pinch flat). I was well past the first checkpoint and that was my only spare tube because I had used one before the race, so I ran for a while, got out to the next section of pavement, jumped on and rode with a flat front. My thinking was that I would ride to checkpoint 2 where I had a drop bag with tubes and CO2. Luckily I didn’t have to, after a solid 5 miles a lifesaver came along and gave me a tube – Thank You to that good sport that helped me out!
I realize now writing this that the race blurs together in many ways. I won’t try to play by play/bore through it for you, let’s just say that Hog’s Head Road is one of the longest, gnarliest climbs I’ve ever done, the weather was perfect and there were some ridiculously fast, and at times dodgy, sections of fire-road. Suffice to say that during the race, there were places back in the woods and riding along ridge-lines where I was tired, but overcome by how amazing it can be to try to ride a bike fast on a gorgeous fall day.
The race concluded back at Pine Furnace Grove with a couple of barriers right before the finishline. Some of the faster and more experienced guys bunny-hopped them. For those readers out there who like numbers, when it was all said and done, I had four flats, finished 43rd out of 96 in my field, 92nd of 214 overall with a final time of 05:09:11 (nine minutes, 11 seconds outside of my goal). Not bad for the 2nd race in my life. The winner finished 03:53:01.
After all this excitement I found Dad and Griz and relaxed over lunch while watching the other racers finish up. The race was really well organized and I’m looking forward to challenging myself to do better next year.
On our way back to NYC we took a little detour through Gettysburg to bring a fitting end to the Restorative Vision Quest. I have to thank Andrew and the rest of the guys at the shop for covering my schedule while I breathed in some fresh air, searching for my spirit animal. It turned out to be a Jack Russell terrier, go figure.
Cyclocross, iron cross raceUCI World Cyclocross Championships LIVE
Come watch the 2012 UCI World Cyclocross Championships LIVE here @ NYC VELO.
Cyclocross, Cyclocross Championships
Bike Of The Week: Vigo Cycles
The second Bike of the Week of 2012 has been a long time coming. The bike, a cyclocross model from Vigo Cycles, represents the first in what will certainly be a long line of fine bicycles produced by the hands of NYC Velo customer Troy Selvaratnam. After years of contemplation, Troy sought the instruction of famed bicycle framebuilder Mike Flanigan of ANT (Alternative Needs Transportation) in Holliston, MA. Troy fabricated Vigo Cycles frame #1 while studying under Mike last summer. The name “Vigo” comes from one of Troy’s cultural heroes, French film maker Jean Vigo. As “Vigo” kind of sounds like a German or Russian pronouncing “we go”, it seemed to work as the name of a bike company.
all photography by Ian Rutter of Haute Capture
Troy wanted the first bikes to go to people other than himself, enthusiasts who would ride them and give him feedback uncolored by the proud bias of a parent. Vigo Cycles #1 is a steel cyclocross model made for a friend, Phil Morgan (co-owner of design firm Hecho Inc and bar/restaurant Building on Bond). Phil has recently rediscovered bike racing and needed an able cyclocross rig to help him tackle the formidable Northeast ‘cross schedule.
With Mike’s help on the stem and fork, Troy welded up frame #1 and has in-house designed headbadges made by fellow cyclist and jewelry designer Thomas Kurilla. Phil, posessing a great eye for detail, chose the paint scheme to be painted by Noah Rosen of Velocolour in Toronto, and Troy took care of choosing the parts kit. Troy looked to Campagnolo for their new cyclocross-specific kit, and you’ll notice brands like White Industries, 3T, Sapim, and Kinlin represented on the bike as well.
Troy is a busy man with a full-time law practice taking up most of his time these days. He looks forward to setting up a dedicated workshop in the next few months and producing bikes for friends and family. At this point, if he can subsidize his hobby a bit while producing a product that his customers will like and use, he feels as though that’s OK with him.
SICX Recap from Evan Murphy
I Pretty much went into the Staten CX race stoked out of my mind: the shop sponsors it, it’s less than an hour from my house, and the weather was perfect. I registered for both the Elite and Singlespeed races, you know, to have fun and support the event as much as possible. Bad call. Not only did my attempt at converting a Bianchi Pista to an SSCX (SingleSpeed Cyclocross) machine fail at the 11th hour, but I seriously can’t recommend racing cyclocross for almost two hours without a break, you will be destroyed.
I will say that my singlespeed race went well, though. I was riding a geared bike CX bike whose shift levers had been zip-tied to immobility. I set it up with a 42 x 19 gear ratio, which I found out is way too high (i.e. difficult). There was this crazy woods section on the backside of the course with roots, sand, and softball sized rocks all over the place, running a single gear meant you basically ran the entire section. Cool. I was only going to ride a few laps until finding a reason to pull out when all of a sudden I found myself in 4th place. How can you not keep going after seeing 1st in your sights?? So I hammered on, riding my ridiculously high gear into 3rd place, congrats to NYC favorite Austin Horse for powering away to the win. I actually heard people yell at me, “Austin’s hair is better than your’s!” So, is that the secret…
So after finishing my first CX podium placing ever, I hear them starting call-ups in the Elite race. One banana and an Honest Tea later, I’m literally on the front row for the start. What?! Yeah I don’t even know how, but imagine, “Erik Tonkin, Dan Chabanov, and . . . Evan Murphy!.” Fear in my heart, nothing in my legs and no business getting a front row call-up I drift to the back after a lap or so. I’m just gassed at this point, hanging on whatever wheel passes me for 10 seconds before getting dropped. The sand run is starting to really break me down after my 10th time doing it. My one source of pride I will squeeze out of the race was riding the rooted and steep run-up in the woods every single lap. Oh yeah. Finished 14th which isn’t bad considering everything else, and actually right where crossresults.com seeded me, go figure.
Thanks to CJ and the whole SICX crew for putting on a very fun race and getting people out to Staten Island for New York City’s only cyclocross race. I learned a valuable lesson on Saturday: if I want any chance at a good result in my Elite race, don’t do any other races that day. It seems obvious but sometimes you just have to learn the hard way. Next week I’m heading east to Super Cross Cup, another race NYC Velo proudly supports. I will be doing only one race, each day. Come say hello!
CyclocrossCX Race Recap: Evan @ Granogue
Photo by Anthony Skorochod / cyclingcaptured.com
Follow NYC Velo Cyclocross (CX) Team Rider Evan Murphy as he tackles a the 2011-12 CX season, his first as a RISD degree-holding adult:
Last weekend, I headed down to Wilmington, Delaware, for my first attempt at this legendary Granogue MAC (Mid-Atlantic Cyclocross) series event. In excited anticipation of the weekend, I set my sights on a solid finish.
Prior to the starting gun, I tried to do everything right, like pre riding multiple laps, re-riding tricky spots, asking every fast guy I knew what tire pressure to run, but it seemed as though my luck was still down. I spent the first three laps of the Elite race on Saturday caught behind multiple crashes, even getting taken off my bike coming around a flat turn, while working my way through the field. After a last row start I was pretty stoked to have picked off five or so guys, and was heading up the steep back section run-up when I decided to ride it (instead of running/hiking). This is when my chain broke and fell off my bike.
After the mishap, I was encouraged to run to the pits, a friend from Pittsburgh yelled, “gimme your chain, I’ll meet you there!” I know that choosing to stay in the race made no sense as lapped riders are pulled (politely reminded that they are no longer allowed to race with the rest on account of their lack of speed in competition), but I was deep in the (pain) cave and no thinking clearly. I ran ten minutes to the pit only to end up riding a SRAM-supplied neutral bike (complete with flat pedals and 60 psi clinchers) through to the end of the lap, where I was lapped and pulled from the race. I ended the day with one of my best Elite-class results, 39th of 55, mostly because so many others had failed to finish. The result doesn’t look so hot on paper, but I’ll take it!
Photo by Anthony Skorochod / cyclingcaptured.com
I decided to race the Category 2/3/4 event on Sunday mostly because I’ve been getting slaughtered in the Elite field and I needed a break (Is it really sandbagging if you’re predicted a last place in the Elite race and have a last row start in the 2/3/4 race??). I made my way up through 124 viciously competitive racers to find myself 10th behind a young, competent bike handler heading into the last lap. It turns out that my decision to follow his wheel was the wrong one as I took the rocky/rooted section far too fast and punctured my front tire. I rode around the course on a flat tire to the pit to grab another flat-pedal-equipped SRAM bike. I finished the last half of the race on a bike with the seat jacked up 4 cm beyond my comfort zone – OUCH – before flatting again! on the finishing straight and bleeding spots to finish 25th on the day.
Photo by Anthony Skorochod / cyclingcaptured.com
I suppose the lesson learned this weekend was to take bad luck with grace and finish hard even if you want to quit, because you never know how bad it really is. Thanks to the Dupont family for again lending their property to us bike racers for another excellent weekend. See you on the trails!
all photos by Anthony Skorochod cyclingcaptured.com
cx, Cyclocross, Racing5ive Points: Ryan Trebon
photo by Wil Matthews
NYC Velo is proud to feature professional cyclist Ryan Trebon in this installment of our 5ive Points interview series.
Ryan has worn the stars and stripes jersey as the US National Champion on 4 occasions, winning the cyclocross title in 2006 and 2008, the cross country mountain bike title in 2006, and the short track mountain bike title in 2007. Since becoming a professional bike racer in 2004, Trebon has dominated the US Grand Prix, the country’s most prestigious cyclocross race series, 4 times, as well as countless smaller local and regional races across the country.
Ryan spent most of his professional racing career as one of the big guns of the Kona Bike Racing Team, representing the bike brand (and racing its bikes) in many of the top cyclocross and mountain bike events worldwide. For the 2011/12 season, Ryan has developed a new team: L&T Sports/Felt. Ryan has been racing this season exclusively on Felt’s newest carbon fiber mountain and cyclocross bikes, and preforming quite well! He’s working hard towards the UCI World Championships, which will be held in the US in 2013 – can’t wait? Neither can we!
As a staple on the North American cyclocross scene (before he heads to Europe every year), Ryan has competed in many races in the Mid-Atlantic and New England regions, his quick wit as much on display as his powerful engine. We’ve been proud to ride with Ryan on a few occasions and to continue to tell his story through the bikes available in the shop from both Felt and Kona.
It’s certainly tough to limit an interview with Ryan to 5 questions, but rules are rules….
NYC Velo: What bike do you ride?
Ryan Trebon: Felt’s new 2012 F1X super light, stiff, and handles awesome
NYCV: What’s your favorite ride?
RT: I don’t have a favorite ride; any time riding is enjoyable and the legs feel good and the company is friendly- that’s my favorite ride.
NYCV: What’s your favorite post-ride food?
RT: Chips, specifically tortilla chips and coconut water.
NYCV: What is one thing you always carry on a ride?
RT: Everything to make me self sufficent (tubes, tools, skills) I dont take a phone with me and hate having to have people come pick me up.
NYCV: What’s next?
RT: World Domination, well after I take a quick nap.
CX Race Recap: Evan @ Providence
Follow NYC Velo Cyclocross (CX) Team Rider Evan Murphy as he tackles a the 2011-12 CX season, his first as a RISD degree-holding adult:
I can already tell my 2011/12 season will be defined for by injuries. After healing my hand (from my last mid-race mishap) and hitting the trainer for the past two weeks, I made the mistake of heading to the Providence Cyclocross Festival at Roger Williams Park in Providence, RI with little to no off-road training. This proved to be a fatal mistake.
Day 1 (Saturday) was the ‘technical’ course and I found myself sitting around 40th by the second lap. This being my first UCI Elite race, I might have been a little too eager as I fumbled the tricky barrier remount and slashed my leg on my chainring. After losing a ten places or so trying to get my chain back on the ring, I spent the rest of the race pushing to make the 80% cutoff (or risk being pulled from the race early). Unfortunately, I was the last racer pulled before the leaders finished up. Wow, 60 minutes is a long time, people! Highlights of the course include the insane barriers and awesome descent back behind the monument.
Any chance of an overnight recovery would not be in the cards for me as Providence is old turf; my RISD and Brown U buddies invited me out for drinks and we grabbed gyros at East Side Pocket. Sometimes, the dream of a decent UCI Elite race result goes by the wayside in favor of good company and, well, good beer.
Anyway, Day 2 was much better for me, however, it turns out that I’m actually that guy, the one who caught his foot on the barriers in the Elite race. Yep, on the first lap at that. I was sitting pretty in mid-pack when I came in waaay too hot, clipped my foot on the barrier, and slammed face-first into the grass. I got up and, woo! Last place! As it turned out though, I was able to focus on the race and put my strength to good use, finishing on the lead lap at 50th place. Out of almost 70 starters, I’m pretty stoked with my result. Also, I had a bit of extra fun after my dramatic crash by pulling some sweet airs at the beer tent each lap, which counts for a few extra points, right? In the end, Sunday’s course was fast, long and hot, almost 80 degrees!
I head to Granogue this coming weekend, racing UCI Elite event on Saturday, and the 2/3/4 category on Sunday. I’m basically hoping to not crash. Which is also last weekend’s Elite CX lesson: do not crash. Thanks for reading!
cx, Cyclocross, Racing