Cyclocross season is a wrap...

After 14 weekends of cx racing in the books, Team Ramirez is ready to close it down and hang our bikes for the holidays. It was a season of hard racing on grass, dirt, sand and mud.   The greatest reward this season was watching Donovan enjoying himself with the sport and its community. He had some hard knocks and falls at races, and he would always wipe the tears, regain composure, remount and pedal away hard with determination.

This is it! Last race! 

I absolutely loved that he rode the venues in preparation for a couple of his "A-races" in order to do better. He is already asking about going back to some of the harder ones to do better next year. Aside from the whole racing scene, Donovan is just excited to be on his little bike. Watching him ride around the neighborhood and being able to hop on our bikes and go tear around the park together is pretty awesome. As a little post-season project, I plan on making his little bike lighter and upgrade his drivetrain. No, he's not going to be on ZIPPs anytime soon, but with a few new parts, some re-purposed and others generously donated, we are going to make his little rig the envy of his field. :-)

The highlights of our seasons:

Donovan- 7th in WA state; 

                4 x top-10 finishes.

JC- 3rd in WA state; 

       1st in SCX Series; 5th in MFG Series

       1 win; 7 x top-5;  12 x top-10; 

I feel I did well. Maybe more than doing well, I found consistency and was able to battle hard up front week after week, which was something I was not able to do last year. 

Finishing the season in style. 

Thank you for reading. Happy Holidays to all. PEACE!

owls...

Theresa found this image and it killed me. LMAO...

WA State CX Championships

It has officially started being cold. I mean like mid-high 30's cold. And this year's cyclocross state championship races were once again held at Arlington, some 40mi north of Seattle. Well, let me tell you, it is noticeably colder just 1hr north of here, with a little dusting of snow and frozen puddles in the fields. With hours in between our races, we decided to bring a tent, some chairs, a table and heater to be comfortable. Though it didn't rain, the tent provided an established area where we chilled and stayed warm between races.

Papa- you sure you know how to operate that?

Both of the boys on Team Ramirez seem to be having good form as the close of the cross season nears, so going to the championship races was a must.

Donovan went off first. Though the fields were small, you could tell this was the championship race- I only counted 1 mtb in his race. All the other kids were on light aluminum machines, most with gears, (soccer) cleats on all their feet = seerious bees-ness....

Chris Froome wishes he could clear barriers like me...

He is starting to develop a bit of a rivalry with some of the guys on the Rad Racing squad.  Donovan is psyched to have walked away with a very respectable 7th place.

Push to the line! Good for 7th place. In the state.

Next up was his old man. After fumbling a bit at the start (new cleats r in the mail!), I made a strong push in the first 2 laps to get myself back to the front of the race. Pretty soon I was riding in 3rd, just 4seconds behind Jon, with Peter hot on my heels. There were some technical sections on the course today which played to Jon's strengths and instead of catching him, he continued to put time between us. By the end of the race, I was running out of gas and felt Peter closing in, but managed to hold on to 3rd.  The guy that beat us all by a zip code is a good guy, last year's champ and a bona fide Cat1-2, just trying to fill his points quota to go race where he belongs.  

Jon (2nd), me (3rd), Peter (4th).
Good pals, good times, completely spent...
(Nick Adsero half cameo on right... we'll be racing together soon, bud...)

This time, since it was the championship race, aside from pats on the back, we came home with one of these for 3rd spot:

Overall, it was a good day at the races. Thank you Theresa for putting up with your nutty family! 2 more races left in the local calendar. But before then, Happy Turkey break if you are in the USA.

Thanks for reading.

Team Ramirez Does It

On a cold, rainy Sunday afternoon, the Ramirez Squad went out to Parkland WA for some more cross racing. Though the fields were smaller than at other races, the usual suspects were there, so competition was bound to be like always- tough. Under cold and gray skies, the Ramirez boys did what they do best, and raced their hearts out.

First to race was Donovan. He patiently waited for the officials to start his race, and then took off, making quick progress into his field. He handled the barriers like a seasoned vet, and judiciously picked which sections to run his bike. He went down some of the gnarly sections without fear.

Final effort towards the finish...

Unfortunately in this sanctioned series, 6-9yr juniors are only allowed to do 1lap, which left him wanting to race more. He was stoked to finish in a very respectable 10th place. Donovan then got to hang out in the Team Bus while he ate lunch and recovered from his effort.

10th place!! Yeah baby!!

Next up was his old man... After a not-so great start, I fought myself back into the top 4, doing good battle with my friends Jon and Peter. Meanwhile, the gap to Dmitri in 1st kept growing. On the penultimate lap, I was in 2nd, spectating buddy Nick gave me a split of 15sec. The plan became to go full gas every pedal stroke. I was sliding every which way, taking lots of chances. I caught Dmitri's wheel at the final turn to the long finishing straight, at that familiar point when the ambient noise level goes down, letting me know I am just this side of tunnel vision. In that same instant, Theresa's LOUD voice to 'Push it!' brought me back, and I sprinted with all I had left to my first win this season. I let out a loud scream at the line, moments before coming to a complete stop, and folding over my handlebars in a dry-heaving/oxygen-debt mess.

Looks like Dmitri (L) and Jon (R) are holding up the little dude in the middle...

I don't usually like to toot my own horn, but this felt pretty epic, specially with my family there.

What does one get for such heroics you may ask? Your picture taken, a pat on the back, and if your S.O. is super awesome, a cookie to share.

thanks for reading.

oh-so-close...

This past Sunday, cross racing took place at my favorite venue, Woodland Park. Why is it my fave? 1)B/c it is very close to where we live, 2) is challenging, 3)1100 people come out and cheer, and 4)b/c it is the season ender for MFG series, everyone brings out their A-game ( 5)B/c I've won here before :-)  )

Riders Ready! Let's go already...

So in preparation for the big day, Donovan and I went out to the park a number of times to practice, so that we both knew what to expect. That also gave him a chance to try his new tires out.

Photo by Raymond Kwan

Donovan took off, happy to have gears to help him move along faster and better over the terrain. He took a few tumbles, and a couple really frustrated him.

Photo by Raymond Kwan

I admire his spirit for dealing with mishaps in the middle of the race- He takes a second or 2 to react to what happened, shakes it off, gets up and remounts ready to keep pushing his little pedals. Every time. Much like his old man, emotions got the best of him afterwards, specially when things didn't go as he planned.

The thrill of finishing...

Speaking of his old man... he managed to fight hard and keep 2nd place. The winner made the smart move to pour it on and open a decent gap which became impossible to close thanks to the throngs of lapped riders in our race.

All but one guy (Steve) saw this... so close...

It was a really good day of racing, followed by a great time hanging out with a number of our friends who came out to be a part of the scene, along with 1280+ other cheering fans. Very cool...
jc

let's review.... cross season, it's another reason... for eating cookies...

The coolest thing so far is watching Donovan tear around on his new bicycle and step up to race with the juniors... and pick off a few of the older kids ahead of him....

The kid in the cool leg warmers in the midst of battle....
(awesome action shot courtesy of Raymond Kwan)

Here's what his old man has done so far this year:

MFG#1 - 6th place;    MFG#2 - 14th place;    MFG#3 - 21st place
MFG#4 - 6th place;    MFG#5 -   6th place

Starcrossed- 10th place

SCX#1 - 8th place;      SCX#2 - 5th  place;     SCX#3 - 5th place

I feel I've been doing good battle, but just haven't been able to quite put a winning race together (yet). I felt like I almost had it the previous weekend, went form 9th to 2nd on lap 2 and then took the lead... only to fall, and fall, and slip again down to 6th. Oh well....

Exhibit A:
 MFG #5 could-have-been winner; instead got kit muddy by falling.... 
(evidence photo courtesy of Raymond Kwan)

Let's see what happens the remaining Sundays.

In the beginning....

...there was this little kid, doing cyclocross on his little single speed bmx bike. He was having a lot of fun, and he thought it was cool doing the kiddie races. Soon though, he decided he was ready to race with bigger kids, on the adult's courses. He had trouble getting up some steep stuff, and getting his little bike over some barriers. It probably felt like his bmx was made of lead at times. Other times he would have to stop pedaling as he was spinning out on his one gear, while the rest of the older kids pulled away from him. It didn't matter much, he still gave it everything he had every race he did. Win? Loose? Nah... it's all about the fun....

And this past weekend, it just got a whole LOT more fun (and faster) for that little kid in the cool leg warmers!!

Hey 9 to 11yr olds... guess who got just a little faster this week?
Yep, this 7yr old.... 

I got gears! As in MORE THAN ONE! 

430! You and your funny bike with discs are about to eat my mud... 

Proof he had a little more fun than usual? I give you Exhibit A:

HUUB

I am stoked to count on HUUB's support for 2014 and onward. HUUB supplies gear for the water, equipping fast swimmers and top triathletes in the world with wetsuits and skinsuits, including guys like the Brownlee Bros and, of more recent notoriety, Freddy VL.

Rocking for HUUB at my pool...

HUUB's departure from traditional materials and wetsuit features used by others, and only applying science-backed features which actually benefit swimmers has me very excited... I can use every bit of help in the water....

Features that make a difference....

Finally, it's cool to see more companies departing from thinking of women as small men. I bet there's a number of fast ladies pumped to see a wetsuit design like the Aura. Nice work HUUB!

Here's to faster swim splits! :-)