Month: January 2015

#CROSSISOVER

I’m really thankful I got the chance to attend the entire span of the US Cyclocross National Championships. I had a blast racing, spectating, heckling, cheering, obnoxiously ringing cowbells, talking to racers, meeting pros, and shooting photos throughout the elongated weekend. Sharing these photos with y’all has been truly joyful. Thanks everyone who was a part of my week in Austin!

And for the few that may still be wondering how I did in my 2 races on the first day, it didn’t go as well as I hoped! In the first race (10-29 non-champ), my chain fell off during the first bottleneck. I was running my bike through the bottleneck, remounted, and found it was off. By the time I got it back on, I think I was dead last, or close to it, as everyone had gone through. I got lapped (and pulled) with 2 laps remaining, and got 55th out of 72, so not bad considering what happened! I definitely failed to hydrate well enough and get electrolytes in between races, as the Industry race started 1.5 hrs after I finished the first race. I was starting to cramp pretty badly in my quads and left calf 2-3 laps in. Lapped and pulled with 1 lap left, and most importantly, didn’t get last (42/46)!

Caked.
Cooked.
Triple cooked.
Toast.
Andrew Reimann of CXMagazine.com interviewing Emma White (Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com), after winning Women’s 17-18 Championship.
Women hugged a lot more than men.
Hugs all around!
Splattered.
“Oh shoot, I just remembered I won’t have a shower before the plane ride!” Oregon Junior cyclists!
KFC: Katie Fn Compton (Trek Factory Racing) warming up on the rollers!!!!! 11 consecutive US National Championships!!!
Jeremy Powers’ (Rapha-Focus) Stars & Stripes bike.
Keeping Austin Weird.
JPow profile before heading out for pre-ride.
JPow seems excited. He has very nice teeth.
This is what the butt of a 3x US Men’s National Cyclocross Champion looks like. #goals
Cody “The Kid” Kaiser (LangeTwins/Specialized) warming up at the stripped down Specialized trailer tent.
KFC after a steep, punchy runup.
Getting ready to remount in a moment.
Chasing KFC.
Chasing KFC.
Creeper shot.
KFC FTW! Was anyone really surprised?
Rachel Lloyd (California Giant Cycling) took 3rd in the Women’s Elite race.
Kaitlin Antonneau (Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com) came in 2nd in the Women’s Elite. At age 23, she’ll be part of the squad representing the US in the Cyclocross World Championships in Tabor, Czech Republic!
Katie has struggled with her asthma at World Cup races this season, but not today!
Interviewed.
Smiles.
Ellen Noble (JAM Fund/NCC) is all smiles, winning the Women’s U23 division.
Someone give Daniel (www.manualforspeed.com) a Manual for Smiles! (Nice to meet you dude)
Hugs for everyone!
It’s not a good fight without a little blood.
KFC profile.
KFC’s support, aka Mr. Katie Compton (I think).
Jeremy Powers dismounts American-style.
#codyranit
Tristan Uhl
Jonathan Page (XcelLED/Fuji) chases Powers. He came in 2nd.
JPow dropping the hammer.
Chasing.
Using the course to his advantage.
Focused
More JPow
Page seemed very disappointed with 2nd. If it wasn’t for an early flat out of the pits, it would’ve been a battle royale between these two.
I’d be smiling if I won the National Championship too!
I can’t believe I got this close without an official media credential vest.
Celebratory hug.
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More Faces of Cross

Here’s the last gallery of immediate post-race portraits I shot. Included are racers from every race on Sunday Monday: Men’s Junior divisions (15-16, 17-18), Women’s Junior divisions (15-16, 17-18), Men’s & Women’s U23, and Men’s & Women’s Elite races!

I truly enjoyed grabbing these portraits. Approaching each racer, even having a little small talk with a few, really made the event a bit more personal. The faces you see are the future of American CX racing, how cool is that? Again, if you know someone in these photos, please share with them!

One more gallery from Monday to be posted tomorrow.

Tallon Pemberton (787 Racing). This local Austinite rocks! He came out to play at Crash Nationals 2 the evening before!
Turner Ramsay! Pulled for the Women’s Jr 15-16 win.
Emma White (Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com), Women’s Jr 17-18 National Champion!
Cody Kaiser (LangeTwins/Specialized). IG: @thekidkaiser #coderodeit
Ellen Noble (JAM Fund/NCC). Women’s U23 National Champion, 6th overall in Women’s Elite/U23/Pro123, 7th in Women’s Collegiate Div 1 (UMass Amherst). @ellenlikesbikes
Britlee Bowman (House Industries-Richard Sachs).
T$A!
Georgia Gould (LUNA Chix Pro Team)! 4th in Women’s Elite. One of the top women’s MTB XC racers in the world!!
Cleaning up.

Masters of Cross

Friday hosted what I consider the “Young Masters” races, which consisted of 5-year age group races from 30-49 (Thursday, which I wasn’t in town for, was the “Old Masters” races, from 50-80+. Yes, there were 3 men racing in the 80+ category!). I didn’t make it out to Zilker in time for the Women’s races as I didn’t really know anyone in those. Enjoy!

Pit wash.
“Horny”
Rapha pop up shop.
Thru-axle.
Focus.
Waiting for call-ups.
Bama boys.
Bama boys.
Start line.
Waiting.
Lined up.
Off camber goodness.
Corner.
Niner.
Outside line.
Lean.
Train.
Rail grab.
KOLO.
Switchback.
Eyes ahead.
SORRY HERITAGE TREE
SORRY HERITAGE TREE
Gettin rad.
T$A
Bike Barn! Sorry Heritage tree.
Remount.
Chilleurs.
Dismount.
Mickey!
Congested.
Hup hup!
Limestone stairs.
Who doesn’t take free money?1
“Mickey will take it!”
’til the next day.

Photographers of Cross

“Hey, photographers need their photographs taken too, right?!”

CXNatsPhotogs-1170

Inspired by Manual For Speed, this was just one of several ideas which I wish I had thought of earlier in the week, but was nonetheless happy with what I got. During the final delayed day of racing at the USAC Cyclocross National Championships, I literally ran around Zilker Park hunting down all the photographers I could find wearing the bright yellow USAC photographer credential vests.

We “Like” and share so many pictures these days, and we see shots of athletes doing cool things all the time…but rarely do we ever get to see the eyes and faces behind the thousand(s) dollar pieces of glass capturing these moments. This is for all the photographers out there to say “thanks for what you’re doing!”

Extra kudos to Andrew Yee (Photographer #40), founder of Cyclocross Magazine below for snapping a pic of me in return! And #34 said it best when he said “Now the real challenge will be to find out where everyone is posting their photos.”

If you see yourself below, take it and use it for personal (non-profit) use. Then shoot me an e-mail at kuotient[at]gmail just to let me know who you are! Thanks.

Andrew Yee. http://www.cxmagazine.com
Brian Nelson. http://www.541images.com
Jim Hicks. http://jahicks.zenfolio.com/
Dejan Smaic. http://www.sportifimages.com
Andy Davidhazy. http://www.ThereGoesMyBus.com
Roxanne King. http://www.flickr.com/photos/rmkcycling
Heather Schramm. http://www.facebook.com/AustinVividPhotography
Dave McElwaine
Molly Hurford. http://www.mollyhurford.com

Crash Nationals 2

Sunday started off a sad day for cycling. In the morning the Austin Parks & Rec department cancelled the last day of CX Nationals. There are a million things to say about that and the reasons for cancellation, and I’ll just say I respect and empathize with multiple sides of the argument. It was a huge bummer overall — many juniors, U23, and Elite racers flew across the country (some even from Belgium) for this race.

Thankfully USAC and Austin Parks Dept were able to compromise and postpone the race to today rather than canceling it outright! How much Lance (whom I met Friday night) had a part in it is unknown, but it’s great to see his support for the race no matter how notorious many feel he is:

With the schedule change, everyone invested in the race either had to go back home and give up their dream of winning the championship this year or dish out a lot more money for another night at a hotel, meals, changed flights, and possibly even miss school/work. That’ll put a lot of financial stress (and regular stress) on anybody. Through the chaos, it was cool to see how the cycling community came together:

  1. Tim Johnson, pro CX racer for Cannondale, provided dinner for Junior/U23 racers and their families.

  2. Lance offered multiple housing units to racers in need of a place to stay.

  3. John “Prolly” Watson quickly organized another night of CRASH NATIONALS!!

John is all about promoting positivity in cycling. He wasn’t going to let the community succumb to the somber mood of the ‘Cross Nationals drama! “Crash Nationals” is a fun, unsanctioned race on a singletrack course that was pretty much dry in Roy G. Guerrero Colorado River Metropolitan Park (phew that’s a long name) that was first held on Thursday night. Check out the gallery below to get a glimpse at what Crash Nationals was all about!

 

Precisely adjusting the air pressure for the race.
Crash Nationals 2
T$A!
T$A!
Gotta stay hydrated.
“Creek” crossing.
“EVERYBODY SIT DOWN”
“GO!”
Now this is a run-up.
Fixing the Radaphone.
Perspective.
Crash Nationals 2
Crash Nationals 2
Even the sponsored guys came out to play!
You won’t find these barriers at a USAC race!
Crash Nationals 2
Crash Nationals 2
Ouch!
Crash Nationals 2
Crash Nationals 2
Crash Nationals 2
#partybrand
#btccycling in full stride. #partybrand
Crash Nationals 2
BRAAAAP.
Crash Nationals 2
Crash Nationals 2
“BIKE THIEF!”
Crash Nationals 2
Crash Nationals 2
BRAAAP.
Road bike off-road.
Crash Nationals 2
Crash Nationals 2
STRAVAAAAA
Crash Nationals 2
Crash Nationals 2
Crash Nationals 2
Crash Nationals 2
Crash Nationals 2
Crash Nationals 2
Up is for HAND UPS.
Free money!
Fried chicken in one hand, bike in the other…this was the only sensible choice.
Race what ya got!
Hi Gid.
Gettin’ paid means you’re PRO.
New ‘cross technique on display here!
T$A!
PDX in the ATX.
Vanilla.
Gotta stay hydrated.
It was all smiles tonight. Great job by John, BTC Cycling, Team $uper Awesome, Team Yacht Club, and everyone else for making this such a great night!

Faces of Cross

This week was a perfect example of Texas weather in a nutshell: beautiful sunny skies in the 60s on Tuesday, with a dry hardpack course on Wednesday, to near freezing temperatures with rain over the weekend. With all the rain, the course conditions took a turn for the worst. In other words, we had quintessential cyclocross conditions (mud on mud on mud) on Saturday, with more rain expected Sunday morning (in fact it’s pouring outside in North Austin as I type) — just in time for the Elite racers to show off their mud-slinging skills in the afternoon!

While I was course marshaling for a bit yesterday, I watched the kids and collegiate women race in muddy splendor. It was then I realized these faces would make for great portraits! Unfortunately, I only thought of this after all the ladies had raced (sorry ladies!). I’m quite bummed I didn’t think of it earlier, because I love to show and promote the women’s side of cycling! Many of those girls racing yesterday could’ve easily kicked my butt in a race.

Anyway, without further ado, here are some of the faces of cyclocross, with all their mud, sweat, tears, blood…and snot! Click any photo to enlarge.

(If you see yourself in one of these photos and want a full-res copy, email me at kuotient[at]gmail. Also if you see someone you know in here, please share with them!)

The “Muddy Buddies”

2015 USA Cyclocross National Championships // Day 1 – 1.7.2015

My shots from Day 1 of the USAC Cyclocross National Championships! Click on any photo to enlarge and start a slideshow.

Welcome to Zilker Park.
Venture Expeditions! Benefit the world, discover your soul.
Long limestone stairs
Coming down the hill with speed
Double oops!
Attack it!
Digging deep into the pain cave.
Not enough hurt on her face for CX!
Dismount for the short limestone stairs
Ten Speed Hero remount
Enter wide, hit the apex, exit wide. #cornering
And here they go! Men’s SS Championship race
Leeeeaaaaaaaaannnn
He dominated the Men’s SS field!
Tristan Uhl pushin it
Tire pressure!
This is going to be a mess for the Elite race!
Hometown hero Tristan Uhl putting his head and the hammer down on the final sprint. He finished 4th!

Sayonara, 2014!

Of course I start AFTER the year is over to start reflecting back at what happened in my life in 2014!

January – Snowboarding in Colorado.

February – Did my first duathlon. Bought my first mountain bike.

March – I finally shaved after extending “No Shave November” for 4 extra months. Interviewed at San Jacinto College for the Physical Therapist Assistant program.

April – Furbypoo wedding. Drove to Austin to see friends cross the MS150 finish line.

May – Got accepted into the San Jacinto PTA program. Placed 8th in my first mountain bike race, the Big Ring Challenge. Set a new bowling PR of 256. My nephew Gabriel visits Houston for the first time. Got out of the Houston Escape Room with IHOS crew and bro-in-law. Started this blog.

June – Flew with my dad to Taiwan for less than a week for grandma’s funeral. Camped and mountain biked in the hill country with Eric.

July – My mom was diagnosed with oral cancer. Went back to TAF (Taiwanese American Foundation) for the first time in 9 years as a JH counselor.

August – My sister had twins. Started PTA school.

September – Craig & Ellen hosted an engagement party on a boat on my birthday. I turned 26.

October – Placed 2nd in my second duathlon. Attended TPTA’s annual Student Conclave in Galveston Mom had surgery to remove cancer from her tongue. Finished my first (and last??) marathon at the Marine Corps Marathon in DC.

November – Bought my second bike of the year, a cyclocross bike. Raced Give Me Some Sugar CX. Watched Dwight Howard’s documentary and met Daryl Morey, Rockets GM. Finally experienced Killen’s BBQ. Completed the Texas Bridge Series (10K, 10K, 13.1) to conclude my running career for the foreseeable future. Relient K concert. Raced in the Terra X cyclocross race, then attended the Ong wedding that evening. Volunteered and raced in the “Houston Cyclocross Challenge” the following day, then attended the Lee wedding that evening.

December – Finally got my first raise at work. Finished first semester of PTA school. Won a pair of $400 cycling shoes. Mom finished all her cancer treatments at MD Anderson Cancer Center on Christmas Eve.

Kudos to Facebook/Instagram for helping me remember my life. You could say 2014 was quite eventful for me! October-November was one of the craziest time periods ever. What do I have look forward to in 2015?

  • Cyclocross National Championships are in a week in Austin, and I’ll be racing in a non-champ race plus possibly the Industry race! This year I hope to ride and race A LOT more by entering several mountain bike races, trying some crit racing on the road, and placing top 50% in all my CX races next winter. I sacrificed a lot of riding by training for the marathon, but no more!
  • I’ll have my first 5-week PTA clinical at the end of summer! Excited for that.
  • A deep playoff run for the Rockets? Crossing my fingers.
  • My mom will be declared cancer-free. IT’S GOING TO HAPPEN.

Here’s to a great new year to come!