Cross is here

  This weekend was our very first cross race of the season, and even tho it was more of a “fun race” it still was nice to see J back in his element. The race was at Bent Creek Park in Asheville, NC and held by Asheville CX, they are awesome and only do 3 races so if you ever get a chance check them out.  The course was more of a MTB course with the normal CX pavement, stairs and for the Men’s A race they even put a barrier up. J placed 2nd and the guys in 1st and 3rd were both on mountain bikes. The wooded section was pretty gnarly, but J still had a blast!
  There is so much about CX that we love. It’s such a laid back atmosphere and everyone is so friendly. For example, start of Masters 35+ race some guy walks up to me and says "Hey you look trustworthy, can you hold my Oakley sunglasses and water bottle?” Well of course! Haha, good thing I am trustworthy. It’s just nice that everyone is so comfortable at cx races. One thing that stuck out to me is the whole day the announcer kept saying, “It’s not about getting on the podium, CX is about racing against the guy behind you or directly in front of you” The race within the race.

  Our calendar is for the most part completed and we have a lot of traveling to do this season. J is now in the Elite 17-18 Men’s and will be chasing UCI points. 3 big races will be part of his road to Euro Cross Camp. Providence CX Festival in Rhode Island, Cincy3 in Cincinnati, OH which also includes the Pan American Continental Championship, and Derby City Cup in Louisville, KY. Those are just a few of the BIGGER races and we are so excited to travel to Providence this year. It will be a new venue and is a huge festival. With that all being said, I am going to be doing a few fundraisers to raise money for the CX Season and all of our travels. Currently I am working on a bike wash at Reedy Creek Bicycles, T-shirt order and possibly a few other things. Stay tuned for all the opportunities to donate! If you have any great ideas to raise some funds please shoot me an email at momofacyclist@gmail.com
 
 

Cross is Coming!

  Even though it is just August, we have had Cyclo-cross on the brain for at least a month. Jordan attended Geoff Proctor's CX Devo Camp a few weeks ago and we just got back from KindHuman/Cycle-Smart CX Camp. Needless to say, cross is coming... at least in our household.

  We have had a few changes in preparation for CX Season. First off, Jordan has a new team and a new coach. Opportunity arises and he has moved on to a more cross focused team and we couldn't be more excited. We love our AYC family and of course we will still see everyone at the races and Jordan still keeps up with his buddies, but we are so excited to announce that Jordan will be racing for the Cycle-Smart Elite Team this year for cross and his new coach is Adam Myerson. If you know CX, then you know the name Adam Myerson. If not google him. He's the dude from Boston with all the tats and piercings. While that may shy people away from him, he most definitely knows his CX. The thing that draws you most to Adam is the fact that he has been racing since 1987, not that I want to touch on his age but he definitely knows what it's like to race as a Junior. So this year look for the baby blue and white! It's going to be a great season.

  I want to touch base on both camps Jordan attended. This is his second year he was chosen to attend the Talent ID CX Development Camp in Montana hosted by Geoff Proctor. It's like Christmas for this kid when he gets to hang out with his cycling buddies for an entire week. It's great that they have the opportunity to come from all over the United States and just hang out and ride bikes. They brush up on skills and have some class time to study European Racing. Big Fun! Here are a few photos from that, courtesy of Tom Robertson and Geoff Proctor.

  Next up, Kind Human/Cycle-Smart CX Camp South. I actually got to attend this one. I made good use of my “free time” and took tons of photos and I had an absolute blast! Not only did Jordan get to hang out with his coach and teamies all weekend but we got to meet an amazing group of people who race cross, want to race cross for the first time or just wanted to brush up on their cross skills.

  We had the pleasure to meet the Humans behind Kind Human Sports. Not everyday do you get to meet the great minds behind those sweet bikes Adam Myerson and Jacob Fetty get to ride this season. Great guys with a great vision for cycling. I can’t wait to see their great company grow! We stayed at the Magnolia Ridge Farm and it was so cool. A huge farmhouse with our very own Sep, who cooked us up some yummy meals and made sure we had everything we needed. Can you say summer camp? Ton’s of fun and lots of knowledge about CX. Here are a few pics that I took.

For more photos check out my Facebook page. Mom of a Cyclist!
  Our race season is creeping up on us so stay tuned for more updates!

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE!

Just kidding, that title is a little misleading. Not much going on for us right now. J-man raced a few road races at the beginning of the season and on a Mountain bike ride with his dad tore a ligament in his thumb and managed to scab up his entire body head to toe. So he has had some lovely hardware on his hand for about 2 months now. Of all the ligaments in his thumb to tear this was the mack daddy so he has just a few more weeks in a brace just to be safe.  Just in time for him to board a plane and head to Helena, Montana for his second year of CX Development Camp led by Geoff Proctor.

Jordan has been able to be a teenager this summer and enjoy having fun, which I think is pretty important. Don’t be fooled tho, just because he’s not been racing doesn’t mean he’s not been training. He’s gearing up for a fantastic cx season and we have some major great things going on this year. I will share the goodness soon enough!
 Stay tuned, hopefully I will get at least a phone call or 2 while he is in Montana so I can know what crazy fun he is having!

CX Nats and 2013 Season Wrap-up

Yes, it’s March and Yes I haven’t blogged since October! Life has been moving right along.
This season is over and we are already thinking of next season. Jordan had an amazing season and we all have learned so much to prepare ourselves for his bump up to 17-18 Elite Jr.
 We made the trip to Boulder, CO for CX Nationals and he came home with some hardware. Bronze! He fought hard for his 3rd place and won the sprint at the very last second.

Sorry for the blurry pic but I was jumping up and down so much I didn’t get a good one.

Top 5 15-16 year olds in the Nation

Spencer did amazing with Gold, Gage with Silver and J with Bronze
3 of the hardest working boys out there

 We have never been to Colorado and it was so gorgeous. We got to enjoy it while we were there and check out the scenery and Jman and Jimmy even went Snowboarding at Copper.

The food… oh my the food we ate! Everything was so yummy and fresh. Thank you Boulder, CO for being so good to us. We will visit again for sure.
Our local newspaper did a really neat article on Jordan
http://johnsoncitypress.com/article/114085/lewis-ranks-among-nations-best#sthash.sUkkhWEi.cmfs

Big thanks to everyone who has supported Jordan. We are surrounded by some amazing people!