Team Meeting Wednesday 3/14/2012 at the Bikeshop and a Cedar Cross Update

Well folks, it would appear that all the puzzle pieces are falling into place. The venue is secured, the Surly Cross-Check frame is paid off and the course has long been finalized. I'm feeling pretty confident this event is gonna be smooth-sailing.

Should you find yourself in the Jeff City area on Saturday and you'd like to do a short adventure race, check out the Capital City Adventure Race. The people who put this race together are responsible for giving us FREE access to our START/FINISH line.

Every race needs a cool logo, but paying someone to create one can be very costly. Lucky for us, Dean Eichler, (confirmed rider), has volunteered his time to create this kickass logo:

Anyone who doesn't love this logo is obviously some kind of whack-job.  T-shirts are definitely gonna happen, so let me know if you wanna buy one. BIG thanks to Dean for all his work. This is a kickass logo.

In course-related news, I'm pleased to finally announce that we'll be riding past  the Callaway County Nuclear plant. Be excited.

Look closely and you'll see the gravel road going behind the reactor

I honestly don't know how to make this course any more badass. We've got gravel, forgotten singletrack, untold quantites of schwag and a nuclear reactor. The only thing missing is a bacon hand-up station, and I'm pretty sure we can fix that.

This won't just be a race, it's gonna be an adventure.

As you prepare for this event, I want you to keep a few things in mind. For one, the course will not be 100 miles....it's gonna be more like 113.  I tried every route configuration I could think of, but there was just no way to shorten it to an even 100 without using more pavement or cutting out the fun parts. I know most of us are racing Dirty Kanza in June, so the added mileage should be no problem. In fact, you're welcome.

Also, the singletrack portions of the course are accessible to horses, which makes them vulnerable to complete and total destruction from horses. I'll do everything I can to prep these areas in the days leading up to the race, but I can't guarantee you won't see a bit of this:

Trust me, noone is more frustrated with this than I am. You don't even want to know how much time I've spent clearing these trails only to see them  ruined all over again. I swear, it's like a bunch of equestrians got together and had a "F*ck You Bob Jenkins" parade on the Cedar Creek Trail.

                               I'm definitely feelin' some rage out here.

On the other hand, every decent cyclocross course has at least one mud-pit, so maybe this is how it's meant to be. The good news is that the singletrack sections are short and well within the first 50 miles. So, your legs will still be fresh if you find yourself knee-deep in mud and horseshit.

I'm sure you noticed I haven't been doing a very good job updating the list of confirmed riders lately. Sorry about that, I've been kinda busy planning the race and having anxiety attacks about someone being disappointed with the course.

As I've said, the course is finalized. Should there be enough rainfall to keep us off the singletrack, an alternative course without singletrack has also been finalized. We are ready to go.

Every effort will be made to ensure we have a great time out here, and I'll be posting updates as they become necessary. As always, don't feel shy about emailing me with any questions you have about the race.

I'm really looking forward to meeting all of you on May 6th. This is gonna be an awesome time.

Comments

[Corey]

OMG! OMG! OMG!

can't wait...