Bay Area Super Prestige "Perfect Attendance"

Some very special awards to those who have raced the entire series

You pick the adjective, "Hardy, Stalwart, Enthusiastic, Resolute, Devoted, Steadfast" they all mean somebody has raced all 5 events in the 2006 Bay Area Super Prestige Cyclocross Series, presented by Accelerade. And our "Perfect Attendance" awards have arrived in the nick of time and will be distributed at Sunday's finale at CCCP and District 'Cross Championships. We have 155 riders who have completed Rounds 1-4 who are eligible and will make history!

Just to clarify, riders qualify for "Perfect Attendance" at registration, even if you had mechanicals or physical ailments that prevented you from finishing. 5 times entered means you have achieved "Perfect Attendance" even if your name doesn;t show on the results. We'll have your awards at our Merchandise Tent - show your race number to the Pilarcitos ladies and you'll walk away with "Perfect Attendance".

And Series winners have just had something new added to their presentations - Super-sized Commemorative Cooky medals from "Cookies by Design" - get those cameras loaded up! We'll have all podium photos displayed on the Roaring Mouse home website for your examination.

See you sunday,

Tom & Alec, Pilarcitos Cyclesports
Meeksa, Mookska, Mousekateers from Roaring Mice!

District Championships/Pilarcitos BASP Finals Sunday at CCCP

Pilarcitos CycleSports
732 Fairfield Road
Burlingame, CA 94010
info@pilarcitos.com
(650) 302-6310

Coyote Point Recreation Area in San Mateo will again host the finale of the Bay Area Super Prestige Cyclocross Series, presented by Accelerade as riders will get a handsome taste of sand and maybe even sea weed! Winter high tides means the edge of the 80 yard long beach obstacle will be right on San Francisco Bay when the "Ritchey Walk-on- the-Beach" greets riders at the halfway point of each lap.

Season standings can be found on the Pilarcitos results link at
http://www.pilarcitos.com/results/CrossResults/2006/BASPS2006_GC.html
and the description of the traditional Pilarcitos points in the series can be found at this link describing the finale and the augmented points available for this 5th and final round - not quite double points for the finale but a big enough bump for lots of drama.

http://www.pilarcitos.com/results/CrossResults/2006/GC_points.htm

Coyote Point (CCCP) will also function as Northern California/Nevada's District Championship race where our 2006 Champs will be crowned. The same BASPS schedule from Rounds 1-4 will be used for all categories.

Riders will be competing for both Series finale positions and the accompanying prizelists but also 2006 NCNCA medals. Medals will be presented to the top 3 in the following categories recognized by USA Cycling

Elite Men "A"
Elite Women "A"
Juniors
Men Masters 35+ "A"
Men Masters 45+ "A"
Men Masters 55+
Women Masters 35+
Women Masters 45+
Women Masters 55+
Single Speed

Our BASP Series Category "B" and "C" races, while not eligible for District medals, can console themselves with their top prizes in the series that will be awarded during the day after a season that started with dry and dusty Hellyer Park 2 months ago.

Our 2005 Champions will be introduced at the starting grid first, followed by the Top-10 in BASP Series points with award ceremonies all day long featuring Top 3 NCNCA medalists, then CCCP podium positions for BASPS Round 5 and the final series awards presented featuring unique Sheila Moon commemorative prizes.

Coyote point has plenty of parking, flush toilets! and even exterior showers to hose down messy bikes because we could still see some winter weather by this weekend. And by Winter we mean cold and potential frost for the early morning races. When the frost melts we could have some Coyote Point goo up in the Eucalyptus forests. We'll present both the Accelerade and Bianchi double Barricade sections with another attempt at providing a Hop-able single Summit Bikes barricade - at a softer landing area than Golden Gate Park.

And please remember that Coyote Point, like many of our California Recreation areas with severely impacted budgets, charges $5/car entry that is independant of BASPS entry fees. And San Mateo County voters turned down the most recent bond issues for parks, sigh.....

The course will be ready for pre-rides saturday about 3:00 pm and we'll see you bright and early sunday morning - the coffee will be on! And about that Russian music? You'll get to like it by day's end, I always do. It makes a great podium presentation.


Tom & Alec - Pilarcitos Cyclesports
Thousands of Mice, Roaring Mice, that is

Sacramento Cyclocross finals changes date and location

Sacramento Cyclocross finals changes date and location: Now at Sutter’s Landing Park on Dec. 9.

The Granite Regional Park venue has been nixed by a developer who holds a piece of the land there. However, the City of Sacramento Parks Dept. has been very accommodating, and we have come up with a new location. Due to the change, we are moving the race one week later, to Saturday December 9.

The new location, Sutter’s Landing Park, will give us a gritty, urban feel, within view of the skyline of downtown Sacramento. The park is located at the north end of 28th St, past C St, in midtown Sacramento, just a few blocks from Business 80 Freeway. The course, which will be long, will feature a lot of gravel road, some turns up and down the levee and around some trees next to the Sacramento River, and a circle at the far end at the “elderberries”. The start/finish area is adjacent to a covered skateboard park, and we’ll be able to use the skate park building for our registration and prize distribution.

This will still be a fund raiser for the McClatchy High School track team.

CCCX #3 Sunday Nov. 26

From Dusty Downs:

Central Coast Cyclocross This Sunday Nov. 26 At Manzanita Park

Happy Thanksgiving to all, the Central Coast Cyclocross series is hosting its race #3 this Sunday Nov. 26th at Manzanita Park in Prunedale. This gives everyone a chance to race off their Thanksgiving feasts and have some fun at this great Cyclocross venue. The course will be similar to race #1 that was held this Sept., but there will be some new editions to test your fitness and Cross skills. The course will be a little longer then previous routes and a new run up will be added. The weather forecast, according to Tom Simpson's and Dave Carr's National Weather Service web page calls for possible precipitation on Sunday. This could be a real Thanksgiving treat if weather becomes a issue and the course gets a little damp! Please go to cccx.org for all race information.

The CCCX series has used Manzanita Park for Cross races since 1997, and the NCNCA Districts for Cyclocross have also been held there in 2000. Here is a list of top finishers at those NCNCA District Championships back in 2000-

Gold Silver Bronze
Category A Men Ben Jacques-Maynes Andy Jacques-Maynes Justin Robinson
Espoir Men Jackson Stewart Devon Vigus Jay Whalen
Junior Men Skyler Bishop John Hyeglund Frank Shonig
Category A Women Christine Vardaros Shelly Whisenhant Sarah Kerlin
Category B Women* Melanie Dominguez Karen Nordstrom Sarah Bamberger
Master Women 35-44 Linda Elgart Marguerite Meyer Sheila Moon
Master Women 45+ Jenny Frayer
Junior Women Alyson Lowery
Master Men 35-44 Pat Schott Jeff Caton Rob Meighan
Master Men 45-54 John Elgart Henry Kramer Tom Regan
Master Men 55+ Gary Noe Mike McDonald
Category B Men* Simon Vickers Dean Dealy Robert Barber
Category C Men* Steve Hatter John Fuentes Steve Cartwright


It is nice to see many of the names listed still racing so well! Take note that The Jacques-Maynes were just coming into power control of the affairs in the A fields. Now both Ben and Andy are national figures on the Elite USA circuit for Cyclocross. Jackson Stewart was the Espoirs Champion, and this season won a NRC ranked Road event. Sarah Kerlin was 3rd in the A Women, and she was the winner at the first race at Manzanita Park this year. Simon Vickers was the B men winner, and now is one of the top Elite Men riders. And take a look....... John Elgart put it to Henry Kramer relegating him to 2nd in the 45+ division. Henry Kramer just finished off a incredible weekend of racing in the Northwest and has developed into one of the top 50+ Master racers in the world! I count four individuals on this list who went on to claim National Titles for Cyclocross in their respected age group.

The CCCX promoters hope the NorCal Cyclocross racers take advantage of the opportunity to compete at this event, and we wish a safe and happy Holiday season to everyone!

See you at the races, and good luck to all at the District Championships held next weekend at Coyote Point in San Mateo!

Central Coast Cyclocross Site

UPDATED Pilarcitos BASP in Golden Gate Park Sunday

Addendum to previous PR (Below)
We've got 3 items for news today

#1 - Dust in the Park - that was so 2005 - we confidently predict that there will be no airborne dust particles found this sunday at Round 4 of the Bay Area Super Prestige CycloCross series, presented by Accelerade - the park should be in magnificent condition! When we're setting the course tomorrow we'll be looking for the most challenging new spots as well as returning to our old favorites but if you love dust you're gonna be sorely disappointed - there's not a speck left after this week.

#2 - Parking in the Park. For early arrivals there is space for approx. 100 vehicles near the entrance to the Polo Grounds and bathrooms (and we've augmented the Park facilities with Porta-potties) plus 2 other nearby roads have good on-street spaces - see the attached link for them:
http://www.parks.sfgov.org/site/recpark_page.asp?id=25945

Martin Luther King Drive is just outside the Polo Grounds and while some portions are pretty narrow and allow parking on just 1 side, a short walk gets you plenty more good space. Also consider the eastern entrance to "West Middle Drive" - that's the road that is our Start/Finish line and there are another 100 spots in that section -
you enter from the "Transverse" direction. We'll have 3 Park Rangers on duty for the day and 1 of them will be handling parking situations - please give them your utmost cooperation.

#3 - Team tents and drop-off location. This isn't 2005 UCI event - we've got a great space reserved for Team Tents that's directly behind the Accelerade Start Zone. We've got a drop-off location next to it at the intersection of Metson and West Middle Drive and that's only 50 yards from the Start Zone. No charge, no fee, just drop off
your gear and find a legal spot for your car and set up those trainers.

See you sunday,

Tom & Alec - Pilarcitos Cyclesports
Millions and Millions of Roaring Mice (what do you think - do Mice
like Goat cheese?)

---

PREVIOUS PR:

Pilarcitos CycleSports
732 Fairfield Road
Burlingame, CA 94010
info@pilarcitos.com
(650) 302-6310

We've been following Dave Carr's weather suggestion and have been keeping our eyes on NOAA - and they say a little moisture maybe tonight/tomorrow but the weekend looks dry - until sunday night when we're cleaning up after Round 4 of the BASPCS - presented by Accelerade.

Here's Dave's link for weather - you could look it up!

This year's Golden Gate Park course will return to more of the 2004 version that took place on Middle Drive West and the forest behind Metson Lake. We're scratching the Polo Field track and opening forest section from last year's USGP to avoid impact on 1 segment and hopefully be able to use that section in the future if/when we resume UCI events. We're meeting tomorrow morning with Groundskeeper head honcho, Park Ranger and Park/Rec staff to confirm our available territory and think we're going to be able to achieve a 6 minute lap. Sorry, mud puppies but there won't be any mud, GG Park drains very well and if we've got some special sections, they'll be sandy. But hey! we've always got planks and do plan for 1 "Hop-able" barricade, complete with plenty of approach. If you're good enough to hop you've earned the advantage.

For those riders who have raced all of the first 3 events - we've got your "Accelerade Perfect Attendance" awards arriving soon. From season standings at
http://www.pilarcitos.com/results/CrossResults/2006/BASPS2006_GC.html over 165 riders are eligible for that commemorative prize if they complete GG Park and season-ending CCCP rounds. You'll love 'em.

Cat "A" Men's prize pot is currently at $1,230 after the first 3 events and if we get 2 more fields around 40 riders they could hit the $2,000 mark and that will mean $400 to the winner of the series. Check here for details.
Women's Cat "A" prize pot is just under $400 with 2 more events to grow and your prize distribution is on the same web page.

And for those interested in the Biggest Race of the year, Northwest Airlines has a flight leaving SFO for Amsterdam on thursday, January 25th at 3:20 pm. It arrives on friday morning at Schipol, you rent a car, then drive towards Hooglede and walk the Worlds course. Northwest price, round trip, is $675.00, figure $300 for hotels, $200 for a car, $200 for food (fud) and you leave monday morning from Schipol and get to SFO monday afternoon, ready to go back to work tuesday. World's Weekend! and properly Belgian-ized.

Of course, that doesn't include the gazillions of Euros you'll spend on souvenirs - more coffee cups, pencils, t-shirts and backpacks with Worlds logos - gotta have 'em! But is makes a special weekend for 'cross aficianadoes - put that on your Xmas list. They're nearly as good as Bay Area Super Prestige goodies - and we've just added Sheila Moon wool caps and beanies!

See you in the Park

Tom & Alec - Pilarcitos Cyclesports
Thousands of Mice, Roaring Mice, that is

Bay Area Super Prestige #3 - "Homage to Hitchcock"

Pilarcitos CycleSports
732 Fairfield Road
Burlingame, CA 94010
info@pilarcitos.com
(650) 302-6310

Don't think "Birds" or "Psycho" for Sunday's Round 3 of the Bay Area Super Prestige Cyclocross Series, presented by Accelerade. One of the masters early classic thrillers, "The 39 Steps" will be the inspiration for one of McLaren Park's signature elements.

A brand new venue, just up the street from the Cow Palace, McLaren Park and it's neighbor, Crocker-Amazon Playgrounds, are a perfect combination for 'cross - C-A's flat sections underneath lofty pines mated with hilly McLaren Park's challenging gradients. There will be a couple of plank barricade sections (we are grade A #1 "Plankists", afterall) in Crocker-Amazon where, for the first time in Pilarcitos history, grass fields will form a small part of the circuit. We'll see if the budget for potential turf renovation can be controlled. McLaren Park will also feature a natural log barricade and for good measure, we've got about 250 yards of pavement under the Finish arch. And those steps? You count 'em - either "Stairway to Heaven" or the "Portal to Perdition" - they launch everyone into the wild blue yonder of McLaren's fields.

We've had enough rain this week to eliminate the dust - but McLaren will still have a few hard spots. Tom Simonson is back from USAC meetings in Colorado and will be posting Series points totals as we reach the midpoint of this seasons competition. And Paule Bates has determined the sort-of-perpetual "Roaring Mouse Team Competie" trophy - and it's going to be Belgian. He'll be happy to tell you about it.

We've got 2 large parking lots for the race - one is on Geneva (look for the big red Pilarcitos trailer) and the other is just off Moscow inside Crocker-Amazon playgrounds.

See you sunday

Tom & Alec
Pilarcitos Cyclesports

Tom Simpson
Pilarcitos Cyclesports
732 Fairfield Road
Burlingame, CA 94010
tom@pilarcitos.com
(650) 302-6310 cell