Don’t miss Spooky Cross Night Race coming Saturday, 10.24 to Irvine, CA

Bring your favorite costume and be prepared for the time of your life! Music, Halloween madness, costumes and beer will be the call as the 2009-10 Southern California Prestige Series of Cyclocross presented by Shimano brings you Spooky Cross Night Race hosted by Rock N Road Cyclery on Saturday, October 24th in Irvine, CA.

This is sure to be an unforgettable event filled with Halloween-themed festivities beginning with Juniors and Youth cyclocross racing at 2:30pm. Spooky sounds begin to fill the air. At 3:15pm, the kids will get the chance to show off their costumes with the Clif Kids Costume Race! The schedule continues with Prestige Series racing culminating with live music by the Rims and more, food and beer and elite cyclocross racing at dusk and into the night.

In between pumpkin carving contest nominees will become illuminated Jack-o-lantern barriers and will put racers to the test on the Spooky Costume Race course – starting out with a celebration lap for everyone to show off their Halloween garb. Team Duke hosts the Spooky Costume Relay Race – 2 or 4 person teams to benefit the John Wayne Cancer Foundation. Prizes awarded to top men, women, co-ed and best costume podium.

The Halloween themed course is a mix of pavement and dirt and grass. The racers will head out on with a full-out sprint taking racers out of the field and onto the Planet Bike Hill of Fame sending racers up and down then into a steep run up and back onto the infield heading through the Ellsworth Tunnel. Racers will charge around the Sock Guy go cart track and onto the Moots Gucci off-camber dirt bank before heading over to the H2O Overdrive Stairs and back around the SoCalCross Expo and Shimano fast-track double barriers. This will take racers into the darkness of the Kool N Fit DJ Dead People Zone and immediately into the Fluid Sand Pit. Racers complete the loop and finish on pavement in the middle of the SoCalCross Expo and Beer Garden. Each lap is approx. 3.5km in length. Races are timed circuits on the course based on category.

The elite categories will race at dusk and night. Look for challengers for Elite Men’s Series Leader Brent Prenzlow (Celo Pacific) from the Gritters brothers – Brandon and Kyle of Rock N Road. MTB Champions Brian Lopes and Sid Taberlay are schedule to be in the line-up as well.

Save $$$, save time, pre-register on-line at: www.Sportsbaseonline.com Prestige Series discount passes available. Each time you pre-register, you will be automatically entered to win a Fuji CX frame and Fork! Online registration closes Thursday, October 21st at 9:00PM (Pacific). Race Day registration is available opens at 1:00pm and closes 20 minutes prior to each race category start. Demo.rental bikes are available for new riders to ‘cross. Reserve yours today. A beginner’s CX clinic will take place at 1:30pm by MTBChick.com.

GOOGLE MAP DIRECTIONS: 8800 Irvine Center Drive – Irvine, CA
MORE INFO AT: www.SoCalCross.org

ENTRY FEES: Pre-Registration entry fee is $25.00 for all CX categories except, Juniors (10-18 yrs) race Junior race for FREE with USA Cycling license, or purchase one-day license for $10. Juniors must pay regular entry fee for category races if NOT entering Junior race. Add $5.00 for Race Day Entry. Additional and fun race entries are just $5.00/per race after higher entry fee is paid.

A valid USA Cycling license is required for all race participants.

DIRECTIONS: HIDDEN VALLEY (Wild Rivers / Verizon Amphitheater)
From 405 freeway south: Exit Irvine Center Drive, go right. Make a right at Lion Country/Hubble signal (entrance to Pass through ticket booths, go left and continue to end of parking lot.
From 5 freeway: Exit Bake Parkway, go west. Turn right onto Irvine Center Drive. Make a left at Lion Country / Hubble (Wild Rivers/Irvine Meadows entrance) Pass through ticket booths, go left and continue to end of parking lot.

GOOGLE MAP DIRECTIONS: 8800 Irvine Center Drive – Irvine, CA

Join SoCalCross SCPS #6 and the return to Cross Fever’s classic course, fallen tree, loose mulch, roller coaster course – fast with a short steep run up and sand pit.

FREE beginner’s clinic, demo.rental bikes available.
Juniors and Youth race FREE! *with valid USA Cycling license.

Velo Swap Expo… bring your old parts and barter!!
Bike Polo!
Kids Bike Skills Zone
FREE Kids Racing

Race schedule and information: www.SoCalCross.org

Download .pdf

Well I just got back home after a long evening of kick ass riding with SocalCross.org and about 30 other die hard cyclist from all over SoCal. Today was the first event of September in a series of clinics and workshops building up to to kick off the cyclocross season.

Dorothy Wong a.k.a. “Dot” and her hubby Jeff Herring hosted the event along with the Simi Cycling Center staff.

The festivities kicked off at Simi Cycling Center around 5pm where Jeff a.k.a. “Mr. Fixit” started fitting people with their demo bikes and gear. Despite the grimace and scowl on Jeff’s face I can testify with certainty he’s one cool cucumber and a super nice guy!

The only thing better than a super nice guy, is a super nice guy who knows how to outfit you with a bike and send you on your way faster than when you came! After Señor Jeff finished outfitting everyone with demo bikes we all gathered in the parking lot for a little pep talk from Dorothy. After the group photo and shenanigans we were off to the races!

We all hopped on our bikes for a short 5 mile ride through the city to a local park in Simi. The ride from Simi Cycling Center to the park was interesting to say the least. You don’t see a lot of large cycling groups in Simi too often so there was a lot of rubber necking and rolling down of windows as the wild and wacky “cyclo-crazies” forged through the muggy concrete jungle! I swear I think I heard a few passers-by gasp for their breath as we weaved through the city, and it’s possible one baby in a stroller may have cried because of our thunderous roar!

Muah ah ah ah ahhh!

I was having a great time riding when not even 5 minutes into the ride I was thinking to myself I’ve got to get myself one of these cyclocross bikes! You see up to this point all I’ve ever ridden are mountain bikes and (I love mountain biking).

Nevertheless I found myself really digging the feel of my demo bike and there was this aura of confidence and über coolness that I hadn’t felt in a long time. I must admit however, like any “high” eventually I had to come back down to reality… it wasn’t long before my über coolness and new found confidence came crashing back down.

There I was cruising along minding my own coolness, I think at the time I was thinking to myself how cool I must look from a distance! That’s when I got showed up by this young buck probably all of 16 years old cruising along on his cell phone (probably talking to his high school sweet heart) not even breaking a sweat! LOL, actually now that I think about it, somebody called him with the wrong phone number!

Anyhoo, we all hauled tail up the incline to reach our final destination and the clinic got on it’s way.

It was Dorothy Wong assisted by my main man Larry who got the clinic going with a quick little tutorial on how to mount and dismount your cyclocross bike. Check out the video below, if it plays slow pause it and let it load completely before you play (sorry we’re working on getting a faster server)!

All in all the clinic was an overwhelming success and I learned that there’s a little cyclocross devil inside me just waiting to get out and tear it up!

After we finished up at the park we all rode back to Simi Cycling Center for a little R&R accompanied by lots of pizza, beer and product demos!

There was also a raffle drawing and thanks to the very generous Dot and Jeff, everyone won something. I happened to be the lucky recipient of a full bottle of “Kool ‘N Fit” an external conditioning fluid used for warming up and faster recovery time… yay me!

That just about did it for the night, be sure to check out the next SocalCross.org event. For a full listing of all the upcoming events go here.

Be sure to check out all the cool pictures below.

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If you’re hosting an event (women’s cycling) in SoCal and want the WCM crew on hand to cover your event be sure to email the details. It’s possible we might be in your neighborhood to cover your event.