Missed weekend

Sorry for the missed weekend. Being sick for weeks on end and finally trying to get out for a ride in November in +13 and sunny weather kinda threw me off. The ride was followed by club wind-up party at Tim and Arlene's so that ruined my Sunday. I got up to watch the Hamme-Zogge Superprestige though but that was only because Melissa kicked me and the little lady out of our bedroom. I was couching like a MoFo and little lady just had good time screaming on top of her lungs while wifey tried to have her beauty sleep. Good thing little lady likes to watch cyclocross.

Now we're heading to the weekend of MCA AGM so there will be lots of local cycling politics going on this week and after the Saturday, I will try to step back from all that. I don't mind giving back to cycling, but all the "official" wrestling is not for me, I'd rather stick with organizing races at least for now.

One exciting thing will take place at the AGM though and that is the participation series awards. The awards website can be found here. Over $6000 worth of prizes will be given out at the banquet so it should be good times. Sure the awards won't really challenge the WCW Club awards but I won't complain if I win one of the draw prices. Maybe there will be a prizes based on performance in future?

Next big race will be Koksijde World Cup on November 28th and Gieten Superprestige on November 29th. World Cup will be more difficult to find online, but I will do my best, but the Superprestige can be viewed following the links from Superprestige website. Apparently Superprestige is joining the UCI front with blocking the access to their races because the Hamme-Zogge Superprestige video on Vimeo is private and blocked. Well that didn't last long but I'm sure Nissan is very happy that the race organizer is limiting the visibility of their brand by blocking the little guys from showing their video material. Oh....they do use Vimeo to distribute their video...how funny is this?

Luckily Youtube supports event sponsors by allowing their brand to take advantage of viral marketing. I would assume that event organizers would offer this to their partners but that is beyond my knowledge of marketing I guess.

But Niels Albert might be struggling right now and Stybar and Nys might be striking back. Way to go guys.

Superprestige Asper-Gavere, Live

Another Superprestige coming up tomorrow at 14:30 CET. You can watch it live at Superprestige website. Unlike world cup races, that have been sold to the online cycling broadcaster whose name I shall not mention or to national TV stations, Superprestige understands that their partners want visibility and thus offer live video feed on their own website.

It was Asper-Gavere where Niels Albert crashed hard during the training session on the course. Asper-Gavere is a tough course with many technical sections. I'm certain that Sven Nys is hoping for rain that would make the course more technically demanding and help him get an advantage over Albert. Stybar will certainly be up there challenging the two belgians no matter what's the weather like. Stybar has been getting stronger and stronger during the early season and now it might be his turn to step on the top ladder.

Here's a quick preview of tomorrow's race.

SP Gavere from jef cleemput on Vimeo.

And me...I've been sick since monday and haven't really felt like updating my blog. I watched the Niel GVA race but I was in such a feverish state that I thought that Albert won the race. Sucks to be sick when it's +10 and sunny outside in November here in Manitoba...

Cyclocross World Cup #3, Nommay, France

Just a quick one this weekend. 5 month old little girl is getting sick and clearly uncomfortable and is vocally very clear about that. This in turn stresses her mom. Since the cat is freaking out already I have three distressed women in the house so my attention is distracted.

Niels Albert has won the two previous rounds of WC and Nys may have his chance to start his comeback in muddy Nommay. Last year it was Nys who was dominant until Nommay but it was Boom who took the victory in the mud. Stybar is again one of the favorites and at least I hope he would be gaining form with Nys. Battle between Albert, Nys and Stybar would be the better than any 'cross fan could hope for.

The Nommay WC live video should be found right here. If this doesn't work, I'm trying to be awake in time to find another link if this doesn't work.

And of course the live video is geo-restricted. I haven't been able to find a link that would work in Canada.

Here in MB we have the last cyclocross race of the year this sunday as well. Report of this race is coming later.

Manitoba Cyclocross Provincials

Yesterday there was also a big race in addition to Superprestige. That is Manitoba Cyclocross Provincials at the Woodhaven Park. The weather was nice and miserable, the course was nasty and riders were ready for a fight. Olympia guys had done grea job with the race course, the course even used a hockey rink.

I missed the race by running late all day but I made it there to watch the race. I tried to take photos of the A start, but dim light and my pocket camera didn't really work too well together.

A start saw Dylan, Paul, Tristan and Craig ride clear of everyone else. Craig couldn't stay with the three others and got gapped maybe 20 minutes in to the race. Dylan started the attacks when it was couple of laps to go but suffered a broken chain and had to finish the race running. Paul attacked Tristan on the last lap and took the victory with a large margin. Tristan held his second place and Craig took over Dylan on the last lap for third spot.

Some crappy pictures...

Superprestige Hoogstraten, recap

Only half of my prediction was correct. Niels Albert took the win and Stybar was second while King Nys was left third. The weather looked to be getting greasier with the rain every lap and all the favorites had minor crashes in first couple of laps. Stybar might have escaped the crashes, or at least I didn't see him crashing. Once Albert got to the front, he was pretty much gone even if it looked that Stybar might get back to him. Stybar is looking strong though and he might be able to take the victory in Nommay world cup next weekend. Weather forecast shows lots of rain for this week in Nommay so it may very well be a mud bath that we missed in Koppenberg.

Video recap of Superprestige Hoogstraten.