Dear Lord,

It's me...Sally.
I'll never ask anything from you ever again...if you could PLEASE stop pictures from SSCXWC from showing up on the Internet.
Thank you.

{Boy do I know how to debate!}

{it felt this trippy...}

{when they say run up...they mean it}

{I can still hear this body slam when I close my eyes}

{ummmmmm....yeah.....}

{Enouragement for the ladies?}

My good friend (????) Kelsey is responsible for ALL of this. You can see more pictures and his write up here or if your smart...you'll skip that debauchery and check out his amazing book Kwa Zulu and place an order.

Five On Each

In a previous life I was a USA Cycling Team mechanic.
Specifically, Iwas the US National Sprint Team mechanic.

I was the guy at the Velodrome 2 hours before everyone else, and 2 hours after everyone left.
I was the guy who set up the pit area. Hauling in (and out) all the tools, rollers, wheels, and necessary equipment needed by hand. Everyday.
I was the guy pumping up 20 sets of tires to 180psi, everyday, one handed, by myself. (no one has made a pump 'chuck' yet that'll stay on by itself at that pressure)
I often spent hours working on a bike...for 10 seconds of racing.
I was the guy gluing tires till 3am. Glue in one hand. Beer in the other. Glazed look on my face provided by all three.
I was an international traveler and a master of getting through customs with 20 pieces of checked baggage.
I kept an extra bag at my apartment that was pre-packed and ready to go out the door as soon as I walked in.
I had the stamina of Semi-Truck driver all goofed up on Amphetamines as I drove bikes across the country to the next race.
I was a friend.
I was a "soccer mom" to the athletes because I had the keys to the only vehicle where ever we went.
I was a villain.
I took verbal lashings for no other reason than "I was there".
I endured the stress of knowing a lifetime of training and dreams could be undone in the fraction of a second if something broke.

In 2 1/2 years I helped riders obtain National, World Championship, and Olympic titles.
After 2 1/2 years, I walked away with all of my fingers.

Breaking Leaves

Leaves have fallen.

Nights are colder.

Layers are thicker.

Beer is darker.

And I'm in love with the sound of leaves shattering under my tires.

Pope Cam...

Who else can tout one of those? Holy Cross...at SSCXWC...my liver still hates me.

Raleigh SSCXWC from Saleigh on Vimeo.

Why?

Dear Lord Why? Knowing full well what is going to happen to me at SSCXWC every year...Why do I go? I liken it to the Laboratory Hamster who just can't figure out why the pellet dispenser continually shocks it...time...after time...after time... It just keeps going back for more.

This year, was different.
This year, was going to be the last year it was going to be in Portland.
This year, after the mud was removed and the hang over wore off...the knowledge would sink in that SSCXWC would be in a different city.
This year it would be traveling to either Seattle or San Francisco after a 3 part battle. A debate. A race. A gladiator battle.
This year, was going to be special.

Debate.
Why I was chosen to be the Seattle Debater is well beyond me. I was the only person in Seattle who was actually arguing against hosting SSCXWC. Alas, my arguments fell upon drunk ears and the debate concluded with a beer in hand and a "Shut Up Sally. We're going to win it".
I'd go into the details of the debate...if I remembered.
I remember I was debating Shelia Moon of Shelia Moon fame.
I remember my superhuman ability to silence an entire crowd of enthusiastic Seattlites with a simple wave of my hand.
After that it seems I pulled a "Frank the Tank" and blacked out during the entire thing...and yet managed to pull off the victory.
Stevil cited..."Watching the debate was like getting hit in the balls with a chalkboard that had nails dragging across it."
And CyclocrossBuild (later reported in CXMagzine) said..."Fornes better fit the singlespeeder’s mindset...Fornes sported a cycling cap with a Seattle Sasquatch doing unsavory things to a Portland unicorn, quaffed a bunch of beer when asked about his favorite beverage, rides his company’s Raleigh Rainier, and spoke to this group’s longing for inclement weather. Combined with Fornes’ own energy and his enthusiastic entourage and Seattle looked to be gaining momentum early."

Again...I really don't remember much of it. Mainly because I was spending way to much time, and going through too many $ingle$ with these two...




Race.
The race reports are everywhere.
And while the Eskimos have some 30 different names for snow...the PacNW has the equivalent for mud. All the different kinds were present. It was everywhere. It got in everywhere.

Who really won this event? Hell if I know.



Gladiator Battle.
Wow.
Wow.
Wow.
I don't know who the girl was that SF put into the thick of it all (mud)...but she was awesome! She survived the body slam heard round the Dome. A face full of mud. And multiple body bow-ties to emerge victorious.

It was glorious.

All things told...Seattle is hosting SSCXWC next year. Portland has made some big pants to fill over the last 3 years. But I think we've got the right stuff to fill'em.

Spread the word, and start your planning...I know we already are.

You Train Your Way...

And I'll train mine.


From the moment I pealed off my tight orange shorts last year, I've been shopping.
After the last trace of mud was finally removed some 30 days later, I've been in figuring out how to get it back in there.
The moment I sobered up and regained my composure, I found another beer. (duh)

Oh yes...SSCXWC is back upon me. And this year, I'm ready for it.

I've been refining my costumes...

Practicing my Beer Handups (I'm selfish and thirsty so I will not be participating in the popular HandDown that all those Stevil lemmings are practicing)

Searching out mud....

Flirting with trashy women...

Oh yeah...and riding my bike...a little bit.

(funny...I don't have any pictures of that...)

This weekend...the Power of Cross Compels me to bring my brand of Cross Religion to Portland and set up the school of Holy Cross. We're fully armed with enough Holy Water to drown a hippopotamus and will be setting up a confessional for all those Cross Sinners in PDX.

Look for us...and be saved.

A couple pictures are from MFG and PDXCross

{Click the Brown Bear at 2pm…there will be a Live announcement Here and Here the site will be blank until it’s time so no one can cheat}

Spread the word. At 2PM Pacific Standard Time the SSCXWC framesets will go live. Click on the banner above to go straight to the site and get ready to order yours.

In the truest form of “Limited Edition” there will be only 50 of these Single Speed CycloCross beauties that will EVER be sold. And in the truest spirit of SSCXWC, there is 1 random white frame in the batch. And to that one lucky person who opens their frame box and receives the White frame, Chris King has provided the gear, and Shimano America has generously donated a complete SS build kit that will be the envy of every cross dressing racer at the WC this fall. (honestly…Di2 brake levers!?!?!?!)


Raleigh is extremely proud to have partnered with the crew at SSCXWC in creating this frameset and this promotion. We at Raleigh so enjoy this event (alright, Brian REALLY enjoys this event) and the inspiration that it has provided us, that we will be donating 100% of the profits of these framesets to the event itself. Yup…you read that correctly. 100% of the profits from this promotion will go directly to the crew at SSCXWC. The hope is to see this event grow, expand, travel and to encourage more people to try the crazy sport of Cyclocross.

Remember…once they’re gone…they’re gone.

We can’t wait to see what the host city next year will do.

Good Luck.

as a technical side note for anyone wondering…due to the unique nature of this promotion, please understand that any valid warranties will be handled with a suitable replacement.

Technical Difficulties

We apologize as we are experiencing some Technical Difficulties in getting the SSCXWC framesets up for sale. We are working on a solution to this and hope to have more information up very soon.

What you need to know for right now…

Yes. The framesets will still be made available to purchase.

Maybe. They will be up today.

Hopefully. They will be up by the end of the week.

Yes. I will update this site. The Raleigh Bicycles blog site. Raleigh Face Book. RaleighBicycles Twitter. Raleighs_Sally Twitter. And I will release the information to multiple bicycle news sources and blogs once everything is in place.

Thank you for understanding. We want this to go as smoothly and as fair as possible.

Ride and Shine

I don't know...someone said Rise and Shine this morning and Ride and Shine popped into my head. While I didn't feel like riding today in particular (100% chance of rain in Seattle this morning), this past weeks activities are still Riding and Shinning in my mind.

The "pretty killers" have started to litter the bike paths of Seattle again. It's that time of year where the foliage is falling as fast as the rain. And when you combine the two of them together, the result can be a yellow brick road of carnage.

The Grail got moved to a new home for the week. In order to keep the Grail safe we've decided we're going to keep it on the move and yet keep it on display at various locations around Seattle. It's currently resting at a local bike shop for people to stop in and pay homage. I'm not going to give away the location as I'm sure I'm being monitored by some Dick Turpin in PDX trying to figure out how to get it back. I will say, the name of the shop is Croatian for "in the hills, or mountains".


And for those of you not familiar with the Rules that surround the grail...here's a brief overview as they were passed down to me.

1. No defacing of the grail. The Grail is bigger than all of us. Respect her. This includes stickers, she's not a billboard for your pathetic political causes.
2. The Grail must be on public display during normal business hours. Not locked away with the gimp you keep in your basement.
3. The Grail must be present at all official Grail events held in the Northwest, no matter who is in possession. This includes Starcross, Grail weekend, USGP weekend, SSCXWC, Nationals, and any time Brad Ross is seen wearing a dirty Carhart jacket.
4. There has been a lifetime restraining order placed on Johnny Sundt and Geoff Kabush. Neither are allowed within 100 feet of the grail. This also goes for their mechanics, girlfriends, boyfriends, and well all Canadians.

And for good measure...just a little bit of smack talk.




Still undetermined if the Hodala Racing squad will ride with our heads high at this weekends Cross Crusade...I might be trying to acquire a mobile fun house instead.

{Embrocation thru Inebriation}

Puppy Kickers...

This past weekend was supposed to be a celebration of the Grunge Cup battle being revived. A Battle between two of the great cross towns. A time to put all the boasting and taunting aside. A time to leave it all out on the cross course. A time to let the Cross do all the talking.

{it started off all smiles between everyone}

{the Emerald City had Flying Monkeys ready for flight}

{Fly my pretty....}


{follow the yellow brick road??????}

At the end of Saturday, the Emerald City...with the cast of Oz representing the SS...stood atop of the battle. And with purest of generosity the fine people from Seattle invited the racers from the south to join them in merriment and beverage after the barriers were put away. There was much revelry and tales from the day that were shared. And then...those mouth breathers from the south showed their true colors as they assaulted the young woman guarding the cup and stole it from the days rightful victors.

{Wanted : PDX Grail Theives}

What happened next is almost too terrible to write. And more terrible to look at. If you DO NOT want to see the cup being desecrated...DO NOT open this link. I will warn you...there is nudity and perversion being done to the most holy of holy cups. (seriously...those PDX racers are weird!)

Our troops rallied and made the trip the next day right into the belly of the beast. As the fates would have it though...Cross Crusade was hosting a race in the town of Rainier....perfect.

We battled hard.

We battled admirably.

And after many of us from Seattle fought for 5 laps to make it though the cattle drive of over 110 SS racers...Portland got one last jab in. Right when I was going to start my 6th and final lap, the officials just 'happened' to start pulling riders....even though I had bravely made it to the top 1/3rd of the field. (insert head shake here)

{nice boots susan...}

The last laugh however would be ours. As I type this the grail is safely back in Seattle's loving arms. The grail will be making a tour around Seattle over the next couple weeks and I'll be sure to post some pictures as to where it can be viewed. Most of these will be slightly cryptic in order to keep those Stumptown slurping, grail stealing, heathens confused.

Dave got action from both days. And CX Magazine has a write up on both events...here and here.

Cross Clash

Portland this.
Portland that.
Yeah, so what if they're the most bike friendly city in the US.
So what if they had 1400 people show up to their first Cross Crusade.
Sure, you can get married in a donut shop.
And I guess they have the most microbreweries in the world.

To me...this make it sound like the folks in the Rose City are getting soft. And the time is right for Seattle to flex it's muscle as the better Cross town in the PacNW.

Seattle isn't flat. (we have to work up hills)
Seattle has a lower rate of unemployment. (we work)
Seattle has more than one delightfully mediocre Pro Team. (more working class heros)
We pump our own gas in Seattle. (we aren't lazy)
Rainier beer. (Nuff said)

MFG has brought back the Grudge Cup. An all out battle Royal between Seattle and Portland. One town to rule the cross scene for a year.
Emerald City vs Rose City
Sasquatch (SEA) vs Unicorn (PDX).

While Big Foot is a formidable foe for the Unicorn...my team has decided to adopt another character for this Battle.

A character that took on pure evil and won. (unless you've seen the Broadway Smash Wicked, then it's a whole nother story)

A sweet, innocent figure who just wants to bring the cup home to Emerald City.

And her outfit looks way better than trying to wear a fur tuxedo.

Come on out Saturday...we'll have Jelly Beans (cause that's what I like to think a Unicorn would bleed), a pinata, maybe some beverages, and we'll be slaying Unicorns all over the place.

Have You Seen This?

Or maybe you've heard that we're doing this...

First...go register at SSCXWC09. Hard to believe it's only 30 days away. I gotta get crack'n on my Race Attire!

Then...check back here for more information real soon on all this...

I sure don't remember a truck...

but something definitely ran me over this past month.

One stint as a teacher...those poor cross racers.
One Wedding.

One long scavenger hunt.

Three states. (actual States...not my mental well being)
One missed flight.
Three Cross races.
One SingleSpeedWorldChampionships.
Eleven total Hand Ups at those races...not including Bacon or Whiskey
Six "Mitch Morgans" (bacon + Bourbon shots)
One huge trade show.
Three evenings in Vegas I have a hard time remembering.
More than one opportunity missed.
Countless friends...some old, some new.

One Benefit.
One Tired Sally at the end of it all...

Here's a hazy photo bomb...

{Yeah, rinding in Telluride does not suck}

{If you find yourself in this place...}

{Drinking with the Real Mitch Morgan}

{You may find some of these on your table}

{And doing this shortly afterwards....uff}

{If you look closely...you can see the Coors can mountains}

{H-Ball agreed to a One Time SSWC sponsorship from me...sort of}

{SSWC cast of over 1000 characters}

{While "racing" the hike-a-bike, hydration was key}

{Like I said...hydrating is KEY!}

{Gratuitous shot of the SS WC}

{A blurry 12 hours later I was setting these things up for Dirt Demo}

{Right in front of 'those guys'}

{There was a race in Vegas...and I kept my Eye on the Prize}

{I got DQ'd from SSCXWC but not here?! Really?!}

{Of course it wasn't all work...add this helmet...}

{a sweet pool party where the crew I was with were the only ones getting wet}

{Even when we weren't in the pool...we were looking to get some...}

{InterBike Ended...and we got to let our hair down...}

{Well...those of us with hair could...}

{While others in our VIP area were politely asked to leave...}

{But some Hi-5s and we were all good...}

Now that everyone is up to speed...I can get back to doing whatever it is I normally do here.