2 Stages Left in the Nutcracker Omnium........

Hi Everyone! So, this Saturday is the monthly Messilla Valley Circuit Race - Saturday, September 6th. Again, there is NO entry fee to participate in this Circuit Race. In addition, this race will be the 4th stage in this week's Nutcracker Omnium.

The announcement for the race is listed below. Also, there are 2 sets of mini-trophies for the winners - the Womens winner in the "A" Category, the Mens winner in the "A" category, the Womens winner in the "B" Category and the Mens winner in the "B" Category. If there are no Womens A riders, we will award the trophy to the Mens Masters 40+ winner in the A Category. So, come on out to participate or to watch - or both! Hope to see you there!

Okay, here is the race announcement:

We will be having the Messilla Valley Circuit Race this Saturday - September 6th - at 8:30am. Registration will open at 8:00AM at the top of the hill of Messilla Valley Road - just near the intersection with Pentz Road. The "A" Category will be starting their event at 8:30AM, and the "B" Category going at 8:31AM.

The number of laps will remain the same as the last race - 10 laps for each Category(sorry - I know, I'm the devil!). Again, sandbagging will not be allowed!

The Messilla Valley Course is approximately 3.5 miles in length with about 300+feet of climbing per lap. 10 laps = 35 miles and 3,000+ feet of climbing. We will have more water containers at the Start/Finish Line this time around too.

For a map of the course,please click on the link below:

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Messilla-Valley-Circuit-Race

Again, most USCF rules apply to these races - you know, wear a helmet, don't be stupid, ride correctly and all that good stuff. A mention about Tri Bars - You can have Tri Bars on your bicycle - BUT, you must NOT use them if you are in a pack or paceline! Normally, in a USCF race, you would not be allowed to have them on your bicycle - but I know many of us like them on our bicycles and use them for training. This isn't the World Championships - we do these Circuit Races for fun, fitness and practice - but please be very very reluctant in using the Tri Bars in a pack/paceline situation.

For those of you driving to the course, Spring Valley School is approximately 1-mile from the Start/Finish.......or you can park at Butte College and ride to the start(great warm-up and cool-down, with a store along the way). Parking on the course is strongly discouraged.

Water bottle hand-ups will be solely dependent on volunteers, BUT I will be bringing an ice chest full of water bottles again(ice water only). Hope to see you out there!!

AND:

And, finally.......the Cohasset UPHILL Time Trial is this Sunday - September 7th! Registration for this event will open at 8:15am at Nicalog Road and Cohasset Road. First rider will go off at 9:01am and we will go in 1-minute intervals. This is a FREE event, so come on out and give it a shot!

In addition, this is the 1st race in the Chico Hill Climb Time Trial Series............AND, the Final Stage in this week's Nutcracker Omnium.

There is a small dirt parking area at Nicalog & Cohasset Road if you choose to drive up that way(but riding to the start area is strongly encouraged!!!). The course starts at Nicalog Road and finishes up at the Cohasset Store. A very very rough approximation of this course can be found on Bikely.com here - you can check the elevation profile by clicking "SHOW" in the top left hand corner, and then clicking on "Elevation Profile":

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Cohasset-TT

Some results from two years ago at this event can be found here: http://chicocyclist.blogspot.com/2006/09/cohasset-time-trial-this-morning.html

And the SNOW pictures from the 1st time we did this event in 2006 can be found here: http://www.chicocorsa.com/assets/photo/Cohasset%202006/index.htm

There is a possibility for prizes and mini-trophies for this event too! Hope to see you there!!

And - Here is the announcement for the Chico Hill Climb TT Series:

Hi Everyone! So, we are doing a Fall/Winter Hill Climb Time Trial Series this year in Chico, with the climbs and dates below. There was a similar Series done years ago here in Chico - 1981 or 1982 - by Tom Devol and Jeff Smith, who owned Cyclesport bike shop at the time. And, of course, now there is the famous Low Key Hillclimb Series in the Bay Area every fall. In any case, we decided to have our own and revive the old Chico Series.......with a couple of route changes. Below is a list of the tentative events with dates. It should be mentioned that these dates could change depending upon Galland Cross, the Cutty Series and Tyler Cross dates this fall/winter. And, of course......the weather! Rain will not cancel - but snow and ice will.

How does it work??? Below are each of the 10 Hillclimbs in the Series. Each climb has been given a rank based upon feedback from some well-known riders in the area (and climbers in particular - yes, I know - everyone is different, but this is just a low-key have-fun series, so no big whoop). Category 1 climbs are the hardest, with Category 3 being.......let's not say easiest.......let's say........not quite as hard as Category 1! Points will be awarded to the top finishers in each Hill Climb TT - the folks with the most points at the end of the Series, wins the overall title. The Point Breakdown is as follows:

Cat. 1 Climb = 30-26-24-22-20-18-16-14-12-10-8-6-4-2-1-1-1 (In other words, 1st place in a Cat. 1 TT gets 30 points, 2nd place gets 26 and on down the line - every person who competes in the event gets at least 1 point).
Cat. 2 Climb = 24-20-18-16-14-12-10-8-6-4-2-1-1-1(The winner of a Cat. 2 climb gets 24 points, 2nd place gets 20 points and on and on.)
Cat. 3 Climb = 20-16-14-12-10-8-6-4-2-1-1-1

And here are the Time Trial courses, the tentative dates, and their listed difficulty category:

Cohasset to Store (from Nicalog) - Sept. 7th - Cat. 2
Forest Ranch (Chico Velo event) - Sept. 27th - Cat. 1
Honey Run Rd. (from Covered Bridge) - Oct. 11th - Cat. 1
Pentz Road (from Spring Valley School) - Oct. 18th - Cat. 2
Cohasset to Gravel (from Keefer Road) - Oct. 25th - Cat. 1
Centerville (from Covered Bridge to the gravel) - Nov. 2nd - Cat. 3
Neal Road - Nov. 15th - Cat. 3
Table Mountain (Wildflower Side) - Nov. 22nd - Cat. 1
Clark Road (from intersection with Durham Pentz) - Dec. 13th - Cat. 2
Humboldt Road - Dec. 27th - Cat. 3

10 Climbs, approximately 18,000 feet of climbing in total, held over a 4-month period from September through December. Consistency will be key in winning the Overall Series.

Participant Categories - the following categories will be offered for the Series event(see below) The winner in each category will receive the Chico Hillclimb Champion Trophy, along with Bragging Rights.........as well as any stuff we can get to give away as prizes:

Category "A" Men
Cateogry "A" Women
Category "B" Men
Category "B" Women
Clydesdale Men (No no, I'm not gonna weigh you - just show up and tell me and I will give you a yes or no answer)
Athena Women
Mens 50+ Category
Womens 50+ Category

As usual, sandbaggers are strongly discouraged. Also, if there's a lot of folks in one particular category, we may split those up into sub-categories, if needed. In turn, if nobody - or very few folks are in one category, we may eliminate it and add an additional category where the numbers allow it.

This Series is FREE - so come on out and take advantage of some, or all, of these Time Trials this fall and winter! Hope to see you out there - and I will have more details and information as we get closer to the events.