The start of the 2010 cyclocross season is in 1.5 months, and things are starting to take shape for the MSG season. Surf on over to the 411 page for all the info. Take note that we have 2 new venues and 8 races this season. It’s gonna be great, so stay tuned to this website as we start to update it with all the information.

The crew at MSGCX would like to thank Lynskey Performance Designs for their support during the 2009 season!  Please visit their website and/or say hi to them whenever you see them at mountain bike events throughout the SouthEast this summer.

The production facility at Lynskey Performance is operated by David Lynskey and his crew of fabricators. Each person in the shop has extensive knowledge and many years of experience with custom bicycles. Many have been with David since the old days and have jumped at the chance to come back when we opened our doors again. We feel that we have some of the best fabricators in the business. We all have a love for what we do and our workmanship proves it.

Each Lynskey frame goes through various stages of production, each done by hand, to become one of the finest bicycles you can own. We handcraft each frame using only the best materials available. We work with U.S. milled aerospace grade 6al-4v and 3al-2.5v titanium because it allows us to create the most durable, fine tunable and high-performance bicycle you can ride.

Redline Bicycles has supported our series from the beginning in 2004, and Redline has a long history in the bicycle industry and traces its roots back to 1970 and BMX racing. However, in recent years, the company has been making waves with their line of cyclocross bikes and support of grassroots cycling.

At the awards ceremony following the 6th and final race. Kingsley Rutters took home a 2009 Redline Conquest Pro frameset. This is a great bike for a person looking to get into cyclocross without breaking the bank. The frameset retails for $550 and features shaped tubing and a race-ready geometry. Congratulations to Kingsley and all the past winners of Redline frames and bikes!

Pure and simple, our series would not exist without our great sponsors. If you enjoy the MSG Series, please take a moment to email them with your appreciation of their support. Please be sure to mention our Mud, Sweat, and Gears CX Series! Contact info can generally be found on the various company websites linked down the right side of this page. Thanks for taking a few minutes to take this simple and free action that will help Dwayne and I as we plan for 2010 (and yes, we’ve already started….).

MSG Series Finale: The World is Turning
The weather was a factor again in the finale of the 2009 MSG Cyclocross series. The previous weeks snow left lots of ruts in the earth and at 19 degrees, became frozen ruts. The men and women 4’s kicked off at 10:30 with to the sound of a train engine horn! The frozen ground made for a very fast course but somewhat treacherous in rutted sections. This was the day for the bike handlers with 37 turns over the distance of 1.56 miles.  There was never any doubt who the winner was going to be after one lap as Jeff Carlson took a commanding lead, eventually winning the race and clinching the overall in the CX4’s ( I smell an upgrade). As temps warmed toward the afternoon and the Pro race the ruts began to soften and collapse making for slick and tricky corners which leads us to one of the best races I’ve witnessed all season.

The highlight of the day was the three up battle in the Pro race between Andy Applegate, Eric Wondergem, and Mike Stewart. Andy, a seasoned Cyclocross, vet soon grabbed the lead and was joined by Mike Stewart  who is only in his second year racing cross. Both men opened  of about 20 seconds. that looked impossible to cross. However, the gap started to tumble once Wondergem dialed in the turns  and learned where he could use his Treefarm like power . Over the course of two laps of the 60 minute race Wondergem had Joined the leaders. The leaders settled in with Applegate setting a high tempo and with 4 laps to go Wondergem launched sinew stretching attack and was off the front by 10 seconds, the pain was evident on Wondergem’s face as he tried to hold on to his lead, but Applegate used his experinces to slowly real him back pulling a redlined Stewart with him. Wondergem dangled of the back a couple of bike lengths as Applegate drove hard. It looked like the all or nothing attack had netted Wondergem a goose egg.  Applegate continued to put pressure on both Wondergem and Stewart through all the twists and turns seemingly taking control of the race. The last lap proved to be the strategic one, as Wondergem dangled of the back he was slowly recovering and when they hit the climb for the last time Wondergem attacked again. This time Stewart popped and faded out of contention leaving Applegate struggling to hang on to Wondergem. Soon the tie was severed and Wondergem pulled out another 10 second lead coming off the top of the course and through the final maze of turns to take the win and solidifying his lead in the series over all for PRO1/2. Appegate rolled in 10 seconds back and received a deserving round of applause as did Stewart for his impressive third place.

We always do something special for the last race of the series and this year we had our first ever Chilly Chili Challenge! 5 Different kind of chili showed up and was ravenously devoured along with chips and drinks. With high temps only in the 30’s the chili was a big hit. Being the final race also meant overall awards. This year saw the return of the Shelton Pittman trophies for the overall winner in 8 of the MSG categories. These are hand made by Shelton from old bike parts and this year included a high wheeler, a wind chime (that actually chimed), and a rose made completely of chain and gears, truly works of art.

Did you know you could create your own Chris King headset color combinations? The DreadSet and Patriot designs are popular choices but they can do more. Much more. Try 6,561 variations. Country flags, team colors, school colors, you name it and we’ll build it. Visit your favorite Chris King retailer to create your very own special-build King headset.

Not only are Chris King’s products amazingly durable, but they have some of the most beautiful aesthetics in the industry.  They make headsets, hubs, bottom brackets, wheels, cogs, and various other precision parts.  These days, the company is based in Portland, Ore. where they work hard to minimize their environmental impact.  According to the website, “We’re constantly evaluating the way we do things in order to seek more environmentally conscious means towards making our world a better, more enjoyable place to live and ride.”

This is one cool company, and if you haven’t checked out their parts yet, give em’ some consideration.  While they are pricey, they might be the last components you ever buy.

MSG #6 Results – 12/12/2009

2009 Series Finale
The 2009 MSG Series wrapped up Saturday with a great day of racing on a course that was slick in certain places due to the thawing ground. The cold temps were no match for the heated racing that saw wins by Eric Wondergem (Hup United), Kim Bishop, Justin Crawford (VA Tech), Jacob McGahey (Industry Nine), Jeff Carlsen (TCRC), Dwight Wyatt, Susi Chandler (SCO), Andy Applegate (Kenda Pro Cycling presented by Spinergy), Jesse Stidham, and Levi Marland. Congratulations to the day’s winners!

Following the racing, we had our annual series awards ceremony and raffle. Thanks to all of our sponsors for the great prizes. Dave Smith walked away with a sweet set of pink Chris King hubs, and Jason Carrico won the Lynskey ProCross frameset.  Congratulations to all of our series winners.  Enjoy the offseason, and see you in 2010!

Since this Saturday 12/12/09 is the MSG Series Finale for the 2009 Series, we will be hosting our usual awards ceremony and series ending raffle after the last races of the day.  You won’t want to miss the raffle as we’ll be giving away a Lynskey Performance Cross Frame, a Redline Conquest Pro Cross Frame, a set of Chris King hubs, and a bunch of other cool swag!

However, to make the party even better, we’d like to have food.  In years past, we’ve always provided all the food, but this year, we need your help.  If you could consider it part of your “entry fee” for the day, please bring one food item to share with your fellow racers.  Since it is going to be cold, we’ll have a Chilly Chili theme, so please bring your best Chili, fixin’s (cheese, sour cream, etc), corn bread, chips, and/or beverages (non-alcoholic due to park rules) to share. If everybody brings something, we’ll have a huge spread of food. If we have enough Chili, perhaps we’ll have a contest to determine whose is best with the winner taking home some cx schwag!

See you Saturday!

MSG#5: Suck it up and ride hard: an early Xmas gift for MSG

Photo Credit Bart Nave

MSG #5 dawned cold and snowy with a couple of inches of snow on the ground and big fat flakes falling. This weekend was our first back at our third and most scenic venue, Steele Creek Park, in Bristol, TN. The weather in the  southern Appalachian mountains is hard to predict and with unsually mild temps and lack of precipitation over the past few years, I wondered how the snow would affect turnout. We soon found out, that over the past six years, MSG has grown a good cross base in the region and, what would have turned people away in those early days, saw another big turnout for upper east Tennessee with 120 entries. It’s getting late in the season but folks are just as enthusiastic about cross as they were way back in October at Domtar Park in Kingsport.

The Lynskey Helix, was the main feature of the course for MSG #5. The spiral has been a center piece of this MSG course for three years running and this years’ version was a 4 lane spiral with a diameter of 100′ . The Helix was a dizzying experience, coming into it with a lot of speed. The constant turning of the radius caused a little of disorientation by the time the center was met. The course had another sweet surprise back in the pine woods. A hill that had always been ridable for most folks was turned into a slipin’ slide incline that was ridable only by a few. By the time the Pro’s took the field the entire course had turned into mud by the churned up snow. Looking like the fields of the Koppenberg Cross. This was a heavy course, a mudders dream and the clean skinsuit hipster’s nightmare!
Helix in Snow:

MSG #5 The Spiral from Ben Ramsbottom on Vimeo.

RunUp:

MSG5 Run up from Ben Ramsbottom on Vimeo.

The largest field of the day were the CX 4 men with 41 riders taking the start. MSG #5 also saw the return of CX 4 series points leader, and MSG sponsor Jeff Carlsen. Jeff missed race #4 due to an unfortunate incident with a gate pole at MSG#3. The crash left Jeff with a separated shoulder, and a danger of losing his points lead . Any doubts to Jeff’s condition were quickly put to rest as Jeff’s skills and strength opened up an uncrossable gap giving him his third 1st place finish in 4 of the 5 MSG races so far.

The Womens 1/2/3 race is seeing a close battle between Deb Sweeney Whitmore of BMW/Bianchi and host club rider Kim Bishop of Tri Cities Road Club. This battle is being waged by two very strong women.  Deb is an experienced veteran and Kim, in her third year racing cross, is finally seeing the fruits of her labor come to fruition.  Only 29 points separate these two, so it’s coming down to the wire in the women’s race.

In the Pro 1/2 ranks. race winner, Bradford Perley, had a great ride in the sweet dark mud, but the real battle was between series founder Eric Wondergem of Hup United and Noah Niwinski of Boone Velo. Eric is holding on to a narrow lead of just 14 points going into the MSG series final. The Pro race also saw the return of another cross stalwart and sponsor, Andy Applegate.  Andy hadn’t been seen at MSG since the first race weekend way back in October due to illness. Andy showed his skill as a master of cyclocross racing by placing 2nd in the Pro race.

Photo Credit Bart Nave

The weather is definitely playing a role in the selection this year at MSG. Used to racing hard packed grass for the majority of races over the past several seasons, the power guys are loosing ground to the dirty mudders. Bike handling skills, and the mental toughness to endure the elements is giving a leg up to more technical riders. It’s going to be a grand finale this Saturday, December 12th at Steele Creek Park. Seems like October 3rd was a long time ago but, as with each year, I can’t believe it’s over. Good times. The finale on 12/12/09 at Steele Creek Park will be awesome with a pot luck dinner featuring home made chili and the give away of a Lynskey cross frame, a Redline Conquest Pro frame, a set of Chris King hubs, and boat loads of other prizes from our awesome sponsors. If you are within driving distance, get to Bristol for the Mud, Sweat and Gears 2009 season ending blowout!