Ironclad Cycling

The first Blind Date at The Dairy is upon us this Wednesday, and initial reports show our search party returned some good results, including a 1st place in Single Speed courtesy of Trevor Spahr, and a 2nd place in Women’s B’s thanks to The Ace (who had the race won before her front wheel took an unauthorized leave of the bike), while MK47 turned in a fine 6th place in the same race! Smith, Crawfy, Willis, Sestrich, Barker, and Pressey helped out and kicked some butt, too! A good start for a blind date, right? I’d say 2nd base!

Photos uploaded, see them here! Until then, observe this Blind Date. Was yours like this?

We’re very pleased to announce the addition of Strava to our sponsor family for 2011. What is Strava, you say? Why, simply the coolest online cyclists’ resource ever, that’s what. All the best bits of ride mapping sites and social networking sites, complete with full GPS details are right at your fingertips with Strava. Go check ‘em out!

We’ll be having a Star Wars (or Wolf) themed trivia question soon, where any reader of the Ironclad Cycling team site can win a FREE YEAR of Strava. That’s a $60 value! So stay tuned.

The Ironclad Cycling team will use Strava exclusively as our online training resource, as well as sport Strava discounted Garmin devices. Swing over to their site and check out all the cool things they have to offer. They’re growing fast, and for good reason, and we’re stoked to have them on board for next year! Truth be told a handful of us are already using it and have been, as it’s that fast, easy, and fun to use.

680 souls went down on the USS Barlow Sunday afternoon, and boy was ol’ Barlow happy! Ha!

Sorry.

We had Crawfy, Barker, MK47, Anona, Penner, Crouch, and Smith out there swinging for the yellow and black, with some top tens to add to our points total. Nice work to all the valiant warriors! Dave Roth got a bunch of great photos here. We may add some later. Now, we’re prepping for the biggest clusterf*ck race series in history. At least the 1st one, anyway.

And with the passing of the last of the Cat-n-Mouse races at PIR this past Tuesday, the 2010 Road Racing season is officially done and dusted. For us, it was a banner year, our best yet. On and off the bike we showed our program proper respect and dueled through a hard year against the typical stiff OBRA competition out there. Thanks to all the riders and teams that kicked our asses all year long.

We’ll gather for our yearly Road Season party and awards ceremony soon, where we’ll drink all your beer you gave us at the Rapha Gentlemen’s Ride for posting the best team time of the day. Thanks again for that, we enjoyed winning it, and we’ll enjoy drinking it even more.

Luckily we were able to post some results of our own. Our men’s teams advanced riders into higher categories than ever before in our program’s history, and our women’s team moved up to form arguably the toughest team to beat in the Cat 3′s. We look forward to completely screwing off during CX season (most of us could care less) and coming out swinging next year on the road. A brief recap. Many thanks to all our fine sponsors, who you’ll see listed to the right in the Blogroll!

1. We saw our first Cat 2 men riders this year in Trevor Spahr and
Andrew Willis

2. Our website and Flickr page hit over HALF A MILLION page views this
year.

3. Our list of wins was the best ever, in some of the most prestigious
events in OBRA:
Elkhorn Classic Stage Race; 1st place women’s 3, 1st place women’s 4,
4th place men’s 3
Twilight Criterium – Cat 3 men, 1st place
High Desert Omnium – Cat 4 women, 1st place
Banana Belt – Cat 3 men, 1st place
Cherry Pie Road Race – Cat 4 women, 1st place
Sublime Sublimity Circuit Race – Cat 4 women, 1st place
Swan Island Criterium – Cat 3 man, 1st place
Piece of Cake Road Race – Cat 3 men, 1st place
Willamette U Criterium – Cat 3 men, 1st place
Mt. Tabor Series – Cat 4 women, 1st place
Gresham Criterium – Cat 4 women, 1st place
Team Beer Track Race – Cat 3 men, 1st place
State Champion Road Race – Cat 3 women, 1st place
State Champion TT – Men’s 30+ – 1st place
State Champion Hillclimb – Cat 3 women, 1st place
Cherry Blossom Stage Race – 3 stage wins, two 2nd place GC finishes
Portland Street Sprints – 1st place, women’s fixed gear, 1st place,
men’s 3′s
Franz Bakery Crit – Open Women – 1st place

13 other assorted 1st place finishes on weekly races

30+ podium finishes

For a squad of about 20 active racers, that’s pretty damn good if you asked me. Which you didn’t so signing off!

Make the jump to cyclocross. If you’re ready, cyclocross can change your life. (insert images of smiling people on sunny, perfect, days, twirling in sunshine) Check with your doctor if cyclocross is right for you.

Cyclocross can cause, but is not limited to:

• • A high fever
  • Stiff muscles
  • Confusion
  • Irregular pulse or blood pressure
  • An increased heart rate (tachycardia)
  • Sweating
  • Asshattery
  • Irregular heart rhythms (arrhythmias)

• Signs of an allergic reaction, including, but not limited to:

• • Unexplained rash
  • Hives
  • Itching
  • Unexplained swelling
  • Wheezing
  • Difficulty breathing or swallowing.
  • Unexplained erections
  • 

Ol’ man Howard the Goat managed a top 15 in the Singlespeeds on day one of the Hood River double dip, and we were all give visual reason (evidence) as to why “regular” cyclists are scared shitless of triathalon “cyclists”. Check out the argument here.

Day two at Hood River saw Barker, Dizzy, Harwood, Willis, and Smith take on the course. Everybody did good, but some bikes weren’t quite ready for the ass-kicking that CX delivers to body and machine. And here’s a funny photo of Barker running over a puppy’s head, much to the spectator’s chagrin. And here, Harwood impresses the chicks. Meanwhile, Dizzy got an early butt check. All systems go.

unplanned equipment modification

Meanwhile Robbie, Anona, and Dan went up to Starcrossed to see what was what. Top tens for Robbie and Anona, and we think a top 15 for Dan. Well done dudes and dudettes. Anona snapped a clandestine photo for your perusal.

Our dear Alana is coming home from THIS COUNTRY. No kidding, here she is riding a MTB in that great country.

Just in time for Cross!

Lana Pressey won the B’s race and Anona Whitley won the A’s race at the Hutch’s Twilight CX series opener! Nice work ladies! That’s a good way to start the Cross season right thar.

Meanwhile, Crawfy and Dave slugged (or slogged) it out at a rainy PIR in the Cat-n-Mouse series. No mouse, only rats.

EATING BABIES

Lots goes on in the team car. Somewhere between Matt White and a high school junior lies the majority of the activities. Beer, porn, booze, but don’t worry, some Gatorade too for proper hydration, as the other components usually lead to varying fluid losses.

you’re a winner