#CXisComing

Do you hear that? That ringing in your ears is the sound of your CX Alarm clock. DO NOT HIT THE SNOOZE BUTTON! Yes you can continue racing gravel, mtn, office crits and doing Tough Mudders. Do a charity ride while you can. Get that Lobster Roll Century in asap. Because in 7 short weeks we are getting this SSCX Party started once again! There is a lot to get done between now and then. Believe me. Show of hands. How many of you still have mud from Ice Weasels encrusted on your SSCX bike? Yeah I thought so. Pull it off the rack. Or drag it out of the basement. Show it some love and get back on it. Pedal out to a park and see if you remember to remount without a stutter step.

The last time we tuned into this Bat Channel we were wearing Ex President masks and racing in a blizzard down in Philly. So much stoke from that weekend still coursing through our veins. Some HUGE news for this years SSCX Series. First we are proud to announce Harpoon Brewery will be the official beer sponsor of the 2014 Zank SSCX Series! This is such a good fit. First we all love Harpoon and know what an integral part they are of the cycling scene here in New England. They have supported cycling in NE from day one. Secondly (and MORE exciting news!) we will be adding Paradise Cross Frenzy in VT to the series! Why is this such big news? One its in VT. And VT is awesome. Two it will be a great double weekend of VT CX with Paradise on day one and Putney on day two. Three (and maybe most important) Paradise is held in Windsor, VT where the HARPOON BREWERY IN VT IS! How awesome is that? So excited on both fronts. In all seriousness Harpoon not only makes fantastic beer but they are a great company. Local. Doing it right. And most recently became employee-owned!

For 2014 we will have 13 races! Or a Baker's Dozen if you will ; )

The 2014 Zanconato SSCX Series:

9/7-Quad CX, Maynard MA
9/20-Cyclocross at White Park, Concord, NH
9/21-Sucker Brook, Auburn, NH
9/24-Midnight Ride of Cyclocross, Lancaster, MA-One of only two night CX races in New England! And the kick off of the Holy (or Unholy depending on your perspective) Week of CX

10/3-Providence Festival of CX, Providence, RI-This will be the Daytona of this year's series. They once again will be giving us Friday to hold our SSCX race and the Madison. The Builder's Ball will be at Roger William's Park this year so will be a great place to get together after the races and have a party and look at handbuilt bikes and art!
10/11-Mansfield Hollow, Mansfield, CT
10/12-MRC CX, Lancaster, MA
10/18-Hanover CX, Hanover, NH
10/26-Orchard CX-The home of CX Giraffe!!!

11/8-Paradise Cross Frenzy-Windsor, VT
11/15-Cheshire CX, Cheshire, CT
11/23-New England Regional Championships, Fitchburg, MA

12/13-Ice Weasels. And yes the beauty of IW being held on the 13th is not lost on me.

The Road to Philly

Month one is almost in the books for the 2013 Zanconato SSCX series! We have had some really exciting racing over the last 3 rounds! We have had some great races, QUAD CX, White Park and Sucker Brook. There have already been lots of shenanigans and some new faces and some newly formed rivalries! This year is a special one. Not only is it our 3rd year with the series but SSCX Worlds are on the East Coast! They will be held in Philly on December 8th. Our rad brothers in arms from PA are the ones responsible for this madness. From the looks of the party the brought to MTB Nationals this past summer they know how to keep SSCX weird. And I support this! The whole reason we got into CX and SSCX is because its fun right? More to come of this for now put a big red star on the weekend of December 7th & 8th. You are going to want to be in Philly for both of those days. Trust me.

The Zank series got off to a great start at Quad CX. The weather was awesome and the gun club as always makes for a great venue. It has that jungle cross feel that I love. Lots of crazy woods sections and gravel and sand pits. And I am pretty sure we were racing on an actual gun range at one point. The turnout for Quad was awesome.

White Park and Sucker Brook were this past weekend. Next year we will have to create a King and Queen of the Granite State for the person who has the best time between the two races. This year the Rowells would have taken that honor home for sure! Makes sense as they are both solid as a rock on the bike. We have some of the same rivalries we have had in the past and some new ones as well. Which is so great. The plan this year was to get more people racing SSCX and it is working. I think SSCX is like a zombie virus. Once one racer is bitten its really only a matter of time before the whole #NECX are SSCX zombies with only one mission. Race for beer and burritos!!!

Next up on the Zank SSCX World Wide Weird Tour is Providence. SSCX is about to hit the big time. Providence is one of the pillars of CX in the US. And we get to get up on that big stage and let our freak flag fly! The Friday before the UCI weekend we will have a full day of racing and hijinks. Fridays SSCX race will be held at 4 pm at Roger Williams park. There is more than just beer and burritos on the line for this one! The winners of both the mens and womens races win a free entry to Philly SSCX Worlds! A third winner will get a ticket to ride as well. The "People's Champion" will be picked by Lone Wolf Cycling who has graciously donated these 3 entries. From what I have seen of Lone Wolf Cycling I suspect the People's Champion will be the one with the best costume who is capable of hopping the barriers while taking a beer handup. But I could be wrong.

The other event on tap for Friday is a CX Madison. What is that exactly? Basically a CX relay race. Two riders go in and split of the laps. Exchanges happen in the pits. For this one we have been kicking around the idea of bring back a bit of the old NECX vs MAC vs PA grudge match. Each team puts a case of beer in. Winner takes all. Who is in?

After the racing we will meet back at the Biltmore Hotel for podium presentations and the New England Builder's Ball. The Builder's Ball will feature handbuilt bikes and goods from all over the East Coast. It will be a blast.

The Zank SSCX series like the name implies is a series. Points are accumulated through the season and an overall champion is awarded at the finals at Ice Weasels. Also for each race you do you get a raffle ticket to get into the running to win a handmade Zank custom frame as well as a ton of other great prizes! At each race we award the podium Ipswich Ale and other great prizes donated by ENGVT. Boloco burrito cards, beer and other prizes are awarded for things like having race number 666, or coming in 13th, or crashing the hardest. You get it. We reward excellence as well as style and stupidity in our series. Because in the end we are doing this for fun.

The remaining races for the series are:

10/4- Providence
10/12-Mansfield Hollow
10/13-MRC
10/27-Orchard CX
11/16-Cheshire
11/23-New England Regionals
12/14-Ice Weasels

Rules are very simple. Show up with a bike, helmet and race it with one gear/speed. Dedicated SSCX bikes are a thing of beauty but zip ties can make any bike a SSCX.

Huge thanks to our sponsors: Zanconato Custom Cycles, Ipswich Ale, Boloco, ENGVT, and Deathtouch/Ghostship

Check, check, it out...

Ok so we are mid-way through October. We have had some great races. And I know there has been some confusion about which races are part of the series and some of the "rules." I apologize for some of the confusion. The schedule is pretty much as it was originally drawn up with some late to the party additions. And like any good host when a good friend shows up an hour late for the party and is carrying two six packs of Dale's Pale Ale you let him in.

We hatched this idea two years ago at Ice Weasels. We aren't copying the Pac Northwest or trying to imitate any other SSCX format. Our good friend Zac Daab has built a really cool series out in Seattle. That I would LOVE to copy. But I am not sure the NECX is ready for it. The SSCX series was and is meant to first be fun, second help grow SSCX and three promote and strengthen grass roots cross racing in New England. The first goal is easy. The other two are somewhat more complicated.

Each of the races in our series are run independently. Separate promoters. Me, Zank and Matt have no stake in their races. We don't get anything from the races or make any money from them. What we get is the huge satisfaction of seeing SSCX grow and seeing a lot of cool cross racers really enjoying themselves.

This is a beta cx series. Or a wiki cx series. We would LOVE your input. Or help. Or ideas. I have a vision in the back of my head. Not sure it can ever be a reality but its my vision. I welcome any feedback and want to hear how you would like the series to be.

One of the reasons we allow races on the same date is that part of what we want is for racers to have more options. You shouldn't have to drive two hours every weekend to race 40 minutes. For lots of reasons. So when you have a race in NH and one in CT on the same date it actually can be a really good thing.

So we have added:

Hanover- A Hup member in NH has been trying to make this race happen for years.  It finally happened. We are super stoked about it

CT Series. Hunter and the CT promoters have had a SS division for a long time. So when Hunter emailed us about how his races were developing we added them in.

New England Regionals- This race happens AFTER our finals. How does that work? We want to support Alan and his race. He does a ton for the NECX. He will use the Zank series points for staging. That is pretty cool. We maybe don't talk about it but USAC has a SSCX national championship jersey. If I was a talented SSCX racer I would be targeting THAT race. I would be using the Zank SSCX series and Alan's race as stepping stones to bring that Stars and Stripes back home.

We have this perception that out West they don't take SSCX seriously. They crushed the competition at Nats last year. You want that jersey you are gonna have to fight some bad ass SSCX racers that is all I am saying. I for one want someone from the NECX to win that jersey. That jersey means more to me than all the masters jerseys combined. There I said it.

2012 Zank Singlespeed Cyclocross Series p/b High & Mighty Beer

Welcome to the 2012 Zanconato singlespeed cx series p/b High & Mighty Beer

Below is the schedule for this season. We have some great new races added into the mix and some of the best grassroots races in all of New England. Same rules apply. Race one speed, have fun, love cross. Pretty simple right? 

We are proud to announce High & Mighty will be back as presenting sponsor. We have also added Boloco burritos to the mix! Beer, Burritos and single speed cx? How good is that! Six weeks. Get that cx bike ready. We will have zip ties on hand to make your geared bike a one speed in about two seconds if you don't have a dedicated single speed. We like dedicated one speeds but we don't judge. We want as many people racing sscx as possible. One race and you will be hooked. 

9/8-BOB race

9/9-Quad CX

9/22-CX at White Park NH
9/23-Sucker Brook

10/13-Mansfield Hollow

10/14-MRC race

10/28-Orchard

11/17-VeloCX
11/17-Cheshire CX

12/8-Ice Weasels

12/15-NE Regionals

Beer me!

Cathy Rowell and Doug Kennedy are the series Champions! Congrats and thank you both for supporting the series!

7 races, 3 months of fast and furious racing. So many great venues, so many super cool and talented racers. And guess what? We did it! We showed you can have a singlespeed series in New England and have fun! And you don't have to be Portland or SF (not that there is anything wrong with that!) or any other region. This is the NECX that will never change. You could get people on uni-cycles or big wheels (well we are on big wheels but you know what I mean) and they would be taking each other into the tape and throwing elbows. Because we race. But the racing can be fun. It does not have to be one huge stress bomb.

Last year at the drunkenweasel...err Ice Weasel 2010 we hatched up this idea. The idea was holy shit there are 60 racers shredding on singlespeeds, drinking beer, hanging out and having a great time. Why can't we do this all season long. Will we get fined? Banned for life? We didn't care. Zank, Jerry, Matt Aumiller, Cathy, Mike, Dougie, Matt Myette and a ton of other people were the inspiration and perspiration behind this.

When we hatched this idea and decided to go for it I was blown away by all the promoters, sponsors and racers who were just as stoked about it as we were. A HUGE thanks to all of you! And we will be back in 2012. In technocolour. Think of the comments section of this post as the Zank suggestion box. We are doing this series for YOU. For real. Throw some ideas at us. Who knows we might get too crunked on eggnogg at the Zank CXmas party and announce to the whole world that we will add 'X' to the series next year. Then its over. Cause once you say it on the internet it has to happen ; )

But seriously. Zank and I want your feedback. Email us, call us, speak with us in person, we are here for you. We LOVED the series. I personally am hooked on singlespeeding. It is NOT a gearing choice or what ever the buzz phrase the haters throw around. It is so different than racing with gears. So different. And it can improve your geared racing big time. You can't use the brakes in ss cx. Its all about momentum. Frankly cross period is all about momentum and you should never use your brakes racing. But with gears you can cheat and learn bad habits. It took me one lap preriding at dahweasel to realize this was gonna be all about carving good turns and not losing any speed.

I finally got to race the HUP Honey as Odin and the cx gods intended as a sscx killing machine. Thanks to The Wilcox and Aaron Ross over at Landrys in Norwood for building it up and making it a Berm shredding white ball of radness. When I got rear ended so hahd my rear brake got disconnected and driven under the rim of the loaner R-SYS that David loaned me I thought oh shit this is going to be an expensive race. But those carbon spokes did NOT explode! Impressed the hell out of me. So this is a thank you to everyone involved and a shout out to our sponsors. Its the holiday season. You will be asked what you might want as a thoughtful gift or you may be giving a thoughtful gift to someone. I ask you to remember those who made this happen this year. We had a LOT of sponsors. All of them jumped in 100%. I was blown away by their support.

Mike Zanconato is the title sponsor of the series. And the mastermind behind it. At 24 hours of great glen last August he said let's do this. I was yeah man great. But he kept pushing it. And he added a sweet prize to the pot. As most all of you know part of the series was a raffle at the end of the season. The Grand Prize was a Zank Team TIG frame! A lot of people were lighting votive candles, crossing their fingers and praying to win that frame! The lucky winner was MIT rider Zach Labry! He was beyond stoked. So I know you can't order up a Zank frame in time for the holidays but Mikey has 8 sets of FMB Supermuds just waiting to shred the gnar. They are amazing tires. I rode one on the front at dahweasel so I could get rad in Bermingham (the new technical section Kevin Sweeny built this year). Zank also has some of the coolest beenies, caps and assorted swag. Give him a call he would love to hear from you.

Newbury Comics. What can I even say about these guys? I LOVE them. Roger Cadman has been so supportive of the NECX. From the first race at QUAD, to Night Weasels to the finals. All season long Newbury Comics and its riders have been out just showing the love. They really are one of those teams that you just love to be around. True friends. Guys I want to hangout with all day long. Newbury Comics is awesome. Go into one of their retail stores and pick up some cds or go online and order some crazy punk rock clothing. And if you see one of them tell them thank you because they do SO much to make the NECX what it is.

Lazer Helmets. The best fitting helmets in the world. There I said it. And they are Belgian. Do you really need another reason to love them? Ok they are safe. Have great features for dialing in the perfect fit. Look badass. And they took great care of us this year. Each time I would email Smithers and beg errr ask him nicely for a prize for one of the races he didn't even hesitate. Chris is also a badass on a cx bike and one of my HUP brothers in arms. Lazer and Chris support cx a ton. If you are looking for a new helmet or eyewear check out Lazer.

High & Mighty. Every race series should have beer as prizes. Seriously. Racing for money is stupid. Racing for beer is rad. I owe Roger Cadman big time. He brought High & Mighty to the series in a big way. High & Mighty was so great giving us enough beer to keep the podium and the racers happy! They are a great company based in Noho. Their beer is awesome. And they are HUGE supporters of the sport. In Boston Marty's has a great selection. Or so I hear.

The Ride Studio Cafe. Patria and Rob and the whole staff have been such HUGE supporters of HUP and cross and the NECX. This season they went in big time. Sponsoring both Night Weasels/Ice Weasels and the Zank series. Their support means so much to me. I can't even begin to tell you. Doesn't hurt that my HUP Honey came through those doors. Built by Seven, put together by Rob and the crew at the Studio. That bike is amazing. Oh and did I mention that their mechanic is Andrea Smith? Stop and think about that for a second. One of the fastest cyclo-cross racers in the United States is the wrench at the RSC. How is that even possible? So this Holiday go in say hi. Say thank you for being such huge supporters of not just cross but cycling and have a cup of pour over coffee check out the awesome bikes and clothing and show them the love they showed us all season long

The list of sponsors is huge. I can't even begin to thank them enough but here you go 12 days of CXmas style:

1. Cyclocrossworld.com

2. Castelli

3. Belwether

4. Feedback Sports

5. Velocity

6. Bikereg

7. Chrome

8. Squirt Lube

9. All Hail The Black Market

10. New England Athletic

And to all the promoters, racers and friends THANK YOU!!! We will be back in 2012. Gonna kick it to 11...I already know one race we will be adding into the mix. Its a good one. Will be perfect for singlespeed cx. Again thank you all for making the series so incredible. If you have any ideas, suggestions just leave some comments or track me or Zank down.

12 days of CXmas

Ok apologies to Matt and Mo for ripping off 12 days of CXmas...but its too good a concept to not be a part of. I have a feeling what Matt and Mo are cooking up for CXmas is wayyy cooler than what I have in mind. But here we go! So this weekend. Saturday specifically is the finals of the Zanconato singlespeed cx series! HUGE thanks to all our sponsors, the promoters, the racers and the entire NECX for rocking so hard and supporting the series this season. It was so much fun. We are already talking about next year. But first we are gonna close this thing out with the Raffle to End All Raffles! Right after the singlespeed race we will get our winners on the podium, crown the overall series winners. Award them their trophies and start the raffle. Its going to as Colin likes to say "Full Auto ADD Chip" So be prepared. And yes I may have a megaphone..

The biggest prize on the line is the Zank Team Tig frame! But we have sooo many amazing prizes. Below is the list. But first a few "Rules". To win you need to be present at Ice Weasels. And you need to pre-reg. So get on it asap! And stick around for the raffle. No getting in the cars and heading home. Winning things is cool. Winning cool stuff like this will make you freak out. I guarantee it. Ok so repeat after me: Pre-reg and be present. Onto the list:

1. Zank team tig frame
2. Feedback sports bicycle work stand
3. Lazer Helmets (2)
4. Wii
5 Ipods (3)
6. Ride Studio Cafe gift cards (12)
7 Velocity rims (1 set)
8. Chrome Sherman CX race day bag
9. Castelli CW 6.0 cross gloves (3)
10. Ryders Eyewear Sunglasses (5)
11. Bellwether winter gloves (3)
12. Cyclocrossworld.com gift certs
13. Bikereg swag (hats, mugs, bags)
14. Squirt lube
15. Yankee swap....ie bunch of t-shirts and random swag items. May or may not include canned Unicorn Meat. I wish I was joking but I am not...

In event of a "tie" or we can't find the winners we will resort to traditional singlespeed worlds tie breakers. Push up contests, bike toss, Naked criteriums, quarters. By whatever means necessary to find the winner!

HUGE Thanks!!!

With two weekends and 3 races left in the Zanconato singlespeed series I wanted to say a HUGE thank you to all our great sponsors, racers, supporters and promoters for making the series so rad! This all was dreamt up almost a year ago at Ice Weasels after a few too many beer handups during the 1/2/3 race. Watching 100 singlespeeders get totally rad at White Barn farm made a bunch of us ask the question why can't we do this all cross season? I mean seriously. So we did it. Mike Zanconato put so much into this. And for that I am gonna give him a huge HUP hug at Ice Weasels! He was the mastermind behind this. And to be honest we are just getting started. This was just a test to see if it could work. Next year will be even radder trust me.

For now, again, thank you. Thanks to our great sponsors: Zanconato Custom Cycles who donated the Grand Prize a handbuilt tig welded team frame; High & Mighty who provided beer for every race; Lazer Helmets who donated two gorgeous helmets to the raffle, Bikereg, Cyclocrossworld.com, All Hail the Black Market, Chrome, Castelli, Andy Ewas and New England Athletic, Bellwether, Feedback sports, Mad Alchemy, Squirt Chain Lube, Recycled Sports of NH, Derek Griggs.
Thanks to the racers and promoters who backed us. Huge thanks to all the teams that supported the series. I can't say enough how great it was seeing Newbury Comics, Geekhouse, NEBC, HUP, Zanconato, MRC, Cambridge, Quad, and the entire NECX just get so stoked to try and have fun racing singlespeeds all season long. The series has been amazing. Each race has had its own flavor and that has been so cool. Can't wait to see you all at Ice Weasels and to crown the first ever King and Queen of singlespeed CX in the NECX! And who will win that Zank frame? That is going to be off the charts. Who ever wins it will freak out I guarantee it!

I want to personally thank Roger Cadman for rocking so hard, Pete Smith for making it rain glitter this season, Abel, Derek Griggs, Rob Bauer, Mike Zanconato, Scott Rosenthal, Matt Aumiller, Russ Cambell, Gary David, Colin Reuter, Uri Halevi, Thom Parsons, Sara Bresnick, Katherine Snell, Kurt and Mike and Ted, David Wilcox, Andy Ewas, Chris Smith, Stevil, The crew at Landry's in Norwood, Matt Myette, Jerry Chabot and all you cross freaks out there in the NECX...