Pooks Canyon

After watching Jon churn through the mud at last Sunday's Cyclocross race in Lembi Park, I felt a sudden urge to write a blog post.  Force of habit perhaps. We arrived at the course in a steady rain.  Finally, a rainy day in California!  Jon had new Challenge "Limus" tubular mud tires and was, of course, also equipped with a decade of mud experience.  I suspect, given how dusty and parched the last four years have been, some of the newer Cali-Crossers in the race had never ridden proper, muddy 'cross courses before.   After Jon's warm-up lap he came to the car and smiled, like, "I got this."  I smiled, too. All of us felt pretty confident as we headed to the start area, so imagine my surprise when, after the start whistle had blown and the racers were on their way, some guy was off the back and riding partially naked, struggling to put on his clothes, and that guy was Jon. Yes, Jon started the race about 25% naked.  Right before the start ...

Here's what we've been doing instead of blogging... Leah started Middle School. Here she is annoyed to have her picture taken while waiting in line to have her picture taken. I guess that is kind of annoying, but as it turns out, this is a more "natural Leah" photo than the school portrait. The school portrait has the forced smile that is de rigueur for middle school students. Axel started Big Boy school at the local Montessori Elementary (Pre-K to Fifth grade). Here he is dwarfed by the gym/stage/cafeteria. Axel turned 3 and rode this horse to Steamboat Springs for a mini-vacay. Leah absconded with Axel's cow poke vest and rubber band rifle (BD gifts from Dad). The hat is her own. Grandma gave Axel a lovely wooden US puzzle and a beading toy. All very Montessori-esque. Grandma also came to Steamboat... here she is looking cute and treating us to a Gondola ride. Axel and I at the Gondola Summit. Leah and Axel enjoyed the ride. The next day we babysat Sam wh...

Races in the Netherlands don't quite have the pump of a Belgian 'cross race. Not sure why... maybe less spectators, less gin, more healthy food choices? I ended up in the beer tent and ordered a tall pils. About 2 seconds after stopping at a table, an older man from a large group of "Supporters Bart Wellens" approached and said something in Flemish. I said that I only speak English and he said, "Oh, so you are drinking alone then?" I looked around and said I guess so. Then he just walked away. I guess he was also a member of Supporters of Pointing Out the Obvious. I really missed my father-in-law today- we always had so much fun culturally blundering through beer tents and having one sided conversations with drunken 'cross fans that only spoke Flemish. Mainly, though, today is was not so great because Jon had a crash during warm-up, bending his handlebars and inuring his hand. I think the hand will be okay -mainly bruised- but he wasn't able to start...

Desperate for a map of the Loenhout course, I shelled out the 3 euros for the fancy program they sell at the gate. It had much more than a map and included great caricatures of past winners and photos of favorites for the win. My hands down favorite photo was this one: Sven Nys with his Goldschlonger.

Yes, Jon has finally cracked the top 20 in Belgium. He was actually riding 10th for half the race until a crash set him back to 13th. I was in the pit with Bart Wellens' and Klaas Vantornout's mechanics who were asking about Jon as he remained toward the front for the whole race. Here is a photo of Jon 2 nights ago when we ate at Hotel Erasamus in Brugge: At Sint-Niklaas Jon developed new super-fans as he was ROCKING one very technical section of the course on every lap. After the finish, he was even stopped to be photographed with an entire Belgian family. Some fans approached me in the pit to find out more about this Jonathan Baker person. They said what is his nickname? I said that he has many nicknames but my favorite is The Beast. They liked that and chanted Beast, Beast, Beast as Jon hammered past. The fans that chanted for he Beast. Today's 13th place was even sweeter after Loenhout on Tuesday- in which Jon was again doing very well, but then his chain broke ...

Because the unusual freezing cold here was not quite enough to sate our homesickness for the Rockies, we traveled just north of Brussels to the village of Diegem for a nighttime race. The children stayed home with a sitter. We had 2 shiny new light and fast bikes from Blue Competition Cycles and one spare rear wheel. This qualifies as a sweet set-up after Jon raced a World Cup on a borrowed bike with jammed road pedals. Still no wheel box from United Airlines but we hold out hope. In the racer parking area we unloaded said shiny new bikes in front of throngs of Belgian superfans, who circled around the bikes with much interest. They are really beautiful bikes. Later the superfans stayed on to gawk as Jon pulled up his spandex to apply hot embrocation to his thighs and calves. Jon in the start area, trying to decide how many layers he should wear. Here is a photo of Anthony from Brugge, who helped me learn the way of the Belgian pits now that Jon's dad is not here. It was a ...

Jon travled to the World Cup in Zolder, Belgium today with the single bike he'd borrowed from Rubens Sport bike shop. Christmas has delayed the new bike from his sponsor a day so this bike is all he has right now. He is running file tread in the front and a mud clincher in the rear and if he flats or has a mechanical he will be out of the race. I stayed home from the World Cup today to wait for the bikes (which the airline said they found and would deliver). When the "bikes" arrived at 1pm I went to the driveway to find two small suitcases, clearly barcoded and tagged with the passenger name "Kevin Biron". I pointed this out to the people, who had driven 100k from the Brussels airport to bring these bags. Are they serious? Apparently they still think they have Jon's bikes so hopfully later today they'll come back with the right stuff. Kevin Biron, if you're reading this, the airport has your bags. Watched the race on TV. Jon started - I saw h...

He found this bike in the barn and it was his steed du jour. A Raleigh rigid mountain bike with "USA Design" . Tomorrow he gets a rental road bike from the bike shop. Soon his sponsor, Blue Competition Cycles...... RideBlue.Com is SAVING THE DAY with a new bike being sent to the farm here. Jon is noticeably more at ease knowing he'll at least get to do some races. I followed clever Kat's advice from a comment in a previous post and contacted United's media relations letting them know I'll be writing a article about the experience and sending it to anyone who'll listen if they don't make those bikes appear asap.

On the farm there are many vehicles at our disposal. Among these are the clever pedal driven go carts. There is a big double that Jon and I pedal simultaneously. Given that Jon's bikes and wheels are the only bags still missing (too horrible to dwell on) today his work out was tandem pedal carting with me. Bart Wellens would say, "LMAO," as he ate a pigeon before tomorrow's race in Nommay that we will not be going to. When Leah is not riding a donkey she is riding her personal kid-sized go cart. Axel likes riding in the wagon almost as well as riding in the backseat of the double pedal go-cart while mom and dad pedal. Later I used this wagon to haul groceries from the car to the front door of the cottage. Jon and I accidentally ran Leah off the road. As retribution, while we were visiting the playhouse Leah stole our cart and we had to walk back to the main house. We really deserved it.

This weekend was as interesting as I thought it was going to be! We started out at Boulder Reservoir on Saturday for the first installment of the UCI Boulder Cup Weekend. From a spectator perspective, DBC Events’ Cyclocross races are the closest thing you’ll get to the real Belgian experience this side of the Atlantic. Of course the beer tent was a beer garden (no rain here!) and you could only leave if you hid your beer past the gendarmes. And no one was serving shots of Genever. But if you swapped out the bratwurst for frites and mayonnaise you could’ve fooled me. As for the racing action on Saturday- Jon raced hot and fast in the top five for several laps then a bobble by Wells (eventual race winner) gapped the two of them. They chased for the next lap, Wells got back on but Jon didn’t quite make it. Later, a flat tire really set Jon back, allowing Wicks to come up to him and take 5th. I watched it all from das biergarten where I ran into some great people including Jon’s ne...

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Here are some pics of Jon at the races, sent from his great host in Ohio, Jaden. Thanks Jaden! Jon hung out around the top five in all three races and said the big factor was the heat; while it was freezing in Boulder it was in the 80's in Ohio. Looking forward to Deleware this coming weekend. I am sad to report one of the new Pipistrellos was retired this weekend after suffering a rip to the sidewall. The rip was not due to failure on the part of the tire but a loose wheel, possibly a failed skewer.

A miracle has happened; VT4 will be broadcasting the entire Superprestige series for free on the web! See them here . Jon will be at Diegem, for the rest we'll be up early watching. Most races will be 7am mountain but Diegem and Ruddervorde will be at 9am and 9:30am respectively. Superprestige races 2008-2009: Ruddervoorde (Belgium) Sunday October 12th Eerde-Veghel (Netherlands) Sunday November 2nd Hamme-Zogge (Belgium) Sunday November 23rd Gavere (Belgium) Sunday November 16th Gieten (Netherlands) Sunday November 30th Diegem (Belgium) Sunday December 28th - Jon will be there! Hoogstraten (Belgium) Sunday February 8th Vorselaar (Belgium) Sunday February 15th

Yes, we are returning to Belgium right after nationals and are staying through World Championships, which are to held in the Netherlands on February 1st. Hopefully Jon makes the team! We are staying Near Bruges this year as "In Bruges" has become dangerous- what with characters like Colin Farrell running around shooting people. Seriously though, we've rented a little farm cottage about 6 miles from town. Apparently there are chickens and donkeys and a hayloft for the kids to play in, it should be fun. Jon plans to race around Belgium as well as hitting a few World Cup events, basically picking up where his fractured collar bone left him off last year. Word has it the Hofstade world cup on 12/26 is actually being moved to Zolder (site of the 2002 World Championships). Yes, the article is in Dutch. The Euro has dropped preciptiously vs the dollar, the biggest drop since 1999. Banking crises throughout the world are the cause of this drop so we'll see if any bene...

Jon was so fast through the barriers he is just a streak on my camera. These guys kept offering Jon a Bratwurst during the race. Jon said he considered taking it and then handing it off to me... The solo win. The aspen were beautifully colored in the Rockies this weekend and we were lucky to spend time up there enjoying the sights. The race promoter doubled the prize fund for day 2 (yay!) and also included a gift certificate for 2 nights in a Breckenridge condo. I sense some snowboarding in our futures- especially since Leah, as a Colorado 5th grader, is entitled to ski for free throughout the state this year.

Posted by Mr Pooks. I'm up I'm Frisco with the family for a weekend of high altitude 'cross racing. Today did not dissapoint in the weather departement, with a nice cold rain starting up just as the race began. Paco from Velonews had a blistering start on the opening uphill, while I settled into the chase groups trying to shake the cobwebbs from my legs. A few laps later, it was just me and Paco after the guy from Mafia crashed himself out of the lead group trying to bunny hop the triple log barriers; amazingly, he did this two laps in a row! Halfway in, the legs started to come around, and I went to the front, managing to get a gap through a technical section. Though I kept telling mysrlf to ride safe in the last few laps, I still managed to slide out on a rough corner, but my gap was big enough to hold on for the win. Looks like tomorrow will bring some snow; unfortunately, it sounds like Paco may boycott the race due to the shockingly low prize money put up by the o...

Mudandcowbells offered this great shirt through Cafe Press and I'm wearing it to Frisco this weekend to cheer Jon on. Thanks Greg!

Posted by Mr Pooks. I had a bit of an imbroglio here in Madcross #1 up in Madison. A silly little crash while racing in 2nd place led to a trip to the urgent care when my ankle was sliced by my chainring.

Jon was racing in 2nd behind Jonathan Page when he crashed. After jumping back up and racing another half lap he realized his foot was covered in blood. He dropped out and went to the hospital for stitches, apparently the chain ring badly cut his ankle. We do not know if he'll be able to race tomorrow. Update: He had to get 15 stitches but will be racing tomorrow. Jon, you're an animal!!!

Here is Jon hangin out with his friend Eddy [Merckx] at Interbike. Both their sons are named Axel so that gives them a lot to talk about. haha Jon sounded very happy with his top ten result last night. His chain kept coming off into the chain guard, which he says he will tighten up before Wisconsin this weekend. He was in the lead group of 15 or so but had to chase back up several times after falling back with chain issues. This just confirms two things to me: 1.) Vegas is a good course for Jon 2.) His form is good this year, on a perfect day (no mechanical issues) he could have been top 5. For those Lance-o-philes, Sir Armstrong never made it to the front group and finished in 22nd place. People on the ground in Vegas report seeing Lance chasing hard, moving up though swarms of people throughout the race, but it wasn't enough to see the front. Jon said that after the race Lance was commenting on how he surprised he was at the speed. Perhaps Jon himself will post a race report...