S.C.X. Finals - My family and friends!

This entry deserved its own post. I'm so excited to add this entry of the success of Kristi, Holden, and my teammate Corrie.

First off Corrie, in her first year of 'cross racing has learned so much and it has really shown that she is willing to do the work, and take notes when people such as Kristi, her husband Micah, and other teammates offer advise. This to me defines a someone with big fun future ahead. She has talent and the willingness to learn and the ability to listen and process information. Corrie went into the race 3rd Oveall I believe, and with the help of teammate Cristina working hard for her, WON the race out right! Holy moly was it a nail biter as the chase was on by the other girls only every chance they got close, they would fumble or crash in the greasy corners, and Corrie would simply ride away looking smooth and in control. Corrie went on to win, and with that win, netted the OVERALL victory in the Categort 4 SCX series! I'm really proud of her, and how much she has grown as a true cylco-crosser this season. She will be upgrading to a Cat. 2 next year. Look out Bitches!
Holden raced his last race of the year in the Jr. 10-12 year olds and finished in 6th place wich was good enough to get him 2nd Place overall in the series. Kristi and I are so pround of him, and how he has stuck out finishing all of his races in the cold and wet and tough days. We are hoping that his opportunity of being on a winners podium with a bunch of people cheering will be the learning lession reward for perseverance. Regardless of where he ever goes in the sport of cycling, Holden has began to learn what dedication and committment means, not only in sport but that in life. He's happy and very proud of his accomplishment, and so are we. Great Job Holdenator!
Finally, I have to give a big "Wahoo!" to Kristi for an incredible season. Kristi won convincingly at Monroe for her 8th win of the 8 race series. Yeah, that's right, she was undefeated in the SCX series, and took her 8th Title in this prestigious series. I believe that she is the most winningest rider in the series history. She works hard, she races well, she is a great sportman, role model, coach, and she deserves everything that she has earned.
I wish her all the luck as she heads to Oregon in search of a Masters National Championship. She is on the right path.

S.C.X. #8/Finals in Monroe

Well the S.C.X. series has come to a close, in the moist sandy, horse pucky confines of the Evergreen State Fairgrounds.
My mission today was to defend my 5th place overall placing in the series, which was a season goal from the beginning. I was sitting in 5th but with double points in the final race and everyone throwing out thier one worst race of the series, it was hard to do the math and know exactly what and who you were dealing with.
At the start of the race, the officials let us take a moment to remember the 4 following Lakewood PD officers that were killed that day, and to take a moment of silence at my request. Thank you USA cycling officials for that moment. A class act that we appreciated.
The whistle was blown and I was in my pedal powering up within 1/2 a second, I swear. I even remember hearing someone just behind me saying, "Good god Papa, how the hell do you do that?" I'm not sure who it was, but it brought a smile across my face as I led the field down the straight away to the first turn and grass climb. At this point, thats when one of the most decicated workhorses of any team came to the front. Dr. Phil, jumped to the front, and kept things strung out like a champ. Within a heartbeat, Ronnie Schmeer jumped out to attack. I told Phil to let it go, as Schmeer was behind me by a ways, and I would need feel throughout the race. As the race began to unfold, my legs were not feeling quite as snappy as they were in warm up. Not bad, just not great. Phil continued to pull me around the entire course for most of the race, which was truly one of the most amazing dedicated rides that I've seen this year. He had to be the strongest rider of the race that day, but yet unselfishly dedicated himself to me and my season goals. At this time, one must ask themselves what a "teammate" truly is, and what a "teammate" means to you. I know, and I saw it once again in Phil. One of our teams tasks were to keep Tom Phillips in check as he was just behind me in the overall point series. Phil knew this and constantly had Phillips in his sites. Slowly but surely we worked our way up to Tom Phillips with one lap to go. I came around Phil and checked to see how Tom was doing. He told me he was hurting, and I believed him. As we rounded the turn after the high speed turn into the grass climb, I attacked Tom with everything I had left. My loyal teammate Phil stayed back keeping an eye on Tom, as I continued on trying to gain as much as I could in the final lap. I had Matt Hill (Garage) in my sites and I was gaining on him. Unfortunatley I could not quite catch him in the final meters of the course and I finished a solid 5th place on the day. Dr. Phil came in behind me in 6th with Tom Phillips in 7th. I was happy with our ride, and even more impressed with Phil's ride. Quite possibly the strongest ride of the day, and all for the sake of a teammates goals. Thank you Phil, you are the secret weapon for anyone!
Unfortunately, the wary the "throw out" race worked, Tom beat me for 5th place overall in the series by like 6 points out of 600+ points. Ouch! What do you do? We did all we could and were very proud of our seasons work and our ability to ride together as a team. TEAM! TEAM! TEAM! TEAM! I don't know what else to say.
I also want to thank Micah, and DP in the pits. Even though we never needed to pit, it was great to know they were there and they kept giving us splits and "atta boys". Thank you also to my brothers from Ladder co. 72's; Bergeron, and Freer for coming to support me. That was good having them cheering out on the course for me.
Next up: USGP/Portland next Saturdat & Sunday. After that we will remain on the road heading to Bend for the U.S. National Championsips. We will keep you posted while out on the road.

Holden's State Championships 11/15

I think being a state champion was hard, but some people like a challenge. Yeah I was first, but I was the only one there. THANKS FOR READING THIS.

S.C.X. #7/Sedro Woolley

Yahoo! A day that brought lots of rain and temps in the low 40's begs for cyclo-cross racing. Today was the 7th stop it the Seattle Cyclo-cross Series taking place in Sedro Woolley. The course had lots of grass, mud bugs, standing water, gravel, and just mass amounts of MESS!
The race started off great knowing Dr. Phil, and Dan "Thor" were gonna be working hard for me. I didn't get my regular snappy start since I missed a pedal as the whistle was blown. It didn't matter, out of no where, Dr. Phil flew to the front and began to control things. I got towards the front fairly quickly and things were good. As we were headed into the first barriers/run up. Dr. Phil was leading, I was in 3rd, and at that moment "Thor" let me know that he was right behind me. It's pretty good for the confidence when things are starting to take place and it's you and 2 teammates in the top 5! That was darn cool. Things began to unfold and Series Leader, Kelsey and me began to turn things up at the front. Tom Phillips made the group and we were off. Within half a lap, Phillips took off hard and dropped Kelsey and me. I soon dropped Kelsey as he road a large mud bog and struggled, and I chose to get off immediately and run the entire section. I put a gap in him and now I was firmly in 2nd place. This was the majority of the race and with about 3 to go, Kelsey bridged back up and eventually passed me into 2nd place. I spent the remaining lap trying to catch him, but alas had to settle for 3rd Place today. I was super pleased with my ride in the brutal conditions. I love riding in real nasty conditions and bike handling is a must. My teammates rode great and worked hard to support me; Thank you Phil and Dan. I'm still sitting in 5th overall for the series and now got a few more needed points to solidify that spot. With one race to go (Monroe) and double points on the line. Anything can happen.
Congrats to Kristi for another win today. She has been undefeated this year in the SCX series and she has sewn up the series now. All she has to do is start the finals and she has won. Way to go Buttercup!
Hats off for Holden too. He had a rough race and stacked it up into a tree on a descent pinning his leg. Thank you Uncle "Wick" for being there to help him out. Holden continued on in the race and finished in 4th. With only 1 race to go in the series, Holden has enough points to ensure a top 5 overall placing in the series. Way to go Holdenator.
Also, thanks for our friends Gino, Trish, Mandy, and Richard for driving out in the cold and rain to cheer us on. That was cool, and we really appreciate it.
I'm looking forward to a good week of preparation leading up to the SCX series finals on the 29th.

Thanks for reading.

What I'm racing on.....

For the 2009 cyclo-cross season I am riding a Redline Conquest Team. I have two matching bikes with only a couple of suttle equipment differences. My bikes are spec'd with TRP Euro brakes which I have come to love. Very tough to beat in both cost, set up, and perfomance. Nobody else comes close. The bikes are equipped with a full Shimano Dura-Ace drive train, which has been very dependable over the last couple of seasons. Stems, handlebars, and seat posts by Full Speed Ahead(FSA). I do run Shimano XTR pedals which is a contrast to most other Northwest 'crossers that chose either Time or Crank Brothers. I love my pedals and the adjustability and cleat consistancy they provide. I run basically three different tire selections. The first one being Challenge Grifo 32mm tubulars. These are most often used and tend to be my lightest set up. My other option is two clincher models whick inlcude; the Hutchinson Bull Dogs (meaty with good knobs) or the lower resistance/fast rolling Hutchinson Pirahna.
I have been fortunate enough to ride Redlines for the last 3 seasons, and I have been very surprised and happy. The quality of ride, snappiness, dependability, weight, and costs make this a very worthy racing frame. Special thanks go to Tim Ruttledge and everyone at SBS for giving me the opportunity to ride a true American cyclo-cross tradition. Thanks for the support.

M.F.G. Series Finals/Woodland Park

Woodland Park might go down as one of the best cyclo-cross courses/venues that we have seen yet in the Northwest. With huge evergreen cedars and many deciduous trees to provide cover, the course weaved in an around and included some grass meadows as well. With all of the recent rain, many corners were greasy and slippery and provided plenty of entertainment to the onlookers and fans.
The Bicycle Centers/Collision 1 Team had a plan to work for T.M.T. as he was sitting in 2nd place overall behind "Gallagher". The thought was that if he could beat him and Dr. Phil and myself and others getting ahead of Gallagher, this would be taking possible points away from him and enable TMT to get a point spread. On the start, TMT looked good and Dr. Phil and myself had our work cut out for us. With little points in the MFG series, we didn't get ideal start row positions. After the first lap, we were sitting around 13th place with TMT in 1st. We continued to move up as the race wore on in the attempt to catch and pass Gallagher for our team leader. At the halfway point, Phil and I began to turn up the heat, go get Gallagher. We continued to bring down what was at one point a 40 second gap. Every lap we were catching up to him. Unfortunately, I only got within 8 seconds or so of him and TMT faded to 3rd. There wasn't enough of a point spread so TMT finished the series in 2nd. Still very respectable.
I myself finished the race in 6th place. Considering that I left everything out on the course the day before at the State Championships, I was happy with my result. I only wished that I could have helped TMT a little more. However at one point during the race, I did offer an unknown rider $10.00 and a 6 pack of beer if he beat Gallagher. He said OK, but soon faded behind Dr. Phil and myself. Well, it was worth a shot!
Way to go Kristi for a great well deserved win. She came from behind and won the race on the last lap to beat the series overall winner from Idaho! What a great win, and how exciting of a race to watch.
Next week "Hilly Cross" in Bellingham on Saturday, and SCX #7 at Sedro Woolley (Woolley Cross)on Sunday. I'm looking forward to this race and feel good about it. Hell, it's MY neck of the woods.
Thanks for reading.

Washington State Championships/Pacific Raceway

The 2009 Washington State Championships were held at Pacific Raceways near the Auburn/Kent area in King County. The course was stretched out and very fast with paved sections and long fast grass sections as well. There were two power climbs with hairpins at the bottom on loose marble rocks that often would force us to dismount and run to the top.
My goals were high for today, and I had some intentions to do well. Even though the overall racer turnout was low, the top guys were all in attendance for the most part except our own TMT, and Dr. Phil. I got a front row call up (that's always good) and off we went. Within the first lap, the front group began to materialize with around 8 riders with me sitting in 2nd. Half way through the race the number was wittled down to 5. I was at my max just trying to hang on at that point, and thats when the surges started. Dale Knapp and myself were dangling about 15 meters back from the other three. That's when they began to attack eachother, and Knapp and I had missed the opportunity.
Both of us continued to attempt in working together to bridge up, but our riding styles are so different that we just yo-yo'd past eachother every now and then. In the end, Knapp ended up being the stronger of the two of us today, and crossed the finish line about 20 meters ahead of me. Nonetheless, I came across in 5th place and I felt like that was a descent accomplishment considering the talent that showed up.
Hats off to Holden for nabbing a State Championship today in the Jr.'s. Yes, he won, and had fun doing it. What a champ!
Also, the family fun included Kristi storming to 1st place and racking up another State Championship. She led big right from the gun, and never looked back. So out of the 3 Berg's we got 2 Championships and a 5th place. Not bad in my book. A good day to say the least.
Tonight we are shacking up in the True North O.S.V. at Cycle University in West Seattle. What a place, to be able to wash your bikes in an underground 4000 square foot parking garage all to yourself. As I write this, I'm in the office using their computer. Thanks for the hospitality Craig, and everyone at Cycle University. Tomorrow we are headed across town to Woodland Park near Green Lake for the M.F.G. Series finals. Should be a great time at a new venue.
Thanks for reading.

"Papa" Berg........I'm out!

Team Training Ride at Sedro Woolley

Today, Kristi, myself, and several members of my team got together for our "hard day" Wednesday workout. The group included Micah, Corrie, Shane, and Dave B.
We decided to skip the Arlington stairs and drive up North to Sedro Woolley and ride on the Woolley Cross course which will be stop #7 in a week and a half for the Seattle CX Series. The course is very sloggy and heavy to ride and forces you to push a big gear and power through. Very hard on the muscles. Riding there also gives us a chance to dial in the course and get used to line options and rythm/flow of the course.
We all did a 2 lap warm up together, and then everyone completed their own workout within their own racing time. I rode the course tempo for 30 minutes with Dave Bennet right on my wheel then with 30 to go, I pegged it and rode at race pace for the remainder of the hour. It was a great workout and we got pretty muddy and wet from the slog fest.
We finished off by enjoying some coffee at Starbucks and headed home. Good day of training and things are coming along for me. Wish me luck, cause I've had some lately and it's been working.
Thanks for the ride Team and great job out there!

S.C.X. #6/Sprinker

Wow, what can one say about the racing yesterday.

Stop #6 of the Seattle cyclo-cross Series took place at Sprinker Park in Spanaway. The course consisted of two long pavement sections, a sand pit section and lots of fast grass with bumpy sharp rocks laid throughout the course hidden in gravel and dirt. Last year I suffered 2 flats during the race, and this year I was chosing my tires and pressures carefully. After pre-riding the course with my team and trying a couple different wheel/tire options, I opted to ride Grifo 32mm tubulars with 35psi in the rear and 32psi in the front. This proved to be a good choice! We had a team meeting before our race as we warmed up and came up with a good strategy/plan to take to the start line.
We lined up for the start in perfect conditions; drizzling rain and about 50 degrees with the ground wet. At the start, I got the hole shot off the tarmac and started to string things out. I was feeling good as we progressed through the course and riders began to pull through. Within the first lap, Bicycle Centers/Collision 1 had 3 riders in the top 10 to include T.M.T., myself, and Oppenheimer. Todd went away to the front and I got in a group of three that included Doug "The Grave Digger" Graver, and Matt Lynch. Phil was just behind us and always in view through the turns riding defensively and refusing to pull anyone up to us. What a guy!
My group was working good together and were taking turns doing the work. As we were going through the sand pit, Lynch had a bobble, and The Grave Digger plowed right into him, in turn, I hit Graver's rear wheel and went over the bars flipping in mid air. We quickly got up and remounted. My right lever was twisted in, and with only 20 meters to the pit, I should have gotten a new bike. My thought was that if I took the extra 5 seconds to pit, I could lose contact with the two, so I elected to stay on my "A" bike. While on the paved tarmac at about 20mph, I was able to reposition my lever back to its normal position and the bike was still running flawlessly. I had a made a good decision. Two laps later, I attacked Graver and Lynch. When I looked back, I hade a 20 meter gap, so I pinned it with another hard effort and didn't look back. With 3 laps to go, I caught up to our Team Leader, Todd Morse Tucker(TMT). Knowing that I had put in a big effort to bridge up, TMT took the reigns and pulled me along so I could recover. What a teammate. As we were picking off lapped riders things were going well and we were riding in 3rd and 4th positions. On the last lap, TMT went down just in front of me on a slippery turn. I was able to avoid the crash, and heard him say to go, and he would ride defensive for me. Again, what a team! I pushed hard on the last lap to keep out of reach of a hard charging Kelsey coming from behind. I crossed the line in 3rd Place with teammate TMT coming in 4th. What a race, and everything worked for us just as planned. We had 3 riders in the top 10, Oppenheimer getting the next spot, and we were very happy with our results and even more our teamwork. Super thanks to our pit crew; Dave, Micah, and Dave for doing an outstanding job for us today.
Not only a great race with another good result, but I got to celebrate my birthday with my teammates and enjoy a big carrot cake Kristi had brought.
Congrats also to Holden who got another 4th place today and caught one kid just before the finish. Kristi snagged another tough win. She wasn't feeling herself today, and just dangled out in front of the chasers to snag her 6th SCX win of the season out of 6 series races. Nicely done.
The season is 2/3's over and everything is coming together at the perfect time for me. I'm climbing in the standings, and feeling faster and faster every race. The only thing I'm missing is a Win! You can bet, that I've put this on my short list of goals for the season. I'm going to continue to work hard, and turn up my training another notch as it comes down to the wire. With a team like Bicycle Centers/Collision 1, I have everything I need.

Thanks for reading.

Wednesday = Stairs & Coffee

Wednesday, myself, Kristi, Micah, Corrie, and Nick rode out to the Arlington Stairs for an intense group workout. It was good having Nick there to push me on what is already a crazy hard interval set.
We finished up our great workout and then road back into Smokey Point to Starbucks for some coffee and conversation. Maybe we are starting a regular Wednesday = Stairs & Coffee. Sounds good to me!

What a life!

S.C.X. #5/Maris Farms

Sunday was a good day as we loaded up the True North O.S.V. and headed down to Buckley to Maris Farms for the 5th stop on the S.C.X. Series. Maris Farms is a privately owned theme farm with pumpkin patches, corn mazes, petting zoo, animal acts/shows and more to promote the fall harvest time of year. This made a great location for a new cyclocross race with good terrain and plenty of challenge.
The course included some deep "peanut butter" mud through a huge pumpkin patch, twisty greasy mud through a portion of the corn maze and then a turning, and bumpy grind up and down some of the bumpiest grass I can remember. This finished up with a turn up a gravel road climb and starting all over again. With some key teammates not on hand; Todd Morse Tucker and Phil Oppenheimer, I knew that it might be up to me to anchor the team up front. Our team had a brief discussion before the race to discuss tactics and agreed that on this course, there would be little opportunity. With sitting 8th overall in the series, I was called up to the front row and lined up to the right. The gun went off, and we headed up the gravel climb, through the muddy turn, and dropped down into the muddy pumpkin patch. As soon as we hit the deep stuff, I noticed that five or six of us made it through with a gap. After the next section, it was down to three of us and we had a 15 meter split to the rest of the field. After the 2nd lap the three of us had probably a 20-30 second lead with Ronnie Schmeer joining us and the front two starting to pull clear of Schmeer and myself. The majority of the race looked like this with me and Schmeer going back and forth. My legs felt great, and the technical nature of the course was suiting me well. Many of the guys who are normally in the top standings were struggling leaving the door open for whoever had the fight.
With two laps to go, the sharp rocks caught up to me and I suffered a pinch flat right before dropping back into the pumpkin patch mud. I was able to roll the descents but had to pick it up and run the flats and climbs. This enabled a couple of riders to catch up to me before I made it to the pits for the bike change. My Bicycle Centers/Collision 1 Team in the pits were great and made the bike changes super smooth (as always). I continued riding out the last 2 laps trying to survive as the running effort with the bike began to take effect and fatigue front the course was setting in. I crossed the line in 6th place which I felt very good about. I'm riding very well, and my work is paying off.
I also have to congratulate Kristi on a well deserved win in the Elite Women's class. She went back and forth with Kari Studley and finally attacked her and stormed off for a convincing win. She is owning the series this year and looks good doing it.
Thanks again to my teammates for the support and sportsmanship that we constantly get. I love it.
Next week will be stop #7 at Sprinker Park in Spanaway. Great course and only 2 races in the SCX series left, means the fight for points will be fierce.
Talk to you soon.