Aaron Bradford - Blog: January 2012

As I write this, consistent rain and strong winds rattle the little beach cottage I've called home for the past 2 years. Being two blocks from the Pacific ocean, it's not uncommon for me to fall asleep to the sound of the pounding surf and the tone of the mile buoy. After a dry spell of no precipitation going back to mid November, we are experiencing our second day of heavy rain along the northern California coast.

This weekend Bakersfield will play host to the NorCal vs. SoCal shoot out. Word on the street, the muddy 1.6 mile course has a variety of challenging features including popular "Lobster Launch Pad" flyover, and the "Lightspeed Leg Buster" run-up. If your in the area, you should come check it out. Hopefully there will be a good run in for the flyover so we can get rad! Details here.

With a rewarding 2011-2012 cyclocross season come to a close, I now wait with excitement and anticipation knowing I have 4 new bikes coming my way from Santa Cruz bikes, one of which will be the V-10. Shred the gnarnia...

Santa Cruz Syndicate 2010, Champery World Cup - More Mountain Bike Videos

Seems like yesterday when Scott and I jumped into his 92 Toyota pickup and began the 2011/2012 cyclocross season with a 3,000 mile drive from Santa Cruz to Las Vegas to Seattle then back to Santa Cruz. That fun five day trip started things off right leading into a rewarding five month block of racing along the west coast and mid-west. By November, I finally landed a top ten in a UCI race (CXLA), a goal I have been chasing for some time. With that top ten, I was rewarded points which allotted me a call up to the first couple rows at the start of races, a huge advantage for races like the USGP and National which have 100+ starters.

Bend was the first weekend I benefited from my UCI points and on Sunday I finished a personal best at 13th. From there I've managed to carry fitness into the last handful of races of the season at nationals in Madison Wisconsin. Although I had a problematic Elite race, I ended up winning the singlespeed race which was both fun and rewarding. Only 2 weekends for the 2011/2012 cross season left and I couldn't be more stoked on how things ended up results wise; even received media time with publications such as San Francisco Magazine along with Cyclocross Magazine to name a few. Aside from getting UCI points, I find myself ranked 386th in the world! HAHA Thanks to everyone involved with BAY101/HRS/Rocklobster for making the last 5 months so enjoyable! It's been great hanging out, traveling and racing with all my old and new friends along the way. Thanks again.

Place	Name	City, State	Time	Bib	Team
1	Aaron BRADFORD	Santa Cruz, CA	44:47	708	Bay11/HRS/Rocklobster
2	JT FOUNTAIN	Moscow, ID	45:01	714
3	Michael GAERTNER	Coeur D Alene, ID	45:03	733	Coeur d 'Alene Velo Racers (CDAVR)/Vertical Earth
4	Scott CHAPIN	Santa Cruz, CA	46:10	734	Bay 11/HRS/Rock Lobster Cyclocross
5	Braden KAPPIUS	Littleton, CO	47:52	738	Team Clif Bar
6	Daniel CASPER	Northfield, MN	48:15	715	Revolution Cycle and Ski
7	Alex WORK	Santa Cruz, CA	48:38	727	Bay 11/HRS/Rock Lobster Cyclocross/Bay 11/HRS/Rock Lobster
8	Kristopher AUER	Baltimore, MD	49:19	718	Charm City Cycling LLC
9	Michael CURTES	Mequon, WI	49:25	711	Twin Six
10	Jeff CURTES	Menomonee Falls, WI	49:28	721

For a couple post Nationals write-ups on the team they can be found here, here and here

Photo from the "feats of strength" qualifier from Single Speed Cyclocross World Champs