Oh, time, time, time is on my side, yes it is

Heads up people, entries for the entire national cyclocross series and for round 1 (Adelaide) close this Sunday night. Entries for the Sydney & Melbourne rounds will remain open until a week before those races.

Go here to register: http://cycling.org.au/?ID=46779

Put my name at the top of your list

Attention Racers! Here are the start lists for tomorrow night's Jeff Hannemann Memorial Cyclocross races, aka the 2013 Dirty Deeds Cyclocross Prologue.

Of note:

• CX-Men will be divided into FOUR (4) heats of 30 people each. We decide who goes where, no discussion will be entered into.
• CX-Women will run with Open-Women.
• There will be a very very VERY limited number of spots in CX-Women, Open-Women & Open-Men available on the day. Plenty of kids slots left, bring 'em down!
• If you believe you pre-registered and aren't listed below please forward your confirmation email to ddcx.entries at gmail dot com and we'll look into it. No confirmation email? You messed up the form somehow. Buh-bow.
• There may be spots available in CX-Men, however they won't become available until riders scratch on the night as we are currently at capacity. I know, I'm as shocked as you are. Cyclocrossing hey?
• If you wish to nab one of these spots you'd best get to registration when it opens at 530pm tomorrow and put your name on the standby list. First come, first served.
• If you wish to scratch, email  ddcx.entries at gmail dot com ASAP.
• If you have a CA / MTBA / BMXA licence, bring it with you, or proof of payment. No licence, no race, no arguments.
• If you do not have a CA / MTBA / BMXA licence you will need to purchase a DDCX Season Pass. These will be for sale from 530pm tomorrow, they are $50.
• If you are a 13 or under kid, you can purchase a Kidz licence for $16.
• Race entry is $10 for adults, $5 for kids.
• CASH ONLY, please bring correct change.
• Yes it's going to be hectic at the registration desks, but be polite to the volunteers as you may find yourself without a race entry if you behave like a jerk.
• Registration opens 530pm
• Course opens 600pm. No number, no helmet, no practice.
• Racing commences 7pm with kids & open, at this point CX-M riders that haven't collected their number will be scratched and standby riders will fill the empty slots.
• Each grade will get two short races, kids will finish earlier so they can have a nap before staying up late to watch the Giro.
• After the racing is done and presentations are over, head to the Lomond Hotel for the after party, hosted by The New Timer.

Sorry about the text dump below, HTML isn't my strong suit. Do a Ctrl-F!

Have fun!
======================================================

CX-Men

Surname    First Name
Abbey    Josh
Akse    Jelmer
Arnold    Christof
Baker    Kristan
Balding    Dyon
Barrett    Wil
Batchelor    Aaron
Bell    Colin
Bethel    Alan
Blazevic    Adam
Braunsteins    Peter
BROWN    MICK
Buckle    Andrew
Butler    Jason
Carroll    Steven
Carruthers    Sean
Christie    Heath
Clark    Brad
Cobbledick    Marcus
Collett    Russell
Collins    Nathan
Cotterell    Nicholas
Cowburn    Andrew
Cranswick    Charlie
Crosbie    Michael
Cryan    Dominic
Czechowski    John
Dann    Michael
De Luca    Leigh
de Soto    Damion
Deane    Nicholas
Denis    Patrick
Doran    Simon
Dowling    Benzy
Drehlich    Mark
Dungey    Che
Eastick    Brad
Edwards    nicholas
Efford    Mik
Farr    Dean
Fitzsimmons    Hamish
Flaherty    Jason
Floyd    Lee
Giuliani    Nazario
Godfree    Mikkeli
Graham    Justin
Greenwood    Philip
gribble    Al
Griffiths    Blake
groves    john
Guttmann    Laurence
Hartill    Chris
Hartnett    William
Hawkins    Austen
Hay    Grant
Haydon    Simon
hayes    james
Healey    Ben
heitmann    gareth
Henry    Travis
Higginbottom    Tristan
Hildred    Jy
hogan    greg
Holder    Michael
Huntley    Alex
huth    gareth
Iwanov    Alex
Jackson    Adrian
Jeffries    Liam
Jones    Luke
Kah    Danny
Kerr    Hayden
King    Adam
Kurka    Thomas
Kyle    Robert
Larkin    Paul
Le Page    Laurent
leach    warrack
Lee Shoy    Courtenay
Lett    Nick
Mahoney    Nick
markey    peter
Matthews    Lachlan
Maughan    Tony
McBain    Jason
Meyland    Alex
Mitchell    Nick
Moore    Dan
mos    mark
Murray    Aaron
Norris-Jones    Cory
Oliver    Paddy
Payne    Steven
Phillips    Bruce
Phoon    Vei
Powell    Edward
Ratcliff    Kirk
Redenbachs    Paul
Rehlinger    Pierre
Robinson    Neil
Ruiter    Reuben
Schilling    Leigh
Simons    Craig
Slaney    Sam
Smith    Nick
Smith    Chris
Stewart-Jacks    Alistair
TOWERS    Craig
Tran    Dean
Van Der Berg    Roger
vandenbergh    adrian
Vaughan    Adam
Vellacot    Huw
Vlass    Ben
Weir    Stuart
Whiting    Matt
Winn    Cam
Woolcock    Cam
Yeatman    Paul

============================

CX-Women

Surname    First Name
Anset    Melissa
Baggs    Chloe
Brown    Claire
Combe    Nadia
Garrett    Wendy
Green    Shelley
Gurner    Erica
Low    Vinca
Macpherson    Jenny
McDonough    April
McSwan    Amity
Mittiga    Lauren
Munsterman    Maartje
Nelson    Diane
Petran  Adele
Phillips    Amy
Richards    Deborah
Scurr    Michelle
shinn    courtney
Simpson    Josie
Stewart    Verita
Williamson    Bec
Wilton    Emma

 ============================

Open-Men

 Surname    First Name
Adin    Robert
Barber    Ben
BERZKALNS    DREW
bickerstaff    phil
Custom Cycles    Larrys
Deane    James
Edwards    Patrick
Frank    Michael
Hartnett    William
Heiskanen    Tate
Hodges    Adam
Hughes    Benedict
Jones    Adam
Kuc    Anthony
McInulty    Peter
Peacock    Craig
Ripp    Paul
Scarlett    David
Shackleford    Dave
Supreme    Coffee
Thynne    Jim
Trainers    CycleOps
Urie    Shaun
Walkerden    Ben


 ============================

Open-Women

Surname    First Name
Belz    Gabrielle
Hill    Karen
Ilievski    Gayle
Mahon    Angela
McInulty    Heather
Slocum    Bridget
SOUTHWELL    JO


 ============================

Kids

Surname    First Name
Bell    Ruben
Buckle    Michael
Davey    Kieran
Giuliani    Remy
Gregory    Lucas
Hughes    Emily
Jirovec    Eddie
mcconnell    Lachlan
Mcconnell    Campbell
Parlevliet    kallum
Treadlie    Jacob
Urie    Josh
Urie    Jack
Williamson    Bec's Son

weekend adventures at Darebin Parklands

Another busy weekend for the Dirty Deeds crew.

Saturday was the third and final Women's CX Development session. It was great to see some familiar faces who had been to the previous training sessions who were able to practice and build on their skills. A few new riders also came along and picked up the basics with ease and a few giggles.

It has been so great to see so many come out to give cyclocross a go and develop the necessary skills to look totally badass riding cross bikes.

Pre reg for the Prologue is now open and we are keeping a close eye on the entry list to see if we can break some new records for women's participation. Fingers crossed (pun intended).

Cycling Victoria are circulating a survey to get feedback on the sessions, so if you haven't already, let us know what you thought and if there was anything we could improve upon.

Less talking more riding Nik! (photo stolen from Mark Drelich, thanks Mark!)

Sunday was the Darebin Parklands 40th Birthday celebration and the Dirty Deeds crew and friends headed out to help revegetate the Western side of Mount Puffaflo. 

We totally heart Darebin Parklands and are always keen to give something back to the venue who provides Dirty Deeds with some of its best racing. It had nothing to do with cake, honest. 

2000 Kangaroo Grass plants went in the ground. 

Tate getting rad with a pick. 

Park cake!

Negotiation Limerick File

So pre-reg is going faster than Blakey's sewing machine applying patches to battle jackets.

If you are thinking about coming out, or know someone you want to line up against get them to hurry up and sign up.

Registration will close on WEDNESDAY at SEVEN PM. I shout because I care.

Also, rather than put that bike away for a bit after Friday why not procrastinate on washing it until Sunday afternoon and go and race either of the CX events happening then.

Whittlesea
Ballarat

It's not a tough decision as you can see, I can blow you away or you can ride with me

Pre registration is live.

http://tinyurl.com/DDCXPrologue

Go!

IF YOU DON'T KNOW YOUR LICENCE NUMBER, PUT TBA.

And then join us at 1pm tomorrow for the Darebin Park Care day

http://dirtydeedscx.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/the-roots-grow-deep.html

PS:  Look what's on the Sunday after the prologue!

I'm proposing a swift orderly change

You asked, we resisted.

You kept asking, we finally caved.

No, DDCX won't have Masters grades, but we do have online pre-registration! Dragged kicking and screaming into this web 2.0 world.

Those of you that race Northern Combine will be familiar with the system, as googleform genius Col has ported it over for our purposes.

Here's how it's going to work:

• Online rego will open one week before the race (assuming we don't forget to go live) and close two days before the race. For the prologue it will open Saturday evening, we will blog/tweet/instagram/facebook the link to the registration page as it goes live, so you will know all about it unless you don't have internet, in which case you can't register anyway.
• As grades fill, entry statuses will move from 'provisionally entered' to 'waitlisted' to 'snowflake's chance'. Your confirmation email will detail which category you are in. We'll post a start list the day before the race so you can see if your waitlist status has been changed, we will not be contacting riders individually to inform them of this.
• On the day entries will still be available if the grades don't fill and/or riders scratch/noshow before registration closes.
• If you have to scratch your entry, email ddcx.entries+scratch@gmail.com, scratchings with less than 24hr notice may be subject to a fee, but why wouldn't you race!?
• If you try to enter multiple times due to being waitlisted, your duplicates will be deleted.
• All fields in the form are required, if you don't know what to put, ask a mate or email ddcx.entries@gmail.com for clarification.
• Select your grade to the best of your ability. The handicappers have the final say in grading and will be making adjustments by reviewing past results and total race entries. Sandbaggers beware.
• You will be required to bring your licence and cash for the entry fee to the registration desk, if you don't have a licence and are purchasing a Season Pass, bring other photo ID. 
• IF YOU DON'T KNOW YOUR LICENCE NUMBER, PUT TBA.
• DDCX Season Passes will be available for purchase at the Prologue and future rounds. They are still the low low price of $50. If you decide to upgrade to a full "Gold" CA licence, the cost of the permit is deducted from your licence fee. The Season pass is valid for:
• DDCX Prologue
• DDCX Round 1
• DDCX Round 2
• Victorian CX State Championships (support races only)
• SpookyCX
• Kidz licences, for children under 13 are $16, these are valid for a year, and can be used for road and track racing too.
• Race entry is still TEN BUX. This has to be the biggest bargain in bike racing after the DDCX Season Pass.
• Payment for race entries and licences will be cash only, please try to bring exact change.

Thank you for reading... here is a picture of a cute cat

The Roots Grow Deep

Hey! Have you ever raced a DDCX event at Darebin Parklands? Would you like to continue racing DDCX at Darebin Parklands? Then how about giving something back to the community this Sunday and come along to their community park care day and 40th birthday celebration and spend a couple of hours planting grasses at Mt Puffalo before eating some cake.

Without the efforts of the DPA back in 1973, the area would either be a tip or a development, not a sweet green space that lets a bunch of bike dorks come in each year and cause a ruckus.

DDCX will be there in force and we'd love to have a strong CX contingent with us to show them that not only do we tear up grass in hairpins, we plant it too (so that future racers have something to tear up ;) ).

From the DPA website:
---------------------
Darebin Parklands community park care day and DPA 40th birthday celebration

Sunday 19 May 1-3pm

Please join us for a rewarding afternoon planting native grasses at Mt Puffalo, on the Alphington side of the parklands and then help us to celebrate our 40th birthday. All equipment and afternoon tea (including birthday cake!) supplied. All welcome!

Directions to the site:
From the Alphington side: enter via the main entrance at the end of Separation Street. Turn right inside the gates and walk across the flat grassy former tip site to Mount Puffalo.
From the Ivanhoe side: Enter via Rockbeare Grove and walk down the hill. Turn right at the bottom and cross the footbridge. Walk up the bluestone stairs and turn right. Walk past the picnic shelter and across the grassy former tip site to Mt Puffalo.

i ride, you ride, we ride together

When people at their first cyclocross training session ask about bunny hopping barriers, you know the session is going pretty well.

Close to 30 women came along to the CycloFemme Mother's Day CX skills session at the Brunswick Cycling Club Velodrome. Run as part of Cycling Victoria's Chilled Tapas program to encourage new road riders to try a range of winter cycling disciples, the session was the second in Dirty Deeds women's development series.

It was great to see another big turn out of new faces, keen to try cross out for the first time, as well as those coming along to build on their skills from the last session. We also had a good turn out of young cyclocrossers who brought the energy.

The newbies were super quick to pick up the dismounts and running remounts, keen to put it together with barrier jumping.

After a quick barrier refresher, the skill development crew got to work on some bike handling skills, cornering at speed, some shouldering technique work with run ups and down. A few brave souls even gave some down hill remounts a go. No easy feat on the concrete velodrome bank!

The session was finished off with some racing around a small course on the inside of the track. If the mock race starts seen today are anything to go by, the competition is going to be fierce in 2013.

Thanks to everyone for coming out, especially Alan Mok and Monique Hanley from Cycling Victoria, and of course the Dirty Deeds crew, Blakey, Jez and Duggan for their expert coaching.

More photos of todays event can be found here.

Next Saturday 18 May is the last of the DDCX women's skills sessions at Darebin Parklands from 10am-12pm. It will be a great chance to practice new skills before the 2013 season Prologue.

Plain Sailing Weather

Emerging from amidst a flurry of CX related news here is the latest dispatch from the DDCX command bunker (where we discuss Blakey's love for sewing machines and Duggan's DIY backyard rocket past).

The prologue is now 2 weeks, 1 hour and 40mins away and while it resembles previous year's highly entertaining soirees there are those who are just joining us (or like James "Wizard Staff" Kent can't really remember last year).

Photo courtesy Andy Rogers

So in simple terms:
Location: Harrison St Velodrome, East Brunswick
Course opens: 6pm
Racing starts: 7pm (kids are first up)
Racing ends: 9pm (kids will be done earlier if this is a concern)
Presentation and post-race high fives should be complete by 9:30pm wherein our effervescent MC Brendan "Ginger Beer" Bailey will be leading a migration to wherever he is organising the after-party to be.
Race categories: Kids/Open/CX Men/CX Women
Cost: $10 adults/$5 kids

We will have CX Season passes on sale and you WILL need one or a valid CA/MTBA/BMXA licence.

The big news is that we will be offering pre-registration, so you don't have to pretend to have as early a Friday afternoon dentist appointment. There will be more details on this very shortly, but you will need to be there by 7:15 to claim your spot.

Entries will be limited as we are working to a tight timeline and it's a short course, however as those who have attended previously know, it's a great way to kick off the local CX race season and make encouraging/disparaging comments towards your friends whether you are racing or not.

Plus: National Series Entries are now open!!! We have something quite good planned for our round this year. Even better is that you will hopefully be able to congratulate the inaugural National CX Champ from the (awarded the day before).

Cause you're never safe around whittlin' man

We'd heard the rumours, but now it's gone public, Whittlesea CC are hosting a CX series this winter.

Here's what we know so far:
Race 1: 26th May, Sycamore Reserve, 11am, $25 entry.

The club website is staying mum on the issue, so stay tuned to their facebook page for more information.

BMX track plus more clubs hosting 'cross races: High stoke factor!

STOP THE PRESSES, THERE'S A FLYER.

I never wanna shame the blood in my veins

You know you've made it when He-Man turns up to your CX race.

Oh, and Robbie McEwen.

Looks like a cracker of a day. I bet there are a lot of banana benders who are kicking themselves for not going. Read more about it here. Top work Gavin / Brad and everyone else involved.

Hot Chilli Woman

Ladies, miss the Death Crits already? Not enough CX races in winter to keep you happy? (ProTip: Work with your club and put one one!) Sick of riding the rollers in the garage? Then does Cycling Victoria have a deal for you!

This winter, CV is putting on a series of 'tasters' for different kinds of cycling that you might not have tried before, or would like more exposure to. Chilled Tapas kicks off on Sunday May 12th with our very own Women's & kids CX skills session x International Cyclofemme Global Women's Cycling Day event x Mother's Day collabo down at Australia's spiritual home of cyclocross, Harrison St Velodrome, East Brunswick. 

A 'cross bike is ideal, a MTB will suffice, but anything with two wheels and a brake will get the job done.

In case you missed the first session, read all about it here.

Emily is not to be trifled with

It's $20/per plate, or $50 for the degustation, but in the spirit of DDCX, ours is with the compliments of the chef, so you can put your Diners Club away.

The session line up is as follows:

Sunday May 12th: Cyclocross (HSV)
Sunday May 19th: Handicapped Road Racing (Albert Park)
Friday May 24th: Indoor roller training (DISC)
Sunday May 26th: Intro to Track Cycling (DISC)
Saturday June 1st: Victorian Road Series - Road racing (Kew Blvd)


You can find more information here.