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!

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. 
• 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.