I was forwarded a link and it led me to a short trailer of a documentary of my old team mate, Nelson Vails. It turns out they are making a video of his life and need some contributions. Nelson is one of the good guys. I always enjoyed traveling and training with him. Always smiling, always happy. Here’s a link to the site and there is a place to click to contribute to help make it possible.

Indiegogo Campaign – Cheetah: The Nelson Vails Story trailer from stephane gauger on Vimeo.

Nelson is on a poster heading down to my basement. This was a Raleigh poster from 1984. Pretty great results from our team. Doesn’t even show Thurlow and Roy who won Olympic Bronze medals. That would be a total of two gold, one silver and two bronze Olympic medals from one domestic team. Pretty stellar.

When the Tour is over, people start thinking about cyclocross. It gives them the month of August to get their equipment together and their mindset changed from the road and/or MTB to cross. The cross season is long now. It’s nearly half the year. I like to start out slow and finish fast. Like others, I’m always a little rusty the first few weeks.

To help get back into the flow or to just to learn new skills, Adam Mills, at Source Endurance, is putting on a Cyclo-X clinic the weekend after Labor Day, Sept. 6-7th, in Kansas City. Click here for the linkable flyer that is below. It’s pretty cheap and a great way to get into the sport or improve. I’m going to be helping out along with some of the other best cyclocross riders around the midwest. Zach McDonald, 2012 U23 National Champion and World Team Member will be there, along with Mark Savery, 2012 Master’s 40+ World Champion, Joseph Schmalz, 3rd Elite Road National Championships and Tour of Utah rider, plus Shadd Smith, local honch and 9th at the 2012 UCI Master’s Worlds.

It’s pretty affordable, $25 or $30. about the same as entering a race. I’d skip one race and do the clinic, you’ll be a much better cross rider for it. The fees go up in a couple days, August 17th, so you’ll save a few bucks signing up earlier. No one is making any money here, everyone is just trying to help the sport grow. Space is limited, so don’t wait too long.

Okay, hope to see you out there. Should be a good time.