Jon Hamblen and Mike Cody each won a UCI race in North Carolina last weekend and you can read coverage on Velonews.com and Saturday and Sunday details on cyclingnews.com. There are also photos of Cody on the podium, Hamblen winning, and Hamblen leading the field on cyclingnews.

Hamblen Wins UCI North Carolina GP #1, November 19

Mike Cody, Dan Timmerman, and Jon Hamblen attended the NC Gran Prix weekend, the first time UCI cyclocross races had ever been organized in the South East. With the two final USGP races falling on the same days, cross racing notables were not present. However, the field consisted of a strong group of riders with fairly equal ability and strength and all hungry for UCI points. Cody and Hamblen lined up on the front row but Timmerman, who had yet to race a UCI cyclocross event and lacked any points, was forced to start at the back of the fifty man group. From the gun Hamblen lit up the race and had the field singled out for the first lap and a half. A group of eight riders formed at the front including Hamblen, Cody, Bart Gillespie (Biogen Idec), Jed Schneider (Alan Factory), Tristan Schouten (Trek/VW), Brent Bookwalter (Easton/Kona), Charlie Storm (Inland Construction), and Jason Tullous (Voodoo). Meanwhile, Dan had to fight his way through the entire field (while riding a cyclocross bike for the first time) and was making good progress towards the front of the race.

Hamblen and Cody took turns half-heartedly attacking the front group, which seemed content to ride together and stay out of the stiff headwind blowing down the backstretch. Each time they threw in an effort someone would respond and bring them back within a lap. The efforts began to take their toll with two laps to go and Mike and Jon realized that one hard effort might shed the group for good. Coming out of the woods and into the headwind, Hamblen threw down a hard acceleration to take the pavement section alone with a small gap. Cody went to the front to try and slow things down while Gillespie and Tullous chased. Jon put his head down and dropped his chain into the 12 cog, grinding out a slow cadence but increasing his lead.

With half a lap to go and the gap increasing, the chase riders began ease up, look at each other, and think about second place. Hamblen was on his way to his first UCI cyclocross win! While the guys were pondering their sprint strategies, Cody threw down into the headwind and got a small gap. Not willing to fall for the same move twice the chasers quickly organized and reeled him in with just a few turns to go before the finish. The effort blew Cody for the sprint and he was passed by two riders on the final stretch.

However, the team had won the day and put on a fantastic show with Hamblen first, Cody fourth, and Timmerman clawing his way up to tenth place on Hamblen's tiny spare bike.

Cody Wins UCI North Carolina Grand Prix #2, Hendersonville, November 20

Day two of the North Carolina GP series brought similar conditions to the previous day, with warm temps (well, warm to New England, but frigid to locals), and a similar course lay out. The end result was the same with Fiordifrutta taking home a win, but it was Michael Cody and not Jon Hamblen taking the win over a strong field in the last lap.

A two faced a course with a technical hill side section that dropped away to a flat grass criterium-esque section provided physical challenges all day, but would not prove selective enough to break up the front group. A long line of racers, almost 20 deep, wound around the course in single file for the first three laps of the race with Cody and Hamblen covering and countering attacks all day. Eventually the front group whittled down to 10 strong riders in the closing laps.

While Hamblen attacked repeatedly on the last two laps to keep the field strung out, Cody waited patiently for the final section of the course to make his move. The open course closed down after a set of double barriers that headed into the woods, up a steep dirt climb before popping out in the grass to ride a technical off camber and super steep short hill. Then there was a tight right turn leading to a 180 degree turn onto the finish straight. On the last lap Cody would exit the woods in second and follow a strong Charlie Storm onto the ride up. As riders made the slow turn and sprinted to the ride up, Cody made his move and squeezed himself between Storm and Brent Bookwalter over the top and opened up the throttle to take the win.

Michael Cody and Matt White traded off for a pair of fourth place finishes at last weekend’s New England Series UCI races. You can also see some photos of White from the November 5-6th UCI races in PA and NJ here. There are a couple of photos of Peck from his wins in Gloucester, MA here. Finally, Cody get muddy in the Maine New England Series race here.

Cody Climbs to Fourth at Chainbiter Cyclocross, UCI Cat 2, November 12
Verge New England Series #2

Cody and White both jumped away to good starts against a top national-class field in Farmington, CT. Cody was not quite able to hang onto the first group with Tim Johnson, Todd Wells, and Jesse Anthony, but he was able to ride strongly in the second group with Mark McCormack and Eric Tonkin. Cody led his group in for fourth with White not far behind in 10th. Johs Huseby and Chris Peck battled it out to finish 16th and 19th respectively. Check out the great picture of White on jsmcelvery.com

White Finishes Fourth at Cycle-Smart International, UCI Cat 2, November 13
Verge New England Series #3

Sunday’s race in Northampton, MA was White’s turn to shine as he rode most of the day with yesterday’s winner Tim Johnson. Johnson escaped in the last couple of laps for third, with White just behind. Cody also rode up front for much of the day, until a pair of bike changes on the fast course dropped him back to 11th. Peck also had a good day to finish 13th, with Huseby in 21st. White again made the jsmcelvery.com site with this shot.

This week’s news has Johs Huseby winning his first cross race of the year, Hamblen continuing his winning ways in North Carolina, and Matt White and Michael Cody posting another couple of podium results at UCI cross races. There are also more pictures of Peck’s wins in Gloucester, MA here and here.

Huseby Wins Putney Cyclocross, VT, November 6th

Putney is one of the oldest and longest running cross races in New England and where it all started for me. I grew up several miles away and worked here growing up – so there is a special place in my heart for this race…and I got to bring our one month old son for his first Putney experience! Diane and I had arrived at my mother’s house Saturday afternoon and I went on a short ride to prepare for the race on Sunday. When we got to the race on Sunday, it was overcast and gloomy – but no rain – this was a good thing. Rob Hult was parked right next to us and I knew this would make for a great race. When there is the opportunity for teamwork – it makes it that much more rewarding.

The West Hill folks had added some new terrain to the course this year which made it particularly fun – there is even a small BMX track now behind the shop where they included a big jump! The race started and I took the hole shot, overly anxious to deliver on my home course. I led for the first lap and realized I had a crew of follower’s right behind. 2 laps in after Rob had also taken a turn at the front – we both sat up as it was not our job to tow these guys around for the rest of the race.

Right then John Hanson, from Nerac attacked very ferociously and I jumped right on his wheel. He kept the pressure on for a whole lap and I just sat there waiting for the right opportunity. The next lap, just over the long run-up, Rob was in front and Hanson and a rider from Garneau were just in front of me, and the Garneau rider dropped his chain! Hanson got stuck behind and Rob took advantage – as did I. We accelerated hard and created a gap immediately. Hanson fought hard from behind and looked to be gaining on us several times, but we once again put the gas on and stretched our lead to almost 1 ½ minutes by the end. I took the win with Hult right behind – a great showing for Fiordifrutta!!!

White and Cody 2nd and 3rd at Lower Allen Classic, November 5th
VERGE Mid-Atlantic Cyclocross Championship Series Round #5 - UCI Cat 2 Lower Allen Twp Park, PA

A beautiful day greeted us on Saturday morning after having our cyclocross season to date resembling a wet, cold mess. The course laid out by the promoter resembled the World Cornering Championships course, which meant that mistakes would not be tolerated in the outcome of the race.

An opening prologue lap with almost no corners helped sort everyone out and soon it was Barry Wicks, Tyler Johnson, and Michael Cody as a lead group with Matt White patiently waiting in the second group. A weakening of Tyler Johnson and consequent surge by Wicks left Cody hanging in no man's land between the Wicks and the chase group which included Matt White, Troy Wells, Ryan Leech, Joshua Snead. A bobble by Wells gave White and opportunity to surge across the gap to Cody and the two took off in pursuit of Wicks and hoping to distance their rivals. Trading pulls through out, White and Cody held Wicks to a 30 second lead until the remaining 3 laps where the pair focused on locking up 2nd and 3rd places ahead of a charging Troy Wells who took 4th.

White and Cody 4th and 6th at Highland Park, NJ, UCI Cat 2, November 6th

Another September like day with tempe in the 70's in November graced our 2 man team of Matt White and Mike Cody. After a single lap to learn the simple dry, flat, and predominantly straight course, the boys lined up on the front row as usual and blasted out of the start gates. Barry Wicks and Ryan Trebon took a substanial lead in the first lap, with White attempting to bridge the gap, he had just made it when one of them attacked again forcing White to settle for the second group. With Cody settled into a group containing 3 TIAA Cref riders they brought back White and quickly went to work on him. White responded to the an attack by Troy Wells and the two become the second group. Wind forced the two riders to work together as neither one could execute an attack which lasted more than 30 seconds. Behind Cody pushed the pace to drop Zak Grabowski, and leave him only Ben Turner to fight it out with. In the final lap White played his last card, to sit on hope that big sprinting Cody would come back. Cody nearly latched on when Wells went full throttle capitalized on the better line in the sprint and was able to take 3rd by an inch, leaving White with 4th. Cody's sprint against Ben Turner was a mirror image giving him 6th.

Hamblen Wins NC Cyclocross Series Race #3, Crossing the Creek, November 6th

Burlington, NC, on another 70-something degree sunny day: can it get any better than North Carolina? Yes, it could have been 95 degrees, Jon's favorite temperature for racing, but it was only 73 and there was racing to be done... Fiordifrutta's Hamblen lined up wearing his long sleeve skinsuit, in order to fight the chilly 73 degree air. His plan was to defend his NC Cyclocross series leaders socks. From the whistle Jon and Savage Hill rider Mark Hekman took the lead and established a gap. The two riders traded pulls for about eight laps then Hamblen attacked through the start/finish area and got away clean. Jon rode hard the remaining four laps to take his third NC Series race in three weeks.

Matt White has been posting top results in UCI races, Chris Peck continued his winning streak with a couple of wins in the Crank Brothers master’s races, and Jon Hamblen once again beat up on the locals in North Carolina.

White 12th at Michelob Ultra Grand Prix of Cyclocross #2, Gloucester, MA October 30
Crank Brothers US Grand Prix Cyclocross Round 4

His best start of the year put Matt White right on the front of the race. You can see White in the Velonews photo here. After settling into a manageable pace, Matt was in the 2nd group on this grass crit course. Riders shot forward and backwards out of this group throughout the day. Matt was able to able to maintain the pace, and match attacks until the last lap, when falling off a little placed him in 12th. After the recent birth of his son Ryder, Johs Huseby made his return to cyclocross racing in Gloucester with a 21st place finish on Saturday, and a 32nd place finish on Sunday followed by Chris Peck in 33rd.

Peck Wins Michelob Ultra Grand Prix of Cyclocross #1 and #2 Masters, Gloucester, MA October 29-30
Crank Brothers US Grand Prix Cyclocross Round 3 and 4

As a first year master, Chris Peck chose to battle it out in the old men’s races in Gloucester, and was able to win both races in front of Roger Aspholm (Westwood Velo) and Dale Knapp (Kona). Unwilling to risk a group sprint with his skinny legs, both days came down to a last lap attack which saw Peck jump clear of the front group to finish solo. Peck also won the Focus first lap competition on Sunday and you can see some pictures at Jonathan McElevery’s site here and here.

White 5th in Wooden Wheels at Granogue Cyclocross - UCI C1- 1, October 22

Rain downpours on and off turned the hilly course into a real bike handler’s day in Delaware. With a strong start and mistake free first lap our lone competitor Matt White found himself close to the front group containing Ryan Trebon, Tim Johnson, Barry Wicks, and Mark McCormack. Near flawless bike handling allowed Matt to maintain his 5th place finish from the first lap to the last. White commented, “On my Michelin Muds I was really able to rip the greasy turns and descents today, that was a fun course!”

White 10th at Wissahickon UCI C2 Cross, October 23

Bright sun shine and mild temps revealed a day for group racing on a flat and reasonably featureless course. After a poor jump off the line, Matt was taken out in a first corner crash, leaving him close to the back with a lot of traffic to fight through. A ripping first half on the race brought Matt barely into the top ten, a solid fight to get something out of the day. With a large gap in front to 9th place Matt decided to wait out the sprint finish. With two riders to beat for the last of the UCI points and a 10th place finish, Matt wound up his sprint from the middle of the 3 man group and was able to take it too the line.

Hamblen Wins in Cary, North Carolina, Oct 30

The second round of the NC series was held in beautiful Cary, NC. Under sunny skies and with temp's in the low 70's, 25 riders took to the line in the men's A race. Fiordifrutta's Jon Hamblen, the series leader, skipped out on a cold and wet weekend of racing in Gloucester, MA to defend his leader’s socks. Things were strung out quickly as Jon and Mark Heckman (Savage Hill Racing) established a good lead on the chase group. Mark and Jon rode smoothly and steadily for two laps, until the tall Heckman fell hard on an off-camber downhill and high-sided his enormous bike. This left Hamblen alone, solo, for the remainder of the hour long event. Jon won the race in just about one hour, an amazingly quick time to complete a one hour timed race.