With your help last week we were able to donate $500 to the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance. We appreciate everyone coming out to race and those who donated to TS Alliance. If you couldn’t donate that night but would like, or just want to learn more information, check out their website at tsalliance.org.

It’s another fun night of racing this week at the Bicycle Sport Shop Dirt Derby, with a special trailer/Longbike/trail-a bike race. Haul a kid or at least an extra person behind you and race prior to the kids race. Sometimes racing is more fun with someone behind you yelling at you to go faster. Race starts at 6:10.

In other exciting news, the Bicycle Sport Shop Dirt Derby is also one of the Hot Men Hot Spots in Austin. Such a group of pretty people has never raced so well.

We’ve got good-looking guys, we’ve got good-looking women and we’ve got one hell of a bike race. Come race with us,

-Bicycle Sport Shop Dirt Derby

Last week was our largest week ever at the Bicycle Sport Shop Dirt Derby, proving that we’re having more fun as the season goes on. Not only did the schedule change made the Intermediate races smoother, but we had another Ladies Night, with the Specialized Women’s Demo Truck showing off the goods, Bicycle Sport Shop offering wine and cheese in the Ladies Lounge, and women racing for free.

The theme of this week’s races shift gears as we enter into the season of giving. All of our proceeds from the November 16th race will go towards the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance, a non-profit which raises awareness, stimulates research, and provides support for individuals and families affected by Tuberous Sclerosis Complex. Tuberous Sclerosis Complex is a genetic disorder which causes tumors to form in many different organs. The disease affects some people severely, while others are so mildly affected that it often goes undiagnosed. Current estimates place tuberous sclerosis complex-affected births at one in 6,000. The TS Alliance’s mission is to improve the quality of life for those affected by TSC through the stimulation and sponsorship of research; the development of programs, support services and resource information; and the development and implementation of education programs designed to heighten awareness of TSC.

This is an important cause for us, as one of the board members of Central Texas Grassroots Cycling has a son with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex and at his request we’re donating our proceeds from this week race to the TS Alliance. We hope you’ll join with us in raising money for the TS Alliance and supporting them, as they in turn support one of us.

We’ll raise money, we’ll have a good time racing, and we hope to see you there,

-Bicycle Sport Shop Dirt Derby

Ladies Night: it’s this Tuesday, which means ladies race for free. Not just that, but the Specialized Women’s Demo Truck will be at the races with a truckload of women’s-specific bikes on hand. There will be some free food, some free Luna Bar product and of course free racing for the women; we’ve never had so much free stuff in one night, so bring some friends and take advantage of our generosity.

Schedule Change: Our Intermediate Race has grown a bit bigger than we can handle; our scoring accuracy has suffered and the cyclocross race length was a bit tricky to handle. So we’re splitting up the Intermediate Cross and Intermediate MTB into two separate races. The new schedule will look like this:

Kids 6:15pm
Beginner mtn/cross 6:30
Intermediate MTB 7:00
Intermediate Cross 7:30
A MTB/Cross 8:05

The kids race was bumped up a bit and the warm-up lap for the Beginner race will start around 6:20 or so. We hope that this schedule will make things easier on our scorers, provide a more consistent race for the cyclocross racers, and do these without significantly altering the schedule. There have also been some remarks that the final lap bell is not as loud and pronounced as it could be, and so we’ll have a visual cue to augment the cowbell, which will hopefully be soul-shakingly loud as well. We hope these changes will make for a better race for all, and if you have any questions or concerns then please let us know; we always appreciate the input.

Finally, this next week will mark the beginning of our second series of the year, so come out and get it started off right. If you get it started off poorly and bonk into oblivion, Chris from our coaching sponsor Athletic Volition will be there, so you can discuss coaching and training plans with him.

Daylight Savings Time is ending so it’ll get dark sooner, but we’ll still be racing short-track and cyclocross under the lights, so come race your bike.

-Bicycle Sport Shop Dirt Derby

Bicycle Sport Shop Dirt Derby is on for tonight.

You can only watch election coverage for so long anyways, so come race your bike; it’s your civic duty.

It was another good Halloween night out at the Bicycle Sport Shop Dirt Derby. Scott Stanfield was out there taking some shots, and they turned out rather nicely, take a look at them here.  The weather was great for wearing costumes, maybe too great given the guy who raced in a speedo. But then again, he probably would’ve done the same if it was much colder. In unrelated news, if you left a helmet out at the course get in touch with us and we’ll reunite you two.  We’re back for another great night of racing next week, and next Tuesday is election Tuesday! Which means you can either race your bike or watch election returns. We’ll see you on your bike.

Dig it. Check out this cavalier costumed singlespeeder from CyclingNews and you’ll understand why costumes and bikes are a great combination. Special prizes for our favorite costumes.

The SRAM XX demo night was our largest night of the year. A keg of Dos Equis and some grilled grub provided by Bicycle Sport Shop also helped give us the best crowd we’ve seen in quite some time.

But Bicycle Sport Shop Dirt Derby, I’m sorry I missed things last night, but I want in on the action; will next week be as fun? Good question. The answer is ‘hell yeah.’ Next week is our Halloween Night so come in your costume, race in your costume and give it your best to win our costume contest; details forthcoming. Sure, racing is fun, but it’s more fun when you’ve already left the pirate in the dust and are trying to work your way up to the caveman. All in all, it’s a very surreal time to race your bike. So bust out that costume, race in it if you can, and we’ll see you next week.

-Bicycle Sport Shop Dirt Derby

Races are on for tomorrow night’s Bicycle Sport Shop Dirt Derby.

In addition, the SRAM XX Demo Truck will be on hand with bikes built up with SRAM’s 2 x 10 drivetrain. Come check out the most interesting drivetrain in the world, have a Dos Equis, and enjoy the Dirt Derby!

Shift quickly my friends.

Results from the October 12th Bicycle Sport Shop Dirt Derby are up. It was a good night, the course was great, thanks for coming if you were there and you should’ve been there if you weren’t.

But enough brevity! What are your plans for the weekend? Here’s what I’m going to do:

1) Start out my weekend with some awesome deals at the Bicycle Sport Shop Garage Sale. It’s massive, and the deals are off the 10-speed chain. Some of the sales going on here are the things that you’ll hear about months later when you ask someone where they got the cash for those awesome wheels and they’ll tell you they got them at the BSS garage sale for cheap. I got seasonal Christmas Gu at a great deal at a spring one because it wasn’t Christmas, but mint chocolate is always in season. It made me really happy.

2) With discounted goods in hand, I’m going to continue my weekend by hitting up the Texas Custom Bike Show on Saturday or Sunday.  You may have heard Elliot from Austin on Two Wheels repping it on the mic tonight, as he’s the guy behind Violet Crown Bicycles and will be showing his frames there. Our good friends at True Fabrication will be there as will a bunch of local framebuilders and companies that sell custom bike-related goods. There’s a cyclocross race going Sunday as part of it, so you can get in a day of racing and then stop by the exhibits. I plan on sipping my mint chocolate Gu ponderously as I consider going full custom for my eventual touring bike.

3) Race my cross bike at the cross races going on this weekend. The Alchemy Bikes Cross Race and Texas Framebuilders Classic will both be witness to my lack of cyclocross skills. I’d improve them with the Source Endurance Skills ‘Stravaganza (or a Cross Clinic, whichever you prefer) beforehand, but I’ll be working.

It’ll be a great weekend filled with cycling deals, LT thresholds, and cycling eye-candy (check out that Violet Crown Bicycles detail shot; sexy). Now everyone knows what sort’ve life I lead outside of the Bicycle Sport Shop Dirt Derby,

-Jacob
Dirt Derby Internet Guy

We’re getting ready for another Tuesday of racing out at the Bicycle Sport Shop Dirt Derby. There were some scattered showers late Monday night, but the course should be in good shape. If it’s not we’ll be sure to let everyone know, but in this case no news is good news.

Violet Crown Sports Association will be hosting another cyclocross skills clinic this week starting at 5:30. So come out a bit earlier and make your set of cross skills as sharp as pointy daggers.

If your skills are sharp but your fitness isn’t, then check out our newest sponsor Athletic Volition! Athletic Volition offers a coaching service for those seeking custom, one-on-one instruction in the fields of swimming, running, cycling, triathlon and cyclocross. Flyers and more info will be out at the course, so support them as they support us.

It’ll be a great night, so bring something with knobby tires on it and come race.

-Bicycle Sport Shop Dirt Derby