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Alpenrose Dairy, 21st avenue bicycles, and your humble race "organizers" are proud to announce that the 2011 blind date is a GO! take the time off, get a sitter, and program your VHS cassette machine to record your wednesday night programs, because staring september 28th we gonna be racin' bikes for five weeks. we are committed to putting on the best dang cx race at a dairy in the dark on wednesday that you can attend in the greater portland area. what exciting course elements and equipment failures will happen this year? who will win the battle for the coveted castelli blind date leaders jersey? Will TRUCKASAURUS be there? Show up and find out.

Updates! (10/19/11)

it seems like just yesterday i was stressing out about getting everything ready for the third year of our race series in the dark. then, like a tornado of extension cords, course tape, and halogen worklights, the whole mess is damn near over. feeling a little defeated last week, i began whining to joe about how after setting up, um... 13 times i think, it hasn't gotten any easier. come to think of it, i show up three of four hours earlier to start setting up and we have three times as much equipment and personnel as we did the first season. joe kindly pointed out what i've failed to recognize (as i can't seem to keep myself off the injured list long enough to enter a bike race), that the overall quality of our race is SO much better than when we started. we ain't tryin' to throw out our shoulders patting ourselves on the back or anything, but you know... he's got a point. if you thought this year was a zoo, man... the first season was way worse. it's a silly thing to try to pull off, but every week someone tracks me down to tell me how fun their race was, or how they couldn't make the weekend races for some reason and the blind date was the highlight of the week. so, even though wednesday is now known as the day i panic myself into complete exhaustion and express myself only in grunts and swearwords, don't get it twisted... i'm proud to be doing everything i can to make this as rad as i possible. it takes so much to make this work, and if any one part didn't show then none of it would fly. thanks so much to:

alpenrose... obra... bike racers... sponsors... everybody who ever stacked a cone or pulled a stake on the way back to the car...my weekend job, the mighty cross crusade, for letting us use the orange fencing... and the incomparable mr. ron strasser for running our kids race.

see candi, i used a paragraph... kinda. the weather looks sweet tomorrow night. i'm looking forward to what madison's has on the menu, and i'm hoping to borrow a bike and have our talented pro techs at 21'st ave bicycles and gracie's wrench give it a once over so the wheels don't fall off while i'm "racing". i have to hustle to the stumptown table to get some free coffee, and maybe try to fit in some quick bodywork by the talented scott ramsey, LMT. the womens B field will be the lucky recipient of the free 1.5 hr. thai massage session this week, so bring your best game, ladies. two races left, lets make'em count.

-tony and joe

(10/11/11)

dang, that was some storm last week. hats off to all the racers that stuck it out. the range of expressions on riders faces was priceless- i read everything from super stoked to completely mortified in the pack as the course got slick. while it was great to have nature introduce some new challenges to our silly exercise contest, the dairy took a pretty hard hit. i'm planning on throwing in a couple minor changes to minimize damage to the grounds and keep our relationship with alpenrose a positive one, so be on your toes. our main concern and compromise this week will be parking- much of the lot has been recently seeded and is still vulnerable to damage. we will have cones out and manage it well as possible, but there is a good chance that with limited parking some folks will have to park out in the residential area across shattuck. just be cool and we won't get in trouble- remember that we are guests. whew! so, after a couple weeks of quality racing the rivalries are starting to develop, and we are looking forward to seeing how the third week unfolds. to throw a little gas on the fire, our brave thai masseur mr. scott ramsey LMT (the one who almost floated away last week and will be seeking higher ground) is offering a voucher for a free 1.5 hour massage to the winner of the Masters C's. seriously, this guy is a wizard. go talk to him about what hurts. with coffee season upon us the stumptown holeshot primes will surely go hotly contested, and brian is planning on bringing a couple pots to burn though. long time blind date supporter madison's grill will be offering tasty and reasonably priced meals, and don't forget to go see the pros at 21st avenue bicycles and gracie's wrench to make sure your bike doesn't explode when it gets wet. we will have shirts and hats for sale so you still have something to remember us by when the scabs heal. if it's still dumping we'll set up every OBRA tent candi and mike will let us- even though it is pretty funny watching everyone cuddle under the awning to the restroom building. so, come on out. i mean, what else are you going to do on a rainy wednesday night? - tony and joe.

ps... sparky, come get your van or i'll make it a barrier. any place you put it other than your house is in my way. xo-t

(10/4/11)

thanks to errbody that came out to the first blind date this year! we had a great turnout, lovely weather, and a crazy fast course. while i'd be happy to mark it a success and move on, a couple shortcomings need to be addressed: the A field was a total sausage fest. perhaps potential lady daters were ran off by pennington's domination last year, but schedule conflicts have made her attendance patchy so it's anybody's game in 2011. we'd like to resolve this imbalance by officially making the second race of the series elite ladies night and offering a free blind date castelli cap to every elite lady entrant. that's right, not only do you have a chance at winning the priceless castelli leaders jersey, but you get a fresh cap just for coming out. issue two... the dark spots. every course change produces new challenges, and i'll be the first to admit there were a couple "hang on and hope" areas last week. it seems like no matter how much stuff we have, we always need more. the ten new lights and 500ft of cord should get the sketchy areas sorted. real 'cross weather is here so it's time to come out and work on keeping it together in the corners. as always, madison's will be catering, stumptown will have coffee, 21st ave and gracie's wrench will have tools and knowledge... and this week we'll have a thai massage demonstration from scott ramsey, LMT. he's kept my (and several other racers) back from falling apart for a couple years now and is ready to spread the word a bit. he'll be answering questions and next week offering 15min bodywork and consult. it's a lot of work, but we love it! hope to see you at the dairy. -tony and joe

(9/14/11)

The start of our third season of Blind Date at the Dairy is now less than two weeks away! Hearty congratulations to last year's winners, who are listed below. If you won your category last year, please show up at Blind Date 10 on September 28, 2011 in your Blind Date Castelli leader's jersey.

• Speed Dating Men: Michael Gallagher (Men A)
• Speed Dating Women: Alice Pennington (Women A)
• Monogamists: Ben Thompson (Single Speed)
• Puppy Love: Rubin Field (Jr. Men U 14)
• Puppy Love: Susannah Hart (Jr. Women U 14)
• High School Sweethearts: Taylor Tyynismaa (Jr. Women U 18)
• Still on the Market: Ty Tyynismaa (Master Men C)
• High School Sweethearts: Trevor Schauer (Jr. Men 14 - 18)
• Power Dating Women: Alexandra Burton (Women B)
• Power Dating Men: Josh Cady (Men B)
• Men On the Market: Jeff Stevens (Men C)
• First Date Men: Larry Chow (Men Beg)
• First Date Women: Bianca Pyko (Women Beginner)

New this year will be the "Master Daters" category. To be a Master Dater, you must be a 40+ male able to race fast for 1 hour with the elite men and women at 8 pm. Please remember that handlebar lights are allowed, but helmet lights and tail lights are strictly prohibited (to avoid blinding oncoming riders). Likewise, fast fun is encouraged, but please remember to respect that Alpenrose is the Cadonau family’s home and business and alcohol and pets are restricted, and after darkm we need to keep the noise down. This season will also prove to be our best equipped, as we've made substantial additions to our collection of lights, cords, and generators and continue to refine our program. There will surely be some technical difficulties at some point, but with our added redundant equipment we'll be better prepared to keep the exciting dark laps to a minimum.

We are pleased to announce that dedicated Oregon cycling supporter Madison's Grill will be on site once again this year offering hearty dinners so you don't miss your glycogen window, Also, 21st Ave Bicycles will be onsite to offer neutral support. Even if you show up hungry with a buggered bike, we've got a date for you!

After nine scandalous Blind Dates, our chief OBRA official Brian List is in a steady work relationship and has broken up with us. Fortunately, Gentle Lover and sprinter extraordinaire Steven Beardsley has stepped up to chaperone for the season. Out of respect for Steven's sprint prowess, we will continue with our Stumptown Coffee holeshot primes- so give'er from the gun and you could go home with a bag of fine coffee.

After work registration lines can be gruesome, so please REGISTER ONLINE in advance (until noon the day before each race) or stop by 21st Avenue Bicycles on NW 21st Street in between Kearney and Lovejoy to pre-register in person. If you sign up for the season series, you get a rad Blind Date t-shirt for free! You can buy t-shirts and Castelli Blind Date caps at the event for $15@.

Under OBRA Rules, to allow 10 & 11 year old juniors to race, we must have no adults on the course during the junior races. Please warm up off the course. Our course crews do the best they can, but while spectating, if you see tipped cones, please help us all out and prop them back up. You can communicate with us by email and you can keep up to speed on our website and Facebook page. www.crossseries.com Facebook: Blind Date at the Dairy. Thanks for reading and remember to support Alpenrose Dairy! - Tony and Joe

Rules

The gracious hosts at alpenrose dairy ask us to please follow their few simple rules.

Strictly NO ALCOHOL on the premesis. None. Thanks!

The manicured fields (baseball diamonds, fenced areas, the dairy owners yard (yes they live there, be cool)) are off limits to us. No exploring, just warm up by the course.

Once the sun goes down we need to respect the neighborhood and keep it pretty quiet. being in a residential area, the dairy is under constant scrutiny by the neighbors. they trust us to be mellow after dark.