The leaders in the A race taking the barrier at the same time.

VCC will give away a custom cyclocross frameset to a lucky Dirt Derby participant in December

Last night was the season opener of the Dirt Derby, the Tuesday night cyclocross and mountain bike short track course racing that runs through December 15 at the Austin/Del Valle Motorcross Park (ADVMX). I did not suit up but instead hung out to take lots of pictures (in the gallery below.) As always if you participated Tuesday night and see a picture of yourself that you want, just contact me, and we’ll send you a high res version.

Most shouldered their bikes up this wicked hille

If you are heading out in the coming weeks to do some cyclocross, keep in mind the Derby is not a traditional ‘cross course. It is called the Dirt Derby for a reason, and there are no grass or paved sections. It is also a fairly lumpy course with lots of mounts, short climbs, and banked turns. There are still barriers to cross and a wicked steep hill in the A & B race courses that most racers shouldered their bikes to run up instead of ride. It’s a fun course just don’t expect a race in the Flanders tradition.

While I’ve talked a lot about the cyclocross, the short track mountain course turned out to be the most popular with about 2/3rd of the racers choosing to race mountain. Their course mirrored the ‘cross course with the omission of that steep shouldering hill and the barriers and with the addition of some lumpy technical sections. I saw several people racing the mountain bike race on ‘cross bikes so if you want a little more technical challenge without the dismounts, you certainly can race it on your cyclocross bike.

I’ve bury the lead here, but I also wanted to announce that Austin on Two Wheels and Violet Crown Cycles, my frame building company, are sponsors of the cyclocross races at the Dirt Derby for the season. Hammerhead Bikes and True Fabrication were also announced last night as overall title sponsors of the Dirt Derby. 

As part of our sponsorship, we will be giving away a fully custom cyclocross frameset at the end of the season to a lucky Dirt Derby participant. Each Dirt Derby race you enter will get you an entry in the drawing so the more you race the more likely you’ll win. We are also offering discounts on to Dirt Derby participants with $125 off framesets and $300 off complete bikes from Violet Crown Cycles.

All ages are welcome to race

Violet Crown Cycles currently offers fully custom city bikes, but we will be rolling out touring and cyclocross models this fall for those wanting something more performance oriented. This will be offered in framesets as well as complete bikes (the Ferguson city bikes are only offered as complete bikes.)

We’re still committed to making bikes that can be great transportation bikes.  This means every bike we make will allow you to put fenders, lights and racks on them so you can race on Saturday (or Tuesday) and ride the same bike to work on Monday. We’ll have a tent out with sample bikes starting at next week’s Dirt Derby (as well as a return this week to the Saturday Sunset Valley Farmer’s Market.) We’ll have sample touring and city bikes next week and a sample cyclocross bike in a few weeks.

We are excited to support Austin’s budding cyclocross scene and hope this will produce more racing in the future. We hope to see you out on Tuesday nights!

Get more info on the Dirt Derby.

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