Half-Fast Philosophy...

"Amistades-Victorias-Cervezas" (translation:: "Friendship-Victory-Beer")

Half-Fast Velo was born out of the notion that amateur bike racing in the U.S. has become far too stodgy at times… Far too sponsored… Far too serious. We don't want to play that way. Just what is Half-Fast Velo serious about then? Find out more here

What's new...

(1/10/10) Half Fast Velo is excited to welcome Revolution Wheelworks to the HFV family as a new sponsor for the 2010 season! Revolution Wheelworks puts their passion for cycling into hand building some of the best road and cyclocross wheels on the market. Look for their REV-22 and REV-30 wheels on a few of our racers when the road season kicks off next month and their uber sexy deep dish carbon tubular REV-50's on some of our cyclocross racers next fall. Find out more here

(1/7/10) Great article about Ninkasi's "Brewing Success" in last Sundays edition of the Eugene Register Guard newspaper. Exciting times for the company after all their hard work to get their brand known outside of Eugene. Thanks to Jamie Floyd of Ninkasi for the call out on the Half Fast Velo cycling team being part of their "grassroots marketing" efforts. Full article here

(12/22/09) The Christmas holiday signals the end to cyclocross racing on the OBRA calendar with the final race in the Psycho CX Series closing out the season once again. HFV made a day of it by heading south to partake in a very "unique" twist to the traditional psycho course that had the boys off the bike almost as they were on the bike! Brian Spears kept from getting too dizzy on the short laps to take 2nd place on the day which secured the series overall win the Cat B's! Ian Penner rode to a strong 7th place finish in the Cat B's while Steven Basden and Craig Austin battled it out in the single speed category taking 9th and 12th place respectively to finish out the season on a high note.

Of course a trip to Eugene would not be complete without a stop at Ninkasi Brewing and this trip proved extra special with HFV joining in the holiday party with the Ninkasi crew. No better way to celebrate the end of a long racing season in style!

(12/15/09) Cyclocross Nationals returned to the Northwest this past weekend for the first of two annual appearances in Bend. The Crusaders pulled out all the stops with a tough but fun course that threw challenges at all the riders no matter what the weather as it changed throughout the weekend. From snow and ice covered terrain to dry pavement and mud on Sunday, the course proved to be a winner.

The course was but one of the highlights of the weekend along with a venue that providing easy spectating and "proper" refreshments to art shows and parties in town culminating in Saturday nights Clydesdales Championship of the Universe (or something to that effect) where David Rosen pummeled his way to a top 10. HFV'ers braved the cold earlier in the week to take on the icy course with varying degrees of "success" but a fun time was had by all and already making plans for next year!!

Scott Ballard is in his element riding through the frozen tundra during the Masters 40-44 race
Photo courtesy of Tracy Smith at Cascade Event Photography



Craig Austin and Donovan Grabowski negotiate an icy corner in the Single Speed race
Photo courtesy of Tracy Smith at Cascade Event Photography



Steven Basden hammering through the snow trying to catch Donovan in the Single Speed race
Photo courtesy of Tracy Smith at Cascade Event Photography

(12/3/09) The USGP cyclocross circus rolled into town this past weekend setting up camp at PIR for a full weekend of racing with racers from all over the country making the trek in order to prep for Nationals in Bend the following week. Almost everyone who races cx on HFV toed the line both days under sunny but very cold skies and although race "results" were mixed, the team had a blast hanging out and "encouraging" the other racers in soaking up the end of season atmosphere. Thanks to Ninkasi Brewing for outfitting the HFV team camp with the hoppy goodness that made us forget how cold and miserable it was out there!

Robert Huff is all smiles while in his element in the Master 45+ group at Sunday's USGP race
Photo courtesy of Tracy Smith at Cascade Event Photography

(11/26/09) The Crusade may be over but there are still a lot of great races on the calendar including yet another double dose of cx goodness this past weekend. Round 3 of the Psycho CX Series in Eugene kicked off the action on Saturday. Brian Spears showed no loss in speed in coming back from injury powering his way to 2nd place in the Cat B's with David Rosen in 7th along with Craig Austin and Scott Ballard rounding out the top 15 on a very fast course. Over on the one gear side of things, Donovan Grabowski and Paul Anderson hammered their way in the Single Speed category to 6th and 7th place respectively with Steven Basden rounding out the top 10. Best part of the day was the trip down to the new and very cool Ninkasi tasting room for post race hydration!

Brian Spears chasing down the leader of the Cat B's on the Camp Harlow course in Eugene
Photo courtesy of Billy Ramsey

Sunday found the racers back at what has proven to be the muddiest race of the year, the Krueger's Crossing CX race. Brian Spears showed no signs of Saturdays efforts by sailing through the mud on his way to a stellar top 5 performance in the Master A category. HFV was active in all the Master categories along with guys in the single speed category and even had a racer in the first ever Doggie CX World Champs with Jen bringing her greyhound Lily out of retirement to "race" the half mile course. Now if it just could've been an off-leash race, Lily would've cleaned up in that race and brought HFV a win!

Steven Basden leads Donovan Grabowski over the barriers during the first lap
of the single speed race at Krueger's Farm on Sauvie's Island
Photo courtesy of Jim G Long

(11/19/09) The Cross Crusade series 2009 season came to a close at the infamous Barton "County gravel pit" venue where racers can always count on a muddy and technical course. HFV came out in force with a number of guys in the Master B's led by Saul Lopez bare knuckling his way to a top 25 finish.

Dog Pile! Steve Truesdale finds that the course tape isn't quite enough to stop his descent and
chooses to soften the impact of his crash by tackling a competitor at the infamous Barton course.
Photo courtesy of Jim G Long

(11/12/09) A busy weekend of racing started with the OBRA State Championships at the Oregon State Fairgrounds in Salem where racers faced challenging weather with the first winter storm that brought cold, heavy rains all day. The new venue proved to be a fun but challenging course taking racers through a deep volleyball sand pit, a horse arena and even an indoor motocross course!

Donovan Grabowski rode against a fast field in the Single Speed race to 12th place which help him secure 2nd place overall in the Willamette CX Series while Steven Basden ran interference for Donovan finishing in the top 25. Earlier races had Scott Ballard mashing his way to a top 10 placing in the Master C's after being knocked out of the win on the last lap while David Rosen and Ian Penner rode into the points in the Master B's race while the course was still "dry".

Donovan Grabowski in time trial mode on his way to 2nd overall in the
Willamette CX series at the OBRA State Champs course on a gloomy and wet Saturday
Photo courtesy of Shane Young of Oregon Velo

Sunday found boys at PIR for the next Crusade stop which also featured the Single Speed Championships race. SSCXWC made it's farewell Portland appearance before heading up north to the Poofter's in Seattle next year by pulling out all the stops with their "Mad Max Thunderdome" theme. The special course featured a totally cool replication of the "Thunderdome" racers rolled through and of course SSCXWC wouldn't be complete without a special short cut, this time in the form of a run through a school bus that could only be accessed if you had dollar bills for the dancers inside. Only in Portland...

Marcus Swanson puts his running fitness to the test in the mud at PIR
Photo courtesy of Tracy Smith at Cascade Event Photography

 (11/5/09) This past weekend was the Cross Crusade Halloween weekend races and the Astoria Fairgrounds which is the highlight of the season for many of us HFV'ers. The "festive" atmosphere was in full force all weekend culminating in the costumed race on Sunday. HFV'ers raced both days with most finishing but my head is still too foggy to track any results. Thanks to SteveT for setting up the camping area and spinning the tunes all weekend.

HFV went to a bike race and a hockey game broke out! HFV'er Scott Ballard and his buddy
from up North in full "costume" duked it out each lap at the Astoria Crusade Halloween race.
Photo courtesy of Chad Berkley

 (10/27/09) Stop #2 in the Willamette Valley Cross Series had a Caddyshack theme about it with the the race taking place in a condemned golf course. Thankfully the gophers stayed underground as the flat course was bumpy enough due to the dry conditions this fall that even a morning shower couldn't soften. David Rosen and Donovan Grabowski took advantage of the power course to ride to keep their placing's in the series overall with David taking 7th in the Master B's and Donovan taking 5th in a stacked single speed field. Scott Ballard made the podium in the Master C's with a stellar 2nd place in one of his last Cat C races. Steven Basden finished in the points as well in the single speeds while Mark Magilner and Dan Silvernail finished together in the Master B's.

Sunday was back to the Washington County Fairgrounds course for Crusade stop #4 and the first muddy race of the season! The mud made the paved corners super slick and although the Crusade couldn't utilize the infamous outdoor arena mud bog, they made sure find a comparable section of wheel sucking mud to keep things interesting. David Saltzberg rode to another top 20 in a tough Master B's field while HFV finished well in a number of other categories as well.

 (10/22/09) The cross season isn't even halfway over in one of the busiest cx calendars in years yet the HFV enthusiasm is still strong representation in another double header weekend. Torrential rains on Saturday finally greeted the racers with the first mud of the season at the Psycho CX races in Eugene. Paul Anderson and Steven Basden were in their element in the afternoon single speed race with Paul taking 2nd and Steven finishing in 10th place. Mark "Team Magliner" raced to a solid 10th place in the Masters B earlier in the day.

Sunday was round 3 of the Cross Crusade at a new venue at the Sherwood Equestrian Center that proved to be a brutally tough "up or down" course. The rains of Saturday left the course a little slick but the sun greeted the racers as the hills made the course tough enough without mud. HFV had a big contingent in the Masters B race led by David Rosen finishing in the top 25 again. HFV was well represented in the single speed and Master A categories as well but too much "hydration" didn't lead to any stellar placing's to write home about, at least HFV has their priorities right!

 (10/15/09) Stop #2 on the Cross Crusade found the boys battling it out at the infamous Rainier High School with the dreaded "heart stopper hill". Cool but dry skies greeted another huge crowd that yearned for mud in place of the uber dusty trails that were raced upon. Almost all of the HFV cx'ers made the trek and rode well aside from a couple HFV'ers taken out by unfortunate crashes but came out unscathed, it's all how you look at "success" in cyclocross racing.

 (10/8/09) Another weekend of double header races started Saturday with the first race of the Willamette Cross Series at Heiser Farms in Dayton. Sunny skies and a great course were made even better by the entertainment of watching pumpkins shoot out of one of the biggest pumpkin cannons in the NW! Donovan Grabowski led the way with a 2nd place in the Single Speed category just missing out on the win and Steven Basden finishing in the top 10 in SS as well. The power course played to HFV's strengths in other categories as well with Brian Spears placing 4th in the Master A's and David Rosen who also place 4th in the Master B's while Scott Ballard took 5th in the Master C's.

Sunday was the first of the Cross Crusade Series, the biggest Cyclocross series in the world where a record amount of over 1400 racers lined up at the Alpenrose Dairy course to do battle. HFV was out in force and well represented in numerous categories across the board with Craig Austin who didn't get enough pain in a morning race by doubling up in the afternoon finishing both races!

Steven Basden making it look like he knows what he's doing
running the barriers at the Heiser Farms cyclocross race
Photo courtesy of Shane Young at Oregon Velo

 (10/1/09) This past weekend was the annual HFV party which after 6+ years outdid itself thanks to AaronZ opening up his "compound" to us for the day. Loosely billed as "Beer, Bikes and Bullets", the party started with target practice in the custom shooting range built into the basement of the house! After some proper hydration thanks to our sponsors Ninkasi Brewing, the team lined up for a fun yet brutal cross course Aaron had created on his property. Needless to say a couple laps were all the boys needed before becoming "thirsty" yet again and hitting the keg. Of course a party wouldn't be complete without food (and the fact there was a race the next day...) the team lined up for an awesome Mexican buffet thanks to everyone's contributions! The HFV kit distribution closed out the night giving us all the feeling of an awesome christmas in all respects! Sorry but we will not be posting any photos publicly...

Sunday came too soon for most of the attendees to the party the previous night who had already committed to racing at Barlow High School. Nothing a little hair of the dog couldn't cure as HFV raced well fighting through the heat and dust led by Aric Rist taking 12th in Master A's, Donovan Grabowski scoring 12th in Single Speed and David Saltzberg finishing in 12th place in Master B's. Only Scott Ballard could better all the 12th place finishes by racing to 8th place in the Master C's. Kudo's to all the other HFV'ers who toed the line and rode through the "haze" and finished!

David Rosen didn't let Saturdays festivities slow him down on the infamous runup at Barlow
Photo courtesy of Tracy Smith at Cascade Event Photography