June Racing News

Cross Country Super Loop:
Round two of the Epic Singletrack mountain bike series took place on Saturday June 26th, with the running of the XC Super Loop race at Winter Park. More than 525 racers were out there in beautiful weather, racing over an 18 mile long (Pro/Expert/Sport) cross country course.

The race course included a whole host of challenges . . . and rewards. Some of the challenges included moderately long fire road climbs, creek crossings, rocks, roots and lots of turns. The rewards were the great scenery, the diverse terrain and the fun downhills. By the end, some looked like they had enough of that great scenery.


But, back to the race report. For the day, the Green Mountain Sports racing team was out in full force with an awesome 16 racers finishing the race. We had a strong presence in many of the categories. Racing wise, it was unquestionably a very successful race for our team. GMS racing team "A" finished in third place in the team standings with 332 points, and sits in 5th place out of 36 teams after two races.

When it was all said and done, we ended the day with 9 top ten finishes, 5 podium placings and 2 wins. Wow!!! And, just as important, we finished with lots of racers with smiles on their faces after enjoying a great day of racing. Some of the highlights included:

Mike Schaub winning the Sport Men's 50+ race.



Emma Atkins won the Beginner Women's 30-39 race. Go Emma!



Craig Hofer, on his brand spanking new 29er, took 2nd place in the Expert Men's 45-49 race.



Ed Tokarski, on his relatively new 29er, finished 2nd in the Expert Men's 40-44 field.



And, Pam Zients finished in second place in the Women's Beginner 40-49 race.


What a great day of fun racing. The series resumes on July 10th with the Valley Point to Point Cross Country race which runs from Winter Park to Fraser.


Winter Park Hill Climb:
The opening race of the 2010 Winter Park mountain bike series was held on Saturday June 19th under sunny skies and warm temperatures.

This was a sharp contrast to the rainy, muddy and cold weather conditions one week earlier, when the series opener was originally scheduled to take place. The Green Mountain Sports racing team had a contingent of 8 racers taking part in the 5.2 mile race up the service roads for the mountain. The course gains more than 2,000 feet of elevation over the 5.2 miles, topping out at an altitude of 11,142 feet.

The team had a great showing with 5 top ten finishes and 2 racers finishing on the podium. Brian Krombein smoked the course with a time of 38:24 and finished in 3rd place in the Expert 35-39 field.



Along with that, Marjie Tokarski finished in 2nd place in the Expert 40-49 field of 13 racers.



Chris Shamis, in his first race in the Expert class, finished 7th!



Bruce Chesy, on the GMS Racing "A" team for Winter Park, powers up the hill in 41:27.


All in all, it was a great day of racing and a strong start to the series for Green Mountain Sports racing. More to come next week at the Cross Country Superloop.


Other Racing News:
On Sunday June 20th Mitch Westall garnered a podium place at the Downtown Niwot Criterium, which is one of the select ACA BAR/BAT races of the season. Mitch finished in second place in the Open 35+ race (Cat. 1/2/3). Way to go Mitch!

Congratulations to Aaron Small for his podium finish at the Chile Challenge mountain bike race, which was held in Angel Fire, NM on Saturday June 5th. Aaron finished in 3rd place in the Category 1 30-39 cross country race of this prestigious Mountain States Cup event.

June 12th saw cold temperatures, heavy rain and muddy conditions for both the Winter Park Hill Climb and the Yeti Beti Bike Bash races, causing both races to be rescheduled. The Winter Park Hill Climb was held on Saturday June 19th and the Beti Bike Bash will take place on Sunday August 1st.

Also on the Mountain Bike racing front, the Front Range MTB short track series has been cut short. The two races that were to be held on June 19th and July 3rd are canceled. The series awards and prizes will still be given out, and will be based on results from the 4 races that did take place.

Denver's City Park hosted the annual running of the City Park Criterium, held under sunny skies and warm temperatures on Sunday June 6th. Scott Hartley finished 9th and Craig Hofer finished 11th in the Open 35+race, while Peter Lopez finished in 19th place in the 35+ Cat 3 race. Here are some great shots of the racing action.



Teva Games:
The Teva Mountain games are a huge happening in Vail with Food, Art, Music and of course Sporting events. As a part of the games, there were a number of cycling races including both road and mountain bike. Two of our racers ventured out to Vail to compete in the Cross Country mountain bike races, Emma Atkins and Mitch Westall. Emma competed in her first mountain bike race, taking 2nd place in a field of 25 racers. What a debut! Here is a brief race report from Emma:

"So I finally made it to my first mountain bike race ever at the Teva Mountain Games in Vail, ONLY because Corky and the boys at Green Mountain Sports squeezed my bike into their already busy schedule to tweak some loose bits and bobs on my bike. Just want to thank them all for being so great over at the shop."

"I ended up racing in the womens beginner class with 24 other fantastic women over some amazing trails and hills climbs !!!! Considering I lived in Vail for 10 years, it is surprising that I have never once mountain biked on the trails. I had a great time racing. I finished the race in 2nd place, with a huge smile on my face and ready to go out and have some more fun racing this summer. Thank you all for the support and friendships that I have made. You rock!" :)


Mitch Westall also raced, competing in the Expert cross country race and finished in 19th place in a stacked field of 70 racers! On the road side, Brent Web competed in the Vail Pass uphill time trial, finishing 4th in the 17 racer field. Congratulations to all three racers for representing our team in such a stellar fashion.

May Racing News

Road Racing Action:
Six Green Mountain Sports racing team members spent parts of the Memorial Day weekend participating in the Superior Morgul Classic. The race was set-up as an omnium with points awarded for three stages; Street sprints, a Criterium and the Morgul Bismark road race.


The road race traveled over the same course as some of the Coors Classic professional stage races from back in the 1980s. It was a tough and selective race, to say the least!


Craig Hofer finished in 8th place in the Omnium with a 7th place finish in the Street sprints, a 16th place finish in the Crit. and an 18th place finish in the Road Race. In the Morgul Bismark road race, Ben Frost finished in 13th place, Chris Phenicie 15th, Brent Webb 21st, Jim Hebert 35th and Pieter Schouten in 47th place.

Earlier in the month, on Saturday May 22nd, four members of the Green Mountain Sports Racing Team ventured out to do the 78 mile long Hugo Road Race. Team member finishes included Jim Hebert in 11th, Brent Webb in 14th, Mitch Westall in 16th and Dan Maduff in 27th.

Sunday of the prior weekend, May 16th, was the running of the 58 mile long Deer Trail road race. The GMS racing team fared well, with Mitch Westall finishing 6th, Brian Krombein finishing 10th and Brent Webb finishing 19th in the Open 35+ field. Jim Hebert finished the Cat 3 race in 21st place while Craig Hofer finished 4th in the Open 45+ race.

On Saturday, May15th, Brent Webb was the sole Green Mountain Sports racing team member to venture out to do the Sunshine Hill Climb in Boulder. The course was 9.4 miles of uphill, with about 3,200 feet of elevation gain. To add to the challenge, the ending portion of the course was muddy and wet! Brent finished the race in 8th place in the Open 35+ category.

The Green Mountain Sports Racing team began the month of May with the Lookout Mountain Hillclimb, a familiar road to some of our racers who train there often. This year, GMS Racing had two racers competing in the ACA race on May 1st. Brent Webb finished the race in 20 minutes and 1 second, good for 7th place in the highly competitive 35+ Open category.


Front Range MTB Series:
Short track MTB racing arrived in the Denver metro area with the running of the ACA sanctioned Front Range mountain bike race series. Races were (or will be) held in Lakewood, Golden and Louisville. On Sunday May 23rd, the third race of the series took place in Louisville. Pieter Schouten finished in 6th place in the C race, Mike Schaub took 9th in the B race and Bruce Chesy finished 7th in the A race.

Mike railing a high speed corner is pictured on the left, and Pieter powering up a hill, on the right.

Chalk Creek Stampede:
On Sunday, May16th, four GMS racing team members headed out to "the ranch" in Nathrop to race in the Chalk Creek Stampede XC race. This was the second race of the Mountain States Cup series and also a qualifying race for nationals. The weather was gorgeous, as was the scenery.


In the Category 1 race, Chris Phenicie absolutely crushed the course, finishing in 2nd place just millimeters out of first. Ed Tokarski also had a very strong race, finishing 12th.



Mike Schaub narrowly missed a podium spot with his 4th place finish in the Category 2 race. Dan Maduff placed 19th in the highly competitive Cat 2 30-39 race.




Updated Race Schedules:
The 2010 Mountain Bike, Cyclocross and Road racing schedules were updated to reflect new race additions, race cancellations and date changes. Two mid-week race series were added to the Mountain bike calendar; the CU Boulder Short Track race series on Wednesday evenings from May through August and the Summit Mountain Challenge Wednesday evening XC race series in Breckenridge. There were a few new races added to the Cyclocross calendar as well as some date changes. In addition, there were some minor changes to the Road calendar since early May. All three race schedules are up to date as of 5/16/2010.


Battle the Bear/Front Range 50:
On Saturday May 8th, mountain bike racing came to Lakewood, with the running of the Battle the Bear (XC) and Front Range 50 (Endurance) races at Bear Creek Lake Park. The race venue is basically our "home court" for mountain biking, located very close to the Green Mountain Sports shop. Conditions were perfect for racing; 55 to 60 degrees and sunny along with a fast hardpack course which was in excellent shape.


The day's festivities began with the running of the Front Range 50 race which consisted of 5 laps of a 10 mile long rolling course. There were about 300 racers who finished the Front Range 50 race this year, a 35% increase over 2009! The course was extremely crowded, making passing skills very important.


The Green Mountain Sports racing team had a strong showing with four racers completing the sufferfest, highlighted by Chris Phenicie's 2nd place finish in the (81 racer) Open 40-49 field. In addition, believe it or not, Pam Zients completed the Front Range 50 as her FIRST mountain bike race ever!! She finished and finished strong. Yea, that's right, 50 miles and over 4 hours in the saddle . . . welcome to mountain bike racing, Pam!

Later in the day, the Battle the Bear cross country races were held (concurrently on the same course). Again, the GMS racing team had a strong showing with four racers competing in the XC races. Dan Maduff finished 4th in his first mountain bike race ever! In addition, Ben Frost took 4th in the Sport 30-39 race and Craig Hofer finished 4th in the Expert 40-49 race.

Bill Marcoux pushing hard on the descent.

Dan Maduff's first taste of MTB racing.

All eight GMS Racing team racers who were out there were very thankful for all of the mechanical support, cheering and bottle hand-ups from Corky Grimm, Michele Phenicie, Emma Atkins and everyone else at the Green Mountain Sports tent. We also really appreciate the great photos that Annette Hayden took during the race.



On the Comeback Trail:
Marjie Tokarski had finished with the Valley Point to Point race at Winter Park on Saturday July 11th of 2009. She was riding back to the car when an innocent crossing of wheels resulted in a fall on the bike path from Fraser to Winter Park. Although it was a low speed crash, the damage was serious, a fractured pelvis.

After an extensive recovery process, Marjie eventually had to make the decision whether or not to ride again, and then later whether or not to race again. She chose to keep on racing, and here is her race report from her first race since July of 2009.


"I entered the Fruita race just to see if I could race again. No expectations. I suppose one of the key factors was getting there to preride on Saturday. There were definitely some things I knew I could not ride, given my new fear of falling, so I did what I could mentally. I have always had a fear of falling , but now I know how much even a small fall can hurt. I am not known for my downhill ability."

"The 18 mile loop was not particularly hard or technical. It was actually FUN. Rocky, sandy, fast, and yes I did lift my head up to view the Colorado landscape, and what nature has created for us to see over the years. I was passed at about mile 5-6 and never saw the girl who won the race again. I knew I was in second place, and the third place rider was behind me the whole time so I just kept pushing to the end. It helps to know who your competition is and I saw her back there every switchback and turn. Other than that I was glad that I was near the end, knowing I did not go down and gave it all I had. It was funny, at the end of the race another Winter Park racer came up and congratulated me and said, I guess you're back!"

Marjie Tokarski, 2nd place Rabbit Valley XC race. She's back!