Wednesday, September 29, 2010

September Racing News

Boulder CX #1:
Another hot, dry and dusty weekend in Colorado for the duo of Cyclocross races on September 25th and 26th. No mud. No rain. No cold. No snow. . . . yet!

Saturday kicked off Race number 1 of the 5 race Boulder cyclocross series. It was held at the Xilinx facility near Longmont, and was very popular as there were almost 450 starters. Five racers, and team photographer Annette Hayden, were out there representing our team. Green Mountain Sports racing team member Tim Miller finished 11th in the Cat 4 race:



Pieter Schouten and Mike Schaub raced in the 45+ race with Pieter placing 27th and Mike finishing in 35th place:


Rod Yoder, who won the 45+ race, posted a video clip that he took of lap 1 of the race. Gives you a good feel for what racing cross is like (without the high heart rate). Check out the crash too!


In addition, Peter Lopez and Blaine Haskell competed in the 35+ race with Peter finishing in 24th and Blaine in 28th place:



Alpha Cross #1:
Sunday the 26th saw the ACA Cyclocross circuit pay a visit to the City of Centennial Civic Center grounds, and round 1 of "Alpha Cross." The race was put on by the Alpha Bicycle Team and included a whole host of categories and classes of racing action. Our team had three riders out there on this hot and sunny day. When the racing was completed, Craig Hofer took his second consecutive cyclocross win with a victory in the 45+ race! Finishing 5 places behind in 6th place was Pieter Schouten. Green Mountain Sports racing team's Ed Tokarski kicked-off his cross season with a 14th place finish in the 35+ race at Alpha Cross.


Pikes Peak Velo Cross:
The weekend of September 18th and 19th was another busy one with two area races. Saturday kicked things off with the Pikes Peak Velo Cross down in Colorado Springs. Hardcore crossers Blane Haskell and Mike Schaub made the trip south for some dry and dusty racing. Blane took a 3rd place in the 35+ race and Mike finished in 16th in the 45+ race.




GMSV Lookout Cross:
Then on Sunday September 19th, cyclocross came to the metro Denver area for the first time this season with the GMSV "Lookout Cross." Lots of racers were chomping at the bit to begin their season, as the race drew more than 425 starters in all of the various categories.
Temperatures were steaming hot and so was the racing.


This was the season opener for most of the Green Mountain Sports racing team of ten riders. It was a great day of racing for the team with some members just shaking off the rust, some honing their form, and all enjoying the close-to-home cyclocross racing.

Pieter Schouten navigates a barrier under clear blue skies.



Jim Hebert stays grounded over the small rise.



While Todd Reisinger catches some air with his Santa Cruz Blur mountain bike.


Speaking of mountain bikes, Craig Hofer won the 45+ race, competing on his full suspension mountain bike no less. Chris Phenicie also competed using his mountain bike and finished 5th in the Open race! Other finishes included Blaine Haskell in 18th, Peter Lopez in 20th, Pieter Schouten in 22nd, John Wahl in 25th, Todd Reisinger in 30th, Chris Shamis in 34th and Mike Schaub in 37th. (Racers were competing in various different categories).



Steamboat Cross:
The 2010 Colorado cyclocross season kicked off with the Steamboat Springs cyclocross races on September 11th. Tim Miller wins the prize as the first Green Mountain Sports racing team member to do a cross race this year, as he was there for the season opener. Tim finished in 2nd place in the 35/45+ Cat 4 race, a great way kick things off!


Copper Cross:
Then, on Sunday September 12th, Tim traveled to Copper Mountain for the Copper Cross race. Both Tim and Mike Schaub entered the "C" race at Copper representing the GMS racing team, with Tim finishing 4th and Mike finishing 14th.



Mike made the trip to Copper from Breckenridge where, earlier in the day, he completed the Fall Classic mountain bike stage race (and finished in first place no less). Mike did 4 races in two days over the weekend, 3 mountain bike races and 1 cross race!


Fall Classic MTB Stage Race:

The 9th and final stop in the Mountain States Cup series for endurance racers was the Fall Classic Stage race in Breckenridge, which took place on September 11th and 12th. The origin of this race dates back to the mid 1980's when the sport of mountain biking was just beginning.

Over the years, the small local Summit County mountain bike race grew to be the first mountain bike stage race in Colorado, and a key stop on various mountain bike race series schedules. Many of the sport's greats have competed in the Fall Classic including Tinker Juarez, Risi Grewal, Travis Brown and other mountain biking legends.

The 2010 edition of the Fall Classic consisted of three stages; a circuit race, a hill climb time trial, and a backcountry XC race. Organizers offered racers the opportunity to compete in any of the stages individually, or to do all three stages for the overall general classification competition.

Mike Schaub opted to do the whole enchilada and entered the Cat 2 50+ stage race. He was certainly up for the challenge as he finished 3rd in the circuit race, 1st in the hillclimb and 1st in the cross country race. Wow!



That resulted in a first place overall in the stage race for Mike. If that was not enough, shortly after finishing the XC race on Sunday, he headed over to Copper to compete in the Copper Cross later that afternoon.

Green Mountain Sports racing team member Pat D'Innocenzo chose to focus his efforts solely on the Fall Classic XC race on Sunday. The Pro and Cat 1 cross country race course was a tough one as it was more than 32 miles long. It included climbs with over 5,400 feet of elevation gain, a sizable creek crossing, nasty technical descents, and miles and miles of sweet singletrack. Pat finished on the podium in 2nd place in the Cat 1 (50+) XC race at the Fall Classic.



Winter Park Pursuit:
On Saturday September 4th, the Mountain States Cup series visited the Winter Park resort for the first time. The "Winter Park Pursuit" was the 8th race in the 2010 schedule, and included competitions for downhill, short track, super-D, dual slalom and cross country. GMS racing team's Ed Tokarski raced in the Cat 1 40-49 XC race and came away with a podium finish in 3rd. He completed the 25 mile course in slightly over 2 hours. Yea, that's fast!



Steamboat Springs Stage Race:
The second annual Steamboat Springs stage race took place over the labor day weekend of September 3rd through the 6th. This stage race included a Time trial, Circuit Race, Road Race and Criterium over the 4 days. It was quite successful last year and grew to be even more popular in this its second year because of its great courses, challenging terrain and strong community support.

Two Green Mountain Sports racing team members made the trip to Steamboat for the race; Brent Webb and Craig Hofer. Brent competed in the always tough 35+ category and finished in13th overall, highlighted by a 9th place finish in the Criterium. Craig finished in 5th place in the 45+ overall general classification, after taking 2nd in the Time Trial and coming in 4th in the Criterium and Road Race.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Pisgah Stage Race

GMS Racing Team member Ross Delaplane ventured out into the forests of western North Carolina to compete in the Pisgah MTB Stage Race from September 14 through 18. This race is in its second year and consists of 5 stages totaling 175 miles, with more than 40,000 feet of elevation gain.

The $20,000 cash payout attracted a stellar field of Male and Female endurance and XC mountain bikers. Race venues were in the Pisgah national forest which is located about 100 or so miles directly due west of Charlotte.


Ross finished the 5 day stage race in 2nd place in the Elite Masters 40+ category, with more than 18 hours of racing. Jeremiah Bishop took top honors in the Pro men's field and Amanda Carey won the Pro women's race. The race was covered by the Cyclingdirt website and they did a post-race interview with Ross!

Check it out here. (It may take a short while to load.)

Below is Ross' race report in his own words. Certainly a completely different type of mountain biking than what most of us do.

"Why would someone from altitude who prefers cold weather races of less than 2 hours head out to the Pisgah National Forest of North Carolina in the middle of an intense Indian summer to race mountain bikes for 5 consecutive days? . . . For fun!"

"I’ve wanted to experience the growing popularity of mtb stage racing, though I was still hoping it would cool off a bit. I wouldn't be heading out alone either, but with a buddy Ron from Virginia - a friend that I try to do a race with each year. For the first time in several years we would be racing the same category – at Pisgah this was the Elite 40+ class."

"The first stage was a straightforward 12K hillclimb in the Dupont National Forest - predominantly double-track and fireroad. Per usual, just getting to the start after flying in late the night before proved to be a challenge. After a few last minute phone calls for directions, we joined the group of 50+ racers for a le mans style start. Le Mans start? Hmmm, maybe my preferred choice of road shoes was not so great after all. After a good laugh, I jumped on my bike in near last place, but a short section of pavement helped me out and I was quickly up with the leaders. Up we go and the leaders are really getting after it. Into the woods, and now a dry creek bed/road for about a mile. Wow this is rocky - I really needed to get myself together - try to remember how to ride this rocky, ledgy stuff."

"Near the top I'm pretty sure I'm leading my class by a nice margin and start to cut the effort a bit in anticipation of the finish. Over the top and looking for the line then oops...time for some bonus single track. Super steep ups and downs (with some stairs and bridges), man this is hard, when is that finish gonna come, why is this taking so long? Should I start going hard again? After passing a few more intersections and course marshals I'm thinking I must be caught in some sort of endless loop, turn to head back up trail, now here comes the competition - idiot, why doubt yourself like that? Back racing on the trail but the followers close quick and they have the momentum. On the last super steep stretch to the finish Andy Johnston goes by and takes the leaders jersey by 7 secs. This is unfortunate, because I wouldn’t get this close to a stage win again."

"Stage two was the first of the Black Mountain venue stages. A convenient 10 minute bike ride from the hotel in an idyllic clearing in the Davidson River valley. On the way to sign-in for the 9am stage starts there would typically be a morning fog/mist that would quickly burn off as the sun climbed through the morning sky. Bang! and off we go for a quick pavement then fireroad start. The pace is really humming with Colby Pearce hitting the road hard, and Andy was quickly away with just a small group of pros on the fireroad. After 6 miles of climbing we were soon on one of the prime singletracks of the Pisgah National Forest – the Squirrel Gap trail. This trail was marked with dense rhododendron and minor technical challenges as it snaked in and out of the ravines coming down the mountain. This is my kind of riding and for most of the race I was having the most fun and made the most time on trails like this. Thanks to all the technical singletrack I would get within 15 seconds of Andy before he punches it to build up a 5 minute lead by the end."

"Stage three began with a quick 20 minute shuttle filled with laughter from fellow riders from Black Mt. over to Kukyendall Camp for the start. An interesting twist to this le mans start as each rider needed to execute either a somersault or cartwheel within a defined area – violators would be penalized. I chose a somersault and didn’t hear of any penalties being levied. We began with a big (12mile) fireroad climb then a descent down the infamous Farlow Gap trail. Once onto Farlow, I found myself riding a bit too aggressively, encouraged as I rode almost up to Andy Johnson who was walking the trickier sections. Turns out he was making the correct call as I went a bit out of control after riding a particularly outlandish section, almost cased a tree (would have been a hospital visit) and then burped a tire badly. Note to self, if Andy is walking there is probably a reason. A big shout-out to Drew Scharns, who came barreling into this section at a ridiculous rate of speed. Amazingly, neither bike nor rider were injured in the ensuing explosion. Much of the rest of stage 3 was followed by big fireroad ups and downs. For the first time the sun and humidity worked me over and I finished in rough shape after battling all day with Garth Prosser – the battle with Garth at least kept it fun and interesting. The clock told the story and after losing 16 minutes to Andy I was no longer legitimately racing for 1st."

"Considering how I felt at the conclusion of stage 3 I was truly concerned heading into stage 4. The start was a brutal singletrack climb with a hike-a-bike to the top of Black Mountain right from the gun. The following 20 miles of singletrack were tailor made for me though – super punchy steep ups and downs along the top of a ridge and next to a remote river. The rhododendron was so tight in places it was actually hard to see due to the blockage of all sun and light. Lots of ridable log crossings and cyclocross style run-ups made for a fun time. I had a blast on this section of trail, and was loving all the cool shade. I got to tag along with Drew S. and Colby for some sections which gave it more of a racing feel. Unexpectedly, this was the longest stage on time due to all the singletrack and in last hour I gave back some time, but overall it was my favorite day."

"It got better at the after-stage evening festivities as the evening movie was about the Great Divide race and even 6-time winner Matt Lee showed up to talk about it a bit, and say hi to everyone. Needless to say, Matt is as cool in person as he comes across both online and in the movie."

Check out his race here: http://tourdivide.org

"Only one stage to go and there was going to be no hiding the reality of how my legs felt riding over to the start – I was simply fried. I lined up in the very back for the first time in an effort to get the fullest draft on the opening 6 miles of pavement. Everything that wasn’t on pavement was tough going though, and I was actually concerned that I could lose a place if someone rose up and had a great day. Highlights of the day were riding in a 4 man pack of Elite 40+ guys (the first time we rode together all race) and racing down Pilot Rocks following Amanda Carey. I’ve never seen a woman descend something so brutally technical this fast. She remembered Green Mountain Sports from racing the Front Range 50 earlier in the year and had good things to say – keep up the good work guys and congrats to Amanda on another win. I crossed the line with a 5 day total time of 18:08:49 – my biggest weekly hour total for the year in just 5 days."

"Most people thought this was their favorite stage, but I was so out of it for most of the day that I can’t really remember too much. I even napped through the final podium presentation which was kind of a bummer – I guess Pisgah got the better of me in the end. The final post race party was a great time chatting with fellow racers and most everyone was happy to not have to race the following day!"

Thursday, September 9, 2010

2010 Cyclocross Race Schedule

The cyclocross season is here and most team members have been into the shop (Green Mountain Sports) to either pick-up their new bike for the season or to update their existing bike. Corky and the great folks at Green Mountain Sports really know their cyclocross, as they have helped countless riders and racers get set-up for the sport.

The 2010-11 regional cyclocross race schedule has taken form. There is at least one race every weekend in September, October and November. Most weekends have two cyclocross races to choose from!
There will now be additional cross races held in December and January. Cyclocross addicts should have no problem getting their "fix" of races this Fall and Winter.


Please note that the Green Mountain Sports Racing Team will be putting on the Castle Cross race on November 7th in Castle Rock. We are looking to build on the fun, challenging and successful races that we held in Castle Rock last year.



Here is the latest and greatest cyclocross race schedule for the upcoming season:

Date
Race
Location
9/11 Steamboat Springs CX Steamboat Springs
9/12
Copper Cross
Copper Mountain
9/18 Pikes Peak Velo SuperCross Colorado Springs
9/19 GMSV #1- Lookout Cross Golden
9/25 Boulder CX Series #1 Boulder
9/26 Alpha Cross Centennial



10/2 Frisco CX Frisco
10/3 Frisco CX Frisco
10/9 Boulder CX Series #2 Boulder
10/10 Cross at the River Buena Vista
10/16 On the Cross Denver
10/17 Aspen Lodge Cyclocross Allenspark
10/23 Blue SkyCup at Xilinix Longmont
10/24 Boulder CX Series #3 Boulder
10/30 NACT -Colorado Cross Boulder
10/31 NACT -Halloween Cross Broomfield



11/6 School Yard Cross Boulder
11/7 Castle Cross Castle Rock
11/13 USGP of Cyclocross Ft. Collins
11/14 USGP of Cyclocross Ft. Collins
11/20 Alpha Cross
Centennial
11/21 CycloX Boulder
11/27 GMSV #2- Lookout Cross Golden
11/28 Boulder CX Series #4 Boulder



12/4 Colorado CX Championships Boulder
12/5 Colorado CX Championships Boulder
12/18 Boulder CX Series #5 Boulder



1/7 Pikes Peak Velo SuperCross Colorado Springs
1/21 CycloX at Union Reservoir Longmont




(All dates and racing information are subject to change)
Updated 11/25/2010