Short Track at Valmont!
2013-05-15
We've been working closely with the City of Boulder Parks and Recreation and will officially be moving our Summer Series to Valmont Bike Park! We're really excited about it and hope you all are too. Over on Valmont and Airport Road, you'll get a bunch of new courses with more variety, still with the same fun atmosphere we've always had. Great mid-week family activities - mom and dad can shred some single track, and the little juniors can develop their fat-tire skills (free for them as always). We'll also be working with EXPAND to get some of those modified super-aero mountain bikes racing a few times this summer too.
Only 2 downsides to VBP:
- The facility fee requires us to bump up prices for registration; and
- It's a little further out than the ol' Research Park, but you should bike there anyways. Just think of it like a longer warm-up.
Check out Kris's article about it over at 303 Cycling. We should have pre-registration up at PreRace later today or tomorrow. We'll see you next week! (at VALMONT). Stay tuned here, and at shorttrack.cucycling.com for details.
Support the team in fashion!
2013-04-05
Friends! Family! Alumni! General cycling enthusiasts!
The team's clothing sponsor, Panache Cyclewear, has opened an online store just for us! Team water bottles, socks, fan t-shirts, and kits. They even have a sweet-looking special edition jersey! The best part is, a portion of the sales goes straight to our team, helping fund our travel during the racing seasons.
The store will only be open until the end of April, so head on over there now to pick up some stylish clothing. If your closet is full but you'd still like to donate to the team, THANK YOU SO MUCH! You can donate here.
Conference Champions again!
2013-04-24
This past weekend, the team went to Grand Junction, sitting in 3rd place overall (closely behind FLC and CSU). Our performance this season had been pretty good, but this weekend -- the conference championships -- it was just down-right dominant! It wasn't just at the A level, where Abby Mickey and Bill Golembieski held on to their omnium leads, but much deeper throughout the categories, at all 3 great races that Colorado Mesa University hosted. All 26 CU riders were eager to head out on a high note. The weekend started with the bus ride out on Friday, with some team bonding, light-saber battles, Qdoba, and tactics-talk. The Team Time Trials Saturday morning as usual went very well for all CU teams, with the Women's A team winning by a huge 2 minutes!
The Twilight Crit through downtown Grand Junction had a few extra turns over last year's, but that only helped the technical skills of CU's riders. In the Men's C's, Pier Pennoyer took the victory, with Andrew Giniat and Garrett Brown in close support at 3rd and 4th! The Men's B's raced last, late into the night, and just like his day-time races, Alex Ranum claimed the top step of the podium. The Men's A's didn't get the victory, but Brett came close in 2nd to CMU's Patric Rostel, Oliver Flautt in 4th, and Bill close by in 6th. In the dark night during the Women's A's, Christa Ghent escaped alone for the win, with Nicolle Bruderer winning the field sprint! It was a great night of fun crit racing.
The late night and lack of sleep didn't seem to hinder the CU team for Sunday's road race. This new course started in the northeast side of down, with 20 mile laps that featured a tough hill, but not quite as tough as years past. Garrett Brown ended his collegiate season on the podium, finishing 3rd in the Men's C's. Alex Ranum followed up Saturday's late-night win with another during the road race. On top of that, he handily won the Men's B's Omnium. Jeremy Besmer and Cameron Brown also finished the road race in the top 10.
The Women's A team showed they're poised and ready for Nationals during the road race. Abby attacked the field with 1 lap to go and never looked back, securing her RMCCC Omnium Championship. Christa easily took 2nd place ahead of the field. The Men's A's also showed domination, sweeping the Podium. Brett Peters rolled in for 6th, just behind Bill Golembieski in 4th, who secured his omnium championship to compliment Abby. Coach Frank provided some details on how the race played out:
"Camilo got the 4th place monkey off his back with a convincing road race victory. Oliver (3rd) represented CU in the early first lap break, then Camilo and Jackson covered moves to roll up to Oliver. From there the 3 teammates rolled it up to a 10-min+ gap until the last lap, where Camilo attacked up the last climb, shedding everyone except Jackson. They 2-man tt'ed it to the finish and Oliver coasted in for 3rd." -Frank
All said and done, we dominated this weekend, and brought home another conference championship. Even the Colorado Daily took note. Check out the full conference championship results at USA Cycling. The first weekend of May, our A team heads off again to Ogden, Utah, looking for some more Stars-and-Bars jerseys. Wish them luck, and follow the action on facebook or twitter.
Lots of volunteer support for our Research Park Crit
2013-04-02
It was a lot of work, but our team stepped up with a lot of volunteering, and our Research Park Crit went extremely well. From filling in potholes to sweeping and marshalling to registration, things went very smoothly. A few of the racers commented that it was the smoothest race registration process they've ever been through(Thanks, Margel, Topher and everyone else who worked at the Reg Table)! In addition to the team members helping, we had a lot of help from some important alumni:
Margell Abel helped with set-up and ran registration all day (stepping out only to race); Brian Hludzinski helped out with a spare generator, finish line camera and more needed equipment; Matt Hudson helped with registration all afternoon long with Donny and Tabitha, and stuck around to do some heavy lifting cleaning up; Nick Przybysz donated prizes from The Fuelary; and Julie Hudetz (former Team Saturn Racer) donated a ton of awesome NiteIze schwag for prizes.
A huge thanks to all the other volunteers that we had throughout the week leading up to the race. We had fantastic results during the collegiate morning races as well. Marcel Davidse won the Men's B's (His first win in a CU kit!), and the Men's A Team went in 1-2-3! Our race then had some of the best numbers in our race history - we had 276 non-collegiate riders for the afternoon races! We had to split the Men's 4-5 field into two separate races! Such a great turnout from the Boulder/Denver/Colorado cycling community goes a long way in financially supporting the CU Team. Thanks to all the officials for staying extra late to support the extra fields, as well as the hard work in getting results on line so soon afterwards. (Hopefully Ryan's A+ service with taking lunch orders made it a bit more pleasant.)
While some of our team stuck around to help manage the race and clean up, we were able to send others to Wyoming's team time trial in Morrison. After racing earlier in the day, and with temperatures dropping, wind picking up, and motivation a little lacking, our Men's A teams finished in 2nd (back 2 seconds at 15:27) and 4th (back 45 seconds) to Fort Lewis's 2 teams. A few racers made the drive down to Colorado Springs for Colorado College's fun crit course. Bill Golembieski was by himself in the Men's A's, but still managed 4th. Abby Mickey was also solo for CU in the Women's A's, and after trying to get some breakaway action with tons of attacking, their field still finished in a sprint, where Abby took 7th.
Josh Garland, Garrett Brown and Jeremy Besmer worked together in the C's, with Josh finishing 5th. Marcel Davidse followed up Saturday's win with 3rd place in the Men's B sprint. The big highlight of the day was Jess Bobeck's first win in a CU Kit in the Women's B's, obviously ready to move up to A's.
Check out Sunday's results at USA Cycling. (Saturday's collegiate results are MIA, but they should be up at USAC soon.) Next weekend, we travel to Durango for a very full weekend of racing hosted by Fort Lewis.
Season slowly under way, but looking good
2013-03-25
The start of the season has been a little on the slow side. First the Stazio crit and Wyoming TT were cancelled for a snow storm. Luckily we are rescheduled for the 30th, but have to revert to the research park. Then Mines this past weekend was going to be great with a hill climb, street sprints, and an awesome crit course, but an even bigger snow storm shut that down. In between, though, CSU hosted some great racing at Cobb Lake and around the campus oval. Both days were chilly and a bit windy. Sunday's crit even had a bit of rain and hail. But the team was excited to get the season under way and show off their early season skills.
And boy, is the team looking good. Not just strong, but perfecting tactical execution already. The Cobb Lake Road Race on the 16th features an 8 mile lap with some false flats and lots of wind exposure, not to mention the 1 mile dirt section and a 400-meter climb to the finish. Most of the Men's C team survived a dog on the course, as well as the rough dirt, and by the end, Pier Pennoyer gave a powerful leadout up the climb to set up Ivars Grinbergs to win the Sprint. Hannah Rifkin made her race debut with no problem staying with the lead group. She sprinted a tiny bit early and finished 3rd. Abby Mickey took 2nd out of a late breakaway in the Women's A's, and Nicolle Bruderer flew up the climb at the end for 3rd. In the Men's A's, Will Buick got into a break after 2 laps with CSU's Taylor Warren. The two of them worked together for 5 laps until Will attacked and soloed for another lap to victory. Camilo Zambrano was first out of the field, finishing 4th over all.
Sunday's classic oval crit is where tactics really shined. Rifkin took control of just about every prime in the Women's C's, while the Men's C's alternated covering attacks and making moves themselves. It finally came down to a field sprint, where Grinbergs finished 2nd. In the Women's B's, Katie Cartee's reconstructed elbow struggled with the many accelerations and braking of the field; so she went hard mixing things up, taking most primes easily before settling in at her own pace. Her early race efforts helped tire some of the field, aiding Jess Bobeck in her sprint finish for 3rd. A powerful Keith Omundson was off the front for a while for CU's Men's B's, forcing other teams to chase. Shortly after, Alex Ranum went with Fort Lewis's Ryan Standish. The two worked well together while Marcel, Cameron, Keith and Donny set an easier pace in the field. Alex just edged out Ryan in the sprint to take the win for CU.
The Women's A's played out similarly - after a few primes, Abby Mickey went up the road with CSU's Rebecca Much. With Abby in the break, Nicolle Bruderer and Christa Ghent got some rest in the field until about 7 laps left. Christa launched a powerful attack while Abby sat up in the break. When Christa joined the two in the break, end game tactics ensued, and Christa handily took the win, with Abby rolling in for 3rd. Nicolle Bruderer took 2nd in the field sprint, 5th over all. The Men's A's had a flury of attacks and breakaway attempts; CU was well represented in all of them. Ultimately nothing stuck, and after claiming some good prime points, the CU Squad set up an unbeatable lead-out. Brett Peters, Jackson Long, and Will Buick had textbook execution, and Bill Golembieski had no problem winning the sprint.
Check out all the results at USA Cycling, and we'll see you at the Research Park on Saturday!.
The Stazio Crit is coming up!
2013-03-01
We were lucky and grateful to have Timmy Duggan talk to the team at our meeting on Monday. Thanks to all attendees for coming out for it, and a special thanks to all of you who donated to the team! We hope you enjoyed meeting Timmy, and hearing some very entertaining storeis about his life as a pro.
With March here, collegiate racing is here. And that means it's time for the CU Stazio Crit! The same course as last year, with fast sweeping turns and a hill that will wear you out. Check out the details on our flyer, register at PreRace, and tell everyone you know!
Off to Mountain Nationals
2012-10-17
The mountain season is coming to a close now that Fall is fully here. We had conference finals in Grand Junction just over a week ago, where riders are now finding some great form. In the C's, Chad Hotimsky and Garrett Brown finished 1-2 in cross-country, and Chad won short track! We also had some other riders cat up for the last weekend. Hopefully our fitness will carry through the offseason / cyclocross season and through the road season in the Spring.
In the mean time, our Nationals Squad just headed south to Angel Fire, NM! We've got a fantastic team this year, with several omnium riders and a bunch of Nationals riders from last year, eager to improve on last year's 2nd. Representing CU this weekend are:
| Omnium | Cross Country | Downhill |
| Joey Schusler | Sam Morrison | Nick Caron |
| Brittany Engleking | Jakub Valigura | Tanner Stephens |
| Ellie Atkins | Ryan Ellis | Kevin Feeney-Moser |
| Ashlee Wilson | Deidre York | Wiley Kaupus |
| Katie Sodergren | Kathleen Kramer | |
| Abby Mickey | Katie Cartee | |
| Nora Richards |
Along with the riders are coaches Jason Hilimire and Carson Christen. In addition to bikes packed into the gratiously-donated Rocky Mounts trailer, we have some great snacks and mix to help power our riders. Thank you so much, Honey Stinger and Skratch Labs!
Our racers will do some course walks and pre-rides Thursday, race cross-country Friday, short track and downhill Saturday, and end with Dual Slalom on Sunday. USA Cycling has a preview of the weekend, mentioning riders to watch. Aside from Joey, our riders seem to be just under the radar, ready to sneak up to the top of the podium. You can follow the details as our racers and coaches provide updates at our Facebook and Twitter pages. Wish us good luck!
Track Success while Mountain Season Continues Strong
2012-09-24
The new collegiate season has been off to a busy and great start. We've had a ton of new cyclists join the team, and turnout for the mountain bike races has been high. The Colorado Fall weather has been great for our usual camping and riding. A few bonfires, some team bonding...and tons of awesome results. Katie and Deidre have been crushing the XC, on top of Deidre getting top 20 at Worlds! A bunch of ladies have stepped up to the challenge of Downhill, leading to a bunch more omnium contenders at Nationals.
Nick, Joey, Tanner and Kevin have been working the downhill scene, and Joey's been trying his hand at XC too, holding his own with Sam and Jakub. There have been some entertaining races as well - chain issues popped up for one rider, who ditched it and did just fine without pedaling. In Mountain Cross at Crested Butte, Nick and Joey actually faced each other in the finals, where they decided to get rid of their chains to make things interesting. (Nick desparately used his feet pushing against the ground to speed up, but Joey's was goofier and more effective, leading to his victory.) You can check out a plethora of pictures on our facebook page, and the entire set of results on the Conference Website.
We also sent strong representation to track nationals in Frisco, Texas this past weekend. Mac Cassin had some medals to defend from last year. Christa Ghent and Danny Hiller were looking for a little improvement, and they had the support of Nicolle Bruderer, Colt Peterson, and Bill Golembieski. Mac was able to improve on his pursuit time, but unfortunately got bested by two-tenths of a second from a Marian rider. Colt took silver in the very fast scratch race, and Christa came in 4th (following a rough crash too - she's tough), with Nicolle in 9th. The men took 2nd in the Men's Team Pursuit, and the full team took 5th in the mixed Sprint. All things added up to one incredible podium picture. Amongst 4 other teams of 13-16 racers, our team was 3rd overall with 6 very powerful racers! You can check out all the results on USACycling.org.
