Welcome Back!

2012-01-23

FIRST MEETING is tonight, Monday, Jan 23, 7pm, Benson 185. We've been enjoying the warm weather around Boulder biking a lot, enjoying relatively dry mountain bike trails, and secretly hoping for good snow to ski at some point this winter. Tonight we have some Spring plans to go over - including total domination this upcoming season with the coaching help of FasCat Coaching. We're working on getting our Spring race organized, and have spin classes in the Rec Center starting up tonight - now Mondays and Wednesday evenings.

On an administrative note, to join the club, you need to sign the Club Sports Waiver Forms (Page 1, Page 2) and pay dues. We're making dues more convenient, so you can head over to PreRace.com, register for an account there, activate it through the email they send you, and then going back to that link, register for the CU Team. Let us know if you have any questions or issues. See you tonight!

Muddy and Awesome 2nd place at Mountain Bike Nationals

2011-11-10

The CU Cycling Team has been getting a lot of press lately about our awesome riding in Angel Fire over Halloween Weekend. Our 14 racers kicked butt all weekend to take 2nd place, just 8 points shy of 5-time champs Fort Lewis. This included a lot of podium finishes, including 2 omnium athletes with Deidre York and Claire Bensard, and 2 National Champion jerseys for Joey Schusler.

Nationals started off driving through a snowstorm in Colorado, and it only got worse the closer to Angel Fire we got. We played in the snow Thursday morning, with a big snowball fight and building a snow-buffalo - good team bodning. For Thursday's course pre-ride, the snow and ice and mud made for a lot of fun, and a big mess. For cross country on Friday, and Short Track on Saturday, the courses were mainly frozen mud for the women, which actually provided a decent amount of traction. After getting ridden by so many racers, and the sun warming things up, it was a soupy mess, peanut butter mud conditions for the men. The downhill 2000 feet up started with a bobsled run - seriously ice and snow, and racers sliding down on their butts. It was a test of survival. The 5-hour dual slalom (some technical difficulties mid-day) allowed the course to cover every type of mud and dirt and snow possible.

The CU team did great though, handling all of it like pros (with the mechanic James busy all day every day, the support crew scraping of 3 to 4 pounds of mud after every DS run, and the laundry machines being a complete mess. All the results are posted at USA Cycling, and we'll have some pictures up soon, more than what we have on facebook. girlbikelove has an expose on Nationals rider Katie Sodergren, and our coach Jason included entertaining details in his blog at FasCat. Our former teammate and now coach of Western State Eszter Horanyi summarizes our awesome racing at 303cycling; and we also got a press release in the CU Independent.

We've been pretty busy following Nationals too! We're looking to get some CU Cycling streetwear for our members as well as alums and other fans of us. With so many local high school talents, plus some connections to junior teams around the country, we're looking to start actively recruiting (still an entirely volunteer-based effort. The biggest thing coming up is the cyclocross race we're hosting on the 19th. We've been busy finalizing the details, planning the awesome course, and amassing a great prize list from local businesses.

The cross race counts as the RMCCC cyclocross conference race, but we have categories for non-collegiate racers as well. Check out the details and schedule on our flyer. And be sure to hold on to your bib number! All racers get a FREE week of yoga at Little Yoga Studio. We also have some prizes from Hapa, Full Cycle, The Cup, Foolish Craig's, and more! We'll see you at the Research Park on Saturday, the 19th!

Getting Ready for Nationals

2011-10-21

The season has gotten busy the past few weeks, getting ready for Nationals as well as hosting a cyclocross race. (We'll be hosting our cross race Saturday, Nov 19 at the research park - more details to come soon.) Here's a brief update on how our conference season ended.

October 8 and 9, the team traveled to Grand Junction for Mesa State's rocky racing - XC, Short Track and Dual Slolom. Former CU racer and now Western State Coach Eszter Horanyi captured the entire weekend in detail on 303cycling. On the gravity side of things, Clayton Haskins won the Men's B's, and Brian O'Leary got 6th in the A's. Ashlee Wilson won the Women's B's too! Clayton and Brian decided to give pedaling a try, finishing 6th and 9th in the Men's C cross-country. Cameron Brown finished 8th there too. Brad Berger decided to race with gears instead of his single speed, and he continued to improve in the A's. Peter O'Donnell got a top 10 finish in the A's cross-country race. Ashlee Wilson upgraded to the Women's A's and finished 8th. Claire Bensard finished 4th, and Katie Sodergren won! Katie also took 2nd in the Short Track, with Claire in 5th. Cameron Brown podiumed in the Men's C's short track as well. Full results can be found at USA Cycling website.

Fort Lewis hosted the last conference race of the season, again covered in detail by Eszter at 303cycling. Since the weekend lacked a downhill race, most of the gravity team drove to Angelfire to check out the Nationals Course (a little chilly and soggy with some snow). At Durango, James Ontiveros took 6th in the Men's A's Dual Slalom, while Clayton Haskins won the Men's B's. Clayton will be a rider to watch next year for sure. Ashlee Wilson also won the Women's B's. Mitchell Kasyon got 2nd in both the C's Short Track and Cross Country. FLC did some effective blocking to hold Katie Sodergren to 4th, Abby Mickey in 6th and Claire Bensard in 7th in Short Track, and 2nd, 6th and 7th in the Cross Country. Check out the full results here.

Overall on the season, CU finished 2nd behind Fort Lewis. Individually, Deidre York was 2nd in Women's A gravity, behind Wyoming's Jill Behlen, and Joey Schusler was 3rd. In Endurance, the Women's A's podium was AWESOME - Katie Sodergren (CU), Jill Behlen (WY), and Abby Mickey (CU). It was a solid season -- we just didn't quite have the numbers to compete with FLC. We do have a powerful nationals team, looking to improve on last year's 2nd place. On the Gravity Side, we have Joey Schusler (3 time national champ), Michael Larsen (4th the last 2 years), Andrew Dean, Nick Caron, Deidre York and Claire Bensard (both going for ominum titles). For Endurance we're sending Peter O'Donnel, Brad Berger, Samuel Morrison, Kevin Kane, Deidre, Clare, Katie Sodergren, Abby Mickey, Ashlee Wilson, and Ellie Atkins.

Nationals is Oct 28th-30th in Angelfire, NM. Follow us at Twitter or Facebook for updates on the scene! Go Buffs!

Strong racing in Gunnison!

2011-10-04

We made up some ground on Fort Lewis this weekend in Gunnison. Our mountain bike coach Jason Hilimire was on hand to help out and take some photos of the 4 events - Short Track, XC, DH and Air DH. The highlights from the weekend come from him directly:

Had a great team race at Gunnison this past weekend. I have to congratulate the riders and the team on their performances! We won the women's B Short track and finished 2nd in the XC (Ashlee Wilson); went 1,2, 4, 5 in the Womens A short track (Katie, Deidre, Abby, Claire) & then 2,3, 5 in the XC (Katie, Deidre, Claire). Our Men smashed it also! Solid 1,2 in short track (Sam, Kevin) & Sam also won the XC in a sprint at the line! Brad stepped it up also and raced well as his first races on the geared bike, and Peter hung tough with some heavy road rash from the short track Gravity team cleaned house with Joey Taking the W in both Air DH and DH and most everybody was in the top 10. Our women went 2,3,4 in the DH (Deidre, Claire, Ellen). Big Shout out to Claire who was the only one on the team to race all 4 events! As far as team and team cohesiveness it was great, riders were out supporting each other at different races and helping out with shuttling. Had a fun night at the campfire on Friday/Saturday! Everyone was great to hang out with and had fun. I'm definitely looking forward to next weekends event in Grand Junction!

Check out the full results here. This weekend, we head west to race at Mesa State, the 2nd to last race weekend before Nationals in Angelfire. Also in the works - we're planning on hosting a collegiate cyclocross race sometime in November, so keep your eyes peeled for more details.

Small turnout at Sol Vista

2011-09-26

Men's C riders! Where are you? Fort Lewis took a huge jump in Conference Points over us this weekend. Not only are their women back from Track Nationals to race mountain bikes, we also had a pretty small showing at Sol Vista.

The School of Mines Weekend began with cross-country: a long climb up the ski slopes with several tight switchbacks and obstacles, a very scenic traverse near the Continental Divide, and a mostly smooth descent. We were absent of C riders, but our B's did what they could against FLC. Nathan Wilson took 2nd, and Spenser Lacy finished 5th. The other 4 spots in the top 6 went to FLC. Brad Berger just upgraded to A's and finished a very awesome 8th, though that was behind 6 FLC riders, and Joe Scheider from Mines. The XC women from CU continued their streak of kicking butt, with Ashlee Wilson winning the B's, and Deidre York and Katie Sodergren finishing 2nd and 3rd in the A's.

Mountain Cross took up Saturday afternoon. CU's Andrew Dean and Clayton Haskins took 3rd and 5th in the Men's B's, and James Ontiveros won the Men's A's (followed by 6 FLC racers). Ellen Patten won the Women's B's, and Deidre York took 3rd in the A's.

Sunday's short track saw an even smaller turnout from CU. Daan Stevenson was our only Men's B racer, and unfortunately did not finish, while FLC took 6 of the top 8 spots. They took 7 of the top 8 spots in Men's A's. On the women's side though, Ashlee Wilson finished 2nd behind Western State in the Women's B's, and Katie Sodergren and Abby Mickey finished 2nd and 4th in the A's. We did bring the numbers to the afternoon's Downhill, and in the Men's A's, Joey Schusler and Mike Larsen went 1-2! The full results are posted here.

This weekend we'll be heading to Gunnison for the Conference Championships hosted by Western State. Points count double for the Championships, so if you've been hesitant to race, this weekend is the time to come out!

Power at Track Nationals!

2011-09-19

This past weekend, we sent 5 riders to Major Taylor Velodrome in Indianapolis for the Collegiate Track National Championships. Our racers competed in Individual and Team Pursuits, Points races, Sprints, and Flying Laps. Our riders kicked some serious butt - Jesse Goodrich took 5th in the IP, and Mac Cassin WON! Christa Ghent, in her first time at Track Nationals took 9th in the points race, Goodrich took 2nd (just missing out on the win) in the men's points race, and our 5 riders took 2nd in the team pursuit! Along with a few other good results, this put the CU team in 6th over all! We'll have some pictures up shortly, but in the mean time, check out the full results here.

Also this past weekend was CSU's mountain bike race at Red Feather Lakes. CU Had a pretty good turnout, with some driving up Saturday morning for the race, but most going up Friday afternoon - and stopping in Fort Collins for tacos at Fuzzy's. After building a pretty sweet fire, we set up tents and got ready for the next day by eating smores.

Short Track started off the races early on Saturday, roughly a mile loop near the campsites, with some climing through trees, a quick descent into a jump, and a fast finish. Brad Berger won with his single speed in the Men's B's. The women dominated, with Abby Mickey and Katie Sodergren building a quick lead and finishing 1-2. Deidre York and Claire Bensard lost a little distance to Wyoming's Jill Behlen, and finished 4th and 5th for CU. Sam Morrison and Chris Baddick did what they could against the 9 Fort Lewis kids, and finished a respectable 3rd and 5th.

The XC kids then got some food, pre-rode Sunday's crosscountry course, and then watched the downhill madness. This week's course was a lot more technical than last week's at Steamboat, and featured a massive 10-foot drop, leading into a berm and over a bridge near the finish. The short rainfall just beforehand led to a couple crashes, not helping anyone. Justin Horstmann overcame the moisture to take the win in Men's B's for CU, followed by Nick Lyle in 3rd and Treven Hunter in 6th. Becca Gallery and Ellen Patten went 1-2 in the Women's B's. The crowd continued to gather around the 10-ft drop. Unphased, Nick Caron came across with the 7th best time, and Mike Larson finished 2nd, mising the win by a mere 1 second. Shortly after his run, the crowd hears a thud and the rustling of branches come from up the trail, just before the drop. Followed by "Ow, Ow Ow...", Joey Schusler finally emerges into view, takes the drop just fine..."Ow, Ow..." (pedal pedal pedal). He was ok, mostly winded, and finished in a still respectable 8th.

More rain, Dinner, sunset, bon fire, smores, even more rain...The crosscountry trail for Sunday got even more gnarly. 2 ice-cold stream crossings per 8-mile lap led to freezing riders, slippery rocks led to damaged derailleurs...racers were dropping out like flies. Brad Berger didn't care, he won on his single speed by a considerable margin - he'll be upgrading to A's for Sol Vista. On the Women's side, Katie Sodergren won by several minutes over teammate Claire Bensard in 2nd - another 1-2 finish for CU. Check out the full results here.

The drive home after packing up camp included a stop in Loveland for a recovery meal at Hooters, keeping it classy as always. This weekend, we head to Sol Vista for XC, 4-cross, shorttrack, and DH. We're hoping to field a few more riders, and continue having a blast camping. Stay tuned for some pictures here, and check out our facebook page for more pictures.

Buffalos Racing is Under Way

2011-09-13

CU spent last weekend racing mountain bikes in Steamboat Springs, where the University of Wyoming hosted Short Track, Cross Country, Downhill and 4-cross. It kicked off with cross country Saturday morning. There was a little confusion about start times and turns on the course, but despite some issues, CU killed it! Chris Baddick and Sam Morrison led from the start in the Men's A's to finish 1-2. Katie Sodergren followed that up with 2nd place just behind Fort Lewis, with Abby Mickey in 4th place. Brad Berger won the Men's B's on his single speed, with Keith Omundson in 4th. Bill Golembieski made the transition from road season to mountain bikes, and successfully didn't die in the Men's B's. Andrew Washburn was the sole Buffalo in the Men's C's, and held up well with 12th place.

4-cross that afternoon was at the Steamboat BMX track. In the Men's A's, Joey Schusler took 2nd and James Ontiveros took 4th. Deidre York took 2nd in the Women's A's too. After another night of camping, riders went after the short but challenging short track race. The Women's A's raced great for CU, with Abby Mickey taking 2nd, Katie Sodergren in 3rd, and Deidre York in 4th. Brad Berger followed up his Men's B XC win with a 2nd place in Sunday's Short Track. Sam Morrison and Peter O'Donnell did what they could against Fort Lewis, and finished 4th and 5th.

The weekend ended with a short downhill course, involving more pedalling that usual. Mason Lacy took 3rd in the Men's B's, with Spenser Lacy in 5th. Becca Gallery won the Women's B's for CU, and the Men's A's cleaned up - Joey Schusler won, Michael Larsen in 2nd, Brian O'Leary in 4th, and Nick Caron in 6th. You can check out the full results here.

We learned a few things about organization and planning in Steamboat. We could use some extra hands all around, from either roadies going to the race weekends to help out, or a lot of help between the endurance and gravity guys. Cross Country riders could use some bottle feeds, and downhillers could use some shuttling help. So if you can, make it up to the races to help out and cheer everyon on! Plus, camping with the team is tons of fun anyway! We'll put these lessons to practice this weekend, as the mountain bikers head to Red Feather Lakes for CSU's race weekend.

We also have 5 riders representing CU at Track Nationals in Indianapolis! Good luck, Christa Ghent, Colt Peterson, Jesse Goodrich, Danny Hiller and Mac Cassin!

Ready for the Fall Season?

2011-08-23

FIRST MEETING is next week, Tuesday, August 30, 7pm, Rec Center Conference rooms 1 and 2. We have track nationals right around the corner, a mountain racing season to strut our stuff, and several more months of awesome biking weather to take advantage of. We're thinking some coffee shop rides, camping trips, and long tours ending with BBQ's and jacuzzis. We also have new sponsors to lavish us with goods and discounts!

In order to join the club, there are some forms you need to sign, and some club dues to pay. If you're on the fence about getting into biking or joining the club, come on by to the meeting, get to know us, and see how awesome life on twoo wheels is. See you Tuesday night!