2009 Results now updated

Great job in 2009 Team! Lots of top tens, and a bunch of podiums!

John Verheul, CX Dominator!

Our Cat 1 taskmaster and cycling coach has been rocking the NM CX race series!  5 races inm out of 7! Good show John! Good Luck!

See NM Cross Results by going to the Recent Results on:

http://newmexicosportsonline.com/home/home.aspx

NM State Criterium Championships

Colavita NM owns the Mens and Womens Masters 35+ State Crtierium Titles!

1st John Verheul: Men’s 35+

1st, Shantelle Pierce: Women’s 35+

John also took third place in the Men’s Pro, 1, 2 field, after super domestique Kenny Wehn worked hard throughout both races, and lead John out to the line! Kenny ended up 7th in the 35+, and 5th in the Pro, 1,2 field. Shantelle also competed in the Women’s Pro, 1,2 field and placed 4th.

Nice job team!!

Sandia Crest Results

Definitely a good showing for the CVNM team at the Bill McClain Memorial Sandia Crest Race, on 6/14/09.

We had riders in 5 categories.

Hugh and Verheul rode well to place 4th and 8th respectively. Mark hung tough to finish 13th. I had an asthma attack in the cold rain when we approached the frontside of Heartbreak Hill, and pulled out. Someday I’ll have a good race!

Shantelle dropped all the women in the Pro, 1,2  field. Finishing 1st. Proving once again she’s the best climber in the state.

Kenny is still a Cat 3, and finished 6th in that field. Ubinger finished 11th. John Zarling 17th.

Gretchen Selby finished 9th, after flatting and having to wait for a wheel for quite a long time. She was in 4th place when she flatted. Next time Gretchen!

Keifer

Hugh’s Report from Pajarito Punishment XC

Experpt from an email from Hugh Selby:

“

Speaking of crushed, I had an interesting return to MTB racing this
weekend.  As some of you know, I started racing mountain bikes back
in about 1993-4.  I was pretty terrible at it but being a competitive
fellow, I kept at it until ‘96 or so.  My last race was the obscenely
grueling Pajarito Punishment. It was there that I realized that I
hated getting pounded by guys I could routinely put the stick to on
the road – I left the knobbies behind and took up skinny tire racing
exclusively.  Somehow, the scarring from my MTB past had gone away
and by some weird twist of early onset senility, I decided to try my
hand (leg?) at dirt racing once again.  In a final irony, I started
back up in what is now my hometown race, the Pajarito Punishment.  I
suppose you can all tell me that you would have seen this as a bad
omen and tried something else; I also questioned my decision but
decided that the best way to deal with my issues was to face them
directly.  To paraphrase the Knight Templar from the third Indiana
Jones movie, I chose poorly.

The race itself was exceptionally well done and the course really
could not have been better.  Unfortunately, as I rolled up to the
start with my fork locked out (it’s what the pros do), I was only
aware of the vague sensation that I might soil myself whilst vomiting
as well.  This sensation did not ease as the start was
called.  Indeed, by the time we had returned to the ski hill proper,
I had the distinct sensation that I was carrying a basketball in my
midsection.  I had a reasonable start and so tried to ignore this
discomfort.  Alas, by the first bit of fire road climbing, my normal
climbing rhythm became syncopated by a third clenching muscle in my
nether regions.  Let’s just say that staying seated was the name of
the game.  I proceeded to, er, “gut it out” the remaining first lap,
stopping only once to howl in agony as I let more riders by,
clenching my lower half in a fierce battle to retain my innards.  By
the time I got to the descent, I had a bit of a let-up so I figured I
might as well get the miles in by finishing the race.  Again, I chose
poorly.  Needless to say, the second hike to the top was a
reintroduction to fantasies of Imodium and clean bathrooms, although
my legs did seem to be working reasonably well.  I have to admit that
part of the reason I kept going was that I didn’t want to disappoint
the Colavita cheering section (thanks Susan Oldham!).  How do you
explain stopping mid-race and charging into the lodge in front of the
cheering throng?  At long last, my deliverance was at hand as I
approached the final section of open road in front of the
lodge.  Susan cheered me across the line and I thanked her for
waiting for me to drag across the line, my reintroduction to mountain
bike racing complete.  That was about all the time I had before the
sweet vision of the lodge door invited me to its welcoming
porcelain.  I spent the next twenty minutes appreciating a completely
graffiti free stall (where’s the reading material when you need
it?)  and wondering whether or not El Parasol was a sound caloric
selection after all.

That was so much fun, I think I’ll do it again.”

Hugh Selby

Cottonwood Cycles opens 2nd store

Our sponsoring bike shop is officially opening their 2nd store in Aztec, NM today at noon!

 

Yea Cottonwood!

Keifer

Iron Horse Bicycle Classic- Durango, CO

It was a cloudy morning, 7:15 am, at the Durango Recreation Center parking lot, the start line for the 2009 IHBC road race to Silvertion, CO. 47 miles of mostly climbing, over two 10,900 ft passes, Coal Bank, and Molas.

I’d been getting some training over the past few weeks on the mountain passes, but not as much as I would’ve liked. The passes had snow, and pretty cold up there until the first week of May. I felt pretty fit for the event, and wanted to at least set a PR. I raced the Masters 35+ group, which was the second largest category at IHBC, only behind the 45+ Masters. 145 Starters!

Sometimes there is a tailwind for the first flat 11 miles north on Hwy 550, but not today, and with the chilly conditions, nobody wanted to push the pace, as with some other years. During the local group rides in Durango, we are normally rolling 25-30 MPH on this stretch, but not today. I was seeing 20-21 MPH, which is pretty slow for a large group like this. I went to the front and rolled 25 MPH a couple times, but couldn’t get any interest, so went back into the pack. After passing Hermosa Creek, saw the RR crossing gates coming down! One of the maintenance carts was coming down the tracks! We had to stop. The Masters 45+ group piled up behind us while we waited. After a few minutes, we were on our way again.

We waiting for the climb at the KOA (the steepest section of the whole race, mile 13), to start pushing. When we rolled by Rockwood, a few miles of climbing later, we were down to a lead group of 20. I was breathing hard, but not at 100%, so I sat in and let the others set pace.

At Cascade Lodge, the start of Coal Bank Pass climb, we were still about 16 strong. The first mile we were all waiting for the first attack. I was sitting in the group, feeling steady, at 10-11 MPH. I decided it was too easy of a pace, so I exited out right side and stood up to raise to pace. Most of the group jumped on my wheel. I settled back into a good hard pace. Within a few seconds a second attack jumped, and only a few riders stuck on. From there, we were all broken up into smaller groups, 2-3 riders each. Coal Bank climb had put us all in our place!

I rode a hard pace, caught a couple riders, and ripped the downhill on my Zipp 404 tubulars to the bottom of Molas Pass. I was caught about a mile into the climb by one rider, and I tried to stick his wheel. After a mile or so, I came unglued, and shifted to settle into my own pace. Another rider from Durango, John, caught me about a mile from the top of Molas Pass, and we rode together to the top. Now for 7 miles of screaming descent down to Silverton!

John and I worked together down the hill, screaming through the turns at 35-40 MPH, and hitting straights at  45-55 MPH. We hit Silverton together, with John leading the charge. The last 2 miles to the finish line are slightly uphill, and take forever. John drilled it at 1 K to go, to 30 MPH. I was drafting, but the legs were not happy, so I had to let him go ahead. I eased up knowing there wasn’t any threat from behind, and rolled through the finish about 10 seconds behind, for 10th place, 2:38 hrs.

I signed up the Omnium event, which included a Criterium on Sunday, and a TT on Monday. I won’t write much about these two because I didn’t recover well at all, through the rest of the weekend, and felt like crap, and unmotivated for these events. The Crit went ok, but I had no spunk and finished at the back of the lead pack. I hoped to save and recover for the TT the next day.

As soon as I hit the first little roller during the TT, I knew I was not going well. I was shifting and rolling too slow over the top of each hill. The legs were still not firing well. I rode as hard as a could, and ended up 3 minites slower than last year’s TT time. I was expecting to be a little faster, not slower!

For the Overall Omnium placing, I ended up 7th. I’m only satisfied with that, knowing I lost points on the second and third days. Next year will be better, for sure!!

Keifer

Bring on Iron Horse!!

Ok the road races have been pretty slim-pickens in NM lately. FINALLY a regional road race! I will be praying all week for the weather to hold out and give us a DRY Iron Horse road race to Silverton. There is also a Time Trial, and Downtown Criterium to make it a fun Omnium event.

See you there!

Keifer

Mesa Verde 12 Hour MTB Race

This race happened on May 9th. I wasn’t going to race this, due to a business trip to Boston on Sunday, but I couldn’t help myself!!!

I didn’t want to go solo, plus the catagory was filled the week before, so I posted on the 12 Hour of MV forum that I was looking for a Singlespeed Team.

Two days later a guy from Cortez calls, and suddenly I’m on a three man team! Schweet!!

These guys were representing Kokopelli Bike Club (and bike shop) in Cortez, which is where the race is, so I had the local connection going on! The one prerequisite they asked of me is to be the first rider off at 7 am. Matt parked an old travel trailer at the race site, 100 yards from the start. I had it all to myself to sleep in the night before, and be ready to race on Saturday. Very nice! Much better than a tent!

"Old Enough to Know Better" team camp

 The race course uses the Phils World trails, which everyone knows is some of the best singletrack MTB trails in the four corners! 17 miles per lap. My team ended up doing 8 laps total and 132 miles! We ended up third place in the Singlespeed Team category, and received a sweet custom trophy!

The beer was flowing afterwards, and I think James (3D Racing SS Team, 2nd place) need to start bringing beers to these events. He mooched to many of my beers! I wanted one more!

Well, it was probably better anyhow, because I had to drive back to Farmington, and get ready for my trip to Boston the next day. I got home at 11pm, Went to bed about 12:30. Was up at 5:30 to be on the road to Albuquerque Int’l Airport, to catch my plane. With sore legs, the flight SUCKED! I was SOOOO tired when I got to Boston!

BUT IT WAS WORTH IT!!! Yee Hah!

Keifer

Tierra Torture XC SR- Santa Fe

This was an Omnium race this year with a Short Track Saturday, and a XC race Sunday. I had a totally crappy start on Saturday morning in the PRO/1 class. Ending up at the back trying to pass, pass, pass.

By the time I ran out of riders to pass, there was all ready a group of riders off the front! I ended up racing hard and rotating pulls with another Pro rider, Micah, for 6 laps. The race was supposed to be around 30 minutes, but we ended up getting over 45 minutes of full gas riding. The coarse was perfect for short track. ABout 3/4 doubletrack (1/2 of which is really soft, and the other track hard pack), and the rest twisty single track, with tricky turns.

Micah and I ended up in the top 10 overall, and I was second in the Cat 1 30-39 group.

After my warmup Sunday morning, I knew I was in for some pain. The legs were pretty cooked from the Short Track, and the hillclimb I did in Durango on Thursday. Yes, I am training through this race!

The XC course was well marked. Thank goodness, because there was so many turns, climbs, and fast decents, I didn’t know where I was. It took till the 3rd lap to really get a feel for how far away the start/finish area was. This was very important information on that last lap! The legs were really tired on the climbs, and I knew I was loosing time there. I just went as hard as possible. In the end Jay English (Mountain Top) passed me on the last lap to bump me into a 3rd place Cat 1 finish. I was actually surprised I did that well in the results. It is a really fun and challenging XC coarse. I saw many riders with injuries afterward. There are many spots that you can wipe out if your not paying attention. I certainly had a few close calls.

On a side note, John Stadick raced the XC on Sunday also. It was his first MTB race in over 15 years!

Keifer