LIVESTRONG Team for 2010

Donate to LIVESTRONG here.

 Click on the LIVESTRONG logo to donate.

Help Colavita NM and our generous sponsors to support the Lance Armstrong Foundation.  Our goal is to raise $500 in 2010.  Please follow the link to our LIVESTRONG page and join us in the fight against cancer.  Thanks!

 

Colavita New Mexico Teams with Giro Helmets to benefit LIVESTRONG

 

It started off as just a standard sponsorship deal from Giro helmets for our amateur cycling team – a ridiculously good deal on their cutting edge Ionos helmet for each rider.  Since our team already has an arrangement to benefit LIVESTRONG as an official fundraising team, we thought it would be fitting that we’d all get our helmets in the LIVESTRONG colors, to help advertise our connection and raise awareness of cancer.  However, we soon learned that it would cost each team member an extra $30 to  get these beauties, since Giro is obligated to pay a portion to LIVESTRONG with each sale, and they were already giving us the lowest price possible (LIVESTRONG helmets are available to the public for the same price as the standard colors).  The ridiculously good deal was now just a really good deal in a strict financial sense.  But to my amazement, we had unanimous support from our riders to go with the LIVESTRONG black and yellow. As a matter of fact, when we finalized the decision, we had even more riders placing orders! Our purchase of LIVESTRONG helmets helped raise in neighborhood of $500 for the fight against cancer! 

Link to our donation page: http://www.livestrong.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=325373&lis=0&kntae325373=C9D427DBA03F470EB94BC67130FA4D18&supId=276486952

More info about the partnership between Giro and LIVESTRONG can be found here: http://livestrong.giro.com/

Kenji Heading to Valley of the Sun SR, PHX

New young recruit wipper-snapper Kenji from Durango is heading to VoS as a season opener. With all the snow in Durango, we hope he survives! Well heck, he’s young, he can take it!! He’ll be the first to show off the new Colavita NM race kit!

Good Luck Kenji!

Keifer

Review: Bellwether Windstorm Gloves

 

I have some heavyweight winter gloves that I use for seriously cold rides, but they get really sweaty at around 40 degrees. I stopped into Broken Spoke bike shop (Santa Fe), to say hello to Mike, and I noticed these midweight gloves on the shelf. This is my report after using them for the first time today on a 3-1/2″ hour road ride.

The gloves fit very well, and grip is superb. There is a large amount of fuzzy material on the back of the thumbs to wipe snot from your face. A bonus is the wrist wrap at the base. This provides warmth all the way to where your watch would be. I had my watch on, and could still wear it under the flap. There is also a red pull tab on the bottom to help slide the gloves on easily. The inner liner stays put even when pulling out sweaty hands. I have had other glove liners fold up on me, and boy is it a bitch to get your hands back in!

I have large hands with skinny fingers, so my fingers get cold easily if the gloves aren’t working. For the first hour of my ride, it was around 38 degrees, and very little wind. The air felt cold and moist on the face from all the snowfall lately. My fingers felt a little cold at first, but not uncomfortable. As the hours went on, and the temperature climbed to 40 degrees, my hands felt very comfortable, and not sweaty. Perfect! With this experience in mind, I’d say these gloves are good for temperatures 38-45 degrees. Over 45, and sweat may be a problem. You can feel a slight amount of air flow around the fingers, so a serious wind chill may raise the temperature range that these would be good for. Only experience will show this.

For $38, these are a great glove for this temperature range. I found that the size MEDIUM fit my LARGE hand perfectly, but riders with fatter fingers may feel their regular size to fit right. The palm doesn’t bunch up, and the little rubber grid on the outside of the palm seems to make the road bars a little more comfortable through the long hours of a endurance ride.

I give these gloves a 10 out of 10 for this temperature range!

Keifer

Kenny Wehn in Cycling News, El Paso Puzzler

results

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/3rd-el-paso-puzzler-50-miler-ne/results

In the national cycling news again!

Keifer

El Paso Puzzler enduro XC Report- Kenny

First race of the year is in the books. After a few beers Thursday night at a friend’s birthday party Travis Brown convinced me a road trip down to El Paso for the puzzler would be a fun idea. I had been training for a couple of weeks and thought it would be a good chance to get out of the snow and do a little Mnt. Bike riding. We stopped off at the White Mesa Trail for a little training and a chance for me to remember how to ride a mnt bike. This is an amazing area and if you get a chance check it out. Now I heard the puzzler was rocky but had no idea what I was in store for. After pre-riding a little of the coarse my options were to either volunteer as a marshal or head to the local bike shop for the biggest tires I could find. Luckily I found some tractor tires and my hard tail was ready to go. Race time, with Evan Plews and Travis Brown along with a few other fast folks I knew a training race may be out of the question. Luckily things started out mellow for the first five minutes! We quickly had a selection of 6 riders and it was game on. Travis and Evan were riding tempo up front with the rest of us hanging on for dear life over the first big climb.

Over the top it was Travis and Evan followed by Santiago, a kid from crazy cat cycles, me and Cameron on the single speed.  After about 300 yards of semi smooth boulders the trail quickly turned into a screefield decent that made my fork flex in ways I never new possible.  At the first aid station Cameron blew through it followed by Bato from Arizona. The rest of the race was a blur of GU, FRS, Cliffbars, rocks, rocks, rocks, rocks, more rocks and rocks, oh and cramps.  I hung on for 7th overall and was 1st in the master’s class.

All in all it was a great race and labeled the toughest marathon to date by Travis. The new sections and distance they added makes this a true test and a must do on the crazy hard race list. Suspension would be a huge + and maybe a few more traning days instead of ski days!

-Kenny Wehn

1st Win of the season!

 

Also like to report that Colavita NM has it’s first win of the season. I won the 40+ short track mtb race at McDowell Mountain [PHX] on Jan 6th. Hopefully just the first of many W’s for the team!

 Al Senft

“Al-Kill-Ya!”

Four Corners Team Rides

A few of the Colavita NM Teammaes from the Four Corners area (NW NM/SW CO) got together and did some base riding this weekend. A great first group ride for us, and we’ll continue to get together every weekend to log some endurance miles. Those who attended this weekend (1/16 and 1/17): Shantelle Pierce, Sean Peck, Jimmy Deaton, Steve Koller, and Keith Ashmore.

As the weather warms up, expect to see more of the COlavita NM group to be riding in formation down our local roads. Remember to stop for all stop signs, and adhere to the rules of the road, so we can represent the cycling community well!

Kenny Wehn was down at the El Paso Puzzler throwing down. We’ll see if we get a race report. I heard he did quite well!

Keifer

Colavita NM Manager

More Magazine exposure for Colavita NM

As  seen in this month’s Bike Magazine:

GG is Famous! Glen’s in Velonews!

Page 10, This months Velonews. Two page picture with Glen in the top left corner, fighting for position! Killer!

Glen Gollrad, Gloucaster, Mass.

Glen’s Gloucester CX Update!

Gran Prix of Gloucester, and then some!

---

The tale(s) of 4 races, 2 weeks, and 1 (mtbike) title

Intro: I’m a frequent flyer over at mtbr.com, and a newly minted ‘cross nut – so here’s my report from the first 2 weeks of ‘cross season in now chilly New England. Posted some pix in the pix thread, and figured I could share some stories here too. ‘Cross season has started for real and the mountainbike season draws to a close – here’s the tale of 4 races in 8 days!

For being out of shape and grumpy about ‘not riding enough’ sort of guy/dad/old-phart, it’s been a productive better-late-than-never season. I still have no regular workout plan, no training plan, and usually get my good / hard rides in on, well – on race day! If I could do 2 races a week every week, then ride easy in between – that’d work out just fine. Of course, it would NEVER HAPPEN! Except last week, and the week before. The main problem has been a semi-permanent state of being unemployed, and the associated flux that goes with it. Throw in a perpetually sick household, where we pass around colds, flus, and other crud like we’re playing duck-duck-goose – and the pickins’ are slim for much focused riding/training time. I keep thinking; “NEXT week we’ll get back into a groove…” when really, this – the current situation – may just well be ‘the groove’. Guess life is a B-Side then.

Anyhow, with (1) ‘cross training ride in at Bradley-Palmer State Park with the ECV guys and gals, and then onto the Green Mountain chapter in the Verge / New England CX Series, then (0) rides on the spankin’ new KHS ‘cross bike – I hit the ‘New England Worlds’ at Gloucester the next week. Nuts! Good, but totally nuts…

Saturday 26 SEPT:

Muddy indeed (Saturday at GPG):

Green Mountain CX Weekend, Williston, VT. New England / Verge CX Series event #1 in lovely central Vermont. Rolling, long, powerful, fast course through some rural hilly terrain, with (1) technical climb up a log-stair-step hill run-up. Fun! This event kicked off the very competitive NECS (New England ‘Cross Series) – and gave me a taste of what to expect; namely WICKED fast guys on uber-bling bikes. Hell, the pit bikes most of the guys had were way nicer than my ride. I do have spare wheels I keep handy, but a whole $5k bike? Yow! I was knocked out the week before with a nasty cold or flu or something, as was everyone at home – but still mustered a respectable finish in the CAT 3 mens race. Worked the kinks out of my 1X10 gearing – which works great and is oh so quiet too. It’s a single 42t chainring with a 11-26 cassette in back.

After a last-minute scramble to go buy some bibs and a jersey (left that bag at home – DOH!) I quickly pinned all the numbers on, then warmed up quickly, and hit staging. Had a horrible near-the-back start position, as they stage racers in rows of 8 across by as many deep needed. The field here was over 100 riders – so I was back in the 11th or 12th row. They stage up based on previous seasons points (none!) and then by registration order (I was late – having registered only 3-4 weeks in advance!).

First half of the race went well, second half was just a hard tempo time trial with little traffic. Made the ‘cut-off’ and finished a few minutes behind the leaders, not getting lapped, not getting pulled. 30th place – about how I felt, and expected for this initial outing. Note: Too bad this darned Redline Conquest Team frame is too small! Such a nice frame… but I cannot shoulder it without some sort of coordination malfunction – usually leading to chainring punctures in my arm, or a dented right shoulder.

(GP of Gloucester pix)

Sunday 27 SEPT:
Fort Rock Revenge, Exeter, NH. Eastern Fat Tire Association [EFTA] Finals ~ the non-USAC series for New England. Rain, rain, and more rain! Rained all the way up to New Hampshire, rained through warm-up, and tapered off right at the start. This was a sadly forgettable course, venue, and race. Mustered 3rd place after multiple off-course forays, over-inflated tires, and lack of pop due to previous days’ effort – and the still-not-healthy lack of recovery. As the name implied – lot’s of rocks indeed, on an at times fun course – but for an all too short duration of 1 hour and 17 minutes! It was supposed to be a mountain bike race. Right? Thankfully it was kept fun by the great crowd that shows up regularly at these events – as I was able to chat with series rival Todd at the start line, and afterwards. Sounds like the promoter is gearing up to change venues for the future, and this iteration had a thrown-together feel of a less than thrilled staff. I can’t really complain aside from course markings, all those rocks I have so much trouble with, and a very short length. For all my moaning and groaning, I was able to close the deal and clinch an Expert Veteran Mens Title for the series, which felt great. Todd and I battled down to the wire – and I eeked out a 6 point gap at the end – by far the closest rivalry in the series. He claims the EFTA overall for the whole thing, as best overall rider – so I was in good company.

-week 1 done-

The next week I thought for all of 3 seconds, and decided I needed to try and hustle a new CX frame. Bikeman.com has a blowout on some weird looking KHS frames – so I got on the phone and had one 2 days later – on Thursday – just enough time to build it AND maybe ride it around the house once or twice! Aside from that, I laid low trying to kick a cough – and developed a regular cold on top of it. A week of easy riding / recovery was not enough for The Main Event(s);

PAIN!

Saturday & Sunday 3&4 OCT: The New England / Verge CX Series event #2 – also part of the NACT (North American Cyclocross Trophy) series – Great Brewers Grand Prix of Gloucester, aka New England Worlds. This was by far the biggest event on my calendar this year; 2 days of hellacious racing on the ocean, right down the street from my fathers house! Nice. The week of laying low helped – though I felt a little ’stale’, but was about 90% cough-free.

Oof…

Saturday was an apt kick off, as it rained all Friday night and all the next day. The course was wet, slick, muddy, and downright nasty – perfect! The CAT 3 Mens Race was HUGE. 125+ racers lined up, and thankfully my diligence in registering the SECOND registration opened netted me a mid-pack start spot. Nice! The venue is perfect for cross – wide, uphill, paved start area and then a huge rolling seaside parkland to traverse. Saturday featured the infamous mud-bog steep hill run-up. Riding is absolutely NOT an option, as it’s steep, deep, and treacherous. It’s also crammed with bezerk spectators! Staying on the bike after a good start was my goal, so to speak. There were three areas it made sense to dismount and boogie – and I found lines the day before that proved serviceable. The rest of the course – while rideable – required concentration and skill to stay upright. I had the immeasurable pleasure of a few hardy cheerleaders out there – including Jo-Anna and her husband (she’s a mean Spinning Instructor at the YMCA) and fellow NM transplant Jamie Ryan White – who shot some pix too. Towards the end, I felt great and went by a number of racers – and wound up in 19th place – far better than I’d have hoped. Bike worked great (except that loose crankarm!), body felt good, and thats all she wrote.

The barriers at GPG were like 5′-0″ tall:

Sunday the sun was in and out, and the course drained well. BUT, the devious course designers were busy throwing a series of curve balls at us! No more post-hole run-up, and a number of sections were completely re-engineered, or reversed. Yow. I liked the look of it – as there were now a number of long straight aways – some into the wind, where I usually do great. BUT, as I’d find later – having trashed my legs the day before it was exactly these efforts that would hurt the most. Give me shorter punchier efforts, please! What I should have done is PRE-RODE this version, however. But I was in super-conserve mode, and put the thought on credit – and would pay (dearly) later. The super-bad-ass-bonus was that my 30th place finish the week before, and my 19th place finish the day before netted a call up to the third row! Hoo-baby! I was jazzed to say the least. But then…

…Ooops. Why is my bib number so different than everyone elses? I naturally wore the number given to me on Saturday, as in New Mexico we used the same number through a whole SEASON – nevermind the same race/weekend. Quick chat with the official with 30 seconds to go, and all was noted and squared away at the start line. I thought. Whatever. BAM!!! Off we go. I absolutely bury myself getting up the road among the top 15 or so riders, and hit the grass feeling OK. My wife and little guy, and my buddy Dave were all out cheering and shooting pictures. The sun was out, it was warming up, and the course was FAST! Aside from traffic on the first lap – it was wide open the whole time, and indeed, those long stretches on the backside really, really hurt. Accelerations were OK, but the moment an effort lasted more than 20-30 seconds, the lactic acid dug its claws into my quads, calves, and hammies and tugged and ripped and hurt BAD! Owowow. A few bad lines, a little fading at the end and I lost a few spots here and there – not to mention the silly wipe out with just a few minutes left. Next time, pre-ride the damned thing!

Don’t look back!

I was stunned to cross the line and see the winners still nearby, huffing and puffing. I was actually not far back from them. Wow. Quick scan of the preliminary results showed 13th place! Holy Mother of God. THAT is a huge result! I double checked with the USAC score keepers, noting my bib number snafu – and they had it written down all correctly. Then I checked with the promoters data crunching guy, who also had it noted. I had not realized racers were to have checked in BOTH days, and gotten new numbers each time. Oops! Now I know… but, alas, my result for Sunday is still not showing up, though it sounds like anyone who can help is looking into it. USAC and the promoter are reviewing it all.

Almost done – note dirty side here

One way or another, I was STOKED to have had so many fun races in so short a time! ‘Cross is mighty addictive – especially when my little dude is right there, cheering – and beer is available right on / next to the course for spectators – and some racers too, I suppose. If our family could just stop passing this bug around and get healthy – who knows what could happen.

Head down, blown, finito:

–Glen Gollrad, our east coast rad CX’er.

This is also posted on the Road Bike Review forum:

http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=190394