LIVESTRONG Team for 2010

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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

Adoption Exchange SR- ABQ

 

Who are these characters? John Stadick, Liz, Courtney.

I’m drinking a glass of champagne as I type this. No,  its not from the podium, but from my 8^th anniversary that I celebrated with my wife, Kathryne, earlier this week.  Quite special all by itself. But now,  here’s a toast to WINNING!  Its been a while for me, and I’d almost forgot what it feels like!  It wasn’t a big race.  It wasn’t the A race.  But I rode my heart out for it and I’m pretty proud!

 

 

 

The 15K TT on Saturday went as well as I could expect.  I love to TT but rarely get results.  This day suited me better than most though – not much wind, a winding road and some pretty steep hills.  I struggled to find a rhythm up the draggy first two miles.  But I quickly caught my 30 sec guy and had the next guy in my sights.  I was bummed to get caught by Bill Dahl of Sport Systems who started just after me, but I’m quite used to being passed so it didn’t phase me.  I knew I had to get it going then, though!  I hoped I might get back some time on him climbing out of the canyon to the turnaround, but he kept the gas on.  Coming back I let it rip and caught two more guys up the last climb.  The road was closed to traffic so there was little to distract me from the effort.  The last two miles I emptied the tanks trying to make up more time, but it was not to be.  Bill beat me by 1:03, putting me in second in the 35+ race. Still, I was just over 2 minutes behind the P/1/2 winner and Colavita’s own, John Verheul , so I had to be pleased (he beat me by about 4 minutes last month in Las Cruces!).  Meanwhile our new team mate, Kenny When from Aztec had a strong 4^th in the P/1/2  race, just 1:11 off of Verheul – not bad considering that he didn’t even see the course prior to his start.

John Stadick on the TT downhill- Maximum O2 uptake!

I was psyched for the crit on Sunday. The weather was near perfect and the course fast and smooth with 3 wide corners.  We had about 25 guys line up for the 45 minute race.  Kenny signed up for the masters crit (in addition to the P/1/2 which went off later in the day) to lend me a hand.  He worked hard throughout the race often getting in breaks and forcing others to chase.  In the process he took at least two primes.  I covered a lot of moves in between and tried to make a few breaks stick, but no one seemed willing to work with me.  We kept everyone on their toes though.  Race leader, Dahl, hung back most of the race making me wonder what he had planned.  In the last 10 minutes Chris Abbott of the Giuseppe’s Café team (I think)  took a big solo flyer.  He was down on the standings, so we let him go.  Before we knew it they were counting down the laps.  With two to go, Kenny went to the front and set a steady pace with me on his wheel.  A few guys took over the pace on the last lap but I stayed on Kenny’s wheel and near the front.  Chris was out of sight and had the win easily.  I wasn’t sure about my sprint but was confident that if I was the first rider into the last turn that I’d be assured a high place in the short slightly uphill homestretch.  So I jumped as hard as I could with about 300m to go.  That Jamis can really through down!  I railed it through the turn, putting trust my Vittoria’s (and my Rudy Project helmet) and gutted out the last 100m to the line.  I really thought I’d win the field sprint but William Steffen, who didn’t ride the TT, got by me at the line.  Kenny rode my wheel in to soak up 4^th place (judges gave him 5^th) which pretty much assured me of the Omnium win.  Bill Dahl, not a fan of pack sprints as it turns out, got home safely in 12^th place, slipping to 5^th on GC.

My family was expecting me back soon, but I had just enough time to watch our team mates Liz Cash and Courtney duke it out in the mens 3/4/5 race – their version of a warm-up before the women’s event.  They rode great with Courtney getting off the front at least once.  I didn’t get to witness the P/1/2 crit but was happy to hear that our ex-teammate Jesus “Chacho”  Zapata, now riding for Ten Speed Drive took the win in the crit after lapping the field.  Also lapping the field with him was Kenny, who took second in the crit, moving up to third overall.  John Verheul’s 7^th was good enough to keep him in first on GC.  Not a bad weekend for Colavita.  Hats off to the organizers, especially Sylvio Menezes, who put on a great race with a family atmosphere  complete with inflatable fun house– I was almost wishing I’d brought my wife and son.  Maybe next year.  Sorry to go on so long… now I’m drinking beer….

Submitted by John Stadick, Colavita NM

Verheul takes 3rd in TT, 4th Overall at Hillsboro Omnium

 John Verheul rode a fast TT for third place, and held steady for 4th overall in an aggressive RR on Sunday. Great  job John! John Stadick placed 4th in the Masters Omnium. Nice!

JV before the TT

Valley of the Sun 2009- Courtney

It’s nice to come back to racing a bike after a two year hiatus!  I was a bit on the nervous side because of that fact…  Would I be dropped, would I be dropped, would I be dropped kept racing through my mind.  But, luckily from a little experience I reminded myself to relax and do the best I could…  I did and here are the results….

Fri. Feb. 13th TT:  4th Place/22k…  Know my time was slow and will actually use my TT bars next time….  So early in the season…  At least I wasn’t last….  Had a lot of fun, but know there is more in me…

Sat. Feb 14th RR:  35+ and cat 4 women rode together which was nice because I think there were only 8 women in my field…  (35+ that is).  Felt fine the entire time…  Stayed on the GC leaders tale the entire race…  Blew my position a bit in the final sprint, a lot of cat4 gals almost crashed into me and some put on their brakes…  Not conducive to a safe race…  ughhhh….  Anyway, I got 3rd…  Not to bad considering I am not a climber…lol…  I felt like the race was a bit on the slow side, but wasn’t going to waste a bit of energy…  Went off the front a few times to see if I could get anything started, but the entire peleton wanted to be in a break….  It was fun..

Sun. Feb 15th:  Knew I wouldn’t be able to make up my minute and change deficit in the crit, but did my best…  The 35+ women decided to NOT race with the cat4 women..  We knew there would be a crash…  There were..  2 actually..  So our race started with 8 women..  the top four, including myself broke away right away…  seemed like the gc leader and this other gal had a plan..  our pace was higher than anything we had done the entire race…  Ultimately it came down to the slightly uphill finish and I had ZERO sprint…  I was passed by one gal and got 4th…  Was a bit frustrated because this was my specialty in the past… 

 

The race overall was a great opportunity for me to learn where I am race wise.  I am ready to ride with the cat3 women for sure in my next race..  I need to work on TT without a doubt and increase power over distance…  I hade a GREAT TIME and felt like the race was put together nicely!!!!!

Courtney T.

1st Win of 2009- El Paso Puzzler

It was 6:12 hrs of rocky, knarly trails, but the 2009 EPP is in the bag. I led the race until Jennifer Tribe-Wilson (Titus/WTB, PRO women) passed me going up the loose and steep Mundy’s Gap climb, at about 3-1/2 hrs. She ended up putting 14 minutes on me at the finish. I was crawling, and walking the last few climbs, believing somone’s gonna catch me.

I think everyone was hurtin’ at that point. I’ve got serious chammy burn now, and the whole body is sore. This endurance race is extremely challenging! You have be be alert the whole race. One false move, and your in a cholla, or prickly pear cactus. The cacti are right on the side of the narrow, rocky trail, so its real easy to get poked.

A befitting Trophy

Special Recognition to Dave and the BMBA crew. They had volunteers all over the course, and it was organized quite well. Dave and Jen (yes that WTB/Titus Pro rider is his wife!) are swell people.

Special Shout-Out to Ralph and Pete at our bike shop, Cottonwood Cycles, in Farmington. They provided my 29er GEAX 2.2 TNT Saguaros tires that worked very well, with no problems. They also provide my Hammer Nutrition products too! Hey Pete: the Thompson Masterpiece seatpost works great!!

The GF Superfly took a lot of rock punishment today, so I’ll have to give it a good look over to make sure it’s ok. Lots of rocks smacking the downtube and chainstays. I couldn’t see anything obvious after the ride.

Update: I’ve inspected the bike, and there’s not even a scratch on the downtube! Looks like the Superfly handled the rocks well!

I need some days off, I don’t think I can even sit on a bike seat anyway.

Keifer

Yes, Our Sponsors do get exposure!!

Here’s a Durango Magazine Ad that a friend gave me today. These are handed out all over Durango to drum up ads for the Durango Magazine.

Pretty Cool! Stadick is there too!

This was the IHBC downtown Crit race.

Keifer

Truchas Team Ride

Our first 2009 team ride happened on Saturday Febuary 13th in Los Alamos/Espanola NM. We had Warren, Mark, Hugh, Irene, Gretchen, John S., and Keith in attendance. We rode the famous Truchas loop, which takes you NE into the mountains above Espanola to Truchas village at 8000′. Lots of climbing on the way up, and way fun descending coming back. A beautiful day (about 45-50 degrees) with lots to look at, including multiple historic Catholic missions. I wish I had a real camera! I had my cell camera, and here’s a couple pics:

John, Irene, Warren (behind kite) and Hugh in Truchas

Mark in Truchas

From the Selby’s house and back, I got 78 miles and 4:49 Ride Time. Glen GPS’d it at 6300 feet of climbing. Great training loop!

Keifer

2005 TP to TA Pic

2005 TP to TA A Race Start, Brian, Keith, John S.

Another memorable photo…

1ST 2009 RACE- EL PASO PUZZLER

The entry form is in. 50 miles of endurance XC riding. Schweeet! I hope its warm down there! The roads are still icy to dirty in Farmington!

Puzzler Link:http: //elpasopuzzler.wordpress.com/