LIVESTRONG Team for 2010

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Cottonwood Cycles opens 2nd store

Our 2009 sponsoring bike shop is officially opening their 2nd store in Aztec, NM today at noon!

 

Yea Cottonwood!

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

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

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/

New Years in Scottsdale- Perfect!

I spent five days, the 31st through the 4th in Scottsdale, AZ riding. It was 70 degrees the first 4 days, and beautiful! LOTS of riding. The legs were tired after the first big road ride, but I kept riding every day. I knew I was going back to old man winter in the Rockies, so I wanted to get as much riding in as possible. Three long road rides (base training) and three really fun MTB rides. I was really stoked to MTB due to all the trails being muddy or covered in snow up in Farmington area. Its going to be road only in the four corners for a while.

Kinda stressful driving back though. From Flagstaff, AZ to 10 miles south of Shiprock, NM it was very slow going due to snow, and snowpack roads. I was even driving 5-10 MPH in I-10 at the AZ/NM border for a while. THe weather turned a 6-1/2 hour into 9 hours. I was glad I was driving a AWD vehicle (FORD Edge). Bailey, our Schnauzer slept through most of the stress.

Brian Palen getting Dirty at McDowell Mtn Park Competitive Tracks

 

Most of the road riding was in NE Scottsdale area, along Pima, Happy Valley, and Cave Creek roads. We did one road ride that climbed up South Mountain to the top, and a few spurs. The main climb is 7.7 miles to the towers. MTBing was at the Phx Mountain Preserve, South Mountain Desert Classic Trail, and McDowell Mtn Park Competitive tracks.   Thanks to Brian Palen for showing Jeanne and I around the Mtn Preserve Trails!

The Shiprock sunset from Hwy 541

Keifer