Salida Omnium

This is a long standing 3 day race held in the mountain town of Salida, CO. Typically there is a time trial on Friday night, a crit on Saturday and a road race on Sunday. The road race has a fair amount of climbing and tends to be the deciding factor. This year the 35 plus guys had a small team as only Matt Gates made it. Some of the other guys needed a rest and Matt Segur was at Nationals. The 45 plus guys showed up with a full team and were ready to battle.

Matt G rode a solid time trail and then got into the winning 4 man break in the crit. He put together a fantastic sprint in the crit, basically drifting through the finial coroner, and passing 2 riders in the last 50 meter, to take the win. The win also moved him into 2nd in the overall, but there were only a few points separating the top guys.

Matt's RR report: I went into the RR with a 1 point deficit on Jeff Hartman from Big Shark. Unfortunately the top of the climb came too far from the finish. Hartman attacked super hard on the last time up. I threw it in the big ring and hauled him back. In the process I rode Michael Gibson off my wheel, but he came back, yet it was fun to put him in the hurt locker. It was cat and mouse after that and three other guys caught back on during the decent. There was a tailwind on the finishing stretch and Hartman got the jump making it too difficult to come around. Gibson pipped me for second. Not a bad weekend overall and I took 2nd. Even though Matt was riding solo he manged to extend our BAT lead.

The 45's got the weekend off with a downer as their TT was cancelled. The skys had opened, there was standing water on the TT course and lightning everywhere. They went into the Saturday crit well rested and come out with a strong 2nd place for Jeff O. The rider who won was a crti only guy, and would not be starting the RR. So Jeff effectively had the race lead with only the RR to go.

Jeff's RR report: heading into today’s road race stage of the Salida Omnium, Mix 1 had two GC cards to play with Jeff leading the standings and Jimi sitting in third, while Great Divide’s Derrick Nichol was positioned in second. Given the amount of climbing on the stage, Jimi was Plan A. If Jimi could escape without Derrick on his wheel, he’d been a lock for the overall and Jeff would have happily handed over the GC honors to his teammate. Alternatively, if Jimi’s efforts failed and Jeff managed to survive the day’s seven climbs, a sprint victory over Derrick would also win the GC for Mix 1. Unfortunately, the shorter climbs in this year’s race combined with a slight headwind to negate Jimi’s efforts to try and escape on the climbs. In addition, after each climb it became more and more apparent that if Jimi could escape with a small group, that group would most likely have been him, Derrick, and Derrick’s teammate Karl Kiester. Perhaps Peter could have made the split but after yesterday’s crash Peter was too far back in the standings to have made an impact on the GC.

With Plan B starting to look like the best option, Jeff put it into full on survival mode for the day’s final two climbs. He would start the climbs near the front, sink to the back on the steep parts, each shit big time to hang on on the false flats, move up on the short descents and repeat the process until finished. After Jeff made it over the day’s final climb, all was set for Plan B. Divide’s Karl Kiester led out the slightly uphill, slight head winds print with Derrick on his wheel. With about 200 meters to go Karl pulled off and Jeff jumped getting a quick gap on Derrick. Derrick clawed his way back, but was still behind Jeff when Jeff (starting to spin out) dropped to a bigger gear that he never quite got on top of. Derrick took the sprint by a half wheel and with the day’s victory also claimed the overall. Jeff added another second to go with his second from the day before and placed second on the GC. Jimi placed 4th in the sprint and 4th overall while Matt V finished 5th on theGC. Today’s tip of the hat goes to Great Divide’s Derrick Nichol. We went into this race with two solid options for the overall and gave them both our best shot. Yet, Derrick managed to keep pace with our best climber and to out kick our fastest finisher. Strong work Derrick.

Photos are from Pete I. Frist one is Matt Gates taking the win in the 35 plus crit. Second one is Matt Gates riding in the break. The third photo is Jeff from the 45 plus team telling everyone he could how excited he was about scoring a parking spot so close to the port-o-potties. As you can tell Jeff is a veteran!

Coal Miner's Classic Crit

The Coal Miner Classic has become a popular race with the team and in 2009 the 35 Plus guys pulled off a win with a well executed race plan, and some solid sprinting from Kevin Anderberg. Kevin is not racing this year, but the boys wanted a win again. For 2010 Jim, CJ, Josh, Marcel, and Matt S raced this event, with both Jim and Matt S. racing the day before at Mt Evans.

In 2009 this race was single file for most of the event, with the power house Excel Sports team keeping the pressure on. The race was not as hard this year and mix1 had one of the larger teams. Jim Thies showed no signs of being tired and got up the road early. Unfortunately he was solo and this course was not going to favor a solo break. Other moves went with a solo rider from Vic's and combinations that did not worry the boys. CJ & Josh did not feel great so they sat in and hoped for a field sprint. Jim rode the front a lot, Marcel was also up there and Matt Segur really took over the last 5 laps.

With 3 to go a 2 man break was up the road, but only by a few second and it was not gaining time. So the field played cat and mouse and caught them right at the bell. Vic's attacked again, but it was a suicide mission, so everyone lined up for a field sprint. Marcel lead it out for Josh and Josh went toe to toe with Bob Dahl from Excel. In the end Bob got the best of Josh and it was a reversal of 2009, when Kevin beat Bob by an inch. CJ came in 8th and Jim Thies in 11th. All in all a solid day, but still not the victory the team had hopped for.

In the photos below: Matt Segur riding on the front, Josh taking a free lap after blowing out a tire on a massive hole in the last corner (CJ blew out a tire on the same hole the lap before), and CJ & Marcel riding at the front.

Mt Evans - CO State Hill Climb Champs

For at least the second year in a row Mt. Evans was the Colorado State Hill Climb Championship. For anyone who does not know, this climb is legendary. It is 28 miles of pain, that goes to the top of the highest paved road in the United States, and tops out around 14,000 feet. For most masters racers it is a 2 to 2.5 hour death march. We do have one defending champion in Jimi Gibson, who won the 45 plus race in 2009.

For 2010 the 35 plus squad was deep with guys who names start with M, Matt Gates, Marc Holbert, and Matt Segur. They would not disappoint as by the top of the hill all 3 of them would be in the top 6, with Matt Gates making the podium in 3rd place. They were sorry to miss out on the win, but it was an incredible show of depth for 3 guys.

In the 45 plus race Jimi Gibson did his magic and won the race for the second time in a row. Congratulations Jimi. Big Ring Bill came through close behind in 5th and Matt V. in 11th.

State Crit Champs - Prospect

Saturday brought the state masters crit championship for the second year in a row on the newer Prospect course, in Longmont. This is a very short, very tight course, with laps times close to a minute. As a result only the strong survive and you have to race this race from the front. Both the 35 and the 45 brought strong teams and high hopes.


45 Plus race report from Jeff O: The 45+ers went into the day’s big event with a basic (but solid and proven...especially when you're the biggest team in the race) plan, but fell victim to poor execution. The plan was to ensure that no breaks went up the road without a Mix 1 rider present by either initiating attacks, following an attack or from bridging. Any move without a Mix1 rider present was to be brought back by the team. Since Jeff has been in several breaks with some of the 45+’s strongest riders this season, he offered to “mark the races big guns such as Derrick Nichol.”

Having recognized that marking the big guns alone will not suffice and opportunities would be present for all, Jeff offered encouragement to the rest of the team to not be shy marking some of the other riders in the race. From Jeff’s pre-race plan email: “I think some of those other moves provide great opportunities for some of ya'll…Ya'll are strong riders and I'm confident you can handle these moves....and by doing so this just might put ya in a good position."

The race started off fairly hard with some solo attacks and after 10 minutes Great Divide’s former state crit champ Derrick Nichol went out on his own. True to his word, Jeff bridged up to the move and although Derrick and Jeff were able to stretch their lead out to about 20 seconds they were eventually reeled in. After that Jeff dropped to mid pack to reload when one of those other opportunities he mentioned in the pre-race plan presented itself as Great Divide’s Karl Kiester went on a solo move. Despite having 6 riders in the race Mix 1 missed the move.

Recognizing that no teammates were responding to the solo move and knowing the danger of allowing someone up the road on such a tight course Jeff started moving towards the front to get into position to bridge. Unfortunately his tire blew spectacularly in turn 5 (check out the video on http://www.303cycling.com/ from a rider behind Jeff with a helmet cam) leaving him sliding across the pavement. After a stop to the wheel pit, Jeff jumped back into the main group which was now minus Kiester whose lead was up to about 25 seconds.

From that point on, Jimi chased for a while and after getting his wits back from sliding across the pavement, Jeff was back on the front looking for another bridge move. However, it was never his day as he flatted once again (this time on the spare ROL wheel he received from the neutral wheel pit). With this second flat coming within the final 8K of the race, he was no longer able to get a free lap and abandoned the race with 6K to go.

In the end, Kiester stayed away and GD scored the W in the biggest race of the season and with Derrick Nichol’s second in the field sprint, GD put two riders on the state championship podium. Meanwhile Chris L took 5th and all of our riders finished in the main group.

35 Plus race report from CJ: in 2009 this was one of the hardest races with 2 ex National Professional Champs and plenty of extra pro/cat 1 talent to help keep it single file for an hour. This year the field was smaller and not as deep, but the talent pool was still serious at the top. Unlike last year the race was not single file from the gun. Lots of back and fourth attacking gave everyone a chance to feel each other out. CJ got up the road early with ex-pro Chuck Coyle who has won plenty of pro/1/2 races this year (why do these guys even bother racing masters?) and Chuck whittled the move down to 3 guys. Defending champ Michael Gibson did not want that to go and countered up to the move and that was really the race. Jim Thies made the new move, along with Michael Gibson, the always strong and super nice guy Danny Sullivan, Roba from pro/1 team prerace.com, Jeff Hartman, and Jon Baker fresh off a NRC win a few weeks ago.

Will all the teams represented, but Rio, the move went up the road and CJ & Matt did a good job blocking. The pack lacked the teams to chase, Rio tried, as did Rocky Mounts and Peleton Cycles. About half way through the break lapped the field and Jim was assured at least 7th place or better. As soon as the break lapped the field 3 of the guys from the break went again and got away. Team sprinter Josh Barnett covered this and they were gone. The already mentioned Chuck Coyle missed this moved and bridged up with one other rider, while CJ made this move too and sat on for a free ride to the break. Eventually these 7 guys got away and were gone for good.

At this point it was a little complicated for the spectators as 4 guys in the 7 man break were 1.5 laps up on the field. Then places 5 through 7 were still in the field, including our own Jim Thies, then 8th to 10th were in the break (including CJ & Josh), with the rest of the field sprinting for 11th. Josh won from his group taking 8th, CJ took 10th in the break, and Jim took 6th in the field. All in all the guys missed the win, but had 3 guys in the top 10 and in front the Rio riders. A big shout out to Jim Thies for making the move, for lapping the field and a fine 6th place result.

Boulder Centurion

This is a new event this year and is part of the trend towards Grand Fondo's. What is a Grand Fondo? Glad you asked. They are part race, part bike ride/tour. The idea is there is no real separation of categories, everyone starts at once, from pro, to first time participant. So it gives a way for any rider to try out the big time. They are popular in Europe and starting to get off the ground here in the state. This one started in Lyons CO, about 15 miles north of Boulder. The race features a 100 mile course, that was basically 2 loops, with over 9,000 feet of climbing, and some dirt roads. Four riders from the team started the 100 mile event, Matt S., Matt G., Peter I., and Jimi. Matt G. was the team's top finish in 11th overall and Jimi came in 21st, but also won his age category of 50 to 54. What a stud!

For more info on the event check out their web site:

http://www.centurioncycling.com/


Here is Matt G's race report: Matt S, Matt G, Jimi, and Peter lined up for 100 mile Centurion Race featuring two trips up to Peak to Peak Hwy - one up through Ward and the second via Super James. It was a nervous start to the race as some miles were spent on the flats before heading up Left Hand Canyon. All Mix1 riders massed near the front as the peloton rolled up Left Hand Canyon. A tailwind made the climbs very fast and by the time we hit the steeps at Ward the pack was halved. Everything splintered through Ward with 7 riders riding off the front. Matt G and Jimi came through in the second group which swelled to about 12-14 riders.

With guys sitting on the chase was really slow. By Lyons the break had 5 minutes. As the group went up to Jamestown for the second major climb three riders from the break were caught as things detonated up front. Jimi set good tempo to Jamestown which set up Matt G for the Super James climb. The group shattered on Super James. Matt G came over the climb in good shape and was just behind three riders when he crashed in the dirt section. As it turns out 5th place came out of that group. At the end of the day Matt G ended up 11th and Jimi won his age group despite cramping on Super James. Matt S and Peter came across in fine shape too .


Here is Peter I's race report: 400+ starters, but when we got to Left Hand Canyon, maybe down to 60 riders. The hard racing started on the steeps before Ward, where Matt, Jimi, and Matt stuck with the first chase group, or maybe they were actually with them. I slid to the second chase. Matt Gates did great. He had Nico and Jon Baker in his sights at the top Super James, but skidded out in the dirt. Still finishing 11th. Matt Segur hung in there with the chase group as well, but went down somewhat hard in the dirt as well. I caught up to him after he got up regaining his composure. We both dealt with some cramping on the rollers, but got our acts together to ride down the canyon strong and finish together 39-40th.

Before that we were quite the pair trying to get to the downhill. Matt had a pretty bent rear der and was lucky it wasn't completely ripped off at one point. I finished 5th/61 for the 45-50 group. As mentioned Jimi won his category, even after cramping right on Super James. 21st overall. He stayed with the chase group till the cramps came home to roost. Hardest day of racing ever for me. Quite the sufferfest on Super James. It is all I can do to type this message right now, Time to kick back and recover for Mt. Evans.

Longmont Crit

The Longmont Crit is another front range classic that has been used for many state championships over the years. This year was no different, but it was the Senior State Championships, so it meant reduced level of masters racing (too bad as it is a great course). There was a 45 plus race, but nothing for the 35 plus guys who are cat. 1's and cat. 2's. As such CJ and Pete decided to step it up a notch and do the pro/1/2 race for the state champs.

It was Pete last race for a while, as he is flying out to go to the Tour. Pete got a bad start and was stuck in the back. That was fine for a while, but the field was over 100 guys (twice the size of the field the day before in the 35 plus race). Relatively soon the rain started to fall and the back was a very bad place to be. Soon the race split in half and as Pete found himself in the back half he decided to drop out. Smart more with a flight to Europe this week.

CJ got a good start and was able to ride at the front for a long time. He even got a little frisky and went off the front in a move of 8 guys, following the advice of team mate Jim Thies "when you are going to get your rear end kicked, you might as well throw the first punch". Thing settled in and the rain started to pour. The race was safe consider the rain, it stopped for a while, then started again worse. It was one of the those days where glasses, no glasses, eyes open, or closed, it did not matter. There was a powerhouse 4 man break away for a lot of the race, but it never got more than 30 seconds. Some of the big teams who had missed the move chased it down and as we hit 6 to go we had the break in sight. This meant the last 6 laps were going to be the fastest of the race. CJ hung though and finished 22nd, which was solid when you consider 100 guys stated, and only 43 finished.

All photos from www.303cycling.com and www.prerace.com. First photo is CJ riding at the front as fellow master rider Michael Gibson takes the lead. Second photo is just to give you an idea of how bad the weather was. Last photo if CJ after the rain ended. All the Mix1 CJ is drinking is going to his calves!

North Boulder Park

The classic North Boulder Park Crit was held this past Saturday. It has been around for nearly 30 years and is a race not to be missed. The Vic's team has won the 45 Plus race the last 3 years, but a small group of Mix1 riders were out to change that. In the 35 Plus race Excel has won the race 2 years in a row and boys in red looked to change that too.

Here is the race report on the 45 Plus race from Peter I: the Mix1 45+ guys had 3 guys in the North Boulder Park Crit, Larry,Chris L. and Peter. They were ready for early break attempts from the gun. Several attempts were made by other teams, but nothing stuck. Peter and Chris rode on or near the front for most of the race, while Larry was solid in the pack. The race eased up later on once it was realized that no one was going to escape successfully. The pace picked up the last few laps as other teams took some turns on the front. Peter and Chris took some turns on the front as well to cover any late breaks, aware that Larry was not far back.

On the last lap Peter stayed protected, but was forced to the front after "the alley" to avoid getting swarmed by the group. Joe Paulson from Vics came around Peter on the last straight section and took the win. Peter hung on for 2nd, Chris and Larry (getting caught behind another rider's dropped chain) finished 9th and 17th. Joe Paulson did a good job of positioning himself in the right spot for the final sprint. It was a fun race, no crashes, and everyone still got a good work out despite no successful breakaways.

CJ's race report for the 35: we lined up 6 guys (CJ, Matt G, Jim, Marcel, Pete, and Josh) and decided we wanted to be aggressive as this race has ended in a break the last 2 years. Josh and Jim covered the early moves along with Pete. About 10 minutes in a move went up the left side and it was CJ's turn to go. He ended up getting away with Keith Harper from the very strong Hotel San Jose Team and local cat. 1 stud, and new dad, Max Clausen (prerace.com). It took a few laps, but they 3 of them got it together and started to extend their lead. This was a perfect move for the guys, as it allowed uber sprinter Josh to sit on, Matt G. rode the front to cover any moves, and it put the pressure on the other teams.

With about 20 minutes to go it looked like this was the winning move, but alas it was not to be. Several individual riders got excited and started to chase and the team of ex-professional Michael Carter also went to work. They brought the break back much to CJ's disappointment and ex-professional Carter launched the winning move solo. The field eventually sprinted in for 2nd place, with Josh taking 4th in the sprint and 5th in the race. It was a day where the boys did everything right, but it just did not work out as well as it could have.

Photo 1: Jim leading Josh into the only right hand turn, photo 2: Jim exiting the alleyway, photo 3: CJ in his 3 man break with Max and Keith, photo 4: Peter and Chris on the front of the 45 plus race, and photo 5: Pete on the podium.

The first 3 photos compliments of http://www.303cycling/. The last 2 photos are from Jonathan Bartlett Photography, bmxrdr.redbubble.com. Please go directly to his web site to see more of his work and purchase his photos.

Mavic Video

Cool video from Mavic about the development of some of their newer wheels with the Garmin team. Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa1YMM5Emkw&feature=youtu.be&a

Dead Dog Stage Race

Dead Dog has been a popular race with the team and we had good success in 2009, with Jimi winning the 45 plus race, and Marc and Scott taking 2nd and 3rd in the 35 Plus race. so for 2010 we brought a large team for both races. All in all we had a great time, but unfortunately each squad ran into a single rider who got the better of us. We tip our hats to Louie from Vegas and Todd Robertson from Boulder, they each won the even and clearly deserved it.

The 35 plus guys managed to make the local news paper with a photo:

http://www.laramieboomerang.com/articles/2010/06/27/sports/doc4c26d59b779d7445902079.txt

Here are reports on both races.


45 Plus race report from Jeff O: I missed a lot of the RR,but I can fill ya in on what I was around for. My thoughts were that after his state TT, and Sunshine HC results, that Big Ring Bill was our go to guy for the weekend. When it was all said and done, he proved me right with a 2nd place finish overall.

Stage 1 RR: Lots of sitting in with me sticking close to Bill and keeping him out of the winds and moving him up in the peloton when necessary. Then about a mile or two before Centennial a two-man brake went up the road with a teammate of Louie, from Vegas, present. I bridged up to it and then Derrick Nichol bridged. The 4 of stayed away until after the steep stuff just past Centennial. After that I went back to protecting Bill, and riding some tempo before lifting the pace so he can attack. Unfortunately the winds were just a bit too much and it was soon groupo compacto with the exception of me as I went out the back.

Not sure what was going on in the lead group. They passed me on the way down the descent before I was even at the “half mile to turnaround” sign on my way up. Yet some how me and 2 others managed to rejoin the group with about 4 miles left in the race. Since they had to have been a mile and a half ahead of me at the turnaround, I ’m thinking the lead group stopped for ice cream in Centennial but that hasn’t been confirmed yet. Anyway, I went back to riding on Bill’s windward side for the remaining few miles to the finish before watching the group gallop away in the final 500 meters… with Peter taking 2nd and Matt, Chris, and Bill finishing in the same time.

Stage 2 Crit: GC guys sat in while Peter and I played. This was good and (potentially) bad. Peter got away with 4 others with 5 laps to go. I played the good teammate giving Peter the chance at the stage. Our near goof was that Peter was in with some good TTers including Louie and Michael Williams. In hindsight, I/we, shouldn’t have given the break as much of a leash considering the TTers who were present. At this point Louie was well on his way to winning the GC but 2nd was still very much up for grabs with Williams eyeing the next step on the podium. The break put 15 seconds on the peloton, but had I been thinking right I could have done some chasing in the last lap, or two, to narrow that gap down some. We could have split the difference between giving Peter a chance on the stage and holding the break close to Bill. A near fatal mistake!!

Stage 3 TT: Fortunately Bill was stronger than our fubar. He took 2nd on the stage and put enough time into Williams to grab 2nd in the overall. A very solid ride considering that just the week before Williams grabbed the state TT title. Definitely a lesson learned. Strong ride Bill. Congrats on a good weekend and thanks for saving me from having to slap myself across the head!!! Also good work to Matt V. for taking 7th overall.



The 35 Plus race was one dominated by some extremely bad luck for the guys in the RR and then one rider just getting the better of us. The RR started well with the non-climbers like CJ, Pete and LT getting in some early moves, but with the stiff headwind nothing was going away. None of that matter as by the top of the hill we had 3 guys in the 6 man winning move (Matt G. Matt S, and Marc). The move staid away to the finish, but there was man the boys could not drop, Todd Robertson. They tried hard and got gaps on Todd many times, but he can came to them. Things took a turn for the worse when Matt G. flatted. He got a new wheel and chased back on solo, but it took a lot of energy. Even the competition said they were surprised, and impressed, to see him make it back up. The chase took a lot of his energy, but Matt G. still took 2nd at the line. Matt S. was poised to go for the win and had ridden strong all day, but his lucked went south too, as he dropped his chain with about 1 km to go. That cost him a chance to win and about 30 seconds. Marc stayed with the group and took 5th.

In the crit we had one goal and one goal only, get some time on Todd. Unfortunately Todd's goals were the opposite of ours. CJ covered an early attack from Rio and then Todd countered it. The Matt's went with him, but never got up to his wheel. The situation did not seem too serious at first, with us having 6 guys and Rio having 5, but the situation changed. Todd got 10 seconds and rode solo for the rest of the race. We understood the situation and put 5 of our guys on the front to chase, including all of our leading GC guys. Unfortunately Rio did not do the same and the chase was mainly left to us. We worked hard, and got a lot of compliments, but we never put a dent into Todd. He won solo, got the 30 second time bonus, and took over the lead. We all were impressed and gave him large props after. Matt G. did take 2nd in the crit and maintained his 2nd overall. We had a good plan, but we got out ridden. It was a learning experience for us.

The TT was, what it was. Todd went out and won the TT, with the fastest time for any rider all day (including the pro race). That gave him the win and he won 2 of the 3 stages. Matt S. took 3rd, but was not able to move up, as he ended up in 5th overall. His dropped chain in the RR cost him 2nd overall. Matt G. rode a solid TT, but he was at a technical disadvantage with no TT bike. He rode strong and ended up in 3rd place overall. Marc rode well and took 6th place over all. All in all a good weekend, with a little more luck things could have been different, but the strongest man won and compliments to Todd R from Skins. The boys had a good time and all enjoyed Laramie, WY and the Dead Dog stage race.