2011 Season Is Underway

The guys got the 2011 season going 2 weekend ago with some pro 1/2 racing at the CU Crit and Bill K. went big and headed down to Tucson for the Tucson Bicycle Classic.  Bill is 55, but chose to race with the 45 plus guys to get in more competition and to better train himself to race plenty of 45 plus in Colorado.  Bill had a solid top 10 tt, then just missed the win in the RR with a 2nd place in a break, and all that resulted in a fine top 5 finish.  We got some pictures from down there and on a snowy day in Colorado, it is sure nice to be racing in the desert.  This past weekend some of the guys raced pro 1/2 at the DU crit, with Jim Thies taking a 10th place against the big boys.

2011 Team

We will not have our team photos for a while, but here is one shot by Brian Dallas from FOCUS.  17 of the 22 riders were available for the shoot, with is pretty good for a bunch of working guys with kids.  Unfortunately our 2010 World Masters champion Gene Palumbo was out of town.  The photo would have looked better with his rainbow striped kit. 

More from Mavic & Shimano

 The goodies continue to roll in.  Above are Pete's new road and mountain bike shoes.  Pete spent 2010 on the Mavic road shoes, but opted for the white version.  For 2011 he stepped up his game and got the Mavic yellow in both types.  Good move Pete!  The Mavic shoes are a bit of an unique fit and the feedback we got from Excel Sports was that once most people try them on in the shop they do not love them.  What we found is that they do feel a little odd in the shop just walking around, they are a very light shoe, and the upper is very soft and flexible.  But if you get to ride in them you realize that when you are really riding you do not notice the above issue, your weight is on the carbon sole, the uppers are very supportive, and all in all it is comfortable shoe.  For 2011 several more guys are option to use these shoes from Mavic.  For 2010 CJ had a pair of the mountain bike shoes and really loved them.  He said they fit even better on his feet than the road shoes.  CJ ended his season with 24 Hours of Moab on the mountain bike and even in difficult conditions, including night riding, he would highly recommend the shoes.  For any mtb riders who are turned off by the yellow, most shoes are available in either black or white.

Shimano is a new sponsor for 2011 and the guys are all rolling out their new groups like Dura Ace 7900 and even some Di2 (Shimano's electronic shifting version of Dura Ace).  One hidden jem the mix1 team has found within Shimano's line up is the PRO line of parts.  You see a lot of PRO parts in Europe at the Pro Tour level on teams like Rabobank and HTC, but you do not see much of it in the US, with pros, amateurs, or just cycling enthusiasts.  We are not sure why that it, but if you get a chance to try them out, we bet you will be interested.  They make a full line of aluminum parts that offer great value as well as many light weight carbon parts that hurt the wallet.  You will see a bunch of the guys on their stems, bars, seat posts, and even full TT bars in 2011.  Pictured here is there very unique 1 piece carbon bar and stem. 

Team Photo

We got most of the team together today up at NCAR above Boulder for our 2011 photos.  Great organisation to get this done the first week of March and out of the way.  Joe from Peloton Photos (http://www.pelotonphoto.com/) did his usual great job.  Brian Dallas from FOCUS was kind enough to join us and teach us a few lessons on keeping those FOCUS frames clean.  Lots of great sponsor product was on display from FOCUS, Shimano, Rudy Project, Schwable, Fizik, Excel Sports, and more.

 We will get the actual photos out later, but here are a few of the guys trying to stay warm and get ready for their 15 minutes of fame. 

Meeting with FOCUS and new wheels from Mavic

 Last week the 35 plus team got everyone together to review last year, talk about next year and do a little team bonding.  The guys are very excited about 2011 and a lot of that energy comes from new rider Dan Schmatz.  Dan is going to change thy dynamic of the team and how we are able to race.  As part of the meeting we also met with Brian Dallas from FOCUS.  Brian was incredibly interesting and taught us a lot about our FOCUS frames.  The more we learned the more we were impressed and developed a greater understanding of all that goes into these frames.  It is clear FOCUS is an up and coming brand in the US and we are very lucky to be a part of it at this early stage.  Thanks FOCUS and Brian.

 Mavic has been a long term supporter of the team and their products are widely used by all of our riders.  We have been happy on all of their wheels for a while and in 2010 most of the guys were racing the SLR.  2010 was also the first year we started to use their shoes are were impressed.  For 2011 one of our riders stepped up and ordered Mavic's top of the line wheel set, the Cosmic Carbone Ultimate.  These pictures do not even do these wheels justice, as they are some of the most beautiful, well built, and fastest wheels in the world.  They were good enough to win two of the 3three grand tours in 2010, so it is an honor to have a set in the mix1 Masters Team arsenal for 2011.