Coal Miner’s Classic – Scott Kornfield Memorial Criterium 45+ race

The CoalMiner’s Classic is a 2 mile circuit criterium featuring high speed corners and smooth, wide, speedy roads. Peter Lucke, Adam Asnes, Henrik Pedersen, Butch Stinton and Larry Comman lined up for the mid day start under ideal racing conditions.  Racing was fast and stayed that way. Small groups would take a chance at breakaways, but were quickly gobbled up by the field. Mid way through the race, Peter Lucke initiated the first substantial breakaway, starting with a solo effort off the front. He was joined by 3 other riders while the rest of the team clogged the front through the turns and broke upchase attempts. Though the break threatened for several laps, it was reeled in with three to go. With two laps left, Craig Hofer of Boulder Orthopedics and a Tokyo Joes/Whole Foods rider initiated a two-man attack. It seemed a Hail Mary effort given how the field was able to chase so rapidly. However the break stuck, working so hard as to drop one of its two participants. On bell lap, Peter sacrificed himself with a hard and long pull that strung out the field and attempted to bring back the tenuous break. While he didn’t catch one rider, the effort helped Adam sit on the front of the peloton without having to spend precious energy defending position on the wide roads. The field sprint started with a hard jump from Joe Paulson of Boulder Orthopedics. Adam just barely overtook Joe with a bike throw at the line to win the field sprint. Congratulations on an exceptional solo effort for the win to Craig Hofer and Joe Paulson who rounded out the podium with third.

Note: Scott Kornfield was a local cyclist who was killed riding on US 36 by a driver who fell asleep at the wheel. There is a little known but very useful memorial to Scott at the base of Lefthand Canyon right near the Greenbriar driveway. It’s a steal case on a pedestal that is stocked with handy items like spare tubes, CO2 cartridges and miscellaneous tools available free on an honor exchange system.

Iron Horse Criterium

In both the 35+ and 45+ races we had Matt (Segur) and Matt (Vawters) racing against the field on their own.  Matt S took 1st and Matt V 4th.

Photo by Emily Kellagher

The 55+ race had Steve Matous, Bill Kellagher and Steven Birnbaum riding with a field of 35 in the race. Matous took a flyer from the start and stayed away for 3 laps to break the field. Once Matous came back to the lead group of 12 he took a close, too close, look at the pavement in one of the turns and went down hard on his right shoulder. After putting his bike together and riding to the start line he grabbed a free lap and got back on the tail of the lead group.  Kellagher came to the front in the final lap and distanced the bunch by a few seconds.  Both Matous, 6th, and Birnbaum, 9th, finished in the lead group.

Iron Horse road race 55+

Steve Matous, Bill Kellagher and Steve Birnbaum lined out for Mix1 at the race start.  Our field was capped at 125 riders and we know 110 finished the race so for us it is the largest race in Colorado.  All the top Colorado contenders were on the start line (Workman, Beaudin, Weir, Montgomery) as well as many from out of state so we knew it would be a good race.  The first flat 12 miles were unevenful but on Shalona hill, as the peleton slowed to tackle the 6% grade, Matous went to the front and rode away from the group.  Bill recalled after the race that all of a sudden racers started going into the red zone and knew the race was on. Fairly quickly Beaudin bridged up to Matous and a few minutes later Workmen also came across but it was obvious he had to work hard to do it.  While there was already a gap the three now worked together to make the gap several minutes before getting to the climb up Coal Bank.  About  1/2 way up Coal Bank Workman dropped off the back and by the time the summit was reached Beaudin had a 150 yard lead on Matous.  The downhill saw Beaudin quickly pull away but on the way up Molas pass Matous again pulled him back to within 150 yards.  Alas once over the pass the dye was cast and on the run into Silverton Beaudin maintained his lead and won the race Matous taking 2nd.

Behind the breakaway Bill was working with a small group of 3-4 others (including Montgomery &Weir 1st & 2nd last year) but by the top of Coal bank had broken away.  On Molas pass Bill caught then passed Workman and ended the day 3rd.  Mix1 had two podium places!

Iron Horse Road Race

The 41 year old Iron horse http://ironhorsebicycleclassic.com/ is the largest race in Colorado with close to 1200 racers in categories and another 1400 citizens.  Going from Durango to Silverton for 49 miles the course gains over 6650 ft and descends 3894 ft while topping out at a lung bursting 11,000 feet!  The first flat 10 miles allows the racers to warm up. The road then climbs steadily with 2000 ft in elevation gain over 14 miles before the first steep challenge of the day; Coal Bank pass (10,600+ ft). This 6 mile climb is the steepest of the race with up to a 9% grade. This is followed by a fast couple of miles downhill, giving racers time to drink and fuel up, before the final climb up Molas pass (10,950ft). The road here is open and exposed to winds both cross and head on making the 6% max grade seem steeper in the process. Once over Molas pass generally the rider who is in the lead wins the race as execpt for a mile or so of false flat it is a steep run into Silverton making it hard to catch anyone ahead of you.  The final 3/4 mile in Silverton itself is slightly up hill and the whole course is lined with people and cow bells to encourage you to the finish.

45+ Superior Morgul Road Race

Matt Vawter, Adam Asnes, Pete Lucke and Bill Stalhuth made up the team for the road race. RealD-Amgens Frank Zoldak made many attempts to get away but our team had all moves covered until the second lap. On the 2nd lap he made his move on the wall. Matt was on his wheel in #2 position over the top, but decided to let the Omnium leader (Brad Mosier) cover it since he seemed to be motivated. Mosier, Williams and Matt V chased for a while and eventually gave up. Zoldak won the race 2 1/2 minutes in front of the field.

After this the rest of the race was fairly mellow. A few guys (Shane Roark and Todd Spangenberg) tried some moves that actually got them up the road, but ultimately it was a shoot out on the wall in a ~20 man sprint that decided the rest of the RR results. Note that big man and sprint winner Peter Lucke did great by hanging with the main group and earning a good spot on GC!

Matt Vawter Superior Morgul RR 45+ on the "Wall"
Photo by Peter Ismert

55+ Superior Morgul Omnium and Road Race

Our 55+ plus team came out and road hard yesterday to claim both the win in the road race, Chris Leggere, and overall Omnium 1st place by Bill Kellagher.  Steve Matous was the point man for creating a break  which was done fairly quickly on the first lap and then chasing breaks and keeping the pace high to the finish.  Once the break of 9 was established Chris and Steve took turns driving the pace while Bill worked to maintain good position. Several Boulder Orthopedics riders and notably Dan Grygier (CO Bike Law) took turns on the front keeping the break away from the rest of the peleton.

Steve led us into the final approach to the Wall but did not have the legs to compete in the sprint.  Chris however was going strong and road away from the bunch with great power and speed.  Finishing 5th gave Bill the points needed to secure the overall podium and our day was done.

Superior Morgul 55+ Omnium winner Bill Kellagher
Photo from Chris Lucke



Superior Morgul road race 55+ winner Chris Leggere
Photo by Peter Ismert

35+ Superior Morgul races wrap up



Matt Gates overall Omnium winner and road race stage winner Superior Morgul May 18-20 2012

Time Trial: Our 35+ team had a strong TT with Matt Segur taking 3rd, Matt Gates 5th,  and getting 4 guys in the top 10.

Criterium: The team decided to race for one goal only, the overall win.  As such stage results did not matter, we needed to score points for our guys who could win the RR.  The crit started under dry conditions, but the field knew they were in for the short in of the stick.  Sure enough it went from dry to upper 40's and dumping rain.  The field decimated under these conditions, with wet roads, wet corners, and very poor visibility.  Boulder Orthopedics had by the largest team and controlled the field.  They went for all the prime points and did a good job racking them up.  As the race wound down Michael Gibson got away from the field for Boulder Orthopedics.  He barely held on to win by 1 second, but Mix1 took control of the field sprint with Josh taking it and setting up our GC man Matt Gates for 3rd.

After the crit the omnium results were very close at the top and Boulder Orthopedics did a very good job of gaining prime points in the crit to make up for their TT.  This made it basically a winner take all in the RR.  Who ever won it had a good shot to win the overall. 

Road race: Course conditions (fast) and GC standings made a break unlikely. Boulder Orthopedics (BO) had a strong presence and were looking for the one-two punch in a break.  Each time up the wall there was a big surge, either by BO or other GC contenders trying to spit the race.  The Mix1 crew of Matt S, Matt G, Marc, and Jim covered everything but nothing stuck as everyone fancied their chances.  Coming in to bell lap another big push instigated by Jim nearly split the field but again everything came back together.  At that point you could tell it was going to be a bunch finish.  There was a lot of attacking on the last lap, but never the right combination.  The Matts and Marc hung tough waiting for the last two hills, the Hump and the Wall.  On the penultimate climb, no one attacked setting up a nervous approach to the Wall. Ken O'Donnell put in a huge attack 1.5k out, which is a long way out on that finish.  Ken got a good gap , but then guys started to ramp up for the finish.  Matt G found Marc's wheel at the base of the Wall and waited to start the sprint.  It was a little nerve wracking, because an ill timed sprint can leave you dead 25M before the line and that a long ways to go on the Wall.  After what seemed forever the final surge started.  Matt G followed Marc until the start of the really steep section then started the sprint.  The first kick got Matt G past Ken with only Michael Gibson from BO on his wheel.  A second kick got Matt G clear for the win. 

It was a great finish to the weekend which saw a Mix1 rider on the podium in every event: Matt S 3rd - TT, Josh 2nd - Crit, Matt G 3rd - Crit, Matt G 1st - RR.

45+ Superior Morgul Criterium

The 45s lined up with Larry Cornman, Henrik Pedersen, Matt Vawter, Adam Asnes, and Pete Lucke for a very wet and cold race.  A steady drizzle came down for the first half of the race making for slippery conditions with several man hole covers sprinkled around the course and painted crosswalks.  As racers, everyone knows how both can be treacherous in the wet. 

The race started off controlled and hard as the front guys wanted to keep the pressure on and to split off guys from the back who don't do well in the wet.  This was successful in losing about a third of the field.  Also, many cash and point primes on offer during the race to go towards the three day omnium kept the pace high and safe.  Fortunately, no crashes occurred for such a wet race.

Pete Lucke "W"
photo by Peter Ismert

With the race playing out towards a field sprint, Matt, Adam, and Pete made sure that they were in the top ten with 3 laps to go.  As it turned out, both Adam and Pete made it into the top 5 for perfect positioning for the sprint on the last lap.  Coming out of the final corner, Pete got and early jump on the field and ended up taking the win by a couple of bike lengths and Adam took third with a sweet bike throw. 

Wheels of Thunder May 12

The 55+ team did it again!  The team came in with a great plan that was executed to perfection right up to the point where we had to execute it!  The plan was to shoot for a field sprint thinking that we could possibly get 1st and 2nd if things worked out.  Steve B and Chris were tasked with controlling the early breaks which they did flawlessly.  And Bill was to get on Butches wheel with a lap to go and they would rock the field sprint.  As it turned out, Bill and Chris were near the front, but couldn't find Butch as things formed up with 1 to go.  Then with 1/2 lap to go, it slowed at the front and Bill and Chris got swarmed.  The swarm apparently was Butch riding the back of the BO lead out train.  Butch rode that train to perfection, and launched his sprint, but when the last BO lead out man pulled off, he pulled right into Butch.  This lead to clashing of handlebars and application of advanced riding skills, which ruined Butch's chances.  Meanwhile, on the other side of the field, Bill was able to follow some good wheels back up to the front and found team mate Steve B holding a place for him right behind Glen Winkle. Steve dropped back a bit to let Bill on the former world champs wheel and Bill got a chariot ride to the win, coming off Winkle's wheel with 100 meters to go.